Microsoft looks to be adding a handy new feature to Windows 10 that will hopefully help with installing updates. A leak of the build 10036 of Windows 10 shows an option to download updates from multiple sources, including other computers over a local network. P2P updates are not new to computing, but there is speculation that this laying the groundwork for more frequent Windows updates in the future.
The idea here is that Windows updates can be quite large, and this is compounded when there is more than one computer on the same network trying to update itself. Allowing the operating systems to update by copying files from other computers cuts down on the amount of downloading that needs to be done over the internet. It also speeds up the update process as a local network connection is usually much faster than an internet connection.
These P2P updates appear to be an opt-in feature, and is turned off by default. Which is a good idea for those who are a little more security conscious and don’t want to be automatically downloading unknown files over a public network. Microsoft could potentially change this to the default setting to encourage people to use it.
Now, it is not clear that the feature will make its way into the final RTM build of Windows 10; but it does provide encouraging signs that Microsoft is working on addressing its slow update schedule. With any luck, P2P updates will also spread to the other devices that Windows 10 is headed to as well.
[Source: Neowin]
