Upgrade
Encyclopedia
The term upgrade refers to the replacement of a product with a newer version of the same product. It is most often used in computing
Computing
Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...

 and consumer electronics
Consumer electronics
Consumer electronics are electronic equipment intended for everyday use, most often in entertainment, communications and office productivity. Radio broadcasting in the early 20th century brought the first major consumer product, the broadcast receiver...

, generally meaning a replacement of hardware
Hardware
Hardware is a general term for equipment such as keys, locks, hinges, latches, handles, wire, chains, plumbing supplies, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts. Household hardware is typically sold in hardware stores....

, software or firmware
Firmware
In electronic systems and computing, firmware is a term often used to denote the fixed, usually rather small, programs and/or data structures that internally control various electronic devices...

 with a newer or better version, in order to bring the system up to date or to improve its characteristics. Contrast update
Patch (computing)
A patch is a piece of software designed to fix problems with, or update a computer program or its supporting data. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, and improving the usability or performance...

 and replace. See also laptop upgrade.

Audiophile
Audiophile
An audiophile is a person who enjoys listening to recorded music, usually in a home. Some audiophiles are more interested in collecting and listening to music, while others are more interested in collecting and listening to audio components, whose "sound quality" they consider as important as the...

s use the word upgrade to describe the replacement of a product with a better-quality product with the aim of bringing enhancements to sound quality.

Computing and consumer electronics

Common hardware upgrades include (for example) installing additional memory (RAM
Ram
-Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another...

), adding larger hard disks, replacing microprocessor cards or graphics cards, and installing new versions of software. Many other upgrades are often possible as well.

Common software upgrades include changing the version of an operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

, of an office suite
Office suite
In computing, an office suite, sometimes called an office software suite or productivity suite is a collection of programs intended to be used by knowledge workers...

, of an anti-virus program, or of various other tools.

Common firmware upgrades include the updating of the iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...

 control menus, the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

 dashboard, or the non-volatile flash memory that contains the embedded operating system
Embedded operating system
An embedded operating system is an operating system for embedded computer systems. These operating systems are designed to be compact, efficient, and reliable, forsaking many functions that non-embedded computer operating systems provide, and which may not be used by the specialized applications...

 for a consumer electronics
Consumer electronics
Consumer electronics are electronic equipment intended for everyday use, most often in entertainment, communications and office productivity. Radio broadcasting in the early 20th century brought the first major consumer product, the broadcast receiver...

 device.

Users can often download software and firmware upgrades from the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

. Often the download is a patch
Patch (computing)
A patch is a piece of software designed to fix problems with, or update a computer program or its supporting data. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, and improving the usability or performance...

—it does not contain the new version of the software in its entirety, just the changes that need to be made. Software patches usually aim to improve functionality or solve problems with security. Rushed patches can cause more harm than good and are therefore sometimes regarded with scepticism for a short time after release (see "Risks"). Patches are generally free.

A software or firmware upgrade can be major or minor and the release version code-number increases accordingly. A major upgrade will change the version number, whereas a minor update will often append a ".01", ".02", ".03", etc. For example, "version 10.03" might designate the third minor upgrade of version 10. In commercial software
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...

, the minor upgrades (or updates) are generally free, but the major versions must be purchased. See also: sidegrade
Sidegrade
A sidegrade is a term used with computer software to refer to transferring a piece of software to another operating system than that for which the software was originally licensed, without necessarily changing the version of the software....

.

When one replaces a product made by one supplier with a product made by a different supplier, one carries out a competitive upgrade.

Risks

Although developers produce upgrades in order to improve a product, there are risks involved—including the possibility that the upgrade will worsen the product.

Upgrades of hardware involve a risk that new hardware will not be compatible with other pieces of hardware in a system. For example, an upgrade of RAM may not be compatible with existing RAM in a computer. Other hardware components may not be compatible after either an upgrade or downgrade, due to the non-availability of compatible drivers
Device driver
In computing, a device driver or software driver is a computer program allowing higher-level computer programs to interact with a hardware device....

 for the hardware with a specific operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

. Conversely, there is the same risk of non-compatibility when software is upgraded or downgraded for previously functioning hardware to no longer function.

