Impending cumulative updates unnerve Windows patch experts

Microsoft’s decision to force Windows 10’s patch and maintenance model on customers running the older-but-more-popular Windows 7 has patch experts nervous.

“Bottom line, everyone is holding their breath, hoping for the best, expecting the worst,” said Susan Bradley in an email. Bradley is well known in Windows circles for her expertise on Microsoft’s patching processes: She writes on the topic for the Windows Secrets newsletter and moderates the PatchMangement.org mailing list, where business IT administrators discuss update tradecraft.

Bradley’s anxiety stems from Microsoft’s announcement last month that beginning in October it will offer only cumulative security updates for Windows 7 and 8.1, ending the decades-old practice of letting customers choose which patches they apply.

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