I spent a lot of time downloading while I was in the US. Every hotel I stayed in was blessed with a blocked pipe thanks to my non-stop download queue. The bulk of what I was downloading consisted of Windows and Mac updates so I could baseline them and start providing monthly software updates to the community.
When I first started working in Uganda, I was stunned at how viruses snuck into every corner of the IT landscape and even more surprised at the devastation they caused. As an organization, we’ve done our best to keep treat the symptoms. We did A/V scans, quarantines, data recoveries, system updates and A/V updates but really we weren’t making a dent in the problem. I began to realize that most of the systems we were working on were hideously outdated and the primary reason for this was that there wasn’t enough bandwidth to download all the service packs, security patches, application updates and A/V updates required to keep the systems safe.
Today, after several days of pulling all the packages together, we’ve released our first set of DVDs that will update Mac and Windows machines with all the latest updates. The Windows version is nicely automated, but the Mac updates are a pile of DMGs for now. (Anyone know a better way to update Macs other than chucking a pile of DMGs at our clients? Let me know.)
Next, we’ll work on A/V updates, and I’m looking for something that will automate that process as well so we can automate the download and installation of updates. Again, let me know.
My only fear with this little project is the inevitable: I just know that some unscrupulous people will get a hold of these disks, duplicate them from their virus-infected machines and try to sell these freely-offered updates for profit. My hope is that we’ll remain a trusted source for these packages and that we can make some dent in this problem.
Here’s the email that I sent out to the community.
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Hey everyone! Hackers For Charity is offering free operating system
update disks to anyone that needs them. The disks are free for the
asking, but we are requesting a donation of 20,000/= (if you are able)
to help us offset the (rather significant) costs we incur in
downloading the updates and creating the disks.
There are two sets of disks right now: one for Windows and one for Mac.
The Windows disk includes an installer which will automatically assess
your system, determine the updates that need to be applied and
incrementally upgrade your system to the latest version, after several
reboots and restarts of the program. The Windows disk will currently
update Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 2003, Windows 7 and Office
2003-2010.
The Mac disk does not contain an auto-installer, so updates must be
applied manually. We are looking for a solution to this, but for now
updates are listed in categories by OS X version and application.
Novice users can simply install the latest operating system update,
while more advanced users can delve into the various application
directories. The disk will currently update OS X 10.5 (Leopard), OS X
10.6 (Snow Leopard), OS X 10.7 (Lion), iLife, iWork and all auxiliary
Apple applications. In addition, this disk contains the latest version
of iTunes for Windows and Mac as well as the latest updates for the
iPad 2 Wi-Fi and the iPhone 4 (GSM versions only). Note that if your
iPhone has been unlocked and/or jailbroken, you should not apply these
updates as you will lose your unlock, perhaps permanently. Older
versions of OS X, to include OS X 10.4 (Tiger) as well as Power PC
versions are included on a second supplemental Mac DVD, provided on
request.
Each disk can be re-used by multiple computers legally, as there are
no licensing issues since the updates are provided free from the
respective web sites.
Our plan is to update this disk every month and provide the updates as
a service to the community. We also are working on an anti-Virus
update disk to provide updates to the various A/V products.
If you’re interested in any of the DVD’s, stop by The Keep any time.
We’ll ask you to fill in a form with your name, phone number, email
address, organization name/web site and email address.
Thanks everyone.
Have a good day!
I cannot seem to locate it through google, nor can I remember the name at all, but there is some FLOSS out there that you can install on a box that simply acts as a cache for updates. That way once the OS/AV update gets downloaded once it will be relatively local. It should at least help with the cafe.
Thanks for the comment. There are several caching programs, like the Update Accelerator plugin for IPCop (http://update-accelerator.advproxy.net). These programs do a good job of “intercepting” update requests for various operating systems and A/V programs and caching them. Future requests for the same updates will be served locally. The downside is that with a diverse clientele, we hardly ever get cache hits, and in order for this to work we need to allow those costly update requests to go out, saturating our pipes. So for now it’s cheaper (but more difficult) to use the DVD updates and DNS-blackhole updates.