Say you want to make an update to your software as a regular update or as part of beta-testing your software publicly. Then this figure represents a rather typical comparison result:
Figure B: Major update to Windows Software
Full Installation Version | 1570 kB |Executable Patch File | 134 kB |
Plain Patch File | 99 kb |
Unless you add large new components, the file size of the patch starts to remain at a constant rate from some point. This is because most changes in the executable arise from typical linker optimizations and moved global variable references, that need to be changed in update process. But rewriting complete routines is only a few bytes compared to that overhead introduced by other means. So this result is very typical with just any minor update.
Consider the savings in time and money and the convenience for your customers. You could e.g. offer them to be subscribe to a special email update mailing lists or offer them small patch updates that upgrade their software without requiring re-installation.
With such small updates, you may release more test versions during your product beta test, react much quicker on their bug reports and keep your testers motivated this way. And you all surely know how essential testers are for quality control and development! Using BinPatch will shorten your beta testing as well as improving its results.