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App vendors discover a new way to abuse Windows

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Jibz:
As someone who has spent way too much time manually updating Firefox and flash player on all kinds of machines, I think Chromes automatic updates are great.

If you only have your own machine at home to take care of, then you can afford to be paranoid, but to people who are not computer experts, having security fixes applied automatically without them even noticing, is a blessing compared to how Firefox works.

And I seriously doubt they are going to push an update that changes the EULA silently. Do you have any evidence of this ever happening?

Now Firefox is adding a similar feature, but as with the rapid release schedule, I am afraid they are going to mess it up because they simply don't realize what other changes it requires.

Eóin:
Flash player updates drive me bonkers, mainly because of the time they choose to popup, i.e. just as you've logged in. An almost silent updater which only asks for a yes before applying the final step would be easy enough, and better for the user IMO.

Carol Haynes:
If you only have your own machine at home to take care of, then you can afford to be paranoid, but to people who are not computer experts, having security fixes applied automatically without them even noticing, is a blessing compared to how Firefox works.
-Jibz (October 08, 2011, 04:44 PM)
--- End quote ---

Except when they update things and break them - eg. one update broke Chrome's printing facility on lots of websites and it remained broken over numerous later updates. Allowing people to update when they want to alleviates this problem because people can look for any unforeseen issues before they choose to update.

If you don't like FF updates turn them off and periodically do a manual check.

And I seriously doubt they are going to push an update that changes the EULA silently. Do you have any evidence of this ever happening?

--- End quote ---


I can't think of a specific example from Google (though I am sure some here will be able to) but there are lots of examples of other big companies tinkering with EULAs and the small print says they can. Even if Google hadn't modified EULAs (which I know they have) there is nothing to stop them changing them in the future and by accepting a passive update with an updated EULA I am sure you will be deemed to have consented to the new terms.

Hell MS have made an artform of making EULAs as impenetrable as possible and varying them with every software release!

I can't remember what it was but I remember a few years back there was a piece of well known software that changed the EULA to say they could use your computer for distributed processing and another title that put a condition into the EULA to say that you couldn't uninstall their software. I seem to remember Sony did the latter example with their rootkit scare.

Flash player updates drive me bonkers, mainly because of the time they choose to popup, i.e. just as you've logged in. An almost silent updater which only asks for a yes before applying the final step would be easy enough, and better for the user IMO.
-Eóin (October 08, 2011, 05:06 PM)
--- End quote ---

Given all the hassles with Flash over the years do you really want silent updates? If you don't like the frequent updates popping up turn them off and check manually once a month. Or even better go to http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager05.html and change the update check to something tolerable like 28 days.

JavaJones:
Silent updates and EULA changes are separate issues. A new EULA should always notify the user, regardless of whether the app it applies to updates silently. Keep in mind a EULA can be updated without the software being updated and - probably much more the norm anyway - software can be updated without the EULA changing.

- Oshyan

Renegade:
Flash player updates drive me bonkers, mainly because of the time they choose to popup, i.e. just as you've logged in. An almost silent updater which only asks for a yes before applying the final step would be easy enough, and better for the user IMO.
-Eóin (October 08, 2011, 05:06 PM)
--- End quote ---

+1 I hate being pestered.

But the true source of my all encompassing demonic bloodlust is the popup... that steals focus... Stealing focus has to be the single most evil thing in computing.

POP~! ==> "Hey! I see you're in the middle of some difficult work and have spent lots of time on it! Would you like to start cursing? Just press any key to reboot!"

Makes me wonder if the "pop" is supposed to mean a blood vessel...

Back on track...

Flash needs everything to close, so silent is hard as it would then require a reboot. So, if you have any browsers or that open, it can't be silent.

It's not a huge step for them to take to smooth that out, but it is a step.

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