Open Writing

Downloading software to our desktop and laptop computers has become as commonplace as sending a fax or having your car serviced. At the time you purchase a new product: a printer or a display screen, or even in some cases a keyboard, the chances are that updated software is already available. This happens because the manufacturer discovered postproduction glitches, or just as a way to make the product function better.

Other reasons for downloading drivers and other software can be because you have changed your operating system from say Windows XP to Vista or Seven, or because some files in the original software have been corrupted. The downloading experience now is much more routine, and less fraught with problems than it was just a few years ago.

I started downloading in the early 1990’s. The Internet was in its infancy, and the only way to connect was by a dial-up connection to a local Internet Service Provider. There were many such garage operations at the time, started and staffed by young techies who had the foresight to see a business opportunity. Most of them were later absorbed or put out of business by the likes of Yahoo and AOL.

Since I lived in the heart of IBM country at the time, the chances were that the techies had been employed and trained there. However good they might have been as programmers or system developers, their verbal communication skills were roughly akin to what I imagined prehistoric humans were capable of – grunts and monosyllabic responses, all delivered in computer speak.

So on the many occasions I had to talk to them on the phone to solve a problem, I usually came away without enlightenment. In retrospect, this may have been a good thing, because it forced me to trouble shoot my problems without their help.

Downloading software at the time was a real nightmare. The files weren’t large by today’s standards; mostly in the kilobyte rather than the megabyte domain, but they took hours to complete. On many occasions my Internet connection either would be interrupted, or terminated part way through the download, and there was no “Resume” feature, so it was a matter of starting over.

I quickly learned that there were good times and bad times to work on line. The bad times were between 8.00am and 10.00am, and 4.00pm and 7.00pm, and I concluded that was when the commercial users were doing business.

Compounding the slowness of the phone line connections was the sheer lack of available bandwidth, since the national and international network of multi-circuit fiberglass cables and satellite links had yet to be put in place. Quite often I took to doing my Internet communications at midnight, or getting up at 4.00am if I had software to download, or important, big files to transmit.

As a result of those early experiences, I’m probably the only person in the world who watches the little download window until the software is safe in my computer, despite the improvements brought about by broadband Internet connections. Whilst the speed has increased dramatically, the files have become larger, and bandwidth has been absorbed by increased usage.

This week I downloaded a new driver for my printer that was an amazing 159 megabytes, and took 75 minutes. For a driver yet! Some people might consider watching a download window to be about as interesting as watching grass grow, but not me. I pump as much adrenaline observing the flickering data in the window as some people do watching their favorite sport. At the end, I’m exhausted, and my neck and shoulders are badly in need of a massage.

My points of interest are the rate of transfer, the progress in bytes compared with the total, and the estimated time to go. Usually, the rate starts slow, but on a good day it will increase then plateau off, ignoring my urgings to go faster. Sometimes the download will stop for reasons I don’t understand, resurrecting my fears from the past. Just as I’m resigning myself to starting over, it will resume.

I also watch with keen interest whether the progress, usually displayed as a percentage, matches the green or blue ribbon, trying to estimate where 25% or 50% is along its length. Probably the tensest part of the download is the countdown of the final 5%, wondering all the while if I’ll get a message to say that the download was not successful, or could not be installed.

I’m sure some readers will say “Get a life,” but like many obsessive – compulsive habits it’s hard to give up. However, I haven’t yet started to avoid stepping on the cracks in the pavement, so I guess there’s hope.

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