Upcoming Windows 9 Tech Preview set to be updated twice a month with new builds

2 min. read

Published on August 28, 2014

published on August 28, 2014

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Microsoft is currently cleaning up current internal builds of Windows 9 (Threshold) for a public technology preview which is slated to launch at the end of September or beginning of October. This preview will include a new feature which allows users to upgrade builds to newer more recent ones, and Microsoft plans to take full advantage of this functionality within the preview.

According to my own sources (and Tom Warren from The Verge), the Windows development team is planning to push 2 or more ‘updates’ to the Windows Technology Preview each month. These updates will most likely be entire new builds of Threshold which will further progress the development of the operating systems stability and introduce new features.

The development team will continue developing Windows the way they usually do, compiling builds daily from different branches. Not all of these builds will reach the public however. The team will carefully pick a build each couple of weeks which will be compiled into a special Tech Preview development branch and pushed to the Technology Preview which will allow the public to test.

Thanks to Neowin, we already know that the Technology Preview will include the ability to upgrade to brand new builds of Threshold directly from Windows Update, without the need to replace the entire Windows install. This means upgrading shouldn’t take long at all, and will follow the same process as normal Windows Updates.

The Verge recently claimed that features that we recently uncovered, including the new interactive live tiles will not be available at first during the Technology Preview. We can confirm that these features will be pushed at a later date if they’re not ready by the time the Technology Preview is ready. These features will be pushed in a new build via the new Windows Update mechanism.

If the plan to release more than 2 updates a month sticks, this will probably be the most open Microsoft and the Windows development team has ever been about development of Windows in it’s pre-release state.

What are your thoughts on this, are you happy about Microsoft’s plan to continuously update the Technology Preview with new builds or would you rather wait for them to ‘perfect’ the builds before they are release publicly? Leave us your comments below.

Radu Tyrsina

Radu Tyrsina has been a Windows fan ever since he got his first PC, a Pentium III (a monster at that time). For most of the kids of his age, the Internet was an amazing way to play and communicate with others, but he was deeply impressed by the flow of information and how easily you can find anything on the web. Prior to founding Windows Report, this particular curiosity about digital content enabled him to grow a number of sites that helped hundreds of millions reach faster the answer they're looking for.