Mainly Macintosh

installing the OSX is fast/easy - waiting 5 hours for updates to download is hard

I reinstalled the Mac OS X software on my Mom's computer yesterday.

I spent a lot of hours there, though the installation per se took only a few minutes, itself.

The OS and software updates presented by the Software Update command, which totalled over half a gigabyte (!), actually took less time than I expected. However, that is because I expected the updates to take 10-12 hours and they only took about 5 hours. Running the updater over and over again, and rebooting the computer at least 4-5 times, and asking my mom to type in her password a dozen times - that was the time consuming part.

Had she been on a dialup connection, I would not have finished unless I came back almost every day for 3-6 days. At that point, I would be better off just taking her computer to my home, and letting it spend the better part of a day while I let it download its feast of updates while I myself ate, read the news, studied a book, showered, fed the cat, watched some TV, and asked what time I could drop off her computer the next day.


Her computer was manufactured (judging by software file dates) in early February.  This reinstall+update was taking place in mid-August.  So, in about 6 months - over a dozen files totally a huge number of bytes were needed to get my Mom's computer safely running.

These days, if you only have a dialup modem connection for your computer - at certain times, you are going to be extremely unhappy.

The only practical way to update these giga-patches of software updates that seem to pile up is with a broadband connection.

In my mother's case, it would have been possible for Apple to fit the entire set of patches on one 700 MB CD-ROM, and send it to her.

However, I do not think they provide that service.  Their labor costs would be huge.  The list of available updates would be changing  every few weeks.  So not very many CDs could be produced in bulk.  That would increase the risk of a bunch of them being suddenly obsoleted.

In addition to burning them, they would have to e stockpiled.  Eventually, they would have to be (a) ordered by a customer from an employee, (b) got out of inventory, and (c) shipped.  No doubt, then tech support would subsequently get some extra phone calls asking for explanation for how to install the updates from CD/disk rather than by using the turnkey Software Update command.

Installing the updates in my Mom's case took almost half a dozen hours. That is virtually a full work-day. Or more accurately, a full non-work day!

Compared to that, installing the OS was trivilal. The installation proper, as it were, took only about 30-45 minutes - of which only about half a minute was spent actually telling the computer anything (Hey, Mom! What is your zip code?). Configuring her email took about a minute, as did importing her last 3 week's worth of email from the backup CD I made.

I also made a backup of my Mom's entire Library folder before we wiped the old OS prior to installation. Library contains some folders with all of one's email in it.  That turned out to be worthwhile.  It only took 5 minutes to backup and 1 minute to restore.

The lessons learned here are:

• Get broadband because, even if you do not need it for entertainment/performance, computer and software makers are all but forcing you to get it for downloading patches/updates for your computer(s).
• Do your own OS installation, do not abdicate responsibility for that five or ten minute's effort to the cashier or back room techs at your PC or Apple computer store.
• Be ready to spend a whole morning+afternoon or afternoon+evening doing the software updates needed to catch up your computer to the current OS/application/driver/firmware/utility software versions the same day you do your OS (operating system) software install.
• Get a computer-savvy friend who has installed the same OS before to help you, if you can - or just computer savvy in general, as the next best thing.
• Tell no one your passwords. Let no strangers pick your computer/OS passwords for you.
• Write down your passwords and hide them well.
• If anyone creates an email password, or any other password, on your computer make them tell you what it is, write it down, and enter it yourself so you know that it is right. You will need to know that email password when you reinstall your OS or your computer magically forgets it on some whim or due to your poking around.
• Install your applications yourself. If is your job, not the salesman's job. If it is done wrong, it is going to be your problem, not theirs - and you are in a far better position to do it right than they are.

So the point is, installing operating system software is easy and a very, very fast process.

Updating that software, which you need to do right after installing, is easy too - but it takes forever, so have a good book or a TV set or some knitting handy to keep you occupied while you wait for your computer to finish one download and start the next. This is not frighteningly complicated

Also, have two meals' worth of food at hand because by the time you finish everything, a good 6-7 hours will have passed since the time you have started. You run out to a restaurant a couple of times in the middle of that process, and you have just added an hour to an hour and a half to the whole overly-long yet mind-numblingly simple procedure. This is boring folks, not scary.

Unless you do not know your own address/email/phone#/name, you are going to spend zero time thinking, 30 seconds typing, and almost half the waking hours of the day looking at your watch being amazed your are still downloading just the 5th of 15 patches with far more than a couple hours to go. It is the downloading time that takes forever. The only thing hard about it is not going crazy from boredom or lack of food.

Hope this proves enlightening.

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macintosh, apple

posted by John Collins @ 12:35 PM