The problem(s) with Software Update Portals

[Tomás Mulcahy]

I am wondering if this is a common problem...

I have 26 of these applications on my Mac. They are a pain in the ass. Here are some of the ways they are a pain in the ass, in no particular order. Feel free to add more.

1. Half of them do not store the username and password. You have to go get that from wherever you securely store it (I use Chrome, don't bother criticising that).

2. A quarter of them support neither copy and paste keyboard shortcut or right click and paste, for the username and password.

3. I struggle to remember the names of all 26 vendors when an update is required.
So I made a folder called “Software Update Portals”.
Default install location is the Applications folder. So you'll have to move it to your Software Update Portals folder every time there is an update, and click to replace the old one.

4. They all work differently, re-inventing the Mac UI in unique and frustrating ways. For example setting a custom install location for content (it's mental they default to the System drive*) is like a game of Where's Wally. Not what you want to do when you just want to get that new acoustic bass on your track.

5. About 22 of them do not report if your current install is the up to date version.

6. About half require you do go through the full series of clicks to accept licenses/ sign your life away etc. for a regular install using the Apple Installer app. This requires you to sit at the computer for the full duration of the install. Arturia is the worst for this. NI a very close second.

7. I decided to use only VST3 format. As you can imagine, trying to deploy this preference gets very tedious.

8. I hate Microsoft. They are terrible at UI design, and many of us are compelled to use their software. But their MS Office suite updater works seamlessly in the background. It's an example to plugin developers. Apart from the almost daily interruptions to typing when the dialogue box "Verifying One Drive Update" takes priority in the OS.

9. I don't know what the solution is. Maybe some kind of universal updater thing built in the plugin format. yea, I know, security issues, OS permissions yadda yadda yadda. But the apps themselves should not be this bad! At least stick to the Apple UI rules like any other app.

10. Interestingly, in iOS your apps can all talk directly to your browser to get the password, using your fingerprint. That's pretty cool. And I don't recall ever having to click yes to a license agreement on iOS?

Here are my pains in the ass. What are yours?

1. 8DioDownloader
2. Adobe Creative Cloud
3. Aquarius
4. Arturia Software Centre
5. Cakewalk-Command-Center
6. FX License Manager
7. Heavyocity Portal
8. HOFA-Plugins Manager
9. HoRNetDoIn
10. iZotope Product Portal
11. Massey Plugins AAX Installer
12. Native Access
13. PA-InstallationManager
14. ROLI Dashboard
15. Slate Digital Connect
16. Softube Central
17. Spitfire Audio
18. Steinberg Activation Manager
19. Steinberg Download Assistant
20. Steinberg Library Manager
21. Steven Slate Audio Center
22. TDR Collector
23. UJAM
24. UVI Portal
25. UVIWorkstation
26. XLN Online Installer

[muzines]

10. Interestingly, in iOS your apps can all talk directly to your browser to get the password, using your fingerprint. That's pretty cool.

You can do that on Macs, if you have one with a fingerprint reader (eg, Macbook Pro, or the Apple keyboard with touch-ID sensor).
(Unless you're running your MBP in clamshell mode, like I am, in which case it's inaccessible...)

Password managers also make this stuff a lot easier. I don't have any of these batch installers I hate, but some are better than others, for sure. I don't tend to use them a lot, only occasionally when stuff needs updating...

[RichardT]

I am starting to plan for a Mac M3 machine next year. Managing software updates is tedious enough, but the license transfers are going to be a nightmare.

[Tomás Mulcahy]

Yes, there are SO MANY.

Password managers also make this stuff a lot easier. I don't have any of these batch installers I hate, but some are better than others, for sure. I don't tend to use them a lot, only occasionally when stuff needs updating...

They do, but as I said it gets tedious especially when the app has no way to paste a copied password. Reading and typing in 15 randomly generated characters is a pain in the ass, at best.

[muzines]

They do, but as I said it gets tedious especially when the app has no way to paste a copied password. Reading and typing in 15 randomly generated characters is a pain in the ass, at best.

Indeed! Sometimes, apps disable the command-V keyboard shortcut (really bad practice, app designers!), but you can often right-click and force a paste via the menu to get around it. Or paste it into a text editor, and literally drag the text into the box. Worth a try if you have some stubborn ones - I don't recall coming across any of those offhand - all my passwords are unique and a pain to type, and the only one I usually have to occasionally resort to is my AppleID password on iOS...

[muzines]

I am starting to plan for a Mac M3 machine next year. Managing software updates is tedious enough, but the license transfers are going to be a nightmare.

That first week getting a brand new, sexy powerful machine is a conflicting experience - the imminent joy you feel about getting something new, powerful, shiny and transformative to your computer experience, coupled with the knowledge that you're not really going to be able to actually *do* much with it to enjoy it, because the first week or so will be installing, licensing, configuring and setting it up, with all the pain that involves (no matter how organised you are).

