Microsoft Is Ending Windows 10 October 2018 (1809) Support Soon, Good Riddance
by Brandon HillWindows 10 is Microsoft's fastest growing operating system, and has been ruling the roost as the company's top consumer platform since the summer of 2015. To keep Windows 10 fresh, Microsoft performs two major updates per year, which brings new features and better usability for consumers. Perhaps the most maligned and hated release, however, was the Windows 10 October 2018 Update (1809).
Among the issues that plagued the release were a zip file bug, problems with mapped drives, a file deletion bug, various Intel and AMD driver issues, and a host of other maladies that annoyed users.
"Even a multi-element detection process will miss issues in an ecosystem as large, diverse and complex as Windows," said Michael Fortin, Microsoft Corporate VP for Windows back in November 2018. "While we will always work diligently to eliminate issues before rollout, there is always a chance an issue may occur. When this happens, we strive to minimize the impact and respond quickly and transparently to inform and protect our customers."
Well, we can gladly say that the end is near for the Windows 10 October 2018 Update. Microsoft has updated its support page to indicate that the operating system will no longer be supported as of May 12th, 2020. After that point, systems running Windows 10 1809 will no longer receive security updates, which is a big deal considering the numerous threats that are lurking out there on the internet.
According to Microsoft, this end-of-support extends to the following operating systems:
- Windows 10 Home, version 1809
- Windows 10 Pro, version 1809
- Windows 10 Pro for Education, version 1809
- Windows 10 Pro for Workstations, version 1809
- Windows 10 IoT Core, version 1809
For anyone that is still on Windows 10 1809, now is the time to start migrating to the Windows 10 November 2019 Update (1909). While Windows 10 1909 has encountered its own share of bugs, it's still nowhere near as disastrous as Windows 10 1809. And for those that don't take the initiative to manually download Windows 10 1909, don't worry; Microsoft will force the upgrade upon you sometime during the next few months to ensure the health of the Windows ecosystem.