Mozilla Firefox and silent updates

http://www.brianbondy.com/blog/id/125/

by mbrubeck • 15 years ago

60 27 15 years ago

brianbondy.com

calvin• 15 years ago

Summary: "People want silent updates for Firefox; we're working on it."

51Cards• 15 years ago

Additional summary. "Not everyone wants automatic updates, so you'll still be able to do it the old way if you choose."

This is what I like about Mozilla, choice. Thank you to the devs that keep user choice in mind.

brianbondy• 15 years ago

Based on a lot of feedback we're also going to only start the service when it is doing an update to ensure no overhead.

jigs_up• 15 years ago

Why would you do it any other way? Laziness?

cpeterso• 15 years ago

Why use a Windows service instead of installing in the user's %APPDATA% directory like Chrome? Admittedly, there is some wasted disk space if a Windows PC is shared by multiple users, who each install Firefox. But I imagine most Windows PC only have one user account.

nextparadigms• 15 years ago

That's great news. Firefox needs this if they're going to stick with the 6 week update schedule. But this is just one of the features where they catch-up. They need more features where they differentiate/stay ahead of the competition in a big way, if they really want to get people's attention.

notatoad• 15 years ago

they don't need to differentiate or get people's attention. they need to do what they're doing: provide a solid product, adhere to standards, and stay quiet and out of the way. a browser isn't supposed to grab attention, it's just supposed to be a tool to view websites on.

dailycavalier• 15 years ago

Mozilla full-time contributor here. I agree they need to do what they're doing - silent updates are super important for the product right now given the new release cycle.

It's important that Mozilla does differentiate though. Firefox is the only browser that's made by a non-profit organization and puts your interests before business interests. Other browsers can't say that - they all have financial incentives and other agendas for you to use their product. Firefox provides choice so you have full control over your browsing experience.

ootachi• 15 years ago

Would you say Apple should do the same with iOS? iOS is flashy and in your face. And it's the most successful software product of the decade.

lini• 15 years ago

Call me paranoid, but after I read about this service I immediately started thinking what would happen if the browser was compromised - no UAC prompt and elevated privileges through the service...

dewiz• 15 years ago

the service could verify that the browser is constantly in a safe state monitoring file changes, SHAs, etc

ars• 15 years ago

I should hope the service does not use the browser to configure itself. It should directly contact mozilla servers including verifying some kind of encryption signature.

So if anything it could mitigate a compromised browser by overwriting it with a good one.

sid0• 15 years ago

The service wouldn't give the browser elevated privileges. If you're worried about an update being compromised, then don't, since they're delivered over SSL and (I believe) are also signed separately.

Mozilla Firefox and silent updates

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