Note: This post originally appeared on GoWindowsGo.com, a fan site for Windows and Windows phone.

With Windows 8, Microsoft has a chance to make fundamental change to the way they update Windows.  In a day and age where consumer products are updated as fast as six months and rarely slower than a year, Microsoft is in the dark ages with a 3-year update cycle.  If Windows is going to continue to be the dominant computer operating system in the future, the time has come for change. 

When the original iPhone was released in June 2007, Apple ushered in a completely new era in mobile computing.  Smartphones are now smarter, easier to use, and have widespread adoption.  Apple also ushered in another change to the mobile ecosystem we now take for granted: yearly software updates.  We can now expect to see a new iOS detailed each and every year in June and released sometime in the fall.  Apple looks at itself as a mobile devices company, and it updates the iPad in the same timeframe as it updates the iPhone and iPod touch.  Each and every year the iPad receives all of the iOS improvement goodies that the iPhone gets.  Even OS X is moving to a yearly update model, with Mountain Lion coming out this summer – exactly a year after Lion.  Microsoft acknowledged the fast paced world of mobile computing when Windows Phone 7 was released in late 2010.  Followed by a major update this past fall and the expected Windows Phone 8 update this fall, there’s no doubt that Microsoft understands the need for a least a minimum yearly update. 

Which brings us to Windows 8 and Microsoft’s tablet strategy. 

Microsoft chose a different path from Apple for Windows 8 tablets.  Instead of moving their mobile phone OS up to fit the table hardware, they decided to move the desktop OS down to tablets (and apparently phones too, if the rumors about Windows Phone 8 are true).  What’s left up to our imagination is how Microsoft plans to keep Windows 8 fresh.  If Microsoft decides to keep the current 3 year update schedule, I’m not sure the tablet market bodes well for the Redmond giant.  Apple and Google will continually update iOS and Android, leaving Windows 8 and the new Metro environment in a perpetual 1.0 state.  In the mobile market, Microsoft needs to constantly iterate to catch up to, and surpass, the quality of iOS.  Apple has built a mature platform and Google is slowly getting there as well.  A 1.0 product can’t stay in the market for 3 years and expect to compete successfully in the long term. 

Microsoft is so tied to its business customers and a well planned, long, and transparent release cycle, they are losing the consumer mindshare.  Apple and Google keep excitement to their platforms high by constantly updating them.  Microsoft doesn’t have that level of excitement around their desktop and tablet OS, and they need that excitement back to hold onto the market they captured in the mid 90’s. 

The solution lies in the most unintuitive place: Linux. 

Yes, Linux.  Ubuntu Linux to be specific.  No, I’m not suggesting that Microsoft build Windows on top of Linux or Windows Phone on top of Android.  Rather, I suggest that Microsoft adopt the updating model that the most popular Linux distribution in the world uses.  

Hear me out. 

Ubuntu updates on a 6-month cycle, with October and April releases.  Every three years, an April release is tagged a Long Term Support (LTS) release.  Each of the releases is supported 18 months with bug fixes and security updates.  For the LTS release, Ubuntu offers the same bug fixes and security updates, but for 3 years on the desktop (and 5 years if you grab the server version). 

I’m not suggesting that Microsoft move to such an aggressive update cycle for Windows.  What I am suggesting is a 1-year to 18-month update cycle.  To appease the business customer, every major release (i.e. Windows 8.0, 9.0) can be approximately 3 years apart, and can be supported for the normal Windows support cycle.  The shorter release cycle will maintain the excitement around Windows 8 and keep consumers interested.  

Do I think that Microsoft will follow that path?  Sadly, I don’t.  I think there’s a business-first mindset at the company that the Redmond giant is struggling to break.  I don’t see Microsoft surprising the skeptics this year, however very few could have predicted the direction that they went with Windows Phone.  Maybe there’s a trick up their sleeve after all.  

What do you think?