While all users, both enterprise and otherwise, will be using the same core operating system, for the first time, there will be different update policies for different kinds of user. The old fiction of not making feature changes to a shipping operating system is finally being put to bed.

Windows 10 will receive a steady stream of both feature updates and security updates. Security fixes will work the way they work today: published monthly, installed to most people's computers automatically. Feature updates, however, will have three different release speeds. At one end of the scale will be the consumer release: as soon as new features are available, they'll be distributed to users. This is how Windows will deliver continuous improvement the way platforms like Chrome OS and Windows Phone do already.

At the other end will be opting out of the feature updates entirely, for those situations where anything beyond a security fix isn't acceptable. This will be how Windows 10 handles mission-critical systems and environments where strict validation or certification are issues. It will also be the option for those organizations that don't want to risk introducing any unfamiliarity or interface changes.

There will also be an intermediate option—something that lets businesses keep up with new features but lets them control when those new features are rolled out, to ensure they won't disrupt business processes or otherwise happen at inopportune moments. Windows 10 will support mixed deployments, too, with different systems at different speeds. This will give admins a good opportunity to, for example, have a few machines running at the consumer pace and act as canaries for the rest of their organization, which might use the intermediate option for most machines and the "security fixes only" setting for some critical systems.