Dumbing down Apple Software Update

I use Windows PCs as well as Macs, but if you look back through all these blog posts you will find more rants about Apple than Microsoft. Windows is far from perfect and sometimes I have problems with it, but it doesn't really bother me. It's Apple Macs and OS X that get me worked up. I think it may be because Apple can be so brilliant and yet so dumb it provokes extreme reactions, whereas Microsoft is bland and doesn't really excite me or irritate me so much.

I checked Software Update on Mountain Lion and as any user will know, the old Software Update that we have had for years has been replaced by the Mac App Store. The old app would scan the Mac and display a list of updates and most importantly, their size.

I'm sometimes out with my MacBook and while I'm having a coffee at Starbucks I might run Software Update and if there are some small updates I'll download them. Sometimes I'm at home, but I'm busy and don't mind installing a small update, but if it's a gigabyte download (OS X updates are sometimes huuuuge), I will put it off  and do it on a day I'm not busy.

Mountain Lion no longer displays the size of software updates. OS X 10.8.1 is available, but the Mac App Store does not say the size. Clicking the More link displays more information, but not the size. Clicking the hyperlink opens a web page, but again there is no size information. Is this update 1Mb or 1Gb? Will it take 5 or 50 minutes? Has it already downloaded in the background and just needs installing? There's no clue. So here I am at Starbucks (I should buy shares the amount of coffee I drink here) and I don't know whether to click the Update button or not. I think I'll wait till I get home. I've got some Windows stuff that needs doing. I can set the update going and if it takes an hour or two it won't matter.

Microsoft Windows Update is much better than Apple Software Update. I've used both for years and there's no contest.