mgarcia post the link to any article that stated that one update cycle crap and I'll concede defeat.
Straight from Joe Belfiore, VP of Microsoft back in October -
?We build an update for everyone, and certify them with carriers. They?re on a regular cadence as they are on the PC. If a carrier wants to stop an update, they can. But they will get it out on the next release.?
I'm reading that as when Microsoft releases NoDo, the carriers are required to push the pre-NoDo update. I also read that as the carrier is not forced to release both update simultaneously, because he doesn't say that.
?Updates are cumulative. If a carrier doesn?t get their testing done in time, the next push date comes and it goes out then."
The next "push date" is here, which is why people are getting the pre-NoDo update. If the carriers were forced to release both, they would have bundled them together. The carriers are pushing out the pre-NoDo update, so they're now able to hold back the actual NoDo update until the NEXT push date.. which at this time, is Mango, maybe Q3. The way I'm reading it, as long as the carrier is only one patch behind schedule, there's no problem.. and that wouldn't be a problem, but one patch behind schedule in WP7 world is a 6 month gap.
?Carriers could in fact block updates to sell you a phone. That can happen. We don?t expect that to happen. We are not going to push updates onto carrier networks that they have not tested. Microsoft is being very trusting of the carriers here. It?s very different from the situation with Windows Mobile, where every phone was very different and a full test pass was required on every phone. Here, there?s no impact on OEM code, network code, etc. There are upgrades that will require a full test pass. Most will not.?
If you can post an article that proves this info incorrect, I'll glady admit being wrong (and I hope that I am), but everything I have read said it works like this -
Patch 1 is released to carriers. Carrier blocks Patch 1.
Patch 2 is released to carriers. Carriers have to release Patch 1. Carriers block Patch 2.
Patch 3 is released to carriers. Carriers have to release Patch 2. Carriers block Patch 3.
and so on.
Cutting through the FUD about Windows Phone updates | ZDNet
Windows Phone 7 updates: can carriers block them?