January 5, 2012 at 12:04 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Are Auto-Updates Good?
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January 5, 2012 at 1:15 am
Generally speaking I am happy to allow (semi-)auto-updates on my workstations. For my dev servers I try to follow whatever the policy is on the (clients') production servers that these dev servers represent.
However, I recently disabled a 'high priority' update for Internet Explorer that tried to install additional functionality (a toolbar or something). In other words that particular update was really a Trojan (with apologies to the Trojans, I know the Greeks were actually the baddies).
If this is typical of Microsoft's policy wrt auto-updating IE then I will soon reconsider my attitude towards auto-updates and treat them as possible attempts to infect my systems instead.
Alex
January 5, 2012 at 2:17 am
It has really been too long in coming. I believe the IT industry is lazy and too many people have a vested interest in allowing slow updates. Sure updates can break things but surely we do not have the right as developers to 'hold back' and restrict the right to a secure platform our users should have.
When I think of the number of people involved in pushing out updates at my previous employer. IE6 is still being used. So much pain and additional cost is involved having additional security measures where an up to date version of any of the popular browsers would remove these. But when you are employing a team to push out updates, and you ask them whether they want to stay at the status quo, or modernise, self preservation kicks in and the answer that comes back is 'You cant possibly do that!'.
I hope in 10 years time that the manual update is a thing of the past that 'oldies' remember and the young don not even consider.
January 5, 2012 at 2:47 am
I work for a large corporation and not everyone has internet access. How will those browsers get automatically updated?
In fact, even for those few associates that do have internet access, their browser cannot visit the Microsoft Update page. All updates are done by corporate pushes after they have gone though extensive testing.
IE is still used but to navigate through our corporate websites so no outside web access is required for the majority of our user base.
January 5, 2012 at 7:00 am
cengland0 (1/5/2012)
I work for a large corporation and not everyone has internet access. How will those browsers get automatically updated?In fact, even for those few associates that do have internet access, their browser cannot visit the Microsoft Update page. All updates are done by corporate pushes after they have gone though extensive testing.
IE is still used but to navigate through our corporate websites so no outside web access is required for the majority of our user base.
I imagine that the automatic updates to IE will come via the corporate pushes.
January 5, 2012 at 7:12 am
I, for one, don't like the auto-updating that FireFox does. I have lost many of my add-ons that I loved because they were not compatible with the new version.
Maybe I'm just a control-freak, but I like to know what is being updated on my machine - and when ... and why! 🙂
January 5, 2012 at 7:25 am
Nice editorial Steve. I use Chrome as my primary browser and agree with you that automatic updates are not enough of a reason to switch to IE.
One minor correction.
"... [highlight="#aaeeaa"]It might also greatly enhance the application experience for clients since every IE9, or Firefox 4, or Chrome 15 browser will be the same.[/highlight] ..."
The stable release for Firefox is currently 9 and 16 for Chrome.
Enterprise clients will still have the same excuse they are currently using to delay updates. "Our intranet application only works on IE6..." They don't want to update their browsers because they can't afford to rebuild their web applications. The importance of building to standards wasn't embraced early on and we now have to dig out of that hole. As applications become more and more standards compliant updating standards compliant browsers will become less painful.
January 5, 2012 at 7:28 am
IowaDave (1/5/2012)
I have lost many of my add-ons that I loved because they were not compatible with the new version.
One of the reasons I stopped using firefox. . .
There is a workaround though. Either you can set the compatibility extensions in about:config to false or install nightly tester tools[/url] and override compatibility checks by right clicking in the tools/add-ons/extensions.
It all became a bit too much of a hassle for me, so I've switched.
January 5, 2012 at 7:54 am
Alex-668179 (1/5/2012)
Generally speaking I am happy to allow (semi-)auto-updates on my workstations. For my dev servers I try to follow whatever the policy is on the (clients') production servers that these dev servers represent.However, I recently disabled a 'high priority' update for Internet Explorer that tried to install additional functionality (a toolbar or something). In other words that particular update was really a Trojan (with apologies to the Trojans, I know the Greeks were actually the baddies).
If this is typical of Microsoft's policy wrt auto-updating IE then I will soon reconsider my attitude towards auto-updates and treat them as possible attempts to infect my systems instead.
Alex
Horse walks into a bar. The bartender says "why the long face?" Then a bunch of Greek soldiers climb out and kill everyone.
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"stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."
January 5, 2012 at 7:55 am
Steve, do you test your Chrome updates before applying?
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How best to post your question[/url]
How to post performance problems[/url]
Tally Table:What it is and how it replaces a loop[/url]
"stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."
January 5, 2012 at 8:01 am
Auto-Updates IMHO are generally a BAD idea and the reasons are plentiful, just google it and see all the reasons, but here are just a few to start:
Sometimes updates happen at inconvenient times.
Some updates are flawed.
Some times your system is updated in a way that you may not like.
Some old features that you like are removed or replaced.
😀
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
January 5, 2012 at 8:28 am
Suppose, for a second, that you have only one browser installed on your computer (pretend it's IE 9.0.0.1873). The automatic update comes, upgrades it to 9.0.0.1875, but it BREAKS the browser. You are sunk. You can't download anything to fix, because your browser is broken.
So the lesson here is, I think, you need more than one browser. But Microsoft better be very careful with these updates.
January 5, 2012 at 8:40 am
But Microsoft better be very careful with these updates.
:w00t::w00t::w00t:Steve that is the best laugh I have had since New Years! Thanks man.
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
January 5, 2012 at 8:56 am
What would be really great would be if an update of any kind raised an event that could be trapped.
January 5, 2012 at 9:09 am
cengland0 (1/5/2012)
I work for a large corporation and not everyone has internet access. How will those browsers get automatically updated?In fact, even for those few associates that do have internet access, their browser cannot visit the Microsoft Update page. All updates are done by corporate pushes after they have gone though extensive testing.
IE is still used but to navigate through our corporate websites so no outside web access is required for the majority of our user base.
I work at an institution where IE6 is still the main browser being used, due to other applications that would break if IE were upgraded. Yes, our IS department pushes the upgrades, so they are able to control this.
It puts me in a difficult position as a developer, because I can't upgrade my own IE browser, because I need to be able to test how applications will work in IE6. I also have Firefox and Chrome, but now, I cannot test IE9.
That said, there is one thing I don't like automated updates. I'm tired of other people deciding what features I want. Especially when many of those updates were about skins and the like - which I couldn't care less about. (The same goes for the constant Adobe updates - although I do appreciate that updates are often to fix security issues.)
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