A comparison between SUMo and UCheck

[Curson]

With the announcement of KC Softwares SUMo End-Of-Life (EOL), we observed a large influx of new users testing UCheck as a replacement.
Even if they have similar features, they do not work the same way, leading to users frustration. This post is here to help clarify things.

How UCheck detect software that needs to be updated VS SUMo

UCheck and SUMo list the software installed on your system along with their version number and query an external database.
The difference is our database is filled using editors websites and changelogs. SUMo's one rely on users data; if more than a certain percentage of the version number reported do not match yours, an update notification is triggered.

Pros

• Faster update notifications
• Better handling of software with low users count and software that release BETA versions to the general public
• Support of System updates using Windows Update Agent API (WUA)

Cons

• Less supported applications
• Adding a new application requires manual intervention
• If an editor doesn't publish version number, the application can't be added to our database

How UCheck install software that needs to be updated

Upon user request, the official installer is downloaded from the editor server and run in Silent mode, meaning no user-interaction. This is necessary for UCheck CLI to be usable and for the Bulk update feature.
This stated, some installers don't repect the "silent" instruction, meaning these specific applications can not be supported by UCheck.

We are conscient this choice is controversial over SUMo's users, but this feature was implemented years ago and is here to stay.


Why UCheck supportable application ("Portable Apps") is so poor at the moment

For the past few years, we strived to make UCheck a competitive application in the world of "Software Updater". Back in the days, no existing products were able to be run from the command-line; we decided to fill this gap.
We were informed less than a month ago of KC Softwares owner to EOL SUMo. At this time, there was no existing code to support "portable apps" at all.

We are making progress, but it's going to take a long time.


Miscellaneous

• UCheck will detect both 32-bit and 64-bit of the same application
• UCheck will update an application to its latest version, without consideration for the operating system requirements or for paid license tied to a specific version of the application

Conclusion

Thanks for giving UCheck a chance.
If you want to contribute to enlarge our database or report an erroneous detection, please refer to the ==> Erroneous detection / Application support request <== thread.

[dking02]

"The difference is our database is filled using editors websites and changelogs. SUMo's one rely on users data; if more than 50% of the version number reported do not match yours, an update notification is triggered."

SUMo's algorithm for identifying an update is more complicated than that and requiring a 50% threshold is much too high in most cases. It would mean that 50% of the users would not get any benefit from a notification from SUMo since they would already have been on the new version.

A user can query the SUMo DB in real-time and see the distribution of users across the versions of a program. I've seen it less that 15% when a significant number of users are involved. The algorithm has not been made public to my knowedge and it is not always correct, but its better to lean toward announcing an update than not. Given a sufficient number of users of a program, I think that SUMo's community-based method actually provides for faster notifications. Fortunately, that capability is now being incorporated in UCheck beginning with version 5.0 and should provide a discriminator over most updaters which are limited to checking a fixed list of programs.

[Curson]

Hi dking02,

Again, thanks for your feedback.

SUMo's algorithm for identifying an update is more complicated than that and requiring a 50% threshold is much too high in most cases.

My bad. I've edited my post accordingly.

Given a sufficient number of users of a program, I think that SUMo's community-based method actually provides for faster notifications.

True, indeed. However, the issue with this approach is the risk of beta versions being pushed to an user computer.
We hope to improve the method of detection in the future.

Regards.

[Gil-s]

Hello,
I am an EX-user (lifetime license and I could change the status of a software version from beta to non-beta and vice versa) of the late SUMo (snif).
I'm part of the workstation engineering division of a local education authority, and I used to rely heavily on SUMo to track software updates in my fleet, in order to update them on my PC fleet via our deployment tools. I'm currently testing the Technician version of UCheck:
I like the interface and the software philosophy.
I did an Admin scan on my work computer.
However, in the 'Installed' tab, if I sort on the 'Latest' column, some software appear highlighted, whereas the values in the 'Version' and 'Latest' columns are identical.
Some of the installed software have versions higher than the 'Latest' version, they must not be up to date in the UCheck database, and some installed software have the same version as in the 'Latest' column but differ by one or two characters.
I'm also very surprised that "Firefox ESR" and "Audacity" are not known.

I enclose an annotated sceenshot.

Best regards.

[johnldove@gmail.com]

Is there a future-features or feature-requests list you maintain?
I'd like to add some of the features that SUMo had that would be helpful:
1. Ability to Run/launch a program from the Pending Updates list
2. Ability to Remotely query my UCheck installations (friends/family I support) to see what updates they need.
3. Have UCheck scan for update when it loads and present it to me when I un-minimize it

Blessings and thanks,
John

[wiz2003]

1. Would definitely be useful...

[Curson]

Hi,

We plan to use a Repository (like Github) to allow users to report bugs and vote for future features.
I will update this post when it will be abailable. Thanks for suggestions.

Regards.

[thany]

Hi,

We plan to use a Repository (like Github) to allow users to report bugs and vote for future features.
I will update this post when it will be abailable. Thanks for suggestions.

Regards.

Instead of "like github", why not actually go with github and make the whole thing opensource while you're at it?

You can still maintain paid licenses, mind you. But the best thing is that you can recieve help from people willing to contribute to functionality. Currently, everything's on your shoulders, and frankly, it shows.

[Curson]

Hi thany,

We actually will use Github.
Open-sourcing UCheck is not an option since it uses proprietary technology also used by RogueKiller engine.

Regards.