Public bug reported: Binary package hint: update-manager
Here's a summary of the user experience when updates become available on Ubuntu: 1) Click on updates icon. 2) Wait five to ten seconds for the updates list to load. 3) The updates are confusing gibberish to the average user, frequently listing package names that the user stands no chance of recognizing. For instance, see <http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9126042/Living_free_with_Linux_2_weeks_without_Windows?taxonomyId=89&pageNumber=4>: "Ubuntu's Update Manager . . . did tell me about numerous upgrades of other software I've never heard of, and certainly will never need. (If I ever needed xulrunner or Yelp, though, the Update Manager was here to help.)" Of course, xulrunner is a critical component of Firefox, and Yelp is the GNOME help browser, so he probably used both. 4) Click Install Updates. 5) Wait five more seconds. 6) Type password. 7) Wait five or ten more seconds. 8) An "Applying Changes" window pops up, stealing focus (at least with my settings), and sits in the foreground until explicitly minimized. 9) Wait a while longer while everything works in the background. 10) Check back a while later to find that the updates are long since finished, but the window has been hanging around uselessly in the background for the entire time since then. By contrast, Windows Update goes more like this (from memory): 1) Click on updates icon. 2) Update dialog pops up almost instantly. It gives no confusing details by default. 3) When you confirm that you want to update, it minimizes to an icon again automatically, and tells you you can continue working. 4) When updates are finished, the icon just disappears (unless a reboot is required). Some key areas that should be improved: * The multisecond lag should be removed from multiple points. Maybe the update manager should create and populate the window in the background, and just un-hide it when the user clicks, or something. I don't know why there's a lag before it prompts you for your password. * When the user types in his password, the update manager should minimize immediately by default. Clicking it again could reopen it and keep it open for users who want to see the details. * If the update completes successfully and a reboot isn't required and the user hasn't explicitly reopened the update manager, it should exit automatically. Possibly this bug is too broad. This behavior is something that all desktop Ubuntu users will inevitably encounter multiple times per week, and at least one review of Ubuntu specifically pointed it out as a significant problem: "The Ubuntu Update Manager had me longing for Windows Update." <http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9126042/Living_free_with_Linux_2_weeks_without_Windows?taxonomyId=89&pageNumber=3> As such, I believe this would be a good candidate for a paper cut. The only issue is that it might not be trivial enough to fix -- however, I would think that at least some parts of it (e.g., minimizing it after Install Updates is clicked) could qualify as paper cuts by themselves, so I'll nominate this bug as a paper cut. ** Affects: hundredpapercuts Importance: Undecided Status: New ** Affects: update-manager (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: New ** Also affects: hundredpapercuts Importance: Undecided Status: New -- update-manager is slow, obtrusive, and confusing https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/495530 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
