The source of new (and, in some cases, improved) software is usually the vendor's website. As a rule, I never install the drivers from the CD or DVD that arrived with my hardware. I also never keep "archives" of drivers which I can re-use when re-installing the OS. What is the point of keeping a CD around for two (or more) years just to install the outdated software on it, which usually causes problems with newer versions of OS, when there are perfectly good 100M and faster internet connections available to me?
And here come the problems.
To make sure you understand: I don't mind the pages changing, I don't care that the company was purchased by another company and I can also live with radical changes in the software itself.
The things that do annoy me are these:
- Definately top: pages not working, files missing, wrong links, etc.
- Companies forcing you to download a huge amount of irrelevant stuff, which you then have the option of not installing.
- Drivers not being "signed" by Microsoft Certification after 6 years that the OS has been around.
A certain database vendor (a large name in the database business) offers a free version of their product with some limitations. Being a conscientious student, I wish to install this so I can study (yes, my college requires me to learn how to use commercial software instead of open alternatives - it stinks). Comes the first "catch": I need to be "registered" user, before I can even get a glimpse of their free product, which usually means giving them all sorts of information and then opting out of the many announcements, product updates, news and similar that would otherwise drown my mailbox.
Comes the next problem: Wanting to follow the link to register, I am asked for the username and password to access the site (which I do not, as of yet, have), after which I am told that "I am not authorized to view that page". Great fun.
Well, they did say that the pages are being re-constructed, so I might as well try at a later date.
The homework is due, so I really need that product by now. Figuring that the pages are now completed (and working), I try to do the same again - with similar results.
After some searching on forums (not the company's, since I cannot access them without registering), I learn that it is my browser that is the problem. Switching to IE makes the pages work flawlessly.
So, is it so much to ask of a multi-billion dollar company to try their pages on more than two browsers? (Firefox and IE are the ones that are usually tested) I am a fan of Opera (leightweight and blindingly fast) and I often have problems with websites not working on it. But I'd expect more from the "leading developers of DB and web applications for the past 200 years".
Moving on.
I have been complaining about this one for years, and the problem is only getting worse, it seems.
Wanting a driver for my new hardware (or old hardware, new OS), I go to the vendor's website and try to download it.
Whereupon I get a 150Mb+ exe file. This is not a nice thing.
Yes, I do have access to 100Mbit internet lines, but I rather use that capacity for stuff that I may actually need. Aside from the driver only being about 3-5 Mb in size, the installer package offers to install for me: Adobe Reader (newest), Firefox with the special company toolbar, TV application, Demos, Screen savers (shareware version), Antivirus (shareware version), etc...
Not only do I have to download all this, but I also have to watch the installation wizard quite closely so I dont accidentally install it. (See my post on Installing).
- Just a note: I'd like to express my joy at seing a large hardware vendor who offers me the choice of downloading the "bare minimum driver only" (16.7 Mb) or the entire package (43 Mb).
Thanks http://ati.amd.com!
Imagine here the "hypothetical" scenario:
Pop the OS install cd into a PC which you need to re-install (not your own).
While the thing does it's work (and it requires frequent user interaction, which I shall mention again in a later post), you have some free time in which to retrieve the drivers and software which is to be installed on the PC. Having a few tricks up my sleeve, I simply share the folder over my network, so that I can avoid USB drives or CD burning.
Once the base system is installed, I enable Remote Desktop on it (since my own workstation has two monitors), and I can continue working while the drivers and software are being installed. (This saves a lot of time, believe me).
So, what happens if you forget to copy the driver install files over the network and just run them from the share?
OUCH
Here is a reconstruction of what I believe happens:
The OS wishes to open the file \\workstation\shared\drivers\Driver.exe (200 Mb).
The antivirus needs to check the file for viruses, so the OS must fetch the file through the network, while the antivirus checks it and you are waiting with a blocked Explorer.
Rather than keeping the file in memory (or temporary space), it is entirely discarded.
In order to execute the file, it has to be read into the memory (or at least scanned to the end), which means that it is fetched again, while you are waiting with a blocked Explorer.
Finally, some action! The setup dialog opens, and begins to "check the file contents" (another fetch over the network), then "extract it" (yes, another fetch), whereupon it starts the "real" setup.exe from the extracted folder.
The AV needs to check that file as well, but fortunately it is usually small - the rest from here on goes smoothly.
If you have been counting, that is 4 downloads of the file over the network. Imagine having only a 10Mb non-switched network with an average transfer speed of 400Kb/s (due to activity).
Yes, it is faster to download the file from the internet again.
I leave it as an excercise for the reader to find out what is wrong with all that.
As for the third point...
I shall not elaborate on it, the point being (hopefully) self-apparent.
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