This update performs diagnostics on the Windows systems that participate in the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program. The diagnostics evaluate the compatibility status of the Windows ecosystem, and help Microsoft to ensure application and device compatibility for all updates to Windows. There is no GWX or upgrade functionality contained in this update.Well, well, well. It seems that they do learn, after all. Slowly, to be sure, and at some great cost, but they do seem to be finally getting the message.
Other good news? This month's security updates also include further patches for the exploit employed by WannaCry, and were released to Windows XP concurrently with Windows 7, 8, and 8.1, and for free, rather than after several months' delay of trying to sell expensive extended support packages to XP customers. So I guess they learned that lesson, too.
It's nice to see tacit acknowledgement from Microsoft that they and their Windows 7 users don't still have the same relationship of trust and good will that existed just two years ago, but it's also a clear sign of how seriously that relationship has deteriorated. How badly must Microsoft have fucked this up, that a note promising a clean update, i.e. with no upgrade bullshit, is even necessary? How many Windows 7 users do you think will avoid installing these updates anyway, just to be "safe?" How many of them still have Windows Update turned off completely, thanks to Microsoft's GWX abuses?
Microsoft have a long, long way to go, yet, to get back into their customers' good graces. Considering that they haven't yet actually apologized for all the bullshit they've pulled in the last couple of years, it's fair to say that you haven't even really started to make their way back. They do seem to be thinking about it, though; I just hope they learn the real lesson of their XBO-X failure, though, and start working to earn redemption before it's too late, and not after.