A new entry! Microsoft has published delta updates for Windows 10 in the Update Catalog, making it the very first time these types of updates have been made available for the operating system.
These are, in addition, of course, to the
cumulative updates that were released yesterday.
As you can
see for yourself, these delta updates are available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the operating system, and actually target both Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 — making them incredibly handy for system administrators and deployments on large enterprise networks.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, what exactly are delta updates?
How do they differ from cumulative updates?
And are they really important for Windows 10 users?
Well, long story short, they are different from cumulative updates, in that the delta updates only include the changes that have been developed since the previous cumulative update. So, for those that are installing these cumulative updates, they do not need to download the full archive anymore.
Cumulative updates, just like their name suggests, include all previously released fixes. In other words, installing the latest one always brings a Windows 10 computer fully up to date.
However, the download is only getting bigger with each passing month, as cumulative updates need to include all fixes that are available for a Windows 10 version.
Delta updates, on the other hand, are substantially smaller in size. This makes download and deployment faster and easier for users. Organizations in particular, with large networks, as they will no longer have the need to download the full archive anymore.
Proof of the size advantage is in the delta updates that Microsoft has just released this month.
The x64 cumulative update for Windows 10 that arrived yesterday weighs in at no less than 1.1 GB in size, while the very first version of the delta update comes in quite a bit lighter, at just 700 MB.
And with the way cumulative updates are growing in size every month, these delta updates will only become more and more useful for users. No indication yet that Redmond will launch these delta updates every month, but the company is expected to do so.
source:windows10update
