AppToDate - developers and users - get involved! |
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 Apr 10 2008, 13:43
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#1
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 The Main Man  Group: Admin Team Posts: 18,800 Joined: 6th November 2002 From: Norwich, UK Member No.: 1 Device(s): MDA Vario III  |
 The idea was to create a software update client that was free to end users, free to developers and easy to use for both. The idea received a warm welcome, but has been 'on the back burner' somewhat since then as other projects have taken up my time. I am now however pleased to announce 'AppToDate', the evolution of that idea... and i'd like to invite YOU to get involved! True to my vision, AppToDate is now in very early Beta for developers and end users, with a view to improving and shaping the application rapidly prior to a wider publicity push. What can you do to get involved? DEVELOPERS
 P -------------------- Paul O'Brien - Microsoft MVP, Mobile Devices, MoDaCo.network Founder. Read my Blog or get your own on MoDaCo! Free 2.25GB online backup from Mozy... Click here for details! MACHEIST IS BACK! Click Here to check out the uber-bundle of apps for you Mac! Check out MUPromo bundle too :D |
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Apr 11 2008, 11:44
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#2
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 BANNED  Group: Banned Posts: 573 Joined: 30th January 2003 Member No.: 2,480 |
In my opinion this software is pointless.
-------------------- [sigtracker]2480[/sigtracker]
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Apr 11 2008, 11:51
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#3
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The Main Man Group: Admin Team Posts: 18,800 Joined: 6th November 2002 From: Norwich, UK Member No.: 1 Device(s): MDA Vario III |
You're welcome to that opinion Mark, as a past user of VersionTracker and a current AppFresh user, I find a one-hit-solution for updating my apps useful. I'm one of those freaks who obsesses about having everything up to date, so the sooner all my favourite apps support this the better
 Together with the added possibilities around things such as post-hard-reset reinstalls, I think it's a good concept. This very very early Beta (primarily to solicit developer support) is just the tip of the iceberg as to what you could include. P -------------------- Paul O'Brien - Microsoft MVP, Mobile Devices, MoDaCo.network Founder. Read my Blog or get your own on MoDaCo! Free 2.25GB online backup from Mozy... Click here for details! MACHEIST IS BACK! Click Here to check out the uber-bundle of apps for you Mac! Check out MUPromo bundle too :D |
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Apr 11 2008, 15:22
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#4
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Mobile Gadgeteer  Group: MoDaCo Plus Posts: 11 Joined: 14th October 2003 From: Puyallup, WA, USA Member No.: 18,289 Device(s): T-Mobile Shadow |
Awesome idea and application Paul! As a guy who loads lots of apps on my mobile devices, 20+ at the moment, I would love to see all developers participate in this endeavor. I would no longer have to spend hours and hours visiting every developer site to find out what the latest version is, then checking the About page in the app, and then downloading and installing the new app.
This is the kind of service that Handango and other mobile software sales sites should be providing for buyers, rather than having an additional download protection fee 
-------------------- -I now have a blog at ZDNet, http://blogs.zdnet.com/mobile-gadgeteer
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Apr 11 2008, 16:20
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#5
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 Come on you Horns!  Group: News Team Posts: 187 Joined: 22nd May 2004 From: Wheathampstead Member No.: 44,098 Device(s): T-Mobile Vario 3 |
In my opinion markcouk is pointless.
I'm sorry, its just every post I ever see of his is never constructive and he appears to have some sort of vendetta against modaco and/or Paul. If this site bothers you so much why bother coming on in the first place unless of course causing trouble like this is your thang. I for one have installed it and think it is a very clever and useful app, one I have been hoping to see for a long time. The hardest part is getting every program maker on board. I believe this will be one of the things that will work with persistence. Perhaps introducing this app to the cooks over at xda-developers might push this idea out further to all those who flash their roms regularly. The more people use this the bigger the chance of app writers taking this on board. Thanks Phill -------------------- www.watfordfc.com
www.thehornets.net |
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Apr 11 2008, 16:27
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#6
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The Main Man Group: Admin Team Posts: 18,800 Joined: 6th November 2002 From: Norwich, UK Member No.: 1 Device(s): MDA Vario III |
Keep the thread on topic (there's a thread in the lounge of markukcouk's), but yes, encouraging chefs to use it would be good, I have a notification function coming in the next build that will suit them perfectly, and i'll also make apptodate available as an OEM package just perfect for cooking
 I have a lot of developers already planning to implement, as more come on board we should hopefully see things ramp up! I also am planning a little package of developer incentives P -------------------- Paul O'Brien - Microsoft MVP, Mobile Devices, MoDaCo.network Founder. Read my Blog or get your own on MoDaCo! Free 2.25GB online backup from Mozy... Click here for details! MACHEIST IS BACK! Click Here to check out the uber-bundle of apps for you Mac! Check out MUPromo bundle too :D |
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Apr 11 2008, 19:38
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#7
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Newbie Group: Posters Posts: 33 Joined: 27th March 2006 Member No.: 180,111 |
Paul,
The concept is very cool, so trie to get the developers onboard. Webis software has also an update client and SBSH Pocketweather does also automatically search for updates. So in that respect it's perhaps easy to get them on board. Are you going to develop this version for both pocketpc and smartphone or just one of the two platforms ? |
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Apr 12 2008, 10:43
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#8
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 Blackjack'd Group: Moderator Team Posts: 4,138 Joined: 18th April 2003 From: Mt Laurel, NJ USA Member No.: 4,796 Device(s): Motorola Q9h/iPhone |
Nice! Glad to see this become reality! Phase One Complete!
