Let's say you just bought the latest gadget. You barely are able to get it home and *presto!* -- there's a new version of it out. How frustrating!
We feel the same way about keeping up with software updates. We barely roll out a new version of Flash and there's another newer version out. Argh!
That used to be the case. But not anymore. We've found a way to revolutionize updates! (Dan made this analogy: "Our old update system was a horse and buggy. The new one is a rocket!")
Cool new tools
We have some cool new tools that will allow us to update like never before. One new tool will handle updating common 3rd party (non-Microsoft software) software. Another will enable us to easily push out updates to Microsoft software. These tools are flexible, reliable, and labor-saving... and we can't wait to get started!
What this means for libraries: change will be the new norm
- We'll be changing how we do updates.
- You'll be getting more frequent updates. Hooray!
- Common programs will always be at current versions.
- You will sometimes need to click through Firefox notifications on staff PCs. (you'll see another example of this next week when we push out Java updates)
- It's CRITICAL to leave your PCs on at night so you'll get the updates.
Specific changes to how SCLS will handle updates
- In the past...
- we warned you ahead of time about every update
- we've followed up with libraries whose PCs didn't receive updates because they were turned off
- In the future...
- we'll push out updates without notice (if we told you about each update, you'd be overwhelmed by emails and sick of hearing from us!)
- updates will happen automatically
- updates will happen very frequently
- we won't follow up to get updates to PCs that were turned off. PCs that were off will just wait for next round of updates.
- we will continue to warn you about Firefox updates (because Firefox is so critical to Koha, we'll still be doing testing and notifications before any Firefox upgrades)
I know what you're thinking: "Ohmigosh! This is quite a change!" But guess what? You've experienced the new update process already!
Last week, we pushed out the mechanism for updating 3rd party software. After that, we pushed out updates of common programs to all staff PCs on the SCLS network. We had a 98% success rate (which is loads better than any updates that have gone out in the past). The 2% that didn't succeed were PCs that weren't on or were laptops that weren't plugged into the network. So library staff PCs on the SCLS network are now at current versions of Flash, Shockwave, Adobe Reader, Silverlight, CutePDF, and many other programs.
We're still working out the details
We're still working out some of the details for these new processes internally, but we are excited to share the good news.
What questions do you have about these upcoming changes? What other information/documentation would you like us to provide? What concerns do you have?
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