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| This would have been nice... |
Upgrading when
traveling sometimes poses the same dilemmas and choices as upgrading your
software. Let me share with you my most recent travel upgrade experience, which
was somewhat disappointing. Initially I was excited to get the email about my
automatic upgrade to business class for my flight. As it was an early morning
flight I was looking forward to a decent breakfast. However, at the gate, the
agent told me that I owed them another $90 because I had run out of “stickers.”
I reluctantly paid for my “automatic upgrade” as the flight was over 4 hours
(which is my pain threshold for sitting in economy). Then, as I hungrily
anticipated my breakfast, I was told they were out and that they only had cereal
left as I was sitting in the last row. (Hint from a frequent flyer: Odd number American
Airlines (AA) flights start serving breakfast in the back, even numbered ones
in the front). Lastly, I took out my laptop only to find I could barely fit it
in front of me as the person ahead had lowered his seat way back. So, lessons
learned: I would have been better off keeping my exit row seat in economy,
which would have been less expensive, and actually provided more legroom and
workspace, something I’ll consider next time I’m offered an “automatic upgrade.”
Upgrading software can be a painful experience as well. I
would classify these upgrades into the following categories: Operating System
(OS) security upgrades, OS version upgrades, utility software upgrades and
application software upgrades.
Security upgrades
These
are a necessary evil. I say necessary because typically the longer you wait
with these updates, the more vulnerable you are for a new virus or other
malware product to hit your computer and potentially impact your system
integrity. Although remote, there is the possibility that the upgrade will interfere
with your other software, therefore, if it concerns a major upgrade, the vendor
of your application software should typically test and release an upgrade for
implementation. If the vendor takes too much time, you should do a risk
analysis to assess the chance that you could be hit by a new threat, which
depends on the firewalls and other measures you have in place to isolate your
system, and weigh that against the risk that the upgrade by itself could impact
system integrity. As a general rule, I suggest never allowing automatic
updates, rather do updates manually after looking at the risk, and always test
the upgrade first yourself.
OS version upgrades
This
is a major issue, especially as we are about to go through this once again with
Microsoft Windows 8. I would guess that the majority of institutions are still
on XP, which, if you include Vista, is three versions behind Windows 7. Why
change if something works? If there is no reason and/or need for additional functionality,
I would stay with the old version as any new version requires training,
testing, and impacts device integration as well. Some of the older peripherals
might not even be able to work due to a lack of driver support by the vendors
for new upgrades. Unfortunately, you might be forced to upgrade as the support
for the old OS expires, but my suggestion is to postpone this type of upgrade
as long as possible.
Utility software upgrades
Also
a major issue, although most vendors have become smarter after being burned a
few times. A notorious example of this used to occur every time a web browser such
as Internet Explorer was upgraded, which would break web viewing software. Most
software packages are starting to implement solutions that are as much as
possible platform independent. Make sure to test any upgrades and again,
postpone the change as long as possible unless you need specific new
functionality.
Application software upgrades
Some
new releases are known to have more bugs and/or be less reliable than their
previous versions. A general rule of thumb is to stay away from any release
that ends with a “0,” for example, but wait till the next level such as level
“x.1” or even later, to make sure that all bugs have surfaced and changes been made
and tested by someone other than yourself. If you use any “plug-ins” or other
applications that are tightly connected, for example a special processing
package, or a voice recognition application, make sure you are upgrading those
at the same time, or verify compatibility as they need to be modified as well
in many cases.
In conclusion, software upgrades in general are a necessary
evil, and, as with upgrading during my travels, I would not automatically
upgrade, but rather look at the alternative as you might be better off staying
where you are.
