5 ms·

One thing I find absolutely annoying in FireFox is that its always bugging me about updating either the browser or its extensions. Chrome does this all in the b

One thing I find absolutely annoying in FireFox is that its always bugging me about updating either the browser or its extensions. Chrome does this all in the background and just works.

FooBarWidget 16y ago
Wow, someone who doesn't complain about and actually prefers "forced" auto-updates. I never thought I'd see a day like this. ("forced" intentionally wrapped between quotation marks.)
- bradgessler 16y ago
  I know, crazy eh? I think its silly that the default for most software applications is to ask the user about a software update. I think its safe to say that a majority of users want to be running the latest software, so the default should be to opt-out of software updates. I wish my iOS devices would auto-update apps instead of bugging me about it. I get it, there are edge cases like an update needs to restart the computer, the Terms of Service change on it, etc. so maybe those would notify the user. Also, obviously IT departments would need to turn this stuff off. Seriously, software vendors need to understand that today its a sensible default to just auto-update, but leave the door open for those who don't want that.
  - FooBarWidget 16y ago
    What I mean is that when Mozilla announced auto-updating people were crying all over the place about being "forced" to upgrade even when they don't want to and about privacy concerns.
_delirium 16y ago
Related, I like that Chrome doesn't do this on Debian-based Linux systems, but instead uses the normal apt update mechanism. Seems like it fits expectations on each platform reasonably well.
Perceval 16y ago
Mozilla is moving toward this by working on silent background updates (just for Windows users at the moment: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9180272/Mozilla_plans_to_silently_update_Firefox http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9180272/Mozilla_plans...) and by eliminating startup dialogs of all kinds: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Projects/Eradicate_Startup_Dialogs https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Projects/Eradicate_Startup_... They know about the problem and are working to fix it.
- bradgessler 16y ago
  Great! I thought I read something about that somewhere. The dialogs were getting out of hand. Now if Apple would borrow a page from Chrome and MSFT to auto-update my OS X and iOS apps...
- njharman 16y ago
  > They know about the problem I consider silent, automatic updates to be a HUGE problem.
  - SkyMarshal 16y ago
    I imagine they'll provide a configuration option for users to choose which they prefer, either in the Prefs menu or about:config. I agree though, I prefer seeing update notifications popup at startup or anytime for that matter, than have it run silently in the background.

One thing I find absolutely annoying in FireFox is that its always bugging me about updating either the browser or its extensions. Chrome does this all in the background and just works.

FooBarWidget 16y ago

Wow, someone who doesn't complain about and actually prefers "forced" auto-updates. I never thought I'd see a day like this. ("forced" intentionally wrapped between quotation marks.)

bradgessler 16y ago
I know, crazy eh? I think its silly that the default for most software applications is to ask the user about a software update. I think its safe to say that a majority of users want to be running the latest software, so the default should be to opt-out of software updates. I wish my iOS devices would auto-update apps instead of bugging me about it. I get it, there are edge cases like an update needs to restart the computer, the Terms of Service change on it, etc. so maybe those would notify the user. Also, obviously IT departments would need to turn this stuff off. Seriously, software vendors need to understand that today its a sensible default to just auto-update, but leave the door open for those who don't want that.
- FooBarWidget 16y ago
  What I mean is that when Mozilla announced auto-updating people were crying all over the place about being "forced" to upgrade even when they don't want to and about privacy concerns.

_delirium 16y ago

Related, I like that Chrome doesn't do this on Debian-based Linux systems, but instead uses the normal apt update mechanism. Seems like it fits expectations on each platform reasonably well.

Perceval 16y ago

Mozilla is moving toward this by working on silent background updates (just for Windows users at the moment: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9180272/Mozilla_plans_to_silently_update_Firefox http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9180272/Mozilla_plans...) and by eliminating startup dialogs of all kinds: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Projects/Eradicate_Startup_Dialogs https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Projects/Eradicate_Startup_... They know about the problem and are working to fix it.

bradgessler 16y ago
Great! I thought I read something about that somewhere. The dialogs were getting out of hand. Now if Apple would borrow a page from Chrome and MSFT to auto-update my OS X and iOS apps...
njharman 16y ago
> They know about the problem I consider silent, automatic updates to be a HUGE problem.
- SkyMarshal 16y ago
  I imagine they'll provide a configuration option for users to choose which they prefer, either in the Prefs menu or about:config. I agree though, I prefer seeing update notifications popup at startup or anytime for that matter, than have it run silently in the background.