Windows 10 Insider builds paused for now as Microsoft prepares something huge

There is some unfortunate news for Windows Insiders that recently came to light. The steady stream of preview builds for Windows 10, that come through via the Fast ring are about to stop.

Well, at least for now as far as we now. Microsoft has decided to pause the release of Windows 10 Insider Preview builds on both the Fast and Slow rings.

The Windows 10 Insider Preview builds for PCs, is revealed to be paused for the new Unified Update Platform delivery system transition.

Microsoft’s Dona Sarkar broke the news in a blog post. Addressing the release of Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview Build 14977 she stated:

“We are getting ready to start releasing PC builds to Insiders using UUP. To prepare for this, we are going to pause all PC builds for both the Fast and Slow rings starting this evening (Friday 12/2). We will begin flighting the latest builds via UUP starting with our internal rings first then to Insiders based on each ring’s promotion criteria. We’re excited to be able to release builds for PC to Insiders using UUP! Mobile builds are not impacted by this.”

If you recall, Microsoft announced its Unified Update Platform (UUP) technologies about a month ago. That brought up several new features to Windows 10, mostly related to optimizing updates.

Microsoft further claimed that UUP will offer more control over the timing of when updates are installed. That will ultimately need less local processing and in turn, improves battery life. Moreover, UUP is equipped with technologies that uses differential downloads.

The new update mechanism will be available to Windows Insiders across PC, tablet, phone, IoT, and HoloLens.

Here’s a comprehensive look at the new features of UUP:

UUP Basic Features

• Bring the best of PC to Mobile: Unlike PCs, mobile devices require you to install in two-hops (updates) to get current.With UUP, Mobile will be able to jump to the latest build in one “hop” just like PC does today. That is, update the latest build in a single operation, irrespective to what base build you are currently running.
• Modified and efficient update mechanism: Microsoft is also revamping how Windows 10 checks for updates. “We are reducing the update data sent to client devices as well as the amount of processing we are doing on devices,” said Microsoft Director Bill Karagounis in November. This especially important for devices built on the Mobile OS. UUP will render the Windows Update service to assess which updates are needed by the device. That happens of course, when your device checks for updates.
• Selective builds download: Enables a device to only mark the latest build, rather than the full one and download it. It only adds the package that has been changed since you last updated your device.

This pause can be seen as a good thing after all. As it represents the beginning of the second phase. Allowing a change where PC-based Insiders builds will also start to be delivered via UUP. The official release of Windows 10 builds will be transitioned to this new system later in 2017.