The ubuntu updater checks once a day for updates of anything, rather than checking for updates of one specific program each time you start a program (I really wouldn’t want anything to take half a second extra each time I run grep). And id checks silently in the background, showing a non-intrusive icon if it finds anything to update.

For me, it finds something to update maybe one or two times a week. I click “update it” when I’m not to busy with anything else. Maybe once a month it tells me I must restart an app, but then I can keep using the app until it is convenient for me to restart (or close) it. Same with reboots, only at an even lower frequency.

Actually, I find it hard to even imagine a better way to handle updates, apart from the enigmatic “don’t put the bugs there to start with, so you won’t have to fix them” … :-)

The problem with doing things when you’re not at the computer is that you get updates you don’t want. You get trapped in the “update everything” mentality that linux is in too. If you’re not using a program, there’s no need to update it. That’s why I think searching for updates once a week on startup wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

Next, how bout you check for updates when the screensaver is running! I leave my work and home computer running 24 hours a day most of the time (not weekends). It runs BOINC and other jobs during that time. For the hours I’m using it, I want its undivided attention. When I’m not using it, by all means go ahead and download and install (if I preauthorize it) the updates.

Don’t check when I’m starting my computer. Don’t check when I’m starting the app. Don’t check when I’m shutting things down. Those are 3 times when I am guaranteed to be at my computer and am waiting for it to do something for me. Don’t interrupt it!

Last point for me, if you’re going to check for updates, ask me if I want to be notified every time. I don’t need an application to start up to say, “Checking for Updates”, and then “No updates found”. If you didn’t do anything, I don’t care.

By the way. One of the biggest annoyances at all are programs that steal focus. I really hate it (it’s great typing credentials in chat windows because chat client just finished starting. haha)

Also, from my experience of Ubuntu, it does not update by program, rather a large batch of updates for all your programs, with an icon in the taskbar which (naturally) says there’s updates all the time (since there are, I just don’t use telnet-SSL-config-kerbal-widget-gadget ever).

The Linux way is far from perfect (not saying that’s what you where implying).

About apt-get/aptitude/Synaptic (GUI “version”)
1. Not web based.
2. N/A checks whenever you set it to check, or manually if you prefer that.
3, 4. N/A
5. Depends on the package but most often there’s a lot of info and there usually are a list of buglinks.
6. You can set it to install security updates, all updates or no updates automatically.
7. Downloads and/or installs in the background, depending on your settings. (It does it in the background, but you can chose if you want to manually install what id downloads)
8. I’ve only ever seen commercial apps do this without having a checkbox that is unchecked by default.
9. From my experience only kernel updates and some driver updates (graphics card) require a restart. It also tells you when a specific program need to be restarted, after the installation is made.
10. Well, it restarts the applications, so yeah…
11. Afaik, it does that.

This is based on experience and not knowledge so there might be a few misconceptions of mine in there.

Windows and boxes that regularly pop-up and get in the way just trains the user to close any similar things without giving it a second thought.

@James Socol: About startup time, see my previous answer. Point number 11, great addition, added to the list!

@Rotem: #2: If you limit that to a single HTTP request to a certain URL, that shouldn’t take more than a second. If you only make that request once a week, few will even notice.

#7: If there is a good reason, then I agree, please restart my browser. I fear that most often there isn’t a good reason. Lets say someone finds that closing Firefox prevents stopping some extension working properly. Is that I reason to require a restart? I think not, but update services seems to always assume that as soon as some tiny problem gets solved by restarting, lets do it.