[sims] The new era of Windows 10 and SIMS

[localzuk]

Kinda a question aimed at @PhilNeal really, but does Capita have any plans to change their release plans to increase the speed of support for new releases of Windows, considering Microsoft's desire for schools to use the Windows 10 Education branch of Windows, which includes regular feature releases?

 

As it stands, we'd be on the edge of the allowed period of grace between release of a new feature release and the end of support for the previous one. A couple of months at most.

 

I see the technical roadmap lists "Windows 10" support from Spring 2016, but this doesn't really account for the moving target that is Windows 10. Or the different branches that will exist in the future (Education at various feature release points, LTSB, etc...).

[PhilNeal]

We haven't found anything in 10 that causes a problem but haven't throughly been through everything.

 

10 is as you say a continual delivery model and that is something we're moving to with SIMS too.

 

Once we formally support 10 we will have to issue fixes if a 10 release breaks something. A little like what happened with the date picker.

[CAM]

You need to get the pedal on the gas with SIMS though. Don't want to miss the free upgrade period for Windows 10!

[matt40k]

I thought the whole reason SOLUS3 exists was to speed up deployment cycle - a minor client fix to a single DLL doesn't warranty a re-release it can just be deployed at a click of a button. It also removed the "IT" hold up as well - you don't need the network manager to deploy an MSI, the data manager can just click a few buttons and job done - or enable auto deployments. Surely the stats from SOLUS2 vs SOLUS3 will show upgrades are happening faster @PhilNeal?

@CAM - not sure how much affect that will have on schools - most have Microsoft Agreements which gives them the latest toys already so it already "free" to upgrade - well you've already paid and you don't need to pay again.

[vikpaw]

"No additional cost" are the magic words you are looking for