Microsoft is adept at making the mistakes of the past. The company already caused a lot of problems when forcibly installing Windows 10 to Windows 7 users . And it is even an expert in repeating the same errors over and over again with the updates that, month after month, reach our computers. Although he always claims to learn from his mistakes, and even promises not to carry out certain practices, such as forcibly installing updates, in the end he always falls back. And now, the new victims of this are users who, for whatever reason, are still using Windows 10 version 1903.
Windows 10 version 1903 was released in May 2019 , although it was not until June when Microsoft began to distribute it massively. Like any other version of Windows, this one had 18 months of support from its launch. And although in its day the end of support seemed a long way off, this version of Windows 10 is about to go down in history. It will be next December 8 when users of version 1903, or 19H1, of Windows 10 will stop receiving all kinds of support.
| Name | Version | Launching | End support | With support? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RTM | 1507 | July 29, 2015 | May 9, 2017 | NO |
| November Update | 1511 | November 10, 2015 | October 10, 2017 | NO |
| Anniversary Update | 1607 | August 2, 2016 | 10 April 2018 | NO |
| Creators Update | 1703 | April 5, 2017 | Oct 9, 2018 | NO |
| Fall Creators Update | 1709 | October 17, 2017 | April 9, 2019 | NO |
| April 2018 Update | 1803 | April 30, 2018 | November 12, 2019 | NO |
| October 2018 Update | 1809 | November 13, 2018 | November 10, 2020 | YES |
| May 2019 Update | 1903 | May 21, 2019 | December 8, 2020 | YES |
| November 2019 Update | 1909 | November 12, 2019 | May 11, 2021 | YES |
| May 2020 Update | 2004 | May 27, 2020 | December 14, 2021 | YES |
| October 2020 Update | 2009 | October 20, 2020 | – | Yes |
If you still don’t know which version of Windows you are using, you can easily find out by typing “About your PC” in the Windows search bar, and you can easily see the version from there.
Update the Windows version: the most important thing
Microsoft always insists on the importance of installing the new versions of the operating system to be able to enjoy the news that the company has prepared for us and, also, to avoid running out of support . However, there are still a large number of users who do not install these new versions. And in the end that always ends up translating into disgrace, especially after reaching the end of the cycle of each version.
To avoid putting users at risk, Microsoft has begun to force the installation of a newer version of Windows 10 to all users who are still using version 1903 of the operating system . The most normal thing is that the company would have thought of updating users to the 2004 version, and even to 20H2 to put them up to date. However, this has not been the case, but the version chosen by Microsoft for this forced update has been 1909 .
The ideal would have been to jump directly to 2004 or 20H2. However, Microsoft has decided to update to 1909 (although it will be discontinued in just over 6 months) to minimize the complexity of the update process. We recall that 1909 came as a minor update for 1903 users and therefore the probability of encountering problems updating to it, or of something going wrong, is very low.
Is fragmentation starting to be a problem for Microsoft?
Windows 10 versions have their advantages and disadvantages. As advantages we can highlight, especially, being able to have the different updates of characteristics differentiated from each other, knowing very easily at what point in the development of the operating system we are.
However, releasing two versions a year, added to the large number of problems that these updates usually have, only helps to increase the fragmentation of the operating system. Right now 4 different versions of Windows 10 coexist. The first, and most used, the 2004 version of the operating system. Next, we can find the 1909 version of Windows, the version that 1903 users will jump to in the coming days. Third we will find the 1903 , version that will soon receive the forced update. And fourth, the new Windows 20H2 , the latest version of the operating system to date. In addition, there are older versions, from 2018 and 2017, which despite not having support still have a significant number of users.
Microsoft, for its part, is already working on the future: 21H1. The first update next year is still up in the air, and it could be both a big and a small update aimed at debugging operating system bugs and paving the way for the arrival of Sun Valley . But, for now, this is nothing more than speculation, we will have to wait more to know what Microsoft’s future plans are.