Microsoft wants to change release notes for Windows again

Microsoft is now launching an investigation on a tedious topic: The Windows team is eager to learn how users are handling release notes about updates and vulnerabilities. The hope now is that improvements will be made in the future. At least that is the stated aim of the campaign. So far, one or more content comments have been published for each release.

There are several important overview pages for this, such as the release notes page for Windows updates and the update guide for details about vulnerabilities. In the meantime, however – contrary to what was usual for Windows 7 or Windows 8 and 8.1, for example – release notes are not always made available as quickly. The patch day example gives an idea of ​​the difficulties this poses for all those users who, for professional reasons alone, need to be well aware of all the changes. For example, on Patch Day in May, very few details were revealed about the updates to Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Microsoft didn’t publish a summary of the main changes from the developer’s point of view until patch day, called “highlights”. But they are so superficial that they are hardly worth reading. It says something like “Updates security for your Windows operating system” or “Updates to improve security when Windows performs basic operations”. The Windows team is rarely more specific in the knowledge base entries.

Information flow lacking

Some users have rightly criticized this. But now there could be another change, perhaps in the form of a return to the format of the original release notes with a fairly detailed list of the individual changes. Microsoft would therefore like to know from users why they read the release notes and how they use the information to, in its own words, better “understand” the users.

There is a link to the survey on Twitter. The Windows team writes, “If you’re using the Windows 11 and Windows 10 release notes, we need your opinion! Help us shape the next generation of documentation by completing the Windows Update release notes survey Your feedback is important to us! http://aka.ms/Windows/RelNotesSurveyThe survey itself then says, “We’d like to learn more about how to access the Windows Update Release Notes pages for Windows 10 (https://aka.ms/windowsupdatehistory), Windows 11 (https://aka.ms/windows11updatehistory) and the Security Update Guide (https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide) usage! Here are a few quick questions so we can get to know you better.”