After the most expected WP7 update never came this week, Microsoft felt the need to give its users some explanations. They were delivered yesterday by Eric Hautala, General Manager of Customer Experience Engineering in a long post on Windowsteamblog.

He started his explanation based on the large WP7 network spread all over the world, stating that in these conditions “things can get a little complicated”.

The software update has a long journey to make from Microsoft’s office in Redmond up to every WP7 user.

Eric explained it all starts with the engineering team which improves some features of the soft or fixes some bugs. The resulting software has to be combined with the updated firmware from the handsets manufacturers. This combined effort is the final update that you should receive.

Continuing the journey, the package is sent to carriers which will conduct their own tests, Eric mentioning “it’s still their network, and the reality is that some carriers require more time than others”.

Next, “we schedule an update delivery to its customers through Microsoft Update”, and the update reaches the end user.

About the February update Eric said that the “overwhelming majority have been successful” and any issues that appeared were “quickly identified and fixed or provided workarounds for.”

Regarding NoDo, it seems the delivery day has moved in the second part of March.

“I believe it’s important that we learn all we can from the February update. So I’ve decided to take some extra time to ensure the update process meets our standards, your standards, and the standards of our partners.”

He also mentioned that this time delay will not propagate to other planned updates like Mango, which will appear this fall.

Eric’s letter provides some reassurance that “we have not been forgotten”, but at the same time avoids elegantly to give specific dates or numbers, failing in a way to dissipate the tension regarding this update.