RSS software update feeds
Posted on August 18, 2004 @ 13:45 in Tech
Software is frequently updated. That's nice, because new versions usually fix bugs and security problems and sometimes offer new functionality. Increasingly programs want to auto-update themselves. To do so they need access to the internet to check if there is a new version available and if so, alert me or automatically download the updates.
I always turn off this behavior if possible. It's not that I don't want to stay up-to-date, but most of all I don't want software to connect to the internet on its own account. That's why my ZoneAlarm firewall blocks outbound connections of unauthorized programs. For the same reasons of security and privacy my computer sits behind a NAT router and my browser only accepts cookies from whitelisted domains.
I don't use very many programs on a regular basis, there are about 40 entries in the Programs folder of my Windows Start menu, but there are also a number of appliances (like my router, mp3 player and scanner) and other hardware like the videocard of my computer that occasionally get firmware or driver updates. All in all it adds up to a big list of software updates to keep track of, which is probably the exact reason why more and more programs want to auto-update themselves.
What would be a really good solution is if for every piece of software, whether program, driver or firmware, there was a RSS feed informing users of updates. Every update published to the RSS feed could come with a little advisory whether or not the update fixes any critical issues or with the release notes. As a user I could keep all the software update feeds in the "Software Updates" folder of my preferred feed reader and easily, in one central place, keep track of all available updates and their importance.
I'm not someone who writes specifications, but building on a future universal (hah!) availability of software-update feeds, it should be possibly to click the "install" link for a particular update and have the installer or downloader launch, while simultaneously have the installation instructions pop up. I'm sure there are many issues to be resolved for this system to work, but it would be a pretty cool system.
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