Re:Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first ...
by modernerd on Wednesday June 03, 2020 @07:06AM
(#23402078)
Windows uses delta/differential updates for monthly “quality” updates[1] because it uses less bandwidth than big-blob updates.
For diffed updates to work efficiently Windows first works out what hardware/software you have. Then it can either:
1. Send info about the system to an update server and let the server decide what updates it needs.
2. Download a big manifest of all available updates (as you describe) and calculate locally what updates it needs.
Either way, Windows then has to make a request for updates specific to the system, at which point you reveal info about your software and hardware that you were attempting to hide in (2) anyway.
For the semi-annual feature updates, the process is more like you describe where there's a compatibility check then a large download (~3-6GB) containing all new features, even if your system won't be able to make use of all of them.
For diffed updates to work efficiently Windows first works out what hardware/software you have. Then it can either:
1. Send info about the system to an update server and let the server decide what updates it needs.
2. Download a big manifest of all available updates (as you describe) and calculate locally what updates it needs.
Either way, Windows then has to make a request for updates specific to the system, at which point you reveal info about your software and hardware that you were attempting to hide in (2) anyway.
For the semi-annual feature updates, the process is more like you describe where there's a compatibility check then a large download (~3-6GB) containing all new features, even if your system won't be able to make use of all of them.
[1] https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/update/p...