Interactive product improvement through the use of variants and data gathering reports in a system that can be updated on the fly

1. A system, comprising:

a processor;

instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium that when executed by the processor perform operations comprising:

determining that a plug-in that includes a plurality of variants is available;

selecting a plug-in variant for a device based on allocation percentages included in a manifest, wherein the manifest includes allocation percentages corresponding to percentages of devices that will receive each of the plurality of plug-in variants; and

automatically installing the selected plug-in variant on the device, wherein the randomly selected plug-in variant is executed at run-time.

2. The system recited in claim 1 , wherein the selected variant facilitates a feedback loop for providing interactive product improvement.

3. The system recited in claim 1 , wherein the manifest is modified to change the allocation percentage for the plug-in variant based on monitored user interactions with the plug-in variant.

4. The system recited in claim 1 , wherein the manifest is modified to identify a default variant of the plurality of plug-in variants, wherein the default variant is executed at run-time.

5. The system recited in claim 1 , wherein the selected plug-in variant requires a license to execute.

6. The system recited in claim 1 , wherein the selected plug-in variant requires a license to execute, and wherein additional payment is required to access the selected plug-in variant.

7. The system recited in claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

monitor user activity that includes an interaction with the selected plug-in variant.

8. The system recited in claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

generate a report based on monitored user activity that includes an interaction with the selected plug-in variant.

9. The system recited in claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

monitor user activity that includes an interaction with the selected plug-in variant; and

generate a report based on the monitored user activity that includes an interaction with the selected plug-in variant.

10. The system recited in claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

provide a report based on monitored user activity that includes an interaction with the selected plug-in variant.

11. A method, comprising:

identifying a plurality of plug-in variants using a manifest, the manifest including a plurality of plug-in variant identifiers and a plurality of allocation percentages for each of the plurality of plug-in variant identifiers;

selecting a plug-in variant of the plurality of plug-in variants to install on a device based on the plurality of allocation percentages; and

installing the selected plug-in variant, wherein the selected plug-in variant is executed at run-time.

12. The method recited in claim 11 , wherein the selected plug-in variant facilitates a feedback loop for providing interactive product improvement.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

monitoring user activity that includes an interaction with the selected plug-in variant;

generating a report based on the monitored user activity that includes an interaction with the selected plug-in variant; and

providing the report that includes the monitored interaction with the selected plug-in variant.

14. The system recited in claim 11 , wherein selecting the plug-in variant of the plurality of plug-in variants is further based on an identifier shared between a plurality of users.

15. The system recited in claim 11 , wherein selecting the plug-in variant of the plurality of plug-in variants is further based on a start date and revert date associated with at least one of the plurality of plug-in variants.

16. A non-transitory computer program product, the computer program product being embodied in a tangible computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

identifying a plurality of plug-in variants using a manifest, the manifest including a plurality of plug-in variant identifiers and a plurality of allocation percentages for each of the plurality of plug-in variant identifiers;

selecting a plug-in variant of the plurality of plug-in variants to install on a device based on the plurality of allocation percentages; and

installing the selected plug-in variant, wherein the selected plug-in variant is executed at run-time.

17. The non-transitory computer program product recited in claim 16 , wherein the selected plug-in variant facilitates a feedback loop for providing interactive product improvement.

18. The non-transitory computer program product recited in claim 16 , further comprising computer instructions for:

monitoring user activity that includes an interaction with the selected plug-in variant;

generating a report based on the monitored user activity; and

providing the report to a user.

19. A system, comprising:

a processor configured to:

send a manifest to a device of devices, wherein the manifest includes a plurality of plug-in variant identifiers and a plurality of allocation percentages for each of the plurality of plug-in variant identifiers, and wherein a plug-in variant is randomly selected for the device; and

receive a report based on a monitored interaction between the device and the plug-in variant; and

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.

20. The system recited in claim 19 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

modify the manifest to change an allocation percentage of the plurality of allocation percentages for each plug-in variant based on the monitored interaction with the plug-in.

21. The system recited in claim 19 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

modify the manifest to identify one of the plurality of plug-in variants as a default variant for the plug-in, wherein the default variant is executed at run-time.