quote:
Originally posted by Demandred
like the Extension Updater Button within Mozilla FireFox
However, as you might have noticed... far from every Firefox extension supports this feature. Most of the Firefox extensions that don't do automatic update do it because of the bandwith it costs. The same thing will count for Messenger Plus! Automatic Plugin Update. Even when a update file is less then 1kb and updates are set to once every week... it will still put a big load on the server.
quote:
Originally posted by Anubis
I don't think it will automatically be able to check for updates of plugins itself, after all it can't know the mirrors of Plugins made after the release
Like Plus!'s own update mechanism does (or did?) is check a small file once every week, that files contains the latest version number
and URL where it can be downloaded. So that should work.
quote:
Originally posted by Chestah007
good talk to patchou and maybe get "added" to a list somewhere on Patchou's server. Then when messenger plus accesses the net, it goes to one site and then there can find all the latest versions for all the plugins. This way it would be more efficient
That sounds like the best option to me, altough there a some problems you'll get which such a system, which you need a good solution for to make it work. Think at things like bandwith, who hosts the update files and who hosts the actual plugin installer itself, what happens when a links gets taken of the net (like bandwith exceeded/server load to high), how to keep tracks of all the latest versions, who decides who can be added to the automatic update list, how to intergrate this into Plus!.
quote:
Originally posted by Chestah007
instead then of packaging each plugin with an update checker, msgplus could be set to check for updates once a week or day. 
sounds good to me
I agree, having every plugin have it's own updater would be a bad thing. Also some users think that plugins are part of Plus! itself, and when they see their plugins make connection to they internet, they will held Patchou responsible for it and blame him his software contains a dodgy virus. I know this sounds crazy to a lot of people, but it is what happens wether you like it or not. Take a look at an example from download.com
quote:
Originally posted by Download.com user review
"Gd funct. Bad Stability"
Msn plus provided veri good feature esp. the InkReDist. (Handwritting) which allows you yo draw pics while chatting but it will cause problems like unable to deliver msg to other users. THE WORST is, it will install spyware in to IE (Internet Explorer) and also add values to REGEDIT (some configurations takes places when u install programs) Those vaules add are harmful. One of the thing it will add is to run some spyware at the background of your windows. I have adaware to block it but will be unable to use msn plus unless i aloow them to add the values, but once you allow them to add values to it, there goes your IE. Good luck to users that are using it. I would recommand people to think twice before using it.
Anyway, i think havind an automatic update checker for plugins would be a very good thing, however... is it possible? The biggest thing is
bandwith,
server load and most importantly, is Patchou even interested in this. So let him speak first. After that you could look into technical deatails.
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