Windows 10 Redstone Era: Two 2017 Updates and the Windows as a Service Shift

Microsoft quietly confirmed that after the Windows 10 Anniversary Update (version 1607) it planned two more major feature updates for 2017 — internally codenamed Redstone 2 and Redstone 3 — setting a cadence that would shape Windows 10’s “Windows as a Service” era and push new features through the Windows Insider Program before broad rollout.

Background​

In mid‑2016 Microsoft shipped the Windows 10 Anniversary Update (Windows 10, version 1607) and simultaneously published guidance for IT professionals that included a clear hint about how feature releases would proceed. Nathan Mercer’s TechNet‑targeted blog post stated that the Anniversary Update would be the last feature update delivered in 2016, with two additional feature updates expected in 2017. That public signaling — aimed squarely at enterprise migration planners and IT pros — confirmed what insiders and observers had been reporting: Microsoft intended to move to a more predictable twice‑a‑year cadence for major feature updates.

• The two follow‑ups were widely reported under their internal codenames: Redstone 2 (RS2) and Redstone 3 (RS3).
• The company planned to test these updates through the Windows Insider Program before mass deployment, using phased rollouts and telemetry to reduce ecosystem risk.

This announcement changed the conversation in IT planning rooms. Rather than discrete, infrequent new OS versions, Windows 10 users would get more frequent, cumulative feature updates — each one large enough to be treated like a boxed release by enterprise deployment teams. That meant new planning priorities: compatibility testing, staged rollouts, update deferral strategies, and closer engagement with Insider builds.

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What Microsoft actually said (and what that meant)​

The TechNet signal​

Microsoft’s guidance for IT professionals is rarely marketing; it’s operational. The TechNet post that triggered widespread coverage included a simple, revealing line: “Based on feedback from organizations moving to Windows 10, this will be our last feature update for 2016, with two additional feature updates expected in 2017.” Taken at face value, that line committed Microsoft to a consistent schedule (two feature waves per year) and telegraphed the scale of work to IT managers. Reporters and analysts echoed that line and linked it to the Redstone roadmap.

Insider testing and staged rollout​

Microsoft reinforced that feature updates would continue to be validated in public via the Windows Insider Program. That meant early access builds for Fast and Slow rings, followed by broader Insider releases and finally a phased public rollout through Windows Update. The staged approach prioritized validated hardware and telemetry‑backed decisions to mitigate mass breakage. The end result: proof‑of‑concept deployments and telemetry‑led throttling before pushing updates to broader populations.

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Timeline and codenames: how the roadmap mapped to product releases​

Redstone naming and mapping​

• Redstone 1 — Anniversary Update (Windows 10, version 1607) — released in 2016.
• Redstone 2 (RS2) — the following major wave, later publicly named the Creators Update (Windows 10, version 1703). That update focused on content creation, gaming, and mixed reality support. It reached general availability in April 2017.
• Redstone 3 (RS3) — later named the Fall Creators Update (Windows 10, version 1709). It landed publicly in October 2017 and emphasized design polish (Fluent Design), creativity features, and mixed‑reality platform plumbing.

This two‑wave model — one major feature release in the first half and another in the latter half — quickly became the operating rhythm for Windows 10 feature shipments during that era. Multiple outlets tracked the mapping from Redstone codenames to the public names and version numbers as the releases matured.

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What arrived in practice: a closer look at Redstone 2 and Redstone 3​

Redstone 2 — Creators Update (Windows 10, version 1703)​

Released to the public on April 11, 2017, the Creators Update delivered a focused set of features aimed at creators, gamers, and mixed‑reality scenarios:

• Paint 3D and 3D model integration across apps.
• Platform support for Windows Mixed Reality headsets and HoloLens scenarios.
• Game Mode and integrated broadcasting tools for gamers.
• Edge browser and Cortana enhancements, alongside incremental security improvements.
• Reintroduction of OneDrive Files On‑Demand to show cloud items without local sync.

