Can Customers Survive a Windows 10 Full of 1.x Technology?

Windows 10 is coming along. Build 10041 released to Windows Insiders this week just after the WinHEC announcement that Microsoft is targeting official public release for this summer. With this latest Build, Microsoft is also promising to speed up releases, offering those part of the Fast Ring release scheduled to receive updates monthly.

Almost daily, we hear of new functionality Windows 10 should have when it becomes available to everyone. Things like "Windows Hello," Project Spartan, and a gaggle of others will be deeply integrated into the new operating system. These aren't just features – these are fundamental operating system mechanisms.

Microsoft is betting the farm on Windows 10. The company wants Windows 10 to be popular and revolutionary enough to entice everyone on the planet to upgrade. So much so, it's taken the stance to offer free upgrades even to those with pirated copies of previous versions.

But, there's a small problem. Despite promising more frequent Builds to testers, how can such monumental changes produce a stable release? The company recently admitted to receiving 1 million bits of feedback for Windows 10 since the Windows Insider program began. That's a lot. But, how can the company address the volume of feedback, introduce a multitude of new 1.x-type technologies, and still make a summer release schedule? Windows 10 itself might be stable, but there's still a lot of 1.x technology packed in.

Microsoft has never been great at producing first-run products. It usually takes a couple service packs before customers are comfortable installing. And, considering the company's updating history over the past couple years, even updates are questionable.

Windows 10 betas come with quirks and gotchas, but that's expected. But, what happens when a fully vetted Windows 10 comes with the same quirks and gotchas?

I'd usually say "its early days" and "we'll just have to wait and see" but we're getting frighteningly close to summer. Microsoft doesn't have a lot of time to get it right.