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Clean or in-place installation: which brings more value?

Jacquelyn_Ekwueme's avatar
Nov 30, 2020

Important: Test Base for Microsoft 365 will transition to end-of-life (EOL) on May 31, 2024. We're committed to working closely with Test Base customers to provide support and guidance to make the transition as smooth as possible. If you have any questions or concerns, or need assistance, please submit a support request.

Test Base for Microsoft 365 recently changed one of the baseline tests it uses to validate applications against pre-released security updates. Previously, tests were executed using a ‘clean install’ approach. An application was installed on a clean virtual machine with an OS that was up-to-date with the latest cumulative update (LCU).

 

In the new sequence, termed the ‘in-place installation approach’, the application is installed on an in-market OS version that precedes the local cumulative update patch (the pre-released OS version) that we are testing against the application. This better mimics a use case of keeping existing users of apps productive and protected even when they receive platform upgrades for their devices.

 

The question we would like answered is, which test option works the best for all users? Would you prefer the clean install approach or the in-place installation approach?

 

A great metaphor is that of moving into a new home. Your home has a beautiful living area to be furnished, so you order a great couch. Would you rather take the couch out every time you clean the living area or would you get tools that do a great cleaning job while the couch remains where it is?

Taking the couch out represents a clean installation, where your application is fitted on a device for the first time.  Leaving the couch in and using the right tools to tidy up is the in-place installation, where your application is already fitted on the device prior to whatever improvements being done on the device platform. Which brings more value to you?

 

We would very much like your feedback. Please comment below!

Updated Apr 29, 2024
Version 7.0
  • Mark_Gill's avatar
    Mark_Gill
    Copper Contributor

    In-place installation brings massively more value to my organisation than clean install, though we would ideally like the option to run both.

     

    Consider our situation as an application vendor.  Let's say, for the sake of example, that our customer-base has millions of computers on which our product is installed, and perhaps thousands of new installations are made each day.  If we look at the first day on which the cumulative update is released (and let's assume it reaches all of these computers at the start of that day to simplify the scenarios), 99.9% of our customers' computers (the millions) will go through the in-place installation scenario and 0.1% (the thousands) through clean install.  The latter proportion will grow during the month, but to nowhere near the scale of the former.