The Creators Update demonstrated Microsoft’s intent: these feature waves would deliver visible user‑facing experiences while also plumbing platform APIs for ecosystem partners (e.g., VR OEMs) and developer tooling.

Redstone 3 — Fall Creators Update (Windows 10, version 1709)​

Rolling out broadly in October 2017, Redstone 3 continued the platform evolution:

• Fluent Design System (formerly Project Neon) made deeper appearances in UI.
• Story Remix (Photos app) and creative tooling enhancements.
• Deeper integration for cross‑device continuity features using the Microsoft Graph, previewed in developer sessions but phased across releases.
• Accessibility improvements (e.g., image descriptions in Narrator) and security refinements.

Not everything shown at Build or in demos shipped in a single wave; Microsoft frequently staged features across releases and the Store, a practice that reduced launch risk but sometimes frustrated power users.

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Why the twice‑yearly cadence mattered (benefits and practical consequences)​

Microsoft’s move to two feature releases per calendar year reshaped both consumer expectations and enterprise operations.
Key benefits:

• Faster delivery of features and platform improvements, keeping Windows competitive and responsive to new hardware trends like VR and mixed reality.
• A predictable cadence that helped OEMs and ISVs plan hardware refreshes and application compatibility testing.
• A public testing loop via the Windows Insider Program that democratized early access and telemetry feedback. (theverge.com, en.wikipedia.org)

Practical consequences for IT:

• Enterprises had to adopt staged deployment and validation strategies (pilot rings, compatibility testing, image gold‑mastering) to avoid interrupted services.
• The shorter lifecycle between feature updates forced tighter coordination between application vendors and corporate IT.
• Feature updates were large and sometimes disruptive; deferral policies and update management tools (WSUS, SCCM, Intune) became central to risk mitigation.

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Security, licensing, and “free update” messaging​

At the time Microsoft announced the two 2017 feature waves, the company maintained its commitment to provide feature updates to Windows 10 users without an additional OS license fee. The public messaging from Microsoft was consistent: Windows 10 would be delivered as a continuously evolving platform under the Windows as a Service model, and feature updates would be part of that ongoing service. Industry commentary treated this as a continuation of Microsoft’s then‑current policy to distribute feature upgrades to Windows 10 customers as part of their existing license. (neowin.net, petri.com)
However, two important caveats applied:

• Enterprises still needed to budget for deployment effort, desktop management tooling, and potentially hardware refreshes to meet new feature‑set requirements.
• Microsoft’s later decisions around platform naming and licensing (for example, the decision to ship Windows 11 as a separate major OS in 2021) show that product strategy can evolve; early 2016/2017 messaging about “Windows 10 forever” reflected the company’s strategy at that moment, not an immutable legal guarantee. The company announced Windows 11 in 2021 and began a free upgrade rollout in October 2021 for eligible devices, demonstrating that naming and lifecycle policies can change.

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Strengths: what Microsoft did well in this era​

• Predictable cadence: Announcing two 2017 waves gave IT pros forewarning and helped planning cycles. That forward guidance was a major improvement over ad‑hoc update chatter.
• Public testing funnel: The Windows Insider Program became an effective early warning system, surfacing compatibility issues before mass deployment and letting Microsoft iterate with real user telemetry.
• Platform plumbing for new hardware: RS2/RS3 moved Windows from a purely desktop OS to a platform that could support mixed‑reality headsets, improved game and streaming scenarios, and a more consistent UWP developer story.

These strengths reduced time‑to‑market for important features and opened new hardware and app opportunities for the Windows ecosystem.

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Risks and persistent pain points​

• Update reliability and timing: Large, semi‑annual feature updates increased the risk surface for system‑breaking regressions or driver incompatibilities. Staged rollouts reduced but did not eliminate the problem. Forum logs and community threads from the period show many users and admins reporting patching pains, driver conflicts, and rollback challenges during early rollouts.
• Enterprise complexity: Organizations with strict change control found it difficult to align line‑of‑business app testing and regulatory controls to twice‑yearly updates without adding significant process overhead.
• Perception vs. reality: Microsoft’s public demos and marketing sometimes implied feature availability sooner than the phased reality — Timeline and other cross‑device features notably arrived later or in stages, creating confusion among power users who expected immediate parity with keynote demos.

