Pete Prodoehl Brings Excitement to Software Updates with the USB-Connected "Software Release Button"
Eager to make launching software a bit more exciting, a company asked Prodoehl to build a physical software release control panel.
Engineer Pete Prodoehl has showcased a build designed to make the act of deploying a new version of a software package a little more physical: a "Software Release Device" styled after a missile launch control, complete with key-based security lockout.
As any developer knows, you don't deploy any new version of a software package on Friday, no matter how minor the change. It's always tempting, though, to click the little button that triggers a deployment, especially when it fixes an annoying bug — but with Prodoehl's Software Release Device, the act of deployment is a lot more visceral.
"Launching a ship is exciting! Maybe that ship is a rocket ship, or maybe it’s a traditional ship which floats in the water. When launching a ship there’s often a ceremony involving some champagne and pageantry and a party and it’s quite an event," Prodoehl explains. "When you launch a new version of your software, it’s not quite as exciting. I mean, it is, but in a different way. Sure, twenty years ago there was probably a lot of excitement around master discs and packaging and all that, but in 2019 with most software delivered as a service, it’s not much more than someone typing a few commands, clicking a mouse, and pressing the enter key. Not as exciting."
Feeling the same, an unnamed software company approached Prodoehl with the idea of instantiating the act of software deployment into a physical device. The result: a USB-connected control box which is unlocked via a key, lights a glowing green 'armed' button, and then uses a large and satisfying-to-smack red launch button to fire off the software build to the world at large.
"They made it pretty easy for me, as they specified most of the parts for the build," says Prodoehl. "The lamp was meant to run on 24VDC but luckily it was just a matter of cutting open the housing, replacing some resistors, and gluing it all back together to get it to run on 3.3VDC, and it looks really nice."
Prodoehl hasn't named the company for which he built the Software Release Device, but has indicated that anyone interested in having any custom USB device made for themselves should get in touch via his website.