Depends entirely on the installation technology, company developing the software and the whim of the person using the terms. Generally though, updates stay within a product version (for example, hotfixes), while if you want to move to a later version, you would upgrade.
So you might install an update (hotfix) for Office 2007, or you might upgrade to Office 2010.
This page gives the definition according to Windows Installer: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa370579(v=VS.85).aspx
Great Question.
It is important to distinguish between 'Development' and 'R&D.'
R&D = experimenting with ideas/technology that may never actually
become a product.
Software Development = working on a product/service desired by a real
customer.
R&D is all about developing new solutions for a specific problem
domain. The end result of this endeavor is something that I call
"research toys".
To be a software product, the research toy has to be completely
re-implemented. Failure to do so will result in a product that
appeals to an increasingly elite and erudite user base. The problem
here is that this elite and erudite user base typically has no money
to spend.
To be a successful, the software product must be a faithful
re-implementation of the research toy, accessible and loved by the
commodity user. To be truely remarkable, the software product must
simultaneously appeal to the elite and erudite user.
Research implies scholarly or scientific inquiry and tends to be aimed
at the greater good of an industry or society at large. Product
development has different motivations and outcomes: it is driven by
the potential for profit. The state of product development is healthy.
The state of lighting research is not.
We need a collective commitment to the greater good to answer such
questions. But this is not just philanthropy; the answer would address
a practical goal. Light sources that are spectrally tuned to the
visual system will be more sustainable. They will use less energy by
generating their output in regions of the spectrum where the visual
system responds most strongly, resulting in better seeing for building
users. This example reinforces the difference between research and
product development.
All development of new products to be R&D. I think some of you are
confusing pure, abstract science with R&D. They aren't the same. R&D
can be very product oriented. Scientists may be looking for a vaccine
to cure AIDs. That is a very specific task to create a product to sell
and it is certainly R&D and not just guys sitting around messing
about with whatever they feel like.
R&D in the technical world = finding ways to do something interesting
or important, using known techniques and technology as a starting point.
Software development = finding ways to do something interesting or
important, using known techniques and technology as a starting point.
Virtually all software development is the D part of R&D. Some times,
there are very little R in Software 'R&D'. Some times, there are pretty
large R in Software 'R&D'.
It depends on several measurement. For example,
Managing software development for various sized companies, R&D takes
on different meanings depending on the size of the company, customer
base, etc.
In a small software company, with only a hand full of employees, the
line between R&D software and Production software is usually very
small. What one day is a software R&D project, may the next day be
shipping as production software to customers.
As software companies grow, and they have one or more production
software lines, they tend to create greater separation between R&D
software projects and Production software products (for obvious
reasons). This R&D gap is typically created to create greater
diversification in their software products for tomorrow, while
allowing the production software development to continue to produce
today.
This is not to say that the production software products won't get
innovative new features. The production software developers are
typically just as "sharp" as the R&D developers. In fact, at one
company, we had an enrichment program that allowed production software
developers to rotate in and out of R&D projects. This not only added
fresh brain power to the R&D teams, but in many cases, the production
developers came back with new ideas on producing better production
level software.
D = "knowing where you want to be at the end", and R is because "at
the beginning of the project, you don't know what will be required to
get there"
R&D are the lucky folks who get to do anything they want without
accountability.
Good research/resource on this topic :
Best Answer
I'm not a native English speaker either. But according to Wikipedia:
So, the nomenclature seems to be totally confused, even though corner case seems to mean something a bit different (a combination of values) than edge and boundary cases, which are definitely synonymes. It's probably safe to say that edge, corner, and boundary cases are the same thing in common speech. Someone could mean to say different thing by each of them, but there's hardly any common agreement.
Your 1) and 2) are what you wrote, 3) is a edge/boundary case, 4) is a base case, and 5) is a special case.