On Tue, 28 May 2002 10:15:27 +0200, Mark Weyer
<wey### [at] fregemathematikuni-freiburgde> wrote:
> Picturing myself as a win user I would prefer the following solution:
> If I always click Ok during installation, no data is sent, but everytime
> it would be sent, I get a dialog offering...

Umm.. To inject a little sanitiy into this discussion, in general it is considered a
no-no to read info from the
users comp and send it to a remote site. Windows update doesn't and most others don't
either. I suspect
that in most cases the program simply sends a update info request and then the server
sends back info
about what is available. I.E. POV would know that the current version is outdated by
compaing the
internal version with the new one it recieved, but the server end only knows that a
request was made.

Same for news and such. The data transfer only needs to be one way in as much that the
users end needs
to know about it, but the server side only needs to respond approriately to requests
that are made. It doesn't
even have to keep track of what was sent since the last news blurb, since POVRay
should be doing that. Other
than sending the correct request for say Mac, Linux or windows version updates, there
is no need for any
information to be sent with the request.

In most cases these programs don't even bother to try to make such a request unless
you are actually online at
the time anyway, so no having it connect and make a request when you don't expect or
want it to either. As for
both messages and updates. Make flashing icons for them, then let the user simply
ignore them or read them as
they choose and add a delete date to them so that if ignored for x days they get
removed automatically. No need
to turn it off or worries about pop-ups.

Post a reply to this message

> I have to agree with this. Almost no-one would turn it on. If it defaults
to
> 'off' we might as well not do it.

I see your point, but so many people are paranoid about programs stealing
personal information over the internet, and the last thing any of us here
want is for POV-Ray to be seen by others as any sort of spy-ware.

I mean, *I* trust you, and so do 99% of the people who post to this group,
but if someone else new to POV-Ray downloads the program and sees an "allow
pov-ray to check for new versions over the internet" checkbox pre-checked,
that'll make them suspicious.

Do what you will, but be careful to balance your desire for people to use
the new feature with your desire for people to trust the software.

 - Slime
[ http://www.slimeland.com/ ]

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On Wed, 29 May 2002 06:01:45 +1000, Chris Cason wrote:
> 
>> would be followed for network retry, this would probably cause the hard
>> disk to fire up every time it did a retry and after about 10 days or so
>> would get quite annoying if the retrys were quite regular.
> 
> It would try no more than once per day. If it is successful in contacting
> the server, it won't check again for a week.

I could certainly live with that, and people with laptops too I'd think. 

-- 
sphere{z*5,1pigment{rgb.5}finish{reflection.3specular.5}}box{<-50,-3,-50>
<50,-2,50>pigment{checker/*\__\\__/  * \_\\__*/scale 2}finish{ambient.7}}
light_source/*__\\__\\__\\__\\__\(    ~ )\__\\__\\__\\__\\*/{<2,5,1>*4,1} 
/*\\__\\__\\__\\__\\__\\__\\__\\__\~  -/__\\__\\__\\__\\__\\*//* Steve */

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> "The feature does the following:
>   1) Periodically checks for a new version of POV-Ray for Windows, and
>   2) Periodically checks for important news items (not regular news).

Great.  I think it's a groovy idea.  I check povray.org now and then to
see what's going on, but (assuming it's not abused--which I'm sure it
wouldn't be) getting information pushed--especially about upgrades--is
surely useful and appreciated.

Go for it.

Brian

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> I have to agree with this. Almost no-one would turn it on. If it defaults
> to 'off' we might as well not do it.
I don't know about that.  I for one would turn it on.  :-)
I do think it should be on by default though--for all those people
who don't read the install or the manual (although one could argue
that those people don't deserve updates ;-)
If a checkbox on the install is on by default and you accidentally
leave it that way, you'll be the genius that you are and click
options | notify and turn it off if you don't want it.  No sweat.

Brian

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On Sun, 26 May 2002 19:31:15 -0700, Alan Kong
<ako### [at] povrayWWWSPAMCOMorg> wrote:

>  I thank you for your constructive feedback or questions.

No problems with any of those, as long as it's sent over http and is
easily readable if intercepted.


Peter Popov ICQ : 15002700
Personal e-mail : pet### [at] vipbg
TAG      e-mail : pet### [at] tagpovrayorg

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Heh heh. Norton-esque. 

At startup a message line appears:

This version of POV-Ray is 23 days old... new versions of POV-Ray are
being released all the time. To ensure maximum grooviness, we 
recommend you update your program.

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