Upgrades of software introduce the risk that the new version (or patch) will contain a bug
Software bug
A software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's...

, causing the program to malfunction in some way or not to function at all. For example, in October 2005, a glitch in a software upgrade caused trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange
Tokyo Stock Exchange
The , called or TSE for short, is located in Tokyo, Japan and is the third largest stock exchange in the world by aggregate market capitalization of its listed companies...

 to shut down for most of the day. Similar gaffes have occurred: from important government systems
to freeware
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...

 on the internet.

Upgrades can also worsen a product subjectively. A user may prefer an older version even if a newer version functions perfectly as designed.

Audiophile

The hobby of audiophilia offers a rich playground for potential upgraders and tweakers.

Audiophile
Audiophile
An audiophile is a person who enjoys listening to recorded music, usually in a home. Some audiophiles are more interested in collecting and listening to music, while others are more interested in collecting and listening to audio components, whose "sound quality" they consider as important as the...

 circles use the noun "upgrade" to describe the replacement of a system component or components, for example a low quality or low powered electronic amplifier
Electronic amplifier
An electronic amplifier is a device for increasing the power of a signal.It does this by taking energy from a power supply and controlling the output to match the input signal shape but with a larger amplitude...

, with a better quality or more powerful amplifier from the same or different manufacturer's product range ostensibly to improve on the quality of reproduced music from a hi-fi system.

However, the description generally excludes the modification to the sound using different types of interconnect cables, or the replacement of electronic components within the system components by the owners in order to customise the sound, as this would constitute DIY or tweaking
Tweaking
Tweaking refers to fine-tuning or adjusting a complex system, usually an electronic device. Tweaks are any small modifications intended to improve a system....

.

The word "upgrade" has spawned the noun upgraditis, used to describe a person's obsession, compulsion, or addiction (akin to a disease) to perpetually changing his/her hi-fi system components in order to obtain ever greater enjoyment and fulfillment through enhancements to sound quality. Although the original aim is to improve the sound quality, persons with extreme manifestations of this disorder may completely lose sight of the objective and make frequently and highly expensive component changes for their own sake.

See also

  • Adaptation kit upgrade
    Adaptation kit upgrade
    An Adaptation kit upgrade is a way of updating Microsoft's Windows Mobile.It is a collection of updates, fixes and enhancements to the tools delivered to hardware device manufacturers to create or update devices based on a specific platform.This term is used by Microsoft to designate the current...

  • Advanced Packaging Tool
    Advanced Packaging Tool
    The Advanced Packaging Tool, or APT, is a free user interface that works with core libraries to handle the installation and removal of software on the Debian GNU/Linux distribution and its variants...

  • Macintosh Processor Upgrade Card
    Macintosh Processor Upgrade Card
    The generically named Macintosh Processor Upgrade Card was a central processing unit upgrade card sold by Apple Computer, designed for many 68040-powered LC and Performa model Macintoshes. The card contains a PowerPC 601 CPU and plugs into the 68040 CPU socket of the upgraded machine...

  • Source upgrade
    Source upgrade
    In the jargon of computer programming, a source upgrade is a modification of a computer program's source code, which adds new features and options to it, improves performance and stability, or fixes bugs and errors from the previous version...

  • Windows Anytime Upgrade
    Windows Anytime Upgrade
    Windows Anytime Upgrade is an upgrade method offered by Microsoft and selected licensed resellers for users who wish to upgrade any non-Ultimate edition of Windows Vista or Windows 7. The Windows 7 version of Windows Anytime Upgrade introduced many improvements, notably the upgrade time has been...

  • Yellow dog Updater, Modified
    Yellow dog Updater, Modified
    The Yellowdog Updater, Modified is an open-source command-line package-management utility for RPM-compatible Linux operating systems and has been released under the GNU General Public License. It was developed by Seth Vidal and a group of volunteer programmers...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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