An overview of the software update schedule for campus computers with a focus on what Early Adopters can expect when they join.
Overview
LITS endpoint management staff are always working to make sure MHC-owned computers are running the latest software versions. This improves computer performance and security. Read the article below to learn more about when software updates (called "patches") are released, tested in the Early Adopters program, and applied broadly to campus computers.
Patch cycles
The patch cycle starts up on Microsoft's "Patch Tuesday" -- the second Tuesday of each month. The Microsoft patches, plus the latest versions of the 3rd party applications that we're patching, plus any new macOS patches, will go into testing with Early Adopters.
The bulk of the patches will be available from Wednesday evening into Thursday morning. Then the patches will graduate to production the following week. This allows us to follow Microsoft's "Patch Tuesday," early in the month, with a reasonable verification period of our own before updates are made widely available. We are also testing and distributing roughly every other release from vendors who are on a two-week release cycle, such as Google Chrome and Zoom.
Microsoft's patches for Office on Mac is on a slightly different schedule: the Tuesday after the second Sunday.
Production patches run in the 3rd and 4th weeks (it's a pretty broad spread, because there's a ton of variability for computers being online and available), and patches are scheduled to run overnight for least disruption.
Add the patch calendar to your Google Calendar
We have a Google Calendar called Workstation Patching that can be added to your own calendar. We also add a note to the patch list that Early Adopters receive at the start of each month's cycle with information about not-yet-released but-soon-expected patches, like when we know that a new Zoom is scheduled for release on the Monday after Patch Tuesday, or when the Microsoft Windows Patch Tuesday is out of sync with the Mac Patch Tuesday.