From an essay at howtogeek.com:
Did you know there's a version of Windows 10 that doesn't get big feature updates, and doesn't even have the Windows Store or Microsoft Edge browser? It's called Windows 10 LTSB, short for Long Term Servicing Branch.
There are several "branches" of Windows 10. The most unstable branch is the Insider Preview version of Windows 10. Most Windows PCs are on the "Current Branch", which is considered the stable branch. Windows 10 Professional users have the option to "Defer Upgrades", which puts them on the "Current Branch for Business". This branch will only get new builds of Windows 10, like the Anniversary Preview, a few months after they've been tested on the "Current Branch". It's like the stable, consumer branch–but slower moving.
But businesses don't want all their PCs to constantly get big updates, even if they are delayed a few months. Critical infrastructure like ATMs, medical equipment, and PCs that control machines on a factory floor don't need whizbang features, they need long term stability and few updates that will potentially break things. A PC operating medical equipment in a hospital room doesn't need new Cortana updates. That's what Windows 10 LTSB–the "Long Term Servicing Branch"–is for, and it's only available for the Enterprise edition of Windows 10.
While this is a branch of Windows 10, you can only get it by installing Windows from Windows 10 LTSB installation media. You can get other branches of Windows simply by changing an option within Windows 10 itself, but that isn't the case here.
(Score: 2) by Virindi on Friday December 15 2017, @06:08AM
I wouldn't mind. I run linux, and all my computers still have Debian Jessie on them. I haven't bothered to upgrade yet, because things work "fine". Maybe there are a few annoyances that could be fixed, but I learned long ago that software updates usually cause more problems than they solve. And if some individual component has a particularly annoying bug or missing feature, I update just that one component (too bad MS has worked hard to make sure people can't do that with Win10).