The folks over at WoWInterface are proud to announce their new AddON Updater MMOUI Minion, it is about to hit the beta phase in the near future. We hope you are as excited about it as we are!

More info on it after the jump.

We’ve put together a little FAQ for you, along with a couple screenshots for you to look at:

1. Why is it called Minion?
Because, like a good Minion, it does what you tell it to do and takes care of all the work for you.

2. What Operating Systems will it work on?
It will work on Windows, Mac and Linux

3. How long until it is ready for beta testing?
Our target date for the initial open beta testing is 17 May. This may change but it is what we are aiming for.

4. Will it auto update on me?
There is an option for you to have it auto-update your AddOns for you, but this option is off by default.

5. Is there a “premium” version?
Sort of. There will be one version of it for everyone. The only difference that users will see right now is that if a user is a Premium Member on our sites, then whenever they are on one of our modules (more about those down further) they won’t see ads on the updater. If they aren’t a Premium Member on our sites, there will be one 300x250 ad block in the lower right corner that they will see.

6. This means it isn’t “crippled” in any way?
That is correct. There will be an “Update all” button that will work for everyone, whether you are a Premium Member on our sites or not. There won’t be any throttling of download speed if you aren't a Premium Member. The only difference right now will be whether or not there are ads showing when on our tabs.

Please note: this only applies to MMOUI/Zam site modules. If other sites write modules for it, they may choose to disable Update All buttons or throttle download speed or such, at their own discretion.

7. Will there be a way to ignore a mod?
Yes. There is going to be a right-click menu on the updater that will allow you to ignore a mod always (ie you normally get it from another site and you don’t want it to download from our site), or ignore it just once (ie normally you update it from our site, but you don’t want to this one time, for whatever reason)

8. What about getting more info on a mod, like the change log or description?
This will be another option on the right-click menu.

9. And author donation requests?
Any author who has donation requests enabled on the site will also have those donation requests showing on the updater.

10. Will I be able to search your site and install addons directly from the program?
Yes you will. You can see in the screenshots that there is a search box. You will be able to put terms in there and another box will pop up with suggested addons based on the terms you used and will show you the authors' descriptions of them. (You can see it in the screenshots).

11. Will the beta test for it be public?
Yes, the beta test will be public.

12. Will it datamine the way other clients do?
No, it will not datamine on its own. Please note, however, that other sites (like WowHead, Allakhazam’s, WowDB, etc.) may choose to write modules for it that you will have the option of installing so you can upload your data to them using the same program.

13. Modules? What do you mean, modules?
The way it is being written, anyone who wants to write a module for it to allow it to add functionality for their site will be able to do so. This means that there could be a module for it to work for Curse. Or one for wowui.incgamers. Or WowHead, or ….

14. Don't I have to worry about modules being keyloggers?
While you should always be concerned about your security, Minion provides something known as a "Security Manager" which oversees the operation of all modules. Modules cannot do many high-security things, and must declare to the user two things:

• The files and folders which the module will try to access, and
• The sites to which the module will try to connect

Any time this changes, you will be notified and must approve it. This way, you always know the limits on what the module will do. If the module ever tries to do something it's not allowed to do, it will be blocked forcibly.

15. Can we get a look at the API we’ll need to use to write these modules?
Yes you can, Shirik has posted the alpha version of the API here.

16. What does it look like so far?
Windows version

Mac/Linux version

For more information and to discuss Minion, please go to this forum on WoWInterface.