Google sets up enterprise 'Apps Tuesday'

Google has introduced a new feature release schedule for its Apps suite in a bid to appease systems administrators of larger IT shops.

The company created two feature release tracks for administrators: an ad-hoc track that would allow subscribers to continue to receive new features as they were rolled out; and a new track that scheduled releases to be published on Tuesdays.

The scheduled option effectively delayed the publishing of new features to "allow time for administrators to familiarise themselves with new features using a test domain, educate support staff, and communicate any changes to their users", the company said in a blog post.

"We're always excited to bring you the newest features as soon as they're ready, but we've heard from some customers with complex IT environments that they'd like more notice before new features are deployed to their users," Google said.

"To address these requests, we're happy to announce a new feature release process aimed at helping you balance the benefits of accessing improvements as soon as they're ready with the task of integrating the changes into your organisation."

Google noted that new features in Gmail, Contacts, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Sites would adhere to the scheduled release process.

Only organisations that had enabled "pre-release features" in the Google Apps control panel would continue to get new features as soon as they were ready.

Microsoft ran a similar monthly schedule for its security updates which was known as 'Patch Tuesday'.