Technology

Launched at the turn of the century, Rituals Cosmetics now has over 670 stores worldwide. And in 2016, it began its migration to Apple solutions all across its business.

An Apple enterprise

In a move that demonstrates just how rapidly the world of retail is switching to Apple, Rituals' Joost van der Zwaan,IT Infrastructure Architect, told me:

Microsoft today issued the final security updates for Windows 10 Home 1703 and Windows 10 Pro 1703, the feature upgrades that launched 18 months ago.

Microsoft labels its feature upgrades in a yymm format to identify their purported production dates, or when the code was finished. But contrary to the mm part of the ID, the upgrades typically begin rolling out in April and October of each year.

Windows 10 1703 debuted April 5, 2017.

Customers running Windows 10 Enterprise 1703 or Windows 10 Education 1703 will continue to receive operating system patches for another year, with the last update for them scheduled for Oct. 8, 2019. Support for the upper-end SKUs (stock-keeping units) was recently extended by 12 months, from the once-standard 18 months to 30. Starting with Windows 10 Enterprise 1809 - currently in limbo after Microsoft halted distribution because of a flaw that deleted user files - the 30-month support will be awarded only to the xx09 upgrades, or those launched in the fall. But the additional Enterprise/Education support was handed out to all already-released-and-still-supported versions, including 1617, 1703, 1709 and 1803, as a kind of grandfather clause.

Microsoft has barred access to the latest Windows 10 feature upgrade, told those who did run it to keep their hands off their PCs, and warned people who had manually downloaded the build - but not yet installed it - to discard the disk image.

The primary problem, Microsoft conceded, was that the upgrade - designated 1809 in the firm's numeric format but also dubbed "October 2018 Update" - tended to erase all the files in the Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos folders.

"We have paused the rollout of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update (version 1809) for all users as we investigate isolated reports of users missing some files after updating," the company said in its usual understated fashion, in a support document. "If you have manually checked for updates and believe you have an issue with missing files after an update, please minimize your use of the affected device and contact us directly at +1-800-MICROSOFT."