Microsoft corrects Windows zero-day for May Patch Tuesday

Outside of the Patch Tuesday news, Microsoft recently refined its servicing model for two major software products.

Along with news that Windows Server 2022 was generally available in September, the company said it would discontinue the semi-annual channel — which received two feature releases a year — for the server OS, leaving just the long-term servicing channel, which issues a feature release every two or three years.

On April 20, Microsoft said it would scale back its cumulative update schedule for Exchange Server. The company had been issuing quarterly releases, which typically arrived in March, June, September and December. The company said customers found the releases came too frequently and made it difficult to stay current.

“We are moving to a release cadence of two CUs [cumulative updates] per year — releasing in H1 and H2 of each calendar year, with general target release dates of March and September. But our release dates are driven Because Exchange 2013 and Exchange 2016 are out of mainstream support, only Exchange 2019 will receive the next cumulative update in the second half of this year. The earlier Exchange products will continue to receive security updates “as needed” while in extended support, the company said.

Microsoft’s lack of communication related to the on-premises messaging platform continues to vex Exchange administrators. Until Microsoft released the cumulative update blog, administrators had been waiting for the next cumulative update, which was due in December, to arrive.

Also, the next version of Exchange Server remains a mystery. In September 2020, Microsoft said Exchange vNext would arrive in the second half of 2021, but the product remains in limbo along with Skype for Business Server and SharePoint Server.

“Are we going to see an on-prem Exchange Server or will Microsoft pull a fast one and do a hosted Exchange Server, like an Azure Exchange?” Goettl said.