During that week, numerous people you know will likely ask things like "how's the new computer!?" to which the urge will generally be to respond "I DON"T KNOW YET BUT RIGHT NOW IT'S NOT FUN!!"...

Fun times!

[Tomás Mulcahy]

...but you can often right-click and force a paste via the menu to get around it. Or paste it into a text editor, and literally drag the text into the box.

As I said, some don't have the right-click to paste OR the keyboard shortcut (and no menu because they break Apple UI rules). Didn't think of drag'n'drop, will try that!

[OneWorld]

I am wondering if this is a common problem...

I have 26 of these applications on my Mac. They are a pain in the ass. Here are some of the ways they are a pain in the ass, in no particular order. Feel free to add more.

1. Half of them do not store the username and password. You have to go get that from wherever you securely store it (I use Chrome, don't bother criticising that).

2. A quarter of them support neither copy and paste keyboard shortcut or right click and paste, for the username and password.

3. I struggle to remember the names of all 26 vendors when an update is required.
So I made a folder called “Software Update Portals”.
Default install location is the Applications folder. So you'll have to move it to your Software Update Portals folder every time there is an update, and click to replace the old one.

4. They all work differently, re-inventing the Mac UI in unique and frustrating ways. For example setting a custom install location for content (it's mental they default to the System drive*) is like a game of Where's Wally. Not what you want to do when you just want to get that new acoustic bass on your track.

5. About 22 of them do not report if your current install is the up to date version.

6. About half require you do go through the full series of clicks to accept licenses/ sign your life away etc. for a regular install using the Apple Installer app. This requires you to sit at the computer for the full duration of the install. Arturia is the worst for this. NI a very close second.

7. I decided to use only VST3 format. As you can imagine, trying to deploy this preference gets very tedious.

8. I hate Microsoft. They are terrible at UI design, and many of us are compelled to use their software. But their MS Office suite updater works seamlessly in the background. It's an example to plugin developers. Apart from the almost daily interruptions to typing when the dialogue box "Verifying One Drive Update" takes priority in the OS.

9. I don't know what the solution is. Maybe some kind of universal updater thing built in the plugin format. yea, I know, security issues, OS permissions yadda yadda yadda. But the apps themselves should not be this bad! At least stick to the Apple UI rules like any other app.

10. Interestingly, in iOS your apps can all talk directly to your browser to get the password, using your fingerprint. That's pretty cool. And I don't recall ever having to click yes to a license agreement on iOS?

Here are my pains in the ass. What are yours?

1. 8DioDownloader
2. Adobe Creative Cloud
3. Aquarius
4. Arturia Software Centre
5. Cakewalk-Command-Center
6. FX License Manager
7. Heavyocity Portal
8. HOFA-Plugins Manager
9. HoRNetDoIn
10. iZotope Product Portal
11. Massey Plugins AAX Installer
12. Native Access
13. PA-InstallationManager
14. ROLI Dashboard
15. Slate Digital Connect
16. Softube Central
17. Spitfire Audio
18. Steinberg Activation Manager
19. Steinberg Download Assistant
20. Steinberg Library Manager
21. Steven Slate Audio Center
22. TDR Collector
23. UJAM
24. UVI Portal
25. UVIWorkstation
26. XLN Online Installer

I decided to have a cull of soft stuff because of the interfering, convoluted and perplexing maintenance - oh for the old day when you downloaded something, you had complete control over it and from time to time you'd get an email informing you an update was available, and you could take it or leave it. Nowadays the juice isn't worth the squeeze considering all the faffing about that's involved. I could have learned to play the saxophone or whatever in the same time I've spent tinkering with downloads and what comes with them

[muzines]

As I said, some don't have the right-click to paste OR the keyboard shortcut (and no menu because they break Apple UI rules). Didn't think of drag'n'drop, will try that!

Yeah, just a random grab of things I could think of off the top of my head that I've used in the past, that may or may not help in any given case.

Another option is to use a utility to "type" the contents of the clipboard into the text field. I use Keyboard Maestro for these kinds of UI scripting uses, but if you're not that posh ( ) you could probably do something similar with Applescript or a bunch of other utilities (you might be able to "expand" the text using utilities like Text Expander - and macOS has a similar built in tool that might work in some of these cases too, in System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Text.)

Anyway, just things I can think of that can help in some or the more annoying cases - I've rarely had to resort to such measures, but problem solving workflow issues is super valuable for repeatedly annoying cases.

I think most of the portals I use remember my login details, UVI does, Softube does, Plugin Alliance does, iZotope does, Spitfire does, Native Access does... I'm sure there are others I can't remember right now...

[Tomás Mulcahy]

@Oneworld I couldn’t do that since I am addicted to plugins lol. But it’s true, it can be a massive waste of time.

I’ll log a bug with Arturia and see how that goes.

I should redo the list and rate them. Some of them are not bad, but all of them share the common issue of the default install being the Applications folder.

