The Microsoft Office team has changed the way that it delivers hotfixes for reported problems. This change comes in the form of cumulative updates and critical on-demand hotfixes. The objective is to deliver high-quality fixes in an acceptable time and on a predictable schedule.

Microsoft Office is moving away from the current priority-driven hotfix release model to a scheduled delivery model. In the scheduled delivery model, hotfixes are released every two months. This schedule creates more predictability for customers. Customers who need an emergency fix can request a shorter turnaround time for a hotfix.

Office has created the following delivery mechanisms to support the new approach.

Cumulative update (CU)

• Hotfixes are released every two months.
• Available hotfixes include the following:
  • Fixes for issues that meet hotfix acceptance criteria.
    These criteria include workaround availability, the effect on customers, reproducibility, the complexity of the code that must be changed, and so on. These criteria have not changed.
  • Any critical on-demand hotfixes that are currently released.
  • Any critical security or non-security updates that are currently released.

Critical on-demand hotfix

• A critical on-demand (COD) hotfix is available to address critical problems that cannot be handled by using the cumulative update delivery cycle. The issue must meet certain criteria before a COD hotfix can be released. These criteria include a lack of an effective workaround, a critical business effect, and so on.
• The hotfix is released on or before a mutually agreed upon date that is based on the customer’s need.
• This hotfix build can contain one or more fixes.

The cumulative updates for Office do not affect Office public updates, such as security updates or Office service packs.

How to obtain the latest Office cumulative update

Office 2003 Cumulative Update for October 2008

This cumulative update package was released on October 28, 2008.

For more information about the Office 2003 post-Service Pack 3 packages that are included in this build, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

2007 Office Cumulative Update for October 2008

This cumulative update package was released on October 28, 2008.

For more information about the 2007 Office post-Service Pack 1 packages that are included in this build, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: