[uf-new] New uF: Version

[Samuel Richter]

----- Original Message ----
From: Scott Reynen <scott at makedatamakesense.com>
To: For discussion of new microformats. <microformats-new at microformats.org>
Sent: Friday, August 8, 2008 11:40:12 AM
Subject: Re: [uf-new] New uF: Version

On [Aug 8], at [ Aug 8] 8:28 , Ciaran McNulty wrote:

> On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 2:19 PM, Scott Reynen
> <scott at makedatamakesense.com> wrote:
>> I guess I'm not yet convinced by your use case here.  An  
>> application would
>> periodically reload the web page for each application to see if  
>> it's been
>> updated?
>
> Plenty of applications 'dial home' to see if there are pending
> updates, and the same applications also have download links, so why
> not combine the two?


I'm afraid you've misinterpreted my questions as rhetorical.  I'm  
actually asking for the answers to those questions to better  
understand the use case, not making an argument about the merits of  
such a use case (I may do that after I understand it).  When I said  
"I'm not yet convinced," that's because I don't yet have enough  
information to convince me.

To make this more concrete, here's a page that has a version number:

http://www.panic.com/transmit/

The proposal seems to be to add descriptive markup around the "3.6" on  
that page.  And how does this use case go after that?  The Transmit  
application downloads that document periodically to check for  
updates?  And if a higher version number is found, what happens next?  
And how does the process differ from how Transmit already checks for  
updates?  And are there any other use cases for such markup?

--
Scott Reynen
MakeDataMakeSense.com


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Reply:
There could be a "What's New" section which would pop up in the application when a new version is found.  I anticipate that this use case would follow existing processes with software update procedures, where the updater/installer periodically checks for the web page for updates, *or* subscribes to an RSS feed which contains the relevant information.  

Scenario: A higher version is found

With the presentation of this information, a decision will be made: to install, or not.  But, this would be configurable.  For instance, the user may choose not to install alpha or beta software.  Or, the user may want to review a list of changes for the new version, consider package size, dependencies, available space, etc.

Other use cases:

In software development, library information could be published in a form the IDE could process.  A similar dialog would be initiated with each new release.  Again, some type of subscription or checking mechanism would be in place to keep libraries up-to-date.

I'm not aware of how the Transmit application works.  Does it do updates automatically?  If so, does it automatically download alpha or beta software.  Does it inform the user?  Does it make the install?  What about old versions, does it clean those up?  Does it keep an update history?

-Sam