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Why not just drop all that version updating and error reporting functionality?
by axguscbklp 5y ago
Why not just drop all that version updating and error reporting functionality?
- InsaneOstrich 5y agoBecause it's useful?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- TedDoesntTalk 5y ago… sure, and why not just publish the binaries on CD-ROM?
- axguscbklp 5y agoWould they still need to publish legalese if they made it so that updates and sending of error reports required the user to click a button every time, and under the button there was some text explaining exactly what data was going to be sent?
- ohgodplsno 5y agoYes. Laws _require_ you to have a privacy notice. Just because your license says the software is provided AS IS does not mean it's enough. Noone is going to bother you if it's a small open source project by a bunch of maintainers, but as soon as you're a company, you have to.
- TedDoesntTalk 5y agoFor the USA, that's not always true: https://www.swlaw.com/blog/data-security/2015/03/12/why-you-need-a-privacy-policy-part-2-avoiding-three-common-fumbles/#:~:text=There%20is%20no%20general%20federal,that%20can%20lead%20to%20liability https://www.swlaw.com/blog/data-security/2015/03/12/why-you-.... But I know Audacity has a sizable European userbase, too.
- selfhoster11 5y agoAre you suggesting that Audacity is something that needs a lot of auto-updating? It's not like an OS. Updating it can wait.
- dkdbejwi383 5y agoA vast majority of users are non-technical. Manually checking for updates for software can seem like a trivial thing to someone who knows how to use a computer, but many folks don't know how to do these things, and would miss out on fixes and features if they aren't made aware of updates. Also, it's an optional feature. You can just turn it off if it's not a benefit to you.
- jonathankoren 5y agoIf these updates are compelling, people will know. Outside of security updates, there’s not often a reason update unless there’s a née feature you require. I swear it seems like there’s a whole generation that doesn’t understand that how to build software that isn’t always phoning home and requires a subscription fee.
- TedDoesntTalk 5y agoEvery major browser phones home for version updates. Do you have a problem with them, too?
- robbedpeter 5y agoYes. People should have control of and be responsible for their hardware and software. If people want to cede the responsibility and control, there's no problem with having that option, but it's a bad default.
- selfhoster11 5y agoThe browser almost exclusively executes untrusted input and mediates access to user data. Not keeping such a thing updated is irresponsible. An audio editor has an incomparably smaller network attack surface - perhaps even none, if it's sandboxed and makes no use of the network at all.
- jonathankoren 5y agoI know you’re being sarcastic, but seriously. What’s the problem? It’s an audio recorder.
- varajelle 5y agoBecause they want their users to enjoy the latest version, and be able to provide a good experience by not having a crashy software.
- Ygg2 5y agoSee what other people noticed. It's checking when it's safe to cut versions of operating systems.
- prokoudine 5y agoHow often do you, upon having a free/libre software crash on you, rebuild it with debugging symbols, run it through gdb to replicate the crash, and then send a full backtrace to developers? I've done that in the past, more times than I care to remember, and never have I thought 'Blimey! That's a great use of my time! Let's do it again!'.