You'll be surprised at just how many steps there are to this "simple" Adobe update

Jun 24, 2015 | 0 comments

too-many-clicks

There are things we’re compelled to do all the time on our Macs that are far more complicated than they need to be. It’s easy to forget this fact while cruising on autopilot through a tedious yet familiar series of mouse clicks. Unfortunately, Adobe seems to have forgotten it too – to the detriment of their users. Bob Dylan might have summed it up thusly: “How many clicks must a user make before they can upgrade their Flash?”
I just got my latest notice that an update to Adobe Flash Player awaited me. Seems the  version I’m running lacked the “latest security updates”, and was blocked. So, I dutifully started the all-too-familiar update process – but this time, with a twist. This process, which is foisted on us seemingly every 72 hours for each .001 version update, is almost insanely overcomplicated. So this time, I noted just how many clicks are required from start to finish. The results may surprise you.
Here’s the hoops – er, steps I had to go through. The click tally appears at the end of each step.
  1. Safari rolls-down a notification panel advising me of the update. I click Download Flash… as prompted. Total clicks: 1.
  2. I’m taken to the Adobe website. I click “Install Now”. Clicks: 2.
  3. I’m told (in tiny type) to locate the installer and double-click on it. One click to pop open my downloads, two to run the installer. Clicks: 5 (3 clicks, one double-click).
  4. Adobe Flash Player Installer uncompresses and the app appears in a Finder window. Double click that. Clicks: 7.
  5. At this point, if you haven’t turned this warning off as I have, the Finder helpfully asks, “Are you sure you want to open this file?” Click “Don’t warn me when opening applications on this disk image”, then click Open (2 clicks). Total clicks: 9.
  6. You’re prompted for your Mac user password. Type that in, and click OK. Clicks: 10.
  7. Installer opens. I was prompted on Snow Leopard to agree to a license agreement at this point, but in Yosemite I wasn’t. Call it one click. Clicks: 11.
  8. Since your browser is still open from Step 1, ther’s a “Quit Safari” button to click. Doing so started the install process for me as well. Clicks:  12.
  9. The installer finishes. Click “Finish”. Clicks: 13.
  10. Back to the browser and a page at the Adobe site, with a small “thanks for installing” and a huge pitch for Creative Cloud. Close this shameless ad. Clicks: 14.
Theoretically, you’re now done. But to get things back to where they were before this task was imposed on you, there’s some cleanup yet to do.
  1. Close the Finder window containing the Flash installer.
  2. Select the installer zip file and disk image and drag both to the trash.
  3. Switch back to the web browser and the window where it all started.

That adds about four clicks for a grand total of 18, plus a whirlwind round trip to the web, the Finder, the Adobe Installer, back to the web, Finder, and the web again. Whew!

Why is it that most other programs, when an update is available, only need to interrupt you with one small window advising you of that fact with a simple “Upgrade and restart” button?

This Adobe method is much  more the traditional software-install method that dates back many years, whereas the one-button update is the result of all the streamlining and behind-the-scenes efficiency improvements that have happened over the intervening years. Except at Adobe, apparently.

I shouldn’t be too harsh, there are probably some legitimate reasons why the update process can’t be a mere single click. But surely it could be improved.

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