Please re-code the Connect Client so it does not require admin rights for upgrades

In our enviornment most end users do not have admin rights.  It appears Bentley it attempting to update the connect client (as well as connect products) frequently. I think more frequent upgrades, if done with very little impact to end users and they result in a more secure and stable product are a virtuous goal.

However, today each upgrade is a direct cost for our firm as we then need to spend resources to update the client. For products other than the connect client itself, the story is the same. If Bentley is serious and pushing regular updates, this recode should be a priority. As it stands, I find I’m fighting against frequent updates to Bentley products as the cost benefit of NOT installing and update is generally better than installing it, and when I am forced to install updates at my own cost, I become an unhappy customer.

You may have a performance fix, or an update may prevent a crash that occurs in some cases. I must weight if the cost of deploying that update is better than the cost of leaving the defect in place. In almost every case, doing nothing wins. Which leads to a situation where they Bentley products we use have known defects, which makes our end users like them less.

Regarding the connect client itself, while it may become useful to us at some future state, the connect client does not provide value to our firm today - but it does add cost.  Because of these two reasons, we're currently unhappy with it. 

By recoding the client to allow non-admin users to update it, Bentley will reduce the cost it is currently levying on its customers with each upgrade. I think Bentley’s goal is to enable more frequent updates for their products. If this is the case, I don’t see a path for success if admin rights are required to install connect client upgrades.

Both Microsoft and Adobe both realized this early on. Office 365 does not require admin rights for upgrades, and Adobe’s Creative Cloud application has an unmanaged option that we deployed that allows non-admin users to upgrade and update their adobe products.

Given the arguments above, please give serious consideration to making this option available in the next connect client upgrade. If it is, I assume you, I’ll be first in line to spend the time to deploy it.

In our enviornment most end users do not have admin rights.  It appears Bentley it attempting to update the connect client frequently which is a direct cost for our firm as we then need to spend resources to update the client.

While it may become useful to us at some future state, the connect client today does not provide value to our firm today - but it does add cost.  Because of these two reasons, we're currently unhappy with it. 

By recoding the client to be able to update itself for non-admin users, Bentley with reduce the cost it is currently levying on its customers with each upgrade.  If upgrades without admin rights are already available... consider this feedback that such an option was not communicated effectively.

Parents
  • Firstly - Tamicca, the OP understands that all apps require admin rights - that's pretty much the point of his request.

    Secondly, the OP's points about the updates not always having positive effects is probably THE reason not to allow them to auto-install. We always test updates before we release them to our users.

  • What I am hoping for is confirmation this is being passed along to the development/product team for consideration.  I'd prefer to have someone at Bentley weigh in on a timeline of when to expect this change.  I think such a change will help Bentley to be most successful.

  • Just bumping this thread.  Any news from Bentley on modifying the connect client to not require admin rights to install?  I'm available to do a demo for anyone at Bentley interested on how some other vendors apps are doing this now.  I can also share some of our own solutions.  We've coded some updaters and run them as scheduled tasks as the system account, this allows software to update on its own which system users do not have admin rights.

    II don't intent to come off smug here.  'm a proponent of the "as a service" model as it allows for frequent updates and I think the connected software and frequent updates are the right direction.  However as it stands now, I think the connected software approach is being setup to fail in enterprises that require admin rights.

Reply
  • Just bumping this thread.  Any news from Bentley on modifying the connect client to not require admin rights to install?  I'm available to do a demo for anyone at Bentley interested on how some other vendors apps are doing this now.  I can also share some of our own solutions.  We've coded some updaters and run them as scheduled tasks as the system account, this allows software to update on its own which system users do not have admin rights.

    II don't intent to come off smug here.  'm a proponent of the "as a service" model as it allows for frequent updates and I think the connected software and frequent updates are the right direction.  However as it stands now, I think the connected software approach is being setup to fail in enterprises that require admin rights.

Children
No Data