Alternatives to the "update available prompt" when opening software

[Kalyori]

Hi,

Big fan of the affinity suite of software.

I find the modal dialog that pops up when a new update is available somewhat frustrating; I don't always update immediately which means as I use the software I regularly get prompted by this dialog to perform an update every time I open the software which is undesirable. I use Photo as my default photo viewer, so it gets opened very often.

I don't know if anyone else feels the same, but I thought up a few potential ideas that (in my opinion) would be a better or improved solution.

• Offer a "don't ask again until next update" check box. (If this applied across all three Affinity products as well, that would be an added bonus.)
• Remove modal dialog, add popup at the top of menu bar which goes away after a couple of seconds. (Requires no user interaction, visible but can be ignored.)
• Have a new update icon which stays in menu so users are aware of update, can click to visit the download link.

I think the first would be quite simple to introduce and that would certainly allay the only frustration I have using the product.

Kalyori

 

 

[Old Bruce]

If you purchased them through the Serif webstore you'll be able to set the frequency that it checks for updates to Monthly or even Never by using the preferences in Mac OS. If they were purchased from the Mac App Store you can change the settings in your App Store preferences and I would assume that it is similar on Windows OS.

Edited September 23, 2020 by Old Bruce
Walt corrected me with more accurate info.

[walt.farrell]

44 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

If you purchased them through the Serif webstore you'll be able to set the frequency that it checks for updates to Monthly or even Never by using the preferences

That's Mac-only.

[Jowday]

This nagging dialog 

12 hours ago, Kalyori said:

Hi,

Big fan of the affinity suite of software.

I find the modal dialog that pops up when a new update is available somewhat frustrating; I don't always update immediately which means as I use the software I regularly get prompted by this dialog to perform an update every time I open the software which is undesirable. I use Photo as my default photo viewer, so it gets opened very often.

I don't know if anyone else feels the same, but I thought up a few potential ideas that (in my opinion) would be a better or improved solution.

• Offer a "don't ask again until next update" check box. (If this applied across all three Affinity products as well, that would be an added bonus.)
• Remove modal dialog, add popup at the top of menu bar which goes away after a couple of seconds. (Requires no user interaction, visible but can be ignored.)
• Have a new update icon which stays in menu so users are aware of update, can click to visit the download link.

I think the first would be quite simple to introduce and that would certainly allay the only frustration I have using the product.

Kalyori

Agreed, it is another usability issue in Affinity and it can (and will) lead people into a trap that can be dangerous: updating instantly to a freshly released major version , fx 1.9.0 and then discover critical issues that will be fixed perhaps a month later. It happened before when a lot of customers upgraded and saved in a file format the former version couldn't read. Stuck.

If Serif should happen to have professional customers they should know that updating to any major version in a production environment is a no go. Nudging customers to update constantly is dangerous and lame and could easily be prevented with a minimum of development. And should.

[Frozen Death Knight]

42 minutes ago, Jowday said:

This nagging dialog 

Agreed, it is another usability issue in Affinity and it can (and will) lead people into a trap that can be dangerous: updating instantly to a freshly released major version , fx 1.9.0 and then discover critical issues that will be fixed perhaps a month later. It happened before when a lot of customers upgraded and saved in a file format the former version couldn't read. Stuck.

If Serif should happen to have professional customers they should know that updating to any major version in a production environment is a no go. Nudging customers to update constantly is dangerous and lame and could easily be prevented with a minimum of development. And should.

I think in the long run that Serif should invest in their own platform manager which deals with the updates rather than having each program tell you when there is an update available. Doesn't have to be very complex, just designed well enough where you can manage all your installs, including Betas, under one umbrella, therefore eliminating any need to have these sort of pop-ups. Would also make it easier to check all the free assets Serif has given users over the years as well. Not to mention patch notes.

I don't expect them to have this kind of infrastructure until maybe version 2 or 3. The current system works for now, but anything that isn't what I mentioned in the beginning paragraph will just be band-aids until that happens.

[Kalyori]

Yeah, I'm on Windows 10 in my case. I agree with what other posters have mentioned.

My first suggestion could be an easy-to-implement and suitable band-aid until a full fledged download system comes along.

[Epithumia]

Another vote for only checking for updates once a month.

I just updated after months of nagging, and only 2 days later, it wants me to update again.