I am a bit confused about major Windows 10 builds like RS1 and RS2 and updates. For example, I see MS releasing Cumulative Updates for both RS1 and RS2, but they fix different things and have different change logs / release notes. Why is that? Wouldn't original RS2 release already have all the bug fixes for bugs that are currently found in RS1 builds? Unless of course MS rewrites all features and OS itself from scratch, it doesn't seem to make sense that RS1 still has bugs that were fixed months ago in RS2. However, if major releases like RS2 are only feature releases, then change logs would be at least somewhat similar, since both RS1 and RS2 would have similar bugs, although somewhat different since RS2 would have more features, but change logs are very different... If RS2 does not contain bug fixes that are present in RS1, then I guess each new major build of Windows 10 is buggier than the one before it?
That's a different OS altogether, but Windows 10 is Windows 10, although I do see your point. I'm just wondering what really is the most stable, least buggy Windows 10 build out there. I am sticking to 1607 14393 because that's the build MS decided to use for LTSB, which it tries to exclusively reserve for major corporations by limiting introduction of new features and focusing on bug and security fixing.
Every build that doesn't have a LTSB release will only be supported for 2 years, builds that have been released as LTSB are supported for 5 + 5 years, afaik.
They're morphing this OS. Parts of the OS get tweaked between builds, so it's like replacing some of the cake and using most of the same frosting, with some changes. They're making small deep changes a little at a time that breaks stuff sometimes, but a fix is usually soon found. That's why the CU's are different for 1607 and 1703; because the "cake" is different. Also, all Windows 10 versions are stable (barring driver or networking issues) going back to 10240. The only major problems were things like the Anniversary Update driver signing policy update that disallowed a lot of drivers, along with forced nvidia and other updates that kept killing machines. Whatever version is just enough for what you need is best for you and only you know what that is, even if it's 1607 LTSB. 1607 is a good version to stick with if I had to stick to one. Nothing wrong with 1703 though, so far. Also, every major build is a crap shoot to see if everything still works afterwards. You have to find a fix for stuff sometimes, but such is the nature of software as a service, except LTSB. I use Windows 10 Pro x64 on everything I have. I know it's not really Pro. I will never have the control that LTSB has. LTSB is the real Pro. Even though I don't use the store, 10 Pro is enough for what I need. I'm still running 1607 on my gaming machine though. It works well now and I'm afraid to install 1703 on it even though I will eventually.
With MSMG Toolkit you can make Pro be a lot like LTSB and even have Edge. It won't be exactly the same thing, but close-enough.