The Software Update Process (Customers' Perspective)

The process of updating your software can be a very daunting task for your customers, if it is not properly implemented within your application:

They need to determine which version of the software is currently installed on their system. The version information is typically displayed in an application's loading screen or in its About box, although some applications do not even provide the version information directly. In this case the users need to search for some kind of Readme file in the application folder, then browse through it to find the information that they need. Needless to say, many novice users will not be able to complete this task, and they will have to face the frustration of working with outdated software.
The software update process does not get any easier, even for more experienced users. Once they know which version of the software is installed on their system, your customers need to find out if a newer version is available. They will be required to log onto your web site, navigate to the site's support area and identify which file they should download to update the software. Again, this can lead to many problems. If the URL to your web site is not readily available from within your application or its documentation, your users might have to do some guess work just to find your site. When they get there, they may also have to search within your site to get to the support web page and find the update files.