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0 pointsgeorgemcbay11y ago0 comments

Agreed completely. I joked that the U in "Wii U" stood for "update" because the amount of forced modal updates required to every part of the system was almost comical when the system was new.

I've also got the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3 and PS4 and all are basically the same... if I haven't turned it on in a couple weeks it is nearly guaranteed I'll have to sit through a couple-hundred megabyte update or two (for the OS/firmware and probably whatever game I am playing too) and fritter away 10-15 minutes before I can do what I wanted to do in the first place.

Even the systems that try to make this less bad by downloading updates in the background while in low-power mode tend to be pretty clumsy about the whole thing, so even though the download part is already done for me I still probably have to sit through a 5+ minute 'install' (after agreeing to a EULA, and maybe a TOS change or two) requiring 2 restarts.

bleh.

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derefr11y ago

You'd think somebody would learn from Microsoft's long, hard struggle with Windows Update, and make consoles do the same thing Windows now does: download the update in the background at low priority while the console is on, then install it when you shut the console off. (And, for added effect, make the console actually look and sound like it has powered off while the updates are still installing. Windows 8 does this.)

ekianjo11y ago

> then install it when you shut the console off.

I seriously hate that on my laptop. I want to switch off and be on my way and suddenly Windows tells me it needs to install an update before shutting off. Seriously wtf! This is the kind of things that drives me to Linux, where I know that when I click Shut down, the system will be off in 20 seconds.

nightski11y ago

Why not just close the lid & put it to sleep? You really shut down every time you move somewhere with your laptop?

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anon411y ago

Well, the shut down button shows if it will install updates. If you don't want to, choose restart, then do a hardware shutdown during POST.

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rapind11y ago

I think OSX has been doing this since Leopard, but instead of forcing the update during shutdown, you can apply it whenever you want (it's already downloaded unless you turned auto updates off). I much prefer this route. Forcing the update on a restart or shutdown ends up being more annoying than you think.

jiggy201111y ago

I think the problem with that approach is that if you want to play online then everyone needs to be running the same client version.

sterlingross11y ago

I went over my ISP bandwidth cap twice before I realized OSX was doing this in the background. For people with limited bandwidth allowances, this isn't a good option.

im3w1l11y ago

> look and sound like it has powered off while the updates are still installing

What happens if the user unplugs in this state?

nightski11y ago

It says not to while it's doing it in large lettering. You'd likely corrupt the installation. How much that would affect the user would probably depend on the update.

sterlingross11y ago

That is really good to know, thank you. I've been thinking of getting a console, but I have limited bandwidth via a satellite connection. Constant updates as you described would eat my allowance up really fast.

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0 pointsgeorgemcbay11y ago0 comments

Agreed completely. I joked that the U in "Wii U" stood for "update" because the amount of forced modal updates required to every part of the system was almost comical when the system was new.

bleh.

0 comments

derefr11y ago

ekianjo11y ago

> then install it when you shut the console off.

nightski11y ago

Why not just close the lid & put it to sleep? You really shut down every time you move somewhere with your laptop?

1 more reply

anon411y ago

Well, the shut down button shows if it will install updates. If you don't want to, choose restart, then do a hardware shutdown during POST.

1 more reply

rapind11y ago

jiggy201111y ago

I think the problem with that approach is that if you want to play online then everyone needs to be running the same client version.

sterlingross11y ago

I went over my ISP bandwidth cap twice before I realized OSX was doing this in the background. For people with limited bandwidth allowances, this isn't a good option.

im3w1l11y ago

> look and sound like it has powered off while the updates are still installing

What happens if the user unplugs in this state?

nightski11y ago

It says not to while it's doing it in large lettering. You'd likely corrupt the installation. How much that would affect the user would probably depend on the update.

sterlingross11y ago

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse