Update Deployment for Visual Studio and the .NET Framework

Why this Blog?

The intention of this blog is to help give the interested public some view into the complexities of servicing Visual Studio and the .NET Framework. Other blogs exist on the subject, and this blog is by no means official or authoritative. Rather, this blog represents the personal views of its author where that author is in the unique position of being responsible for the deployment of updates for Visual Studio and the .NET Framework.

Vision

I have a vision statement up on my wall. It says this: "Deliver the right updates to the right customers at the right time."

About the Role: Update Deployment PM

In the bad old days, before specialized update deployment program management, it was the responsibility of the update release manager to deploy their own updates. And in a sense, things haven't really changed so much from the bad old days, except that they have. Let me explain.

About the Author

My name is Blair Neumann and I am the Microsoft Program Manager in charge of update deployment for the Developer Division Customer Product-lifecycle Experience (DD.CPX) team. That's a long way of saying that I am the person in charge of getting product updates (service packs and hotfixes) for Visual Studio and the .NET Framework into distribution channels like Windows Update, Microsoft Update, and the Microsoft Download Center. Okay, that was longer.