Apple QuickTime update blocks media player bugs

Why is a fixed cycle better?

Many other OS/software vendors release patches when they are ready rather than waiting for a specific cycle.

Granted, enterprise OS/software vendors often also release patch bundles (service packs, whatever) on a regular basis, but that's to allow the corporate customers to plan their own release cycles and they usually release patches in between on a more ad-hoc basis - particularly security patches. All of the vendors in the article have released security patches outside of the normal regular release cycle.

So while this does look like a dropped ball in that they probably should have released all of the patches on the same day, as Apple are operating largely in the consumer space I can't see why it's such a big deal, particularly if user's machines only check for patches once a week (IIRC that's the Apple default). Most users will just pick up all of the patches in one hit whenever their machine next checks.

Regular patch cycles?

Uh, if you want a weekly patch cycle, set it to check once a week.

If you want monthly patch cycles, set it to check once a month.

Why all the howling about irregular patch cycles? Just tell me when it's broke so I can fix it.

I know Microsoft have a regular cycle, but it doesn't mean everyone else has to!

Bad Timing?

Let me get this straight. The author, by advocating a fixed patch-release schedule, would have been happier with the potential situation whereby users had to wait A MONTH for the QuickTime update, instead of a day??

OK, the author was suggesting that the original patch would have been delayed by a day, but the scenario I outlined above is still plausible (I believe Microsoft have delayed critical updates by nearly three weeks in the past, so as to stick to their sacred "Patch Tuesday").

Apple employ my preferred update cycle: daily (of course, some days there are no patches ;-) ).

Easier way to fix quick time

Uninstall it and carry on with life

no one needs that buggy memory hog POS on their PC

I find it more of a memory hog and buggy than adobe flash which saint jobs loves to make fun of.

I quit using it over 5 years ago and don't miss it.

@Kevin 6

"I quit using it over 5 years ago"

So you know f**k all about it then?

Quicktime? not needed!

I removed all things related to apple from my PC months ago. I have not missed quicktime for one second. It's just not needed at all. VLC plays .movs just fine.

Patch cycles are annoying, here's a real solution

There are so many different products with different patch cycles that it makes no difference. On an average consumer PC you may have Adobe (Reader), Apple (Quicktime, iTunes), Google (Chrome, Earth, Talk), Microsoft (Office, Windows, and likely more), Mozilla (Firefox, Thunderbird), and countless other products like Skype. Patch cycles make no difference since all these different software makers are still on their own schedules. Instead of using a patch cycle, all these products should plug into Windows Update/Microsoft Update and patch their products through that one interface which can be scheduled and if desired, controlled with an enterprise distribution server like WSUS.