Phase Two....Developers get on board! I use AppFresh as well on my mac and think it's great! AppFresh also sends data back to osx.iusethis.com and counts how many users use each app...so you could see whats popular just based on current usage. Number of Downloads is nice, but if people are like me, most apps get downloaded, tried and uninstalled. This could show how many people actively use an app. Valuable info for someone I'm sure. First thought after seeing screenshot was that AppToDate needs an artist's touch. then I read you're already looking into that. (I like pretty apps!) Nice work! Keep it up! (to date!) -------------------- Nick Cornaglia blog | photos | twitter | location | geocaching | xbox |
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Apr 12 2008, 19:14
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#9
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 Did I say that out loud? Group: News Team Posts: 4,471 Joined: 20th August 2003 From: Kent, England Member No.: 13,469 Device(s): Kaiser, Touch |
I was thinking of a way the number of users could be counted too, but I was worried that some people (Mark probably included!) would think it invasive.
I still like the simple, plain look. It's easy to use. |
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Apr 12 2008, 19:30
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#10
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The Main Man Group: Admin Team Posts: 18,800 Joined: 6th November 2002 From: Norwich, UK Member No.: 1 Device(s): MDA Vario III |
User counting (anonymously) is coming in a future build, I already have the deets planned.
It's important to know how many checks are being done via apptodate, and for what apps, and it enables a lot of cool stuff P -------------------- Paul O'Brien - Microsoft MVP, Mobile Devices, MoDaCo.network Founder. Read my Blog or get your own on MoDaCo! Free 2.25GB online backup from Mozy... Click here for details! MACHEIST IS BACK! Click Here to check out the uber-bundle of apps for you Mac! Check out MUPromo bundle too :D |
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Apr 14 2008, 08:36
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#11
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Newbie Group: Posters Posts: 33 Joined: 27th March 2006 Member No.: 180,111 |
QUOTE(Paul (MVP) @ Apr 12 2008, 21:30)  User counting (anonymously) is coming in a future build, I already have the deets planned. It's important to know how many checks are being done via apptodate, and for what apps, and it enables a lot of cool stuff P Paul, I hope you will add some user settings too. So I can set the time intervals and software titles to update automatically. |
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Apr 14 2008, 08:37
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#12
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The Main Man Group: Admin Team Posts: 18,800 Joined: 6th November 2002 From: Norwich, UK Member No.: 1 Device(s): MDA Vario III |
Yeah, auto updating will come further down the line.
P -------------------- Paul O'Brien - Microsoft MVP, Mobile Devices, MoDaCo.network Founder. Read my Blog or get your own on MoDaCo! Free 2.25GB online backup from Mozy... Click here for details! MACHEIST IS BACK! Click Here to check out the uber-bundle of apps for you Mac! Check out MUPromo bundle too :D |
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Apr 14 2008, 18:24
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#13
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 Moderately moderating in moderation... Group: Moderator Team Posts: 1,336 Joined: 9th May 2005 From: Oadby, Leicester, UK Member No.: 128,356 Device(s): Vario II, 8310, C600, C550 |
QUOTE(Paul (MVP) @ Apr 14 2008, 09:37) Yeah, auto updating will come further down the line. P Paul, with regard to the post hard-reset install option. You could simply get it to export the relevant XMLs to say a file or a folder which you can then open with AppToDate after you've reinstalled it (or embedded it into your ROM ;) ) and it would then go ahead and download/install all your software again. Presumabley you'd have to keep a note of all your reg codes tho... Phil -------------------- |
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Apr 14 2008, 18:33
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#14
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The Main Man Group: Admin Team Posts: 18,800 Joined: 6th November 2002 From: Norwich, UK Member No.: 1 Device(s): MDA Vario III |
That's exactly how it's going to work!
