Software Deployment

It's going to depend upon the product in question. Many systems management applications can manage third party patches - such as KBOX, SCCM/SMS, and others. You can also create your own method for deploying patches (i.e. via logon scripts or custom applications). However, I doubt that many of these applications allow automatic updating via the application pointing to an internal server. If so, it will definitely be application specific (meaning what works for Quicktime won't work for Adobe Acrobat).

I think creating a script at logon can be an option that will search for the update file on the network share on the particular folder and if found starts applying the patch.
I havn't tried this option but it seems to be achievable.

But, it would be interesting to know what others say on this topic.

Regards...

At the risk of sounding pompous, I'd say that anyone with any experience with vendor installation routines shudders with horror at the prospect of allowing ANY of them to automatically update the contents of a lunch box, much less the workstations in their enterprise. The first release of Symantec Endpoint Protection v11 would have been an abject lesson in how to really irritate sysadmins if we'd let it loose "as is".

Download updates, pull them apart and test them and their impact on your build and applications and only once you're happy that they're not going to destroy your environment should you deploy them, which you would do using your deployment mechanism. Control, control, control...

My thoughts exactly Ian...

You need to control everything that occurs so the desktop estate is of a standard that you can vouch for.

Thanks,

Dunnpy