Automatic PC Software Updater - READ ME!

[Ryan Lederman]

Hello everyone,

As some of you may already be aware, we've developed a program dubbed KASUS (Kayako Automatic Software Update Service) that has the capability to alert you whenever a new version of one of your Kayako PC programs such as LiveResponse, InstaAlert or SyncWorks is available.

We are trying to gauge what the community need for this product is, so please give us as much feedback as possible in addition to voting in the poll.

Do you have a need for an automatic Kayako software updater?

Would you prefer an e-mail notification when a new version of our product(s) are released?

Would you prefer not to be notified when new versions are available?

[craigbrass]

It should not be a separate piece of software for a start. It should be built into each of the applications.

It is needed as most people would not download the updates otherwise.

In your newsletter, you should include details of new addon application versions.

[supportskins]

It should not be a separate piece of software for a start. It should be built into each of the applications.

I agree!

[FusionDigital]

I'm not a fan of automated updates, but it would be nice to be notified of upgrades available (my source control and defect tracking systems do this - they send me email if they find an upgrade, and even include the release notes).

[craigbrass]

Take Firefox as the role model here but it has the best record over all browsers for keeping everyone up to date as it downloads in the background and kind of forces you to update. This is good for security issues, latest features and bug reports.

I would also like to see some sort of inbuilt system for detecting problems (crashes, etc) and allowing you to send them to Kayako like other applications. It would help the developers iron out bugs.

[Ryan Lederman]

Originally Posted by craigbrass

I would also like to see some sort of inbuilt system for detecting problems (crashes, etc) and allowing you to send them to Kayako like other applications. It would help the developers iron out bugs.

We've already implemented this in the new lineup

[craigbrass]

Nice one Ryan! How does it work? An option to automatically send all crash data once at install or a Send Report on each crash?

[Ryan Lederman]

Originally Posted by craigbrass

Nice one Ryan! How does it work? An option to automatically send all crash data once at install or a Send Report on each crash?

It only prompts to send data on a per-crash basis.

[craigbrass]

Ah, good. Perfect implementation, then.

[Carl Silver]

Originally Posted by craigbrass

It should not be a separate piece of software for a start. It should be built into each of the applications.

Agreed - i dont want to have to launch a sepreate app to know if there is an update

[mopa]

Originally Posted by craigbrass

It should not be a separate piece of software for a start. It should be built into each of the applications.

It is needed as most people would not download the updates otherwise.

In your newsletter, you should include details of new addon application versions.

Agree

[MobileNow]

I think that the automatic crass reporting as well as the automatic updates are both excellent features. However...

1) They should not be a separate application - They should basically be a .DLL code library that all of the Kayako programs leverage.

2) You should be able to turn off this feature.

3) There should be an update notification component built into the Admin (maybe even Staff) CP. A potential way to handle this would be to have an image tag like the following displayed:

<img src="http://Updates.Kayako.com/Check.php?version=[CURRENT_VERSION]" />

Then the check.php will redirect to an image that is appropriate for the kind of updates that are available. For example, the following three images are pretty standard:

Blank Image (No updates available for the current version)
Updates Available
Critical Updates Available
Security Updates Available

If I had to guess, this would also help Kayako make sure that we're all paying our semi-annual support / upgrades fee. :-)

[MobileNow]

Also, another thing to keep in mind is that that the desktop application possibly should not be able to auto-update itself to a version that is newer than the Kayako instance they are connecting to. I would think that APIs may change or be updated between versions unless the V4 API will have a versioning scheme behind it.

[allmoney.ws]

Do it as Mozilla Firefox updates.

[craigbrass]

Do it as Mozilla Firefox updates.

Totally agree with that. Firefox has one of the BEST records in the industry for keeping software up to date due to the fact it just does it anyway and installs on reboot. This keeps your system as secure as possible from security fixes, etc. Granted, Kayako's software isn't as important as a web browser but still, I think it is needed.