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A method for differentiating major updates from minor ones

An area of the forum to post ideas for new products or discuss things that are not related to 2BrightSparks products
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jsmply
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A method for differentiating major updates from minor ones

Post by jsmply »

This may seem like an unneccesary request, but when some users have lots of laptops out 'in the field' it might not be easy to keep up with the rather frequent updates that SyncbackSE/Pro releases. The program has no auto-update feature and end users might not always have the knowledge (or even the credentials) to install the updated versions.

It might help IT admins to know if an update is minor (IE: can be done next update cycle), or if it contains a major bugfix that needs to be applied ASAP. Much the same way some updates for other software is marked as optional, recommended, urgent, critical, etc. Of course, in an ideal world software would be updated regularly, just not always the case.

Also on a related note, it was nice to see the beta release of the last new version of V6 before it went 'live' - this helps get things tested more thoroughly and instills confidence in us as users that the software has had a mass test before release.
Dave Wilkins
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Re: A method for differentiating major updates from minor on

Post by Dave Wilkins »

I think we feel that different fixes (updates, etc) mean different things to different people, and what might be an urgent fix to one user could be totally meaningless to another (if he didn't use S3 or FTP or whatever). So, to a large extent, we don't try to second-guess - we list the fixes and let you decide what's urgent or not.
jsmply
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Re: A method for differentiating major updates from minor on

Post by jsmply »

I figured as much, and it's very helpful that the website lists all of the changes in the new version. I just meant that if a new version comes out that fixes something critical (IE: something besides a feature enhancement, something that corrupts backups, etc) it might be nice for sys admins to know that's an update that needs to be rolled out right away.

In fact, this might be better suited for the Beta forum for the Service and Console - since that seems almost aimed at situations where laptops and desktops at remote locations (and it stands to reason they might be running under user accounts that can't install programs) - it would be useful info for sys admins (who are probably the Service and Console buyers).
jsmply
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Re: A method for differentiating major updates from minor on

Post by jsmply »

That being said, should this be posted in the Console and Service forum as a feature suggestion - it's something that we thought of when evaluating it, but never passed on info.
bartelsmedia
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Re: A method for differentiating major updates from minor on

Post by bartelsmedia »

We use such minor/major update/new version notification approach as described here:
http://www.phraseexpress.com/video/pex_update_en.htm

Go, "steal" it. ;-)
Dave Wilkins
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Re: A method for differentiating major updates from minor on

Post by Dave Wilkins »

The point still remains - a critical update for people who back up to the Amazon variant of S3 but only when using RRS (that might or might not cause data loss/corruption) is pretty meaningless (and certainly not critical) to someone who only backs up to an external USB. Etc.

But I've passed it to the management...
jsmply
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Re: A method for differentiating major updates from minor on

Post by jsmply »

Very true Dave, I suppose since you do so many things it's not so cut and dry. However, I imagine sometimes some updates to the program don't contain anything critical for anyone and are just enhancements? I could be wrong.

Really, if the Service and Console is meant for administration purposes, perhaps a way to push updates via the software might help? It seems updates get pushed out more frequently than most other software programs and if SyncbackPro is on every one of your machines on your network, that becomes a challenge in a large enviroment.
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