Well, Aaron:
I do see where people come from, when they complain about the updates
popping up. No matter if it takes 20 seconds or 5 minutes, the frustration
is to have them come at all. And, like one other user said, there might be
environments where you are not supposed to, or even allowed, to do updates
and installs on your own.
Then again, I do see your side of the picture. It is important to keep
updated, with the screen reader - as with any other software on your system.
And, maybe even more so with the screen reader's apps, since the great
majority is being developed by people who learn as they go. That means, that
things that you did not know about, could affect the app you develop, and
cause problems to the user. Tomorrow, someone let's you know the fix hereof,
and you can quickly and easily fix it, upload it; and have people update
their systems - to the benefit of all. So far, great idea, that
update-feature.
But may I ask you, Aaron and the rest of the staff: You well know the
importance of having your Windows itself up-to-date, don't you? Likely, the
computer you are working on right now, has its Windows set to automatically
download and install the latest updates for the OS, at a given frequency.
And your security software - AntiViruse, Firewall, AntiSpyware and sos
forth, they all gets updated several times a day. Is it the way, Aaron, that
you have to press 'yes' and Alt-U for each time any of this software gets
updated? Well in such a case, have fun. But if that was the case here, I
would have gone crazy.
If a software is that much in need of frequent updates, the least thing you
can offer for the users is a way of having it all done IN-THE-BACKGROUND,
SEAMLESSLY. Another thing would be to have a chance of setting the time when
the software should check for updates, like once a day, once a week, or the
like. Even with the way you do it today, updates might not be done the very
minute they are made available anyway. Since you have a YES/NO choice there
as things stands, you apparently have realized already that the user might
have other priorities at the moment, or simply other wishes than spending
time on new updates. As such, it seems a bit strange for you to drop a
message on the list, where you blows of people who express their wish to not
update all the time. Why did you ever include the NO button, if it was such
a 'stay or leave' issue to have that latest update at any given time. After
all, I am not sure if everytime there is an update to the progressbar app,
or the Barcode app, or any of the 'message for the day' kind of apps; well,
I simply am not sure if it is all that much of importance to have the update
done. And definately not in the middle of my recording session, or when mrs
Brown has a customer on the phone line, or when mr Yellow is in the middle
of another installation process of a new softwre on his system. So, go
ahead, have the message popup if that is what you insist; but let the user
have a chance of deciding when WE will do its check for updates - and have
such a thing happen globally. Guess, that is the best way of summing it all
up.
And, in the same token, if it is all that important to have the apps
updated, why is it that many a user outside the English world is stil at
WE7.2, simply because you haven't released any of the 7.5 flavors yet.
Shouldn't it be of highest interest for the user to update the screen reader
itself, before he is bombarded with update notes for some small details in
an app.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Aaron Smith" <[email protected]>
Cc: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2011 9:33 PM
Subject: Re: Turning off Ap updates.
On 9/6/2011 2:25 PM, Len Burns wrote:
I usually have other priorities and time lines to deal with that do not
involve GWMicro deciding it is time for me to update a dang app.
FWIW, we have streamlined this process, at least for the apps that we
ship, so that, when prompted, you only need to press a Y, followed by
Alt-U (with the update dialog comes up), and that's it. You're done. It
takes about 20 seconds to download and install (give or take, depending on
internet speeds, etc.).
This is made far worse by the serious stability problems currently
exhibited by WE.
Which is precisely the reason why we want people notified about updates.
When you run outdated material, you risk a greater change of experiencing
stability issues.
So there's our rub. We either don't tell you about any updates, and have
you upset at continual problems (possibly due to not being current), or we
notify you when updates are available, and force you to take less than one
minute to get updated.
Aaron
--
Aaron Smith
Web Development * App Development * Product Support Specialist
GW Micro, Inc. * 725 Airport North Office Park, Fort Wayne, IN 46825
260-489-3671 * gwmicro.com
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