The menu will have 'write install data to storage card' and 'read install data from storage card', after which you can then check them all and reinstall... That'll be in in a couple of builds time (after the support for CABs by CE version / Platform / Res etc.) P -------------------- Paul O'Brien - Microsoft MVP, Mobile Devices, MoDaCo.network Founder. Read my Blog or get your own on MoDaCo! Free 2.25GB online backup from Mozy... Click here for details! MACHEIST IS BACK! Click Here to check out the uber-bundle of apps for you Mac! Check out MUPromo bundle too :D |
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Apr 15 2008, 15:27
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#15
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Moderately moderating in moderation... Group: Moderator Team Posts: 1,336 Joined: 9th May 2005 From: Oadby, Leicester, UK Member No.: 128,356 Device(s): Vario II, 8310, C600, C550 |
QUOTE(Paul (MVP) @ Apr 14 2008, 19:33) That's exactly how it's going to work! The menu will have 'write install data to storage card' and 'read install data from storage card', after which you can then check them all and reinstall... That'll be in in a couple of builds time (after the support for CABs by CE version / Platform / Res etc.) P Nice that you'll have the option to select apps you want reinstalling, gives you another chance to consider if you really need some apps. I'm also assuming that it automatically installs the CABs, without the standard install UI. So maybe the option to specify where it installs stuff? Could be to the internal memory by default and the option to specify which software you want on a storage card. Phil -------------------- |
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Apr 15 2008, 15:32
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#16
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The Main Man Group: Admin Team Posts: 18,800 Joined: 6th November 2002 From: Norwich, UK Member No.: 1 Device(s): MDA Vario III |
You get the standard CAB install UI. Imagine selecting 5 apps on the desktop, you get 5 install prompts on device. AppToDate looks like that.
For the reasons you stated (install location etc.), that makes sense. Going forward tho, why not ditch CABs altogether and introduce our own more effective format with file level patching support? P -------------------- Paul O'Brien - Microsoft MVP, Mobile Devices, MoDaCo.network Founder. Read my Blog or get your own on MoDaCo! Free 2.25GB online backup from Mozy... Click here for details! MACHEIST IS BACK! Click Here to check out the uber-bundle of apps for you Mac! Check out MUPromo bundle too :D |
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Apr 18 2008, 14:33
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#17
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Regular  Group: Posters Posts: 95 Joined: 15th April 2008 Member No.: 378,942 Device(s): HTC Prophet |
An idea:
- Support for files other than CABSs (maybe a xml tag like <fileurl> or something) so that changelogs/exes can be downloaded instead of cabs. I had/have more I just can't think of A) a reason, and B ) a way to write them down that seems logical or reasonable... This post has been edited by l3v5y: Apr 18 2008, 14:33 -------------------- Diamond OEM Packs  |
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Apr 18 2008, 15:23
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#18
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The Main Man Group: Admin Team Posts: 18,800 Joined: 6th November 2002 From: Norwich, UK Member No.: 1 Device(s): MDA Vario III |
And how would these other files be executed? Just using the default associations?
Feels a bit dangerous too  P -------------------- Paul O'Brien - Microsoft MVP, Mobile Devices, MoDaCo.network Founder. Read my Blog or get your own on MoDaCo! Free 2.25GB online backup from Mozy... Click here for details! MACHEIST IS BACK! Click Here to check out the uber-bundle of apps for you Mac! Check out MUPromo bundle too :D |
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Apr 19 2008, 12:14
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#19
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 Regular Group: MoDaCo Plus Posts: 134 Joined: 2nd September 2005 From: West London / Cambridge Member No.: 147,425 Device(s): T-Mobile Vario III |
QUOTE(Paul (MVP) @ Apr 18 2008, 16:23) And how would these other files be executed? Just using the default associations? Feels a bit dangerous too P I know it's a specific example but for those of us who use KaiserTweak notification / download of new XML files would be nice Gordon |
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Apr 19 2008, 20:14
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#20
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The Main Man Group: Admin Team Posts: 18,800 Joined: 6th November 2002 From: Norwich, UK Member No.: 1 Device(s): MDA Vario III |
They could just be CABbed up by the author no? P |