grrr. Software downloads that aren't the program download

[Modelworks]

Lately I have noticed a trend with programs that you download only to find out that you didn't just download the program, you downloaded the installer that will download the program . This is occurring with everything from service packs to full blown products. I can't say how annoying it is to download a program , think you have a copy of it then go to install only to learn that no, you don't have a program, you have a 15MB installer that will take another hour to download the program.

I hope this isn't the future of software distribution. Companies need to say if it is the real program or an installer so I can judge if I want to spend time downloading it. This happened to me 4 times today , sorry just had to rant .

 

[xanis]

I agree, it's extremely annoying. I don't remember any specific programs that have done this but I do remember it happening way too often. To be honest I'm not really sure why it's necessary either.

 

[FoBoT]

as a software packager, there are some cases where it makes sense. let's say the program requires .NET (or Silverlight, etc) to be installed. if you include it in the download, then everybody that already has .NET on their computer has to download extra stuff. if you make the installer download just the necessary components, then you minimize the download for everyone

since internet connectivity is so ubiquitous these days, i prefer to modularize installers in this fashion

sorry dude!

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Chrome does it, Pidgin does it, and that's it from what I can remember off the top of my head.

 

[Mike Gayner]

Care factor --

You must have really shitty internet.

 

[Modelworks]

Care factor --

You must have really shitty internet.

Internet doesn't work when you download a program and place it on a usb drive and think you can install it in the field, only to get a window saying it needs to download the program.

 

[Leros]

I like it. The specialized installer can analyze your system and download a more specialized subset of features that you need. You might only have to download 50MB instead of 100MB.

The installer is usually under 1MB so it starts running pretty much instantaneously once you start downloading it.

 

[Pulsar]

this is also a new way of handling anti-piracy. You never get the full program until they hash your computer, verify it, record it, THEN allow you to download the software. There's some main-stream manufacturing applications (8+ Gb download) that now work this way.

Try downloading like that on 100+ pc's.....

When will these idiots get a clue that we don't all have fiber connections? Even business class high speed doesn't grab that much data in a big hurry.

Morons.

 

[Soundmanred]

The MS messanger packages used to be like this. (I haven't used them in a while). It was just an installer to install the installer.

Care factor --

You must have really shitty internet.

Will you ever stop being an ass? Everything you respond to makes you look like a mean spirited asshole. There are ways to respond to something you don't agree with without sounding like a condescending douche.

 

[Mike Gayner]

Will you ever stop being an ass? Everything you respond to makes you look like a mean spirited asshole. There are ways to respond to something you don't agree with without sounding like a condescending douche.

Cry moar.

 

[sactoking]

I've seen game companies go to this system a lot more too because then they only have to host the installer for every download; most of the patches, etc downloaded get seeded from prior downloads which reduces the company's bandwidth and expenses.

 

[Soundmanred]

Cry moar.

Like you and your brother did to get back to posting insults and random trolling?
Point supported.
I don't understand why you would beg to get back on a site where all it does is make you rage for no reason, get banned, come back and do it again.

 

[shortylickens]

You know whats really sad?
Torrents have a higher reliability than web downloads.

 

[Leros]

You know whats really sad?
Torrents have a higher reliability than web downloads.

What...? bullshit

I've never had a web download go down. I've had tons of torrents stop before finishing.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

What...? bullshit

I've never had a web download go down. I've had tons of torrents stop before finishing.

It's especially good for those of us on restrictive bandwidth caps, because torrents can be started and stopped a lot easier than direct downloads. They're also more tolerant of crappy connections, I've had a lot of direct downloads time out on me because the bandwidth was too low and I happened to be using the internet at the time, so no data could go through and the server timed out. As I've said before, especially with larger mods (1GB+ - games don't really count because they usually have some kind of built-in auto-pause/resume thing like Steam) and other things I would much rather have a torrent than a direct download.

 

[Kirby]

I wouldn't mind if it noted that it was just an installer beforehand and you had the option of downloading just the program.

 

[Tsavo]

A friend bought some AV for his office PC's. He paid $5 per disc extra to get a CD copy of each license.

Each CD had 150k of web installer exe on it and nothing else.

 

[Tsavo]

You know whats really sad?
Torrents have a higher reliability than web downloads.

You are correct.

Torrents are a pretty reliable way to distribute malware.

 

[Nik]

A friend bought some AV for his office PC's. He paid $5 per disc extra to get a CD copy of each license.

Each CD had 150k of web installer exe on it and nothing else.

 

[Colt45]

for things like service packs for windows, there's usually an option to download the "distributable" version too. which is was bigger naturally.

At least it used to be like that, I abandoned windows a few years back.

 

[TridenT]

I've hated this shit ever since it was started. Annoying as fuck.