Why can’t 3rd party developers tap into Software update? Right now you can only update software from Apple directly. I would love to be able to run Software Update and see Adium, NetNewsWire, Google Earth, and the like ready for me to update. I can’t see how hard it would be.
With my limited understanding of how Software Update works I’ve devised this idea:
1. Software update is initiated, checks the .pkg’s in the Recipt folder
2. Then it connects to Apple to ask for updates, while now checking similar settings on the 3rd party websites. Developers would create a directory that hosts the updates. Software Update would pull the new .pkg from the directory listed in the Recipt folder. (Which would be created when the program was first installed.
3. Software Update lists the updates available.
4. Select the updates, read the EULA, enter your password and viola!
A receipt would have to be written, and the developers would have to have a page setup on their site in order to get this to work, but I would think it wouldn’t be that hard to actually do. There could even be a distinguishing mark next to 3rd party updates, to keep them visually seperate from Apple’s own updates.