To the surprise of many, Microsoft announced on September 6th, 2019, that it will retire its Windows Analytics services in favor of Desktop Analytics. While the reality of Desktop Analytics (DA) replacing Windows Analytics was expected at some point, the timing is surprising as Desktop Analytics is still in Public Preview and the deadline is in just 4.5 months.
To get customers ready, Microsoft is encouraging everyone to start evaluating Desktop Analytics now because new customers will no longer have access to Windows Analytics Upgrade Readiness and Device Health once DA becomes generally available. Customers using “Update Compliance” in their Azure portal already can continue to do so — even after January 2020.