Microsoft recently announced the release of Microsoft Edge Stable channel version 83. With this release, there will be Progressive Rollouts for Microsoft Edge. These gradual rollouts of major updates regarding Microsoft Edge Stable Channel will be spread over a few days. Microsoft mentions that the progressive rollouts will let the company monitor the upgrades and update Microsoft Edge across the organization.
Progressive Rollouts for Microsoft Edge
Progressive rollouts are nothing but updates that are released over a span of a few days. Instead of releasing all the updates at once, Microsoft decided to roll out the updates in batches. Microsoft mentions that with fewer updates rolled out at a time, the company will be able to closely monitor the health of these updates. By rolling out the updates over the course of several days, Microsoft can limit the impact of the issues that might occur with the new update.
The progressive rollouts for Microsoft Edge also mean that users will not get the stable version of Microsoft Edge on the first day itself. After the progressive rollouts for Microsoft Edge have started, the company will start collecting users’ feedback that will determine the update reliability. If the first batch of updates are successful and working fine, Microsoft will move on to releasing the next batch of updates. The successful updates will then be made available for more devices. In case these updates throw any error, Microsoft will stop rolling out the next updates, so that the issues do not affect more devices.
The company mentions,
“With Microsoft Edge release 83, Progressive Rollouts will be enabled for all Windows 7, Windows 8 & 8.1, and Windows 10 versions of Microsoft Edge. We will support Microsoft Edge on Mac as soon as it is ready.”
How will the progressive rollouts work?
Microsoft mentioned the process of progressive rollouts in its reference document:
“Each installation of Microsoft Edge is assigned an upgrade value. When we start rolling out incrementally, you’ll see the update when the value on your device falls within the upgrade value range. As the rollout progresses (within a few days), all users will eventually get the update. Browser updates with critical security fixes will have a faster rollout cadence than updates that don’t have critical security fixes. This is done to ensure prompt protection from vulnerabilities.”
With the progressive rollouts, enterprises will experience some changes too. Some of these are as follows:
- Enterprises that manage distribution via Microsoft Intune are registered for auto-updates. Progressive Rollout is used, and all the users will see an update in a few days.
- Enterprises that manage distribution through WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) or Configuration Manager are not registered for auto-updates. Administrators manage and apply the updates that will be available from the start. Progressive Rollout does not affect this process.
For more information on Microsoft Edge Stable channel 83, read the Release Notes.
