Binary Rescue

Summer of Mac Love - Week 2 - Software Updates

July 18, 2008 – 4:51 pm

Certain things in life are unavoidable. The phrase “Death and Taxes” comes to mind. I would add a third item - software bugs. Every piece of software ever written has been imperfect. In fact it now seems that users have become an outsourced quality assurance department for software developers. Both Windows and OS X suffer from this malady. The difference between the two is the software update process. Prior to Windows Vista, the update mechanism for Windows was an Active-X plug-in to Internet Explorer. OS X on the other hand has always used a dedicated program, named appropriately enough, Software Updates. To be blunt the Windows update is a complete POS compared to OS X. You might have already guessed the winner this week, but keeping with the rules here is the breakdown.

The Facts

Windows 98, Me, 2000, and XP receive their updates via Windows Update or optionally Microsoft Update. Both Windows Update and Microsoft Update are simply an instance of Internet Explorer that automatically opens www.update.microsoft.com. An Active-X plug-in then scans your computer for updates for Windows only in the case of Windows Update and then downloads and installs the relevant updates. Microsoft Update adds the ability to update Microsoft Office 2003, Office XP, Microsoft Exchange Server, and Microsoft SQL Server.

Windows Vista utilizes a standalone application by the name of Windows Update to handle all the update process for Windows, Microsoft Office 2003, Office XP, Microsoft Exchange Server, and Microsoft SQL Server.

OS X uses an dedicated application, Software Update, to scan for, download and install updates to all Apple software on your computer.

For purposes of comparison I ran software updates for both OS X and Windows XP on my MacBookPro. The laptop was connected via wireless to my broadband connection. The entire update process for OS X took 3 minutes and 58 seconds to complete. Two updates totaling ~61MB in size were downloaded and installed. Aside from OS X this Mac was also scanned for updates to 9 additional Apple applications.

On this same laptop Microsoft Update running on Windows XP SP2 and MS Office 2003 took 1 Hour 27 minutes..The two updates downloaded were ~67MB in size.

The Criteria

• Capability: Does the tool perform the job?
  The update process includes scanning the computer for all relevant updates, downloading any updates, and completing the installation including required reboots. Failure rate should also be considered.
• Availability: Is the tool available and working correctly when it is needed?
  In both cases updates make changes to both operating system and several key software packages. The key question here is how often do the updates render the computer unusable and therefore unavailable.
• Usability: Is the user able to intuitively work the tool?
  How easily can the average computer user complete the update process. Is the process clearly and adequately described?
• Efficiency: Does the tool perform the job with as little effort as possible?
  The key metrics here are the number of clicks required to complete the process, the level of user interaction required and the time required to complete the process.

The Results

• Capability: Does the tool perform the job?
  In the last week 8 of the 10 Windows computers that I had to update experienced at least one failed update. In four of these cases, both Microsoft update itself had to be repaired. In the last four years of working on Macs I have seen exactly 1 update fail to install. This was remedied simply by clicking the “Retry” button.
• Availability: Is the tool available and working correctly when it is needed?
  Of the aforementioned 10 Windows computers, 1 of them had to be completely rebuilt from scratch to solve a Windows Update problem. This resulted in a 1.5 days of downtime. I have never seen a Mac that required a rebuild due to a failed software update.
• Usability: Is the user able to intuitively work the tool?
  This factor is much harder to compare as it is largely subjective. When evaluating usability I think of walking my mother through the process. As she has owned both PCs and now a Mac I have done this more than once on both platforms. With the Mac it was a 10 minute phone conversation. The same update process for the Windows computer spanned three hours and 3 separate phone calls. Much of the time was spent explaining what Windows was asking for when certain prompts appeared and translating technical jargon.
• Efficiency: Does the tool perform the job with as little effort as possible?
  To run the updates mentioned above on the Mac took 5 clicks, one password and 4 minutes. The same process in Windows XP took 12 clicks and 1 Hour 27 Minutes.

The Winner

For the average computer user software updates can be an intimidating task. A high level of trust is required when allowing the update process to make changes to your computer at the level the operating system updates operate. The fear is that something will go wrong and their computer will be reduced to a useless heap of metal, plastic and silicon. Unfortunately Windows does not do much to alleviate these concerns. Compared to OS X, the Windows update process is both less efficient and more prone to confusion. To make matters worse the failure rate for Windows updates is astoundingly high resulting in the realization of the users fears. The result in many cases is that updates are not applied. In fact in the business environment installing updates without extensive testing is a huge no-no. The end result is that the Windows computers are left increasingly vulnerable to malware. Take a look at week one for details on the malware problem on the Windows platform.

Again OS X wins this one.For those keeping score:
OS X 2 Windows 0