Creators Update meets its maker: It's 1903 or bust for those clinging to Windows 10 1703

Two faithful Windows 10 versions are to be led out behind the barn by a sad-faced Microsoft engineer.

The software giant reminded customers this week that the bell had tolled for the original Creator's Update (aka 1703) with 1803, the Spring 2018 Update, not far behind. Microsoft warned admins in August that it would stop releasing security updates from yesterday, October 9.

The final quality update for all you 1703 holdouts arrived this week.

Meanwhile, those Home or Pro users on 1803 ignoring the increasingly shrill exhortations from their systems to upgrade will be unable to avoid them when the final run of patches arrives on 12 November.

Windows 10 marked the beginning of "Windows as a service", which meant that rather than a big OS update every few years, one would drop every six months, an inexplicably rapid cadence. 1703, released on 5 April, 2017, was a particularly big one, although the name was a bit odd.

The dozen or so users still wearing their Windows Mixed Reality headsets will remember the foray into the third dimension with 3D paint, while those creatives wielding a pen were also thrown a bone or two.

There was also a weird tying together of the Start Menu with Cortana, presumably as a way to get customers to use the unloved assistant. It would prove fruitless, however, and more recent versions of Windows 10 have seen Cortana gently shoved to one side.

Of course, Microsoft also came clean on all the telemetry it was slurping from users. But not so clean that it would allow all users to simply switch it off.

It was also around 1703 that those pesky quality issues began to surface in earnest as Microsoft called a halt to users manually updating their systems while it ironed out nasties found after the thing had been released.

Still, as we observed at the time, at least Microsoft hit the brakes before shoving broken tech out into the world. That would have been awful.

While the end has now come for all flavours of 1703, it is only Home and Pro (and Pro for Workstation) users of 1803, aka the April 2018 Update, that will see end of service on 12 November. Enterprise and Education users get an extra year.

As a reminder, as of September 2018, every "March" feature update gets a mere 18 months of love from Microsoft while Enterprise and Education users get 30 months of attention after a "September" update.

Version 1803 of Win 10 indicated that things were getting a bit wobbly somewhere within the Windows operation. Pulled on the eve of release due to a blue-screen-of-death (BSOD) bug, Microsoft nevertheless took the brakes off, despite a trickle of problems with SSDs and antivirus software, making the rollout the fastest in Windows 10's history.

The Windows 10 April 2018 Update lived on longer than Microsoft might have liked because, infamously, the wheels properly came off with 1809, the October 2018 Update.

While 1803's time has been short, its disastrous successor will enjoy a far longer life in the guise of Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019, which will be supported until 2029. Microsoft would, however, really like those not on Enterprise or Education versions of 1803 to make the move to 1903.

In the meantime, let us bid a final farewell to Microsoft's attempt to give its old workhorse some new cool new togs with the "Creator's Update" moniker.

No flowers. ®