[BigRedX]

For much these kinds of reasons in the past, when I started doing a lot of musical work on my Mac a couple of years ago I made the conscious decision that I would only use the plug-ins that came bundled with Logic. Since then I have broken this rule twice - once for VSDSX since the samples I'd made of a real SDSV were no longer comprehensive enough for my needs, and secondly for Line6 Helix Native which allows me a bit more flexibility for guitar and bass sounds without need to re-record parts simply because I've decided the sounds need to change.

For everything else my Mac is now so old that I hardly ever get bugged by software updates and most of those that still do are for applications that I rarely use and often prompt me into deleting the app completely. Interestingly AFAICS once your Mac is too old to support Office 365 updates it appears to be removed from the list of installed devices in your Microsoft account and therefore becomes "free".

Of course when I do finally get a new Mac I'm going to have to deal with all this crap again.

[Tomás Mulcahy]

It is great that Macs (still) last a long time. I only just semi-retired a 2012 MacBook Pro. In fact with Catalina it works as fast for Office as any of the classroom Wintels at work, and those are much newer (they didn't put enough RAM in them).

I'm trying to get it to run Ubuntu Studio. It does, which is cool, but the wifi does not work despite the driver appearing as active.

[muzines]

Some of them are not bad, but all of them share the common issue of the default install being the Applications folder.

You could always create a folder anywhere you want, then alias the apps you want all into that folder. That way you keep the apps where they want to be and don't have to faff around when updating them, but you also have a single place you can just see all your portal installers in one pace, without any other clutter.

[Tomás Mulcahy]

Great point! I forgot about that. Haven’t used alias since System 9 days lol.

[sonics]

A password manager with copy/paste is very useful, but I'm not surprised some programmers have decided to turn that off. They always find a way to break things!

One issue I've found is that updates installed using a portal are put in the default folder. If I install manually from a download, the updates retain my custom path. That defeats the purpose of the portal. My fix is simply to update less!

Windows PC mostly BTW

[BigRedX]

It is great that Macs (still) last a long time. I only just semi-retired a 2012 MacBook Pro. In fact with Catalina it works as fast for Office as any of the classroom Wintels at work, and those are much newer (they didn't put enough RAM in them).

I'm trying to get it to run Ubuntu Studio. It does, which is cool, but the wifi does not work despite the driver appearing as active.

This is being typed on a 2010 MacPro (bought second hand for £600 a few years ago), and the backing for both my bands runs on a 2012 MacBook Pro which was EoL from John Lewis for £700 back in 2015.

Out of interest what do you intend to use Ubuntu for? I dabbled with Linux many years ago but I found the user community quite unhelpful for 'newbies" - if an installer shows up a dialogue box I like to know exactly what all the options mean - and there still appears to be a distinct lack of professional standard graphics applications which I need for my day job. I'm not interested in running applications under WINE. If I pick a particular OS I want everything I use to run without the need for emulators.

[Tomás Mulcahy]

I’m just playing with it. I can use MS Office in Chrome browser. Reaper has a Linux version. Ubuntu Studio is bundled with some photo and video editing apps that look interesting. But my main Mac is for Reaper, Ableton, Lightroom and Premiere.

[ConcertinaChap]

I hate it when the software portal decides it's a front end to iLok (I'm looking at you, Softube!). If you get a problem it can sometimes be hard to sort it out because you don't know where the fault lies.

CC

[Dave Rowles]

I've been making a concerted effort to drastically reduce the number of different plugins and stuff that I use. I started to wonder if I really needed to be hitting lots of different manufacturers or if I could find tools that do the job with less cost or effort.

I've managed to get it down to 3, waves, slate, SSL. Almost weaned myself off waves too.

[Kwackman]

I've been making a concerted effort to drastically reduce the number of different plugins and stuff that I use.

I recently went through the same, after changing my >10 year old computer.
I'd collected hundreds of third party plug-ins, probably never used most of them.
So, apart from Cubase, Toontrack and Scuffham guitar sim, I've reloaded very few others on to my new machine. Cubase has loads of included FX plug-ins, so I've started exploring some of them, most for the first time. e.g. the "Frequency" EQ plug-in is probably more than I'll ever require in a EQ, including dynamic EQ and it's capable of having a different side chain source for EACH band! So, that's a load of EQ plug-ins not being reloaded!

[merlyn]

... I'm not interested in running applications under WINE. If I pick a particular OS I want everything I use to run without the need for emulators. ...

WINE stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator. But you're right, you don't need to know things like that if you use a Mac.

[IAA]

I recently went through the same, after changing my >10 year old computer.

Me too. I worked hard to go 100% native Apple Silicon. And it’s been a wait for some developers but it helped me decide which software to remain invested in.

Lest is best (in my case) although I’ve recently become a fan of UAD native plugins and had to give myself (Muzines helped me too I might add ) a bit of a talking to. I nearly went with the subscription but just got a couple of the native plugins in the sale. That’s me done! (Again…).

Ian