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Critical analysis: was Microsoft’s roadmap the right tradeoff?​

The twice‑yearly feature model advanced several strategic goals: it kept Windows competitive with faster innovation cycles, helped Microsoft compete on platform features (e.g., gaming and mixed reality), and provided a steady stream of functionality to consumers. For the consumer market and OEM ecosystem, the benefits were clear: new capabilities arrived quickly, and hardware partners could align product launches with Windows feature waves.
For enterprise IT, however, the model shifted work from infrequent large migrations to continuous maintenance. That required process maturity — automated testing, staged ring deployments, and automation at scale — or the organization would incur high operational costs. In effect, Microsoft traded large migration projects for a continuous delivery model that favored organizations with modern IT practices and penalized those without them.
The model was defensible from an engineering and product perspective, but it raised the bar for enterprise readiness. Large organizations that could not modernize deployment practices effectively found themselves increasingly forced to extend support windows or skip feature waves entirely, reducing the intended benefits of the cadence.

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Guidance for IT and power users (lessons and practical steps)​

• Establish update rings and pilot groups (Insider → pilot → broad).
• Use test automation to validate line‑of‑business applications against new builds before wide deployment.
• Maintain a known‑good image and automated rollback plan (System Restore, A/B imaging, or cloud‑backed provisioning).
• Monitor Microsoft’s release notes, known‑issue lists, and telemetry guidance as part of the pre‑deployment checklist.
• Budget for driver and firmware updates when planning major feature waves, especially for mixed‑reality or specialized hardware.
• Consider staged co‑management (SCCM + Intune) and update deployment policies to align with business cycles.

These steps reduce downtime and preserve user productivity during feature waves.

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Retrospective: what the 2017 roadmap predicted — and what changed later​

The 2016/2017 signal — two major updates in 2017 — accurately reflected Microsoft’s intent to move toward a faster release cadence and greater reliance on the Insider program. The practical outcomes were the Creators Update (RS2/1703) in April 2017 and the Fall Creators Update (RS3/1709) in October 2017, both of which carried tangible platform and user‑facing changes.
Notably, some of the speculation at the time — such as the idea that Microsoft would never ship another major Windows version and would stick with “Windows 10” forever — was ultimately proven incorrect. Microsoft announced Windows 11 in June 2021 and began a free, phased upgrade rollout on October 5, 2021, illustrating that product naming and roadmap strategies can evolve in response to market forces and platform opportunity. This fact highlights the importance of treating forward statements about product names and long‑term strategy as plans, not immutable commitments.

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Final assessment: strengths, caveats, and the legacy of the Redstone era​

Microsoft’s confirmation of two major Windows 10 feature updates for 2017 marked a turning point: Windows had become a continuously evolving service rather than a boxed product refreshed every several years. That shift unlocked fast innovation — new creative tools, better gaming features, and mixed‑reality enablement — but it also demanded higher maturity from IT organizations and more attention to deployment mechanics.
The Redstone 2 and Redstone 3 waves delivered meaningful improvements and established a cadence that defined Windows 10 for years. The model favored organizations that modernized their update processes and penalized those that could not. It also set the stage for later platform pivots (including the eventual Windows 11 release) by demonstrating both the power and the complexity of continuous delivery on the world’s most widely used desktop platform. (en.wikipedia.org, theverge.com)
For IT professionals and Windows enthusiasts today, the lessons from 2016–2017 remain relevant: get update management right, invest in test automation, understand staged rollout mechanics, and treat public roadmaps as directional guidance rather than immutable contracts. The Redstone era was an inflection point — not because Microsoft suddenly had more features to ship, but because the company formally committed to a rhythm that forced the entire ecosystem to evolve.

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Source: Mashdigi Microsoft confirms two more major Windows 2017 updates for 10