Microsoft has had a problem naming its Windows 10 feature updates for the past few years. And while I can now confirm that the real name of the “Redstone 4” update is not the Spring Creators Update, I think it’s fair to say that the name problems continue.

As tech enthusiast blogs (like Neowin) are starting to report, the real/new name of RS4 is “the April Update.” Yes, really. Cue  sadtrombone.wav.

I’ve been waiting to confirm this name—sort of, I had heard it was the “April 2018 Update”—for several weeks. You may note that I’ve been writing and saying that “Spring Creators Update” isn’t correct. And thank God for that. But the new name? It’s just as stupid.

Windows 10 feature updates are really Windows 10 version upgrades. So when you install the April update, as RS4 is now called, you are really upgrading your PC to Windows 10 version 1803. That name, “Windows 10 version 1803,” contains everything you need to know. It is a new Windows 10 version. And it was finalized in March (03) 2018 (18).

Microsoft, of course, has been pretending that Windows 10 version upgrades are somehow exciting or interesting to the general public, so they’ve been using fun marketing names for each. The first major upgrade to Windows 10 (which, yes, was the second upgrade), for example, was called the Anniversary Update because—wait for it—it was finalized about a year after the first version. The Creators Update was a last minute choice that has dogged Microsoft ever since. I know they wish they could take that one back. Despite using the name for the subsequent upgrade too. Cough.

Anyway, with Microsoft shifting Windows 10 from pretend excitement to maintenance mode, I had kind of hoped that the cooler heads in the Azure/Server group would force the Windows 10 team to use their naming convention. Which—-wait for it—is to use that Windows 10 version 1803 naming style. Though they add a comma for some reason. Like Windows 10, version 1803. Ah, consistency.

And… maybe they will. Just not for this release.

In any event, this April Update name is consistent with how Xbox names its system updates. And that’s too bad because this kind of name is also dumb. Yes, the April Update is (sort of) shipping in April this year. But then, Microsoft plans to ship an April update every year. What are they going to call next year’s update? The April Update 2?

No. If Microsoft sticks to this naming convention—and I hope they will not—they will simply call it—wait for it—the April Update. Again. Because, yes, that is what Xbox does.

If only there were a clear way to identify these updates. If only.