Microsoft reckons the accursed Windows 10 October 2018 Update is finally fit for business

Only took five months, and look, 19H1's almost here

Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 10 1809, aka the Update of the Damned, is now ready for "broad deployment."

The announcement – which comes mere weeks before the next version of Windows 10, 19H1, is expected to put in an appearance – means that the Operating System update is ready to be unleashed on businesses.

Handy, because so far only the most ardent of Windows fans could describe the adoption figures of the disastrous update as anything better than flaccid. 1809, which Microsoft named the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, memorably debuted during a Surface event at the beginning of October before being unceremoniously pulled a few days later amid some distressing quality issues.

The update was quietly re-released in November and has been gradually plip-plopping onto compatible Windows 10 machines ever since. While Microsoft has kept schtum about just how many installations now have the update, estimates hover around the 26 per cent mark.

A far cry from the hysterical rate at which the April 2018 Update was emitted.

As of yesterday, the release is now on the Semi-Annual Channel (SAC), having been on the soon-to-be-culled Semi-Annual-Channel (Targeted) since November last year. According to Microsoft, customers should "begin deployment of each SAC release immediately to devices selected for early adoption and ramp up to full deployment at your discretion".

So start your engines. However, be sure to take a good, hard look at the support notes. There are a few issues even in the most recently patched version, bedevilling Internet Explorer 11 and systems with multiple audio devices. For the latter, Microsoft has said it is working on a fix to "be available in late March 2019".

Only a couple of days to go, team, so no pressure.

The most recent releases to the SAC have usually occurred three months or so before the next update. For this one it could be a matter of weeks. ®