Via Daring Fireball Linked List comes Mark Pilgrim reporting that Apple now pretty much ported their Software Update software to Windows. It’s virtually the same app, interface-wise. (I haven’t looked much under the hood yet.)
I’ve been waiting for this to happen. Hopefully, Apple will make their other Windows apps (e.g. Bonjour, the AirPort Admin Utility, the .mac iDisk Utility, and so on) use it as well.
Taking aside the inflammatory comment of his that iTunes should not require a newer version of QuickTime (in the same vein, Mark, should Totem not require the newest GStreamer?), he does pose one good question:
ASU preferences window says “You can select to check for updates automatically. If you do, ASU will notify you when an update is available.” The default option is “weekly” (among “daily”, “monthly”, and “never”). What service or background application performs this check? I see no new services in my Services list beyond iPodService, and no new processes in my process list beyond iTunesHelper.
Indeed, Apple Software Update installs no service of its own. So how does it run periodically?
Quite simple, actually: through the Windows Scheduled Tasks facility. This is really no different than cron on most Unixes (including older versions of Mac OS X), launchd on Mac OS X, etc., and this comes with many advantages: a familiar interface for the user to customize the schedule, no need to run another NT service, no need to launch another process on startup, and the fact that turning Windows’s Scheduled Tasks service off turns this one off as well.
So, confusing at first that there’s no service, sure, but it all makes perfect sense, actually. Less redundancy, more flexibility.
Others' Thoughts
Comment on September 13th, 2006 at 1:15 am
If Canonical put a new version of Totem in their Ubuntu repositories that required a new version of GStreamer which they didn’t put in their repositories, then yes, I would be mightily and rightly pissed. That is essentially what Apple did today. Even now that they’ve corrected the problem and are offering QuickTime via Software Update, you have to admit that it’s not a particularly smooth experience — you still have to download and install QuickTime separately. iTunes puts up a stupid dialog telling you what you have to go do manually. What, iTunes can’t auto-download (or bundle) QuickTime? They do it on Windows already. Why is the Mac experience worse than the Windows experience? Did I wake up in a parallel universe this morning?
Comment on September 13th, 2006 at 1:59 am
I agree that iTunes, instead of merely alerting the user (yes, I agree that the dialog is stupid) that a newer version of QuickTime is required, should simply provide a means to download that automatically. It already has everything needed to do that built-in; it downloads iPod software updaters, podcasts, music, heck, entire motion pictures now. They should automate this process; it’s easy enough.
However, as for QuickTime not having been available in Software Update, and as for Apple having “corrected the problem”: You posted that blog entry, what, a mere hour after the presentation? I prefer Apple taking their time to spread the software to Akamai’s grid before making it available through Software Update (it was, at the time, already available as a manual download), as not to needlessly clog everything else.
And as for bundling, like they do on Windows, this is actually among the most frequent complaints I read from people on Windows who refuse to download iTunes. What about people who already have QuickTime? What about people who just want QuickTime and not iTunes (yes, there is a stand-alone link, but most people fail to find it!)? What if they have one thing up-to-date but not the other? Bundling can be convenient, but it can also be downright obnoxious.
I’m hopeful that the addition of Software Update for Windows will improve the current asinine situation where, when a new iTunes version comes out, you are alerted of the new version, yet still have to manually download it.
Comment on September 13th, 2006 at 5:09 am
IOW, Apple once again writes Windows apps more effectively than Microsoft.
I totally wish Vista (and XP) used Apple’s Software Update. The interface is so much better than their crappy web-based non-sense. :\
Comment on September 13th, 2006 at 5:55 am
Vista’s WU / MU / AU, though, is an every-so-slight improvement interface-wise over their previous web app. It finally integrates, somewhat, into Control Panel.
As to why Microsoft doesn’t like to simply, uh, I dunno, create a desktop app that takes perhaps a day or two to lay out, I don’t have the slightest clue. Not as hip, I suppose.
Comment on September 13th, 2006 at 5:26 pm
Vista’s “control panel” *U window can be resized to sizes so small that the layout implodes and you can’t see anything.
cringe
Better luck in Windows Awesome, the upcoming 2011 release, eh?
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