Stop with the auto-updating apps
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Dave and I have regular rants about hopping on a zoom call when you're already late and having Zoom say "I know you really need to be on this call, but we have a massive update that will take 2 minutes that will result in absolutely no change to your user experience. Please hold..." Turns out Docker Desktop does the same thing: I need to fire it up for a quick check, but no: I need to wait till it updates before I start using it, instead of (as a crazy idea) updating after I've finished using it. No option to postpone the update. No option to bypass or halt the update. Just sit back and relax. We know what's best for you. Please never do this in your apps. Please.
cheers Chris Maunder
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Dave and I have regular rants about hopping on a zoom call when you're already late and having Zoom say "I know you really need to be on this call, but we have a massive update that will take 2 minutes that will result in absolutely no change to your user experience. Please hold..." Turns out Docker Desktop does the same thing: I need to fire it up for a quick check, but no: I need to wait till it updates before I start using it, instead of (as a crazy idea) updating after I've finished using it. No option to postpone the update. No option to bypass or halt the update. Just sit back and relax. We know what's best for you. Please never do this in your apps. Please.
cheers Chris Maunder
I dislike some things about the
snapdeployment of Linux apps, but it is civilised in that regard. When an update is available and you have the app running (very common with things like browsers), it gently nags you. Something along the lines of "An update for xxx is pending. Please close the program. (14 days remaining)". If you dismiss the notification, you get another one tomorrow "13 days..." I've never discovered what happens if you run the timer down to zero.Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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Dave and I have regular rants about hopping on a zoom call when you're already late and having Zoom say "I know you really need to be on this call, but we have a massive update that will take 2 minutes that will result in absolutely no change to your user experience. Please hold..." Turns out Docker Desktop does the same thing: I need to fire it up for a quick check, but no: I need to wait till it updates before I start using it, instead of (as a crazy idea) updating after I've finished using it. No option to postpone the update. No option to bypass or halt the update. Just sit back and relax. We know what's best for you. Please never do this in your apps. Please.
cheers Chris Maunder
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Dave and I have regular rants about hopping on a zoom call when you're already late and having Zoom say "I know you really need to be on this call, but we have a massive update that will take 2 minutes that will result in absolutely no change to your user experience. Please hold..." Turns out Docker Desktop does the same thing: I need to fire it up for a quick check, but no: I need to wait till it updates before I start using it, instead of (as a crazy idea) updating after I've finished using it. No option to postpone the update. No option to bypass or halt the update. Just sit back and relax. We know what's best for you. Please never do this in your apps. Please.
cheers Chris Maunder
I don't and I won't.
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Dave and I have regular rants about hopping on a zoom call when you're already late and having Zoom say "I know you really need to be on this call, but we have a massive update that will take 2 minutes that will result in absolutely no change to your user experience. Please hold..." Turns out Docker Desktop does the same thing: I need to fire it up for a quick check, but no: I need to wait till it updates before I start using it, instead of (as a crazy idea) updating after I've finished using it. No option to postpone the update. No option to bypass or halt the update. Just sit back and relax. We know what's best for you. Please never do this in your apps. Please.
cheers Chris Maunder
Chris Maunder wrote:
Please never do this in your apps. Please.
Most of our customers scream bloody murder when a new feature or a bug fix isn't available immediately. When it's ready, we schedule a field service visit to install the update. The field service guy shows up at the appointed time, and the customer informs him that they'll be running production for the next three weeks, 24 hours/day, and can't possibly stop. This is after scheduling the visit with their management, operations staff, etc. Of course, if the machine exhibits the bug or doesn't have the feature, we get bitched at for not installing it, even though they refused to let us do so.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
Dave and I have regular rants about hopping on a zoom call when you're already late and having Zoom say "I know you really need to be on this call, but we have a massive update that will take 2 minutes that will result in absolutely no change to your user experience. Please hold..." Turns out Docker Desktop does the same thing: I need to fire it up for a quick check, but no: I need to wait till it updates before I start using it, instead of (as a crazy idea) updating after I've finished using it. No option to postpone the update. No option to bypass or halt the update. Just sit back and relax. We know what's best for you. Please never do this in your apps. Please.
cheers Chris Maunder
Lack of backward compatibility.
"Before entering on an understanding, I have meditated for a long time, and have foreseen what might happen. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or to do in a circumstance unexpected by other people; it is reflection, it is meditation." - Napoleon I
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Your house is on fire, but wait until the call-for-help app updates.
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day" Badfinger
Something like that actually happened to me. I was house-sitting for a friend who lived 300 miles away while they went on holiday, his burglar alarm phoned me to say it had detected a problem, I logged in to his CCTV whereupon Windows decided it was far more important to update itself than let me look at pictures, and maybe call the local police. This was in the days of XP, if my memory serves. Guess why I now use Linux.
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Dave and I have regular rants about hopping on a zoom call when you're already late and having Zoom say "I know you really need to be on this call, but we have a massive update that will take 2 minutes that will result in absolutely no change to your user experience. Please hold..." Turns out Docker Desktop does the same thing: I need to fire it up for a quick check, but no: I need to wait till it updates before I start using it, instead of (as a crazy idea) updating after I've finished using it. No option to postpone the update. No option to bypass or halt the update. Just sit back and relax. We know what's best for you. Please never do this in your apps. Please.
cheers Chris Maunder
Paint.net at least allows you to update after closing your current session.
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Paint.net at least allows you to update after closing your current session.
Paint.net is #1 on my list of favorite non-commercial applications, followed very closely by Inno Setup. It's extremely competent and full of small touches like the one you cite that make it pleasant to use.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
Dave and I have regular rants about hopping on a zoom call when you're already late and having Zoom say "I know you really need to be on this call, but we have a massive update that will take 2 minutes that will result in absolutely no change to your user experience. Please hold..." Turns out Docker Desktop does the same thing: I need to fire it up for a quick check, but no: I need to wait till it updates before I start using it, instead of (as a crazy idea) updating after I've finished using it. No option to postpone the update. No option to bypass or halt the update. Just sit back and relax. We know what's best for you. Please never do this in your apps. Please.
cheers Chris Maunder
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Chris Maunder wrote:
Please never do this in your apps. Please.
Most of our customers scream bloody murder when a new feature or a bug fix isn't available immediately. When it's ready, we schedule a field service visit to install the update. The field service guy shows up at the appointed time, and the customer informs him that they'll be running production for the next three weeks, 24 hours/day, and can't possibly stop. This is after scheduling the visit with their management, operations staff, etc. Of course, if the machine exhibits the bug or doesn't have the feature, we get bitched at for not installing it, even though they refused to let us do so.
Software Zen:
delete this;Gary R. Wheeler wrote:
The field service guy shows up at the appointed time, and the customer informs him that they'll be running production for the next three weeks, 24 hours/day, and can't possibly stop.
That is where it helps to have a good contract in place... 'Ok but just noting that this is third time so the next service call will cost you $15,000 or you can wait til next year'