[vlc-devel] Future of the update mechanism

jpd at videolan.org jpd at videolan.org
Thu Jul 30 10:27:45 CEST 2009


On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 09:53:54AM +0200, S?bastien Escudier wrote:
> Quoting Rippit the Ogg Frog <rippit at oggfrog.com>:
> > I feel that it would be just great to notify the user that updates are
> > available; I suggest that you implement that by providing an RSS feed
> > from VideoLan.org, that contains only update notifications, with VLC
> > itself being the "RSS Reader".
> 
[formatting fixed]
> unfortunately, the majority of users, don't want to take care of
> updates themselves. Even with a one click automatic update, most of
> them will answer "no" because they don't want to bother.

I'm inclined to argue that is entirely their decision and their right
to do that, too. Demanding support for old versions, however, isn't.

Automatic updates are an answer to the argument that users are
fundamentally stupid, or at least unable to make rational decisions when
behind a computer. This argument, unfortunately, is true for a great
many to them. But that doesn't mean all of them are, and assuming that
amounts to insulting those who are not. So I don't like this answer.

If we are going to nag the user with questions on first install anyway,
such as for album art, then we really should ask permission for
automatic updates there too.


> Maybe the best would be to have automatic bug-fixes update, and manual
> version upgrades.

Security fixes, perhaps, and more so for security problems that cause
problems for others. Noticed bugs would be their own incentive to say
``yes'' to the upgrade when offered. Unnoticed bugs, well, aren't.




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