Here's a quick rundown of some ways in which Joomla and third-party developers are trying to make managing your Joomla site much easier:

Automatic Updates for the Joomla 1.5 Core

Joomla Magic Updater installs as a component and then allows you to update to the latest Joomla version with a simple button click. The files are taken directly from joomla.org. People seem to love it. In less than a month on the Joomla Extensions Directory its one of the top rated extensions with over 25 rave reviews.

Automatic Updates for Joomla 1.5 Extensions

Intellispire Software Installer installs a wide range of components with a single click. The files are taken from their servers and slightly modified to allow easy installation. We covered their launch back in August. The main version is free. They also have a commercial version that has just been made redundant by Joomla Magic Updater.

Sneek Peek at Joomla 1.6's Installer

Wilco Jansen has a great post about how Joomla 1.6 may have much improved installation process. The main change is that the installer may be divided by task rather than extension type. The tasks may be Update, Manage, Discover, Warnings:

• Update: Developers can provide small upgrade packages rather than requiring you to uninstall and reinstall the whole extension.
• Manage: A list of all the installed extensions.
• Discover: Upload large extensions via FTP.
• Warnings: The most hypothetical of all the tasks, this may provide warnings about extensions that don't work with your site setup and perhaps other goodies ...