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Big Picture

Big Picture vs Windows Package Manager (winget)

Windows Package Manager (winget) is often used to update components like App Installer itself. It is a packaging/update mechanism more than a vendor control plane.

What winget is optimized for

Section titled “What winget is optimized for”
  • IT organizations standardizing on Windows-native packaging
  • Windows-native package management
  • Updating Windows components and applications

Where winget fits

Section titled “Where winget fits”
  • Great for organizations standardizing on Windows-native packaging
  • Potentially helpful as a downstream deployment mechanism if vendors adopt MSIX
  • Windows-native package management ecosystem

Where winget is not a replacement

Section titled “Where winget is not a replacement”
  • It does not provide vendor release governance across all customers
  • It’s not a vendor’s update decision service for “all customers, all channels”
  • It focuses on Windows-native package management, not vendor-to-customer release governance

How Big Picture differs

Section titled “How Big Picture differs”
  • Big Picture provides a vendor control plane for release governance across all customers
  • Big Picture offers explicit tenant policy + action decisions (AUTO_INSTALL, NOTIFY, MANAGED_BY_IT)
  • Big Picture combines release governance + update policy + licensing in one coherent control plane
  • Big Picture is designed around regulated downstream customers who require self-hosted artifact mirrors with signed metadata

How Big Picture integrates with winget

Section titled “How Big Picture integrates with winget”
  • Big Picture’s system can treat “winget package” as an artifact type and produce signed decisions that point to those sources
  • Big Picture can govern winget-based updates with enterprise policy and staging controls
  • Big Picture provides release governance and licensing that winget does not address

Suggested positioning

Section titled “Suggested positioning”

“Winget provides Windows-native package management. Big Picture manages vendor release governance and licensing across all customers, and can integrate with winget as a delivery mechanism.”