That quote twice indicates that this functionality will work only “if” you have Download Optimization enabled, and that’s where the privacy policy will can and should take exception: This feature is in fact enabled by default in Windows 10. “When enabled, your PC may also send parts of apps or updates that you have downloaded using Delivery Optimization to other PCs.” “ have Delivery Optimization enabled will be able to download new builds, OS updates, and app updates from other PCs on their local network as well as from other PCs on the Internet,” Microsoft’s Dona Sarkar explains in a post to the Windows 10 Feedback Hub. And this functionality is enabled by default. Now, in addition to getting Windows and app updates from other PCs on your local network, you can get them from other PCs on the Internet. And the fact that users could turn off this functionality softened the blow as well.īut the change we see in build 14915-which won’t be public until spring 2017, when the next major release of Windows 10 ships–could prove more problematic.

That solution was for branch offices that were connected to the home office via a slow, unreliable and expensive WAN, but the theory is the same: Download updates once (or at least as infrequently as possible) and then distribute them locally, saving bandwidth.Īs released in Windows 10 version 1511, Delivery Optimization was controversial, but given the other Windows 10 privacy FUD from last year, it was only a minor issue that received little press. If you’re familiar with Windows Server, you may recall that Microsoft started offering an on-premises take on this technology called Branch Cache several years ago.

The goal here is to lower bandwidth consumption: If you have multiple Windows 10 PCs on your network, each will not need to download every single update individually. And if the past is any guide, it will prove controversial with the tin hat crowd.ĭelivery Optimization debuted in Windows 10 version 1511, providing users with the option to download Windows and app updates from other PCs on their own network. But this build did include a fairly major change to how an existing feature called Delivery Optimization works. When Microsoft released Windows 10 build 14915 to Windows Insiders on the Fast ring last week, it was billed as having no new features.

Delivery optimization windows 10