Q: When is a 360 dashboard update not a dashboard update?
A: When there’s chuff-all in it.
And that’s what downloaders of today’s Xbox LIVE goody will be getting too. Well, sort of...

Yep, today’s update most definitely does not include any usable portion of the much-anticipated ‘New Xbox Experience’ operating system. Or any other kind of visible enhancement to the Xbox 360’s current functionality for that matter. So why bother interrupting your gameplay to download it, you might wonder?

Well, firstly you don’t really have much choice in the matter. At least not unless you have no intention of signing into Xbox LIVE ever again. And secondly because this apparently useless system update actually contains special code to ‘prepare for the future growth of the service’, as Xbox LIVE blogster Major Nelson tantalisingly puts it.

In other words this update prepares the ground for the major changes coming to LIVE this autumn, and the fact that the pre-launch code is being released now signals that Microsoft is well on track to deliver on time. Excellent news! More soon.