On Releasing Software Updates

Frequent updates, each containing only a couple of updates? Or infrequent updates with lots of changes? These are the choices I have for Poker Copilot updates.

Frequent Updates

Updating frequently is safer. When an update has a problem, it is easy to track down the problem. I can fully resolve issues from customer feedback before progressing. It keeps the software running well. But it puts a burden on the users of Poker Copilot. They have to update often, which can be somewhat annoying. Sometimes when you start up a piece of software you simply want to use it. Not to go through the update process first.

Frequent updates lead to a new class of support problems: not everybody updates. So I end up with customers running many different updates at once. Before I can analyse any problem I need to ascertain what update the person with the problem is using.

Infrequent Updates

Infrequent updates reduce the burden on the customer. They have to update less frequently. When they do get the chance to update, it is usually worthwhile because there are many improvements. But many changes at once in the software make new problems difficult to diagnose. The changes can magnify problems through combinations of bugs that eluded testing. This is a bad result for everybody: me as the Poker Copilot developer, and customers.

Summary

Neither situation is ideal. I’ve weighed up the advantages and disadvantages. I’m leaning towards continuing with small and frequent updates.