Windows Edition and Support Branch Choices

Windows 10 introduces a new servicing model that offers three options for how updates, fixes, and new features are delivered. The options depend on the edition of the OS purchased, and some customers who used Windows 7 Professional in the past will need to purchase Windows 10 Enterprise to get the servicing option they prefer.

Two support branches are available for Windows 10 Pro: Current Branch and Current Branch for Business (CBB). With these options, PC users will have to accept new features relatively frequently (monthly for Current Branch and roughly every eight months for Current Branch for Business) in order to remain eligible for support from Microsoft.

Unique to Windows 10 Enterprise is a third servicing option, Long-Term Servicing Branch (LTSB), which defers the deployment of new features. Systems configured for LTSB receive security and critical reliability patches, as well as antimalware definition updates, as do the other servicing branches. However, a LTSB system will not receive OS updates with new or improved features during its supported lifetime, which runs 10 years (five years of Mainstream support followed by five years of Extended support). The first LTSB release arrived in Aug. 2015, and the Microsoft Windows life-cycle fact sheet indicates that Extended support (in other words, security-related patches) for this release will continue until Oct. 2025. A second LTSB release is likely to coincide with the release of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update.