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A single line of code cost $8000

pietrasiak.com

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Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#151

Post by benwilber0 »

mieko wrote: post #114

For people finding this thread via web search in the future: screen.studio is macOS screen recording software that checks for updates every five minutes. Somehow, that alone is NOT the bug described in this post. The /other/ bug described in this blog is: their software also downloaded a 250MB update file every five minutes. The software developers there consider all of this normal except the actual download, which c…

> their software also downloaded a 250MB update file every five minutes

How on earth is a screen recording app 250 megabytes

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#152

Post by mgkimsal »

ryandrake wrote: post #145
EvanAnderson wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Once a day would surely be sufficient. Weekly or monthly would be sufficient. I'd also like "able to be disabled manually, permanently" as an option, too.

How about never? If I want to update my software, I'll update it. I don't need the application itself to hound me about it, at any frequency.

Hrm... might depend on the purpose of the update. "New feature X" announcements every few days... I hate and disable. "Warning - update now - security bug"... I want to be notified of those pretty quickly.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#153

Post by ivanjermakov »

Nition wrote: post #69
jve wrote: post #42

> Screen Studio is a screen recorder for macOS. It is desktop app. It means we need some auto-updater to allow users to install the latest app version easily. No, it doesn't mean that. Auto updater introduced series of bad outcomes. - Downloading update without consent, causing traffic for client. - Not only that, the download keeps repeating itself every 5 minutes? You did at least detect whether user is on metered…

While we're listing complaints... 250MB for a screen recorder update?

Screen recorder under 100 bytes: ffmpeg -video_size 1024x768 -framerate 25 -f x11grab -i :0.0+100,200 output.mp4

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#154

Post by mgkimsal »

> The app checks for the update every 5 minutes or when the user activates the app. Normally, when the app detected the update - it downloaded it and stopped the 5 minutes interval until the user installed it and restarted it.

This is still bad. I was really hoping the bug would have been something like "I put a 5 minute check in for devs to be able to wait and check and test a periodic update check, and forgot to revert it". That's what I expected, really.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#156

Post by GuinansEyebrows »

Lammy wrote: post #130
blitzar wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

never attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence

No. Eradicate this line of thinking from your brain. If the outcome is the same then the intent doesn't matter.

Yes and one provides cover for the other.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#157

Post by bearjaws »

HelloNurse wrote: post #56
jve wrote: post #42

> Screen Studio is a screen recorder for macOS. It is desktop app. It means we need some auto-updater to allow users to install the latest app version easily. No, it doesn't mean that. Auto updater introduced series of bad outcomes. - Downloading update without consent, causing traffic for client. - Not only that, the download keeps repeating itself every 5 minutes? You did at least detect whether user is on metered…

App store updates are perfect: no unnecessary complications, no unnecessary work (assuming Screen Studio is published and properly updated in the app store), and the worst case scenario is notifications about a new Screen Studio version ending up in a Screen Studio recording in progress. Thinking of it, the discussed do-it-yourself update checking is so stupid that malice and/or other serious bugs should be assumed.

Yeah no, publishing to the App Store is a nightmare in cost and time. I can 100% guarantee they still saved money on 30% fees even after this $8000 snafu.

Screen Studio has 32k followers, lets say 6% are end users, 2000 users at $229, that is $137k in App Store fees.

I am going to say writing your own app update script is a wash time wise, as getting your app published is not trivial, especially for an app that requires as many permissions as screen studio.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#158

Post by VWWHFSfQ »

smallpipe wrote: post #141
abstractspoon wrote: post #98

I find it ludicrous that the developers of an app as insignificant as a screen recorder would think it's necessary to check for updates every 5 minutes. Once a day would surely be sufficient.

I make CPUs for a living. I'm happy these people exists, we'll always need faster CPUs.

The big clouds love these people too. So much of the software industry is just an outrageous combination of inexperience and "YOLO". Every problem can be solved by just giving AWS another $100,000 this month because we don't have time (and don't know how) to make even basically optimized software. So just burn the gas and electricity and give more money to the YAML merchants at Amazon.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#159

Post by 999900000999 »

ryandrake wrote: post #144
999900000999 wrote: post #140

Sloppy coding all around. If you don't want to program something right, why don't you just direct users to the website to manually update it? On one hand it's good that the author owns up to it, and they worked with their users to provide remedies. But so many things aren't adding up. Why does your screen recorder need to check for updates every 5 minutes? Once a day is more than enough. This screams "We don't do QA,…

Software doesn't need to check for updates at all. If I want to update my software, I'll update it. I don't need or want the software to be doing it on its own. All OS's have a native package manager at this point that can handle updates. We don't need applications going around it.

A quick warning "Hi User, your out of date, please update." Is fair.

What's really scary here is the lack of consent. If I want to record videos I don't necessarily have an extra 250mb to spend( many users effectively pay by the gig) everytime the developer feels like updating.

Re: A single line of code cost $8000

#160

Post by lawgimenez »

benwilber0 wrote: post #151
mieko wrote: post #114

For people finding this thread via web search in the future: screen.studio is macOS screen recording software that checks for updates every five minutes. Somehow, that alone is NOT the bug described in this post. The /other/ bug described in this blog is: their software also downloaded a 250MB update file every five minutes. The software developers there consider all of this normal except the actual download, which c…

> their software also downloaded a 250MB update file every five minutes How on earth is a screen recording app 250 megabytes

I don’t use their software but if someone has they should be able to decompile it.
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