Monday, May 11th 2009
Microsoft to Test Windows 7 Update System
Having propagated Windows 7 RC to a sizable amount of users, Microsoft has created an ideal environment to test the operating system's update system. To test it, Microsoft will release up to ten mock updates this week, starting from Tuesday. The updates do not affect the system in any way, except that they are used by Microsoft to test how the update system itself is able to deal with the various kinds of updates to the OS and its components, in various scenarios generated by people's different hardware configurations and software environments.
These however, won't be the first updates Windows 7 RC received so far. On May 7, Microsoft released a critical-update that fixes an important stability issue with the 32-bit version of Windows 7 RC. Most mock-updates will install automatically. A certain mock-update will also test a notification feature. This particular update will not install automatically, but rather the user will be prompted to install it (which is what is being tested). To decline from testing the updates, users must toggle Automatic Updates to a setting other than what the OS recommends. Under the hood, the mock-updates simply replace system files with their exact duplicates that are downloaded, hence the system isn't affected in any way. Tests such as these will help Microsoft come up with a much more stable OS when it finally releases.
These however, won't be the first updates Windows 7 RC received so far. On May 7, Microsoft released a critical-update that fixes an important stability issue with the 32-bit version of Windows 7 RC. Most mock-updates will install automatically. A certain mock-update will also test a notification feature. This particular update will not install automatically, but rather the user will be prompted to install it (which is what is being tested). To decline from testing the updates, users must toggle Automatic Updates to a setting other than what the OS recommends. Under the hood, the mock-updates simply replace system files with their exact duplicates that are downloaded, hence the system isn't affected in any way. Tests such as these will help Microsoft come up with a much more stable OS when it finally releases.