Microsoft is expanding support for the recent and latest versions of Windows 10 today. The company announced in a blog post that it will be extending support for some Windows 10 versions by 6 months for the Enterprise and Education editions.

The extended support period will be available for Windows 10 Education and Enterprise users running version 1511, 1607, 1703, or 1709. With the additional servicing, the latest Windows 10 version (1709) will be supported until October 8 of next year — and Microsoft is expected to release at least 3 updates before the official support ends.

Along with updated servicing for Windows 10, Microsoft announced the release date for Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2018. The company will be releasing the next Long-Term Servicing Channel release for Windows 10 this Fall, and include support for some of the latest generations of processors. “In keeping with the previous Long-Term Servicing Channel releases, this release will have the same features as the Windows 10 Semi-Annual Channel release made available at the same time – with the usual exceptions (including apps that are often updated with additional functionality, including the in-box apps, Microsoft Edge, and Cortana),” Microsoft said in a blog post.

In addition to the Windows 10 updates, Microsoft’s providing some updates to Office today. For the Office 2019 release, Microsoft will also be dropping support for the MSI installer in favour of the Click-to-Run installer, with previews set to start shipping in the second quarter of 2018. With Office 2019, Microsoft is cutting the period of extended support from 5 years to 2 years as well, cutting the total support time period from 10 years to 7. But the big surprise? Office 2019 will only work in Windows 10.

Elsewhere, Microsoft is updating the system requirements for its Office ProPlus service. As part of the updated system requirements for ProPlus, Microsoft will no longer support any Windows 10 LTSC release, Windows Server 2016 or older, and Windows 8.1 or older after January 14, 2020.

The latest updates to Windows 10’s servicing is part of Microsoft’s continued Windows as a Service push. Microsoft cited “significant progress” for existing customers after upgrading to Windows as a Service with Windows 10, and the additional support of 6 months should lure in more organizations still on the verge of transitioning to Windows 10. And from the looks of things, Office 2019 isn’t too far away, though details on the new features and enhancements remain a mystery.

Tagged with Windows 10, Windows 10 Education, Windows 10 Enterprise