Aptivi<p><strong>The reason behind H1 and H2 release names for Windows 10/11 updates</strong></p><p>When Windows 10 was unveiled to us on July 2015, new biannual updates were titled with the season names. This was an older form of titling the biannual Windows updates that used to be released each half of the year. The plan went like this:</p><ul><li>Windows 10 updates that were released in the first half of the year would have the “Spring” update.</li><li>Windows 10 updates that were released in the second half of the year would have the “Fall” update.</li></ul><p>For example, a Windows 10 update that was released in the second half of 2017 (October 17th) was called the 2017 Fall Creators Update. In the contrary, an update that was released on April 27th, 2018, was called the 2018 Spring Update.</p><p>Microsoft, through the <a href="https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20250805-00/?p=111435" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Old New Thing blog</a> hosted by Raymond Chen, has finally explained why they had switched version naming from the old system that relied on season names to the new system that used the H notation that indicates the year half (H1 for the first half and H2 for the second half). Apparently, the old system had a bias to those who are living in the northern hemisphere.</p><p class=""><strong>Tip:</strong> While the northern hemisphere has the warmest months of June, July, and August with seasonal lag, the southern hemisphere has the warmest months of December, January, and February. As a result, the fall season in the northern hemisphere is the spring season in the southern hemisphere.</p><p>During an internal meeting, a senior executive asked if the organization had any biases, and a colleague that was born in the southern hemisphere raised his hand. The colleague stated that the naming scheme that Microsoft used to rely on was biased to those living in the northern hemisphere, and, thus, not inclusive to those living in the southern hemisphere.</p><p>As a response to this conference, newer updates were named after the year half indicator, such as 20H2, 21H1, 21H2, and 22H2. This naming scheme was then moved to Windows 11, and the upcoming update will have the version of 25H2.</p><p><strong>This is a reminder that we need to be inclusive when naming the releases or the updates.</strong></p><p><span></span></p><p><a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://officialaptivi.wordpress.com/tag/microsoft/" target="_blank">#microsoft</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://officialaptivi.wordpress.com/tag/microsoft-windows/" target="_blank">#MicrosoftWindows</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://officialaptivi.wordpress.com/tag/news/" target="_blank">#news</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://officialaptivi.wordpress.com/tag/tech/" target="_blank">#Tech</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://officialaptivi.wordpress.com/tag/technology/" target="_blank">#Technology</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://officialaptivi.wordpress.com/tag/update/" target="_blank">#update</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://officialaptivi.wordpress.com/tag/windows/" target="_blank">#Windows</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://officialaptivi.wordpress.com/tag/windows-10/" target="_blank">#Windows10</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://officialaptivi.wordpress.com/tag/windows-11/" target="_blank">#Windows11</a></p>