In case you missed it today was Patch Tuesday. We blogged about it a few days ago and discussed a few of the updates/fixes that were going to be included in it but there was an optional update in there we did not expect.
Included in today’s offerings was an update for the Zune PC software. You can read more about that update here – The Zune software stops responding when attempting to back up Windows Phone 7. It is also known as Microsoft Support Knowledge Base Article 2498092.
Now this is not a big deal actually because it is quite routine for Microsoft to include non-security related updates in a Patch Tuesday batch or sometimes they get posted on the other Patch Tuesday which comes later in the month and typically serves up the non-security related updates.
This could have also been just timing and the update was made available to Windows Update and just so happened to coincide with the Patch Tuesday updates.
So no matter the reason for this Zune Software update appearing today it has certainly created a reaction across Twitter that it could be related to the rumored Windows Phone 7 update that was rumored to come out on 7 Feb – which of course did not happen. Otherwise, myself and many other tech bloggers would not be writing about this possible connection between this update and the expected Windows Phone 7 update.
So why is everyone making this connection? That answer is associated with what this Zune Software update is updating.
Check out these lines from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2498092 – the article about the Zune update:
When you try to update Windows Phone 7, the Zune software may stop responding during the backup process.
Now when you update your Windows Phone 7 you do it using the Zune Software Phone Update menu:
Unfortunately, this page came up and said my phone was up to date – so no patch yet.
However, if there is an update the first step in the update process is for the Zune Software to backup your phone and its data. That is just in case anything might go wrong with the update – unlikely – but better to be safe right?
Now there is another line in the resolution segment of the 2498092 support article that adds a little more evidence that this update is a pre-cursor to the Windows Phone 7 update being made public. Here it is:
You will have to update the Windows Mobile Device Updater (ZuneWmdu.dll) component of the Zune software to version 4.7.1407.0 or later versions.
So this patch updates your Zune Software’s Windows Mobile Device Updater which has apparently caused some installations of the Zune Software to lock up as it backs up a Windows Phone 7 which is receiving an update.
That would be a bad experience as your applying that first update to your Windows Phone 7 now wouldn’t it?
So does this unexpected patch today mean that the Windows Phone 7 update is getting close? Who knows for sure but it sure is fun speculating like this isn’t it?
