Jaunty's update notifications
George Farris
farrisg at cc.mala.bc.ca
Thu Apr 23 15:06:04 UTC 2009
On Thu, 2009-04-23 at 10:32 +0100, Oli Warner wrote:
> >From what I gather (reading forum and brainstorm posts) the topic of
> update notifications may have already been discussed ad nauseum in
> devel but I missed that discussion and I find the current update
> method a mammoth step backwards for usability and security.
>
> I'm running very much a non-standard install these days. I've tinkered
> with things. I say that because I want to make sure what I'm seeing
> (as a user) is by design and not by some random compound of mistakes.
> So please put me right if I'm describing something that isn't true of
> a fresh install.
> * Apt is still scheduled to update at ~8am every day.
> * Update Manager will open if it has standard updates 7 days old
> or security updates 2 days old
> * This is done (and I paraquote) to tidy up the Notification
> Area
> So firstly there's the "random window" usability argument. New users,
> especially those who have migrated from an infected Windows computer
> suffering pop-up hell tend to be incredibly wary of things that just
> appear.
I agree this is a real set back for me. Please at least give us the
choice of window or notification, maybe window first with a check mark
to move to notification. Having a window pop up is horrible.
> That paired with the time delay might lead to occasions where
> everybody has worked really hard to get a security update out and it
> isn't applied for days. The speed that remote flaws are converted into
> exploits is disgustingly fast and it should be the principal concept
> that when we have security updates, we make sure users get them
> installed. Leaving them to stew for days isn't abiding that idea.
>
If a security update is pushed to the repository then it should be able
to be updated, now, think server admins.
I agree the update system needs to be rethought.
Cheers
George
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