Windows 10 to be the end of good old Patch Tuesday

Patch Tuesday has been a constant since Microsoft introduced the concept in October 2003 to reduce deployment costs for businesses. With the introduction of Windows 10 it seems the concept of Patch Tuesday will be dead to consumers as Microsoft will push out patches and updates as soon as they're ready.

Windows supremo Terry Myerson reckons the revised security patch rollout – effectively ditching the monthly Patch Tuesday – will shame Google.

"Google takes no responsibility to update customer devices, and refuses to take responsibility to update their devices, leaving end users and businesses increasingly exposed every day they use an Android device," Myerson said during his Ignite keynote in Chicago today. He was referring to the sometimes tardy rollout of operating system updates for Android gadgets.

"Google ships a big pile of [pause for effect] code, with no commitment to update your device," he added to chuckles from the audience.

For enterprise users little will change as they will remain on a monthly update cycle, which will be named Windows Update for Business. This new two-tier system will provide home users with patches first, allowing businesses to hold off and see what breaks before installing. Windows Update for Business will come with tools that enable IT managers to select which patches should be installed and when they should be automatically deployed.

Another change is that patches can now be distributed peer-to-peer over networks, which should come in handy for business networks with poor bandwidth.