Thought - Delay auto-updates of software to reduce downtime

[Melissa Draper]

Alexander Jacob Tsykin wrote:
> On Wednesday 20 September 2006 10:25, Shawn McMahon wrote:
>   
>> On Tue, Sep 19, 2006 at 01:38:18AM -0500, Brandon Holtsclaw said:
>>     
>>> 1) Now how do you tell a user there is a fix in the archives but they
>>> cant have it becouse the updates are stagered
>>> 2) once the "users" or most anyone finds out they can change this setting
>>> they have been branded to "always run the latest stable" and thus will
>>> lower the update threshhold to the minimum right away
>>> 3) #2 would then create a false sense of "cushion" for those that push
>>> the updates thinking it will potentialy only affect N users if something
>>> is bad but in reality 80% or better has lowered their threshold to get
>>> the update right away.
>>>       
>> This is a solved problem.  Lots of companies have updates for specific
>> problems that are in the testing pipeline, but are cleared to give out
>> to customers having the specific problem.  So what you say to this
>> customer is:
>>
>> "Ok, sir, we've got a fix for that which hasn't finished testing, but I
>> can give it to you to see if it fixes things for you.  What's your email
>> address, and I'll send you the exact commands for you to cut-and-paste
>> to get this file and load it?"
>>
>> Followed by an email that says to open a terminal window, run wget, and
>> then sudo the package manager to load the patch.  Ideally follow with
>> the commands to make sure the right package is loaded and to test to see
>> if the problem has gone away.
>>     
> what about for all the users who don't pay for support, who are the 
> overwhelming majority. Are they then to be deprived of the fix for as much as 
> a fortnight while it is in the testing pipeline?
>
> Sasha
This is starting to sound *horribly like* paying for an 'enterprise
edition' ;)

-- 
Sincerely
Melissa Draper

http://www.meldraweb.com

Phone: 0404 595 395

P.O Box 1412
Lavington, NSW 2641