International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887) Volume 52– No.12, August 2012 20 Analysis of the Concerns Associated with the Rapid Release Cycle Abhishek Kushwaha Indian Institute of Information Technology Allahabad Sushil Kumar Verma Indian Institute of Information Technology Allahabad Chandan Sharma Indian Institute of Information Technology Allahabad ABSTRACT Organizations have always considered the product release cycle an important factor in the development of the product. Most of the organizations have well defined release schedule in the documentation and are constantly updated whenever changed. There is a recent trend in the organizations to switch to rapid release cycle from earlier slower cycle. In this paper the probable concerns that can arise from these rapid schedules is discussed along with certain reasons that might be pushing the organizations to move to rapid cycle. Probable solutions and suggestions have been outlined that can help to reduce the severity of concerns, if applied largely and properly. Keywords Software updates, rapid release cycle,e-waste, updatevs. upgrade. 1. INTRODUCTION Software industry and some portion of electronics market has quickly moved to the rapid release cycle. The objective of staying leader in the market has always pushed the organizations to release new products quickly or at least pretend to release new product with not very useful minor changes which could otherwise be provided by over the internet updates in case of softwares. Caught in the frenzy, users are constantly expecting more from the company. This coupling of organizational objective and users’ expectations has been a major factor in driving the market but the recent trend seems to remove the bar on the speed limit. Weekly new products though paint a good picture of the market, but altogether give rise to certain concerns, which will further aggravate with time. Some major steps would be required to address the concerns in a broader view. 2. UPDATES AND UPGRADES A software update provides bug fixes and minor software fixes to add new features, improve security, patch over a potential flaw in a program’s code, fixing security vulnerabilities and improving the usability or performance. Software updates sometimes include new drivers to support the latest hardware such as printers, CD drives and DVD drives. A software update is sometimes called a software patch too. The updates are bundled with the software, till it is supported i.e.its lifetime. Since the users are not charged for these updates, the most cost effective way to distribute them remains the internet. The users can download the updates at their leisure. Release of Updates makes the market competitive and the developers are busy to find new solutions for the applications. Software update does not require full software packagere-installation. An upgrade is an entirely new version of aprogramorit can bes aid, are placement of a software product with a newer version of the same product. Upgrades are considerably more time consuming and can mean that user will need to reinstall everything that goes on top of them. It usually contains more functionalities and support more platforms than previous version. As an upgrade might require a complete re-install of the product, it might bring with itcertain new features and UIs which may worth the time. Also, upgrades are generally not free, since they contain features or UIs for which the users have not paid. Both the updates and upgrades are part of the business. New versions are required due to technological advancements, user demands, rolling out new functionalities, etc. Users buy the new versions to explore the new features, UIs and security offered by the product. It is these versions that generate revenue for the company. The vulnerabilities missed out during development phase are needed to be fixed, otherwise they can be exploited causing a probable loss to the user. To overcome such threats updates come in to picture, users are provided with free fixes and patches to make for companies inability to detect those beforehand. Updates are free, therefore they do not generate revenue for company, but helps in winning the consumer confidence that the product is well supported by the company and that the company is serious for giving a good return on users’ investment. Summarily, update: 1. Is the optimized way to fix the bugs. 2. Helps in fixing security vulnerabilities. 3. Improves the usability and performance. 4. Improves the user interface in more reliable and cheaper way. Upgrades: 1. Given to the previous user in cheaper rate, possibly.