14 DAY TRIAL // The Redmond-based technology giant Microsoft is usually releasing software updates on the second Tuesday of each month, also known as Patch Tuesday, but the company is now trying to adopt a completely new strategy.
Microsoft promised to offer security updates for the Modern apps installed in Windows 8 “more frequently,” trying to make sure that users and their data are on the safe side all the time when running its latest operating system.
“Our goal is to have a quick, transparent and painless security update process. With this in mind, we will deliver high quality security updates for Windows Store apps as they become available. This applies to Microsoft apps that are installed using the Windows Store and to apps like Mail, which are preinstalled with Windows 8 but updated using the Windows Store,” Mike Reavey, senior director, MSRC, Microsoft Trustworthy Computing, said.
“Providing security updates to these apps more frequently will allow us to add new functionality, fix issues and improve security. This will also help developers to avoid introducing new issues during the update process.”
Because transparency is essential for both users and Microsoft, the company promised to release security advisories for every single update that would address Windows Store apps.
In case you’re wondering, the upcoming patches won’t be delivered via the integrated Windows Update feature bundled into Windows 8, but through the Windows Store, so users would have to manually deploy the new versions, just like they normally do with any other Modern app.
App security updates can be released not only on Patch Tuesday, but also on any other day of the week, the company says.
In case the same vulnerability affects both the Modern version and the traditional desktop build of a specific app, Microsoft promises to offer the two patches at the same time, just to make sure all users stay on the safe side.