FAQ Overview
Common questions about the Early Adopters program answered!
What kind of patches are being applied? Is this beta software?
The only patches we'll apply are regular releases that have already been through the vendor's testing process. These are production software releases that are not expected to have major problems--they're just newly released, so we want to make sure they don't break any critical workflows or introduce changes that we should document for the community.
Will the patching interrupt my work?
Patches will be distributed outside of core business hours: either overnight or before the start of business. You are most likely to encounter the process first thing in the morning if your computer has been offline overnight and only catches up with the patching process at the start of the workday.
Applications like Zoom and Chrome may quickly restart. Zoom will not interrupt anything in progress, and in Chrome you can go to History > "Restore all tabs" to get back where you were. Application updates may take up to 10 minutes if Office updates are included, otherwise they will be under 5 minutes over a moderately fast network connection. Operating system updates, due to their size and complexity, may take 20 - 45 minutes to complete.
Without a patching program, you don't know when the patches are coming. With a patch program, we hope to herd the patches into a narrow window where we can give you advance notice and allow you to plan.
What happens if the patch goes bad?
Just report the problem to us and we'll get right on it. We have the means to uninstall any updated application that behaves poorly and replace the older one. Operating system issues can be trickier to solve, but we'll work through it with you ASAP. And we'll know that we may need to defer that particular update so that problems with it are not widespread.
What software is being patched?
Microsoft Office for Mac, Google Chrome, Firefox (extended service release, or 'esr'), Zoom, GitHub Desktop, PuTTY, WinSCP, Microsoft Edge, Adobe Reader, Apple Safari, plus macOS 11 and later, and Windows 10 20H2 and later.
How do I enroll in or suspend/discontinue my participation in Early Adopters?
Instructions for joining and leaving the Early Adopters program are on the Early Adopters program service page.