waffle

Someone should hold a “nano WriMo” where the idea is to write a 700 word chapter on the front of your iPod nano using only accidental scratches.

I upgraded my Windows-based file server the other day (and by “upgrade” I mean “applied the latest patches”; this time it was the October security updates). It reminded me of the kind of bullshit I have mostly stopped getting by using less Microsoft products - but also of some nice touches.

The Windows Update experience: (I’m using a Swedish version of Windows, which means I get a Swedish version of Windows Update, which means that any English wording is guesswork.)

• Open Windows Update.
• Get bounced back and forth between interim pages.
• Watch a page telling you that you need the most recent version of the Windows Update ActiveX control. Click a link meaning basically “OK”.
• Watch IE trying to install the ActiveX control, and the automatic instruction telling me to click that yellow bar and tell IE to install it anyway.
• Be confronted with two buttons - Fast and Custom updates. Fast is for critical updates, Custom is for others as well.
• Click Fast. Chug. Chug. Chug. Nope, no new updates.
• Huh? Go back, click Custom. Chug. Chug. Chug. Chug. Assorted new updates.
• Click various links to the left to view the different kinds of updates. Check checkboxes to add them to the “to-download” list, accompanied by a nice animation.
• Click Install.
• Watch the download progress.
• Agree to a slew of EULAs.
• Watch the install progress.

Now, Windows Update also carries something called Automatic Updates, introduced in Service Pack 2. This experience is far smoother, and the first three steps are skipped if the critical updates are being installed automatically:

• Start Automatic Updates / Be interrupted by a balloon saying “There are new updates available”.
• Pick your updates based on small snippets.
• Click Next.
• Watch the download progress.
• Watch the install progress.
• (In case of critical updates, watch Automatic Updates continuously bug you about there being new updates having been installed, needing a reboot to become active.)

There’s also another - brilliant - way to get critical fixes; shut off or restart the computer by ways of the Start → Shut Down option. The button will have the Windows security shield next to it and install updates no-questions-asked (”silently”) before shutting down.

There exists a fourth way yet to get updates - something new called Microsoft Update, which also finally lets you install Office service packs and their likes from the same source. This requires an extra couple of steps (and corresponding ActiveX controls) to go through something called Genuine Windows verification, meaning that if you have a pirated version of XP, you’re locked out, and that if you have a legit version of XP, you’re merely annoyed, delayed and more or less treated like a criminal.

Let’s compare this to what’s in Mac OS X.

• Launch Software Update (by hand either in Apple menu → Software Update… or in the Software Update preference pane - or automatically, based on the interval also set in the Software Update preference pane).
• Watch the Checking for updates sheet progress. Chug chug chug.
• Get told that there are no new updates and press OK (that’s it) or continue.
• Get told that there are new updates.
• Check the updates that you want to install or uncheck the ones you don’t want to install in the uppermost list (Software Update will automatically pre-check applicable updates, erring on the side of being eager to install iPod firmware updates, even if your Mac has never seen such a thing).
• Note the updates requiring a restart (has the stylized restart button icon, a rightwards arrow-hole poked in a circle, to their left), or click an update to read more in the text field below the list.
• Click Install.
• Agree to a slew of EULAs.
• Watch the combined download-install progress.

Highlights of the OS X approach:

• Quick scanning of titles as compared to the Windows Update.
• You instantly see which updates need restarts.
• One simple list of all updates - very quick to catch up when on a new Mac.
• Minus EULAs and checkboxes, if the update is being done automatically, it is a one-click procedure.
• Software Update does not rely on a browser.
• Will not bug you to automatically reboot if you’ve already said no (by force-quitting or ignoring Software Update).
• Delivers updates to other Apple apps in addition to the OS.

Highlights of the Windows Update approach:

• Good overall wall between critical updates and other updates.
• Good intensity in making sure you’re not missing them critical updates.
• Very nice idea to download and install critical updates before rebooting or shutting down.

Overall, I must award the gold star to Apple, Mac OS X and Software Update. It’s simpler, less time-consuming, doesn’t constantly remind me that the way it’s implemented is also a hole for malicious software to enter through and it basically gives me less bullshit across the board.

I watched a friend of the family run Windows Update on “his own” a few weeks back. His experience was pretty much reading every intermediary page for half a minute, saying “uh, okay” and clicking the proverbial “Next” link. I had to help him get across the part where it tries to upgrade the ActiveX control, because even given the instruction, he had no idea what an ActiveX control was and why he should have to, and I quote, “jump through hoops to make sure Microsoft can use their own programs”. He didn’t realize why there was a need for two update processes (Fast and Custom) and wouldn’t have realized that there were multiple categories to choose from (on the left) if I hadn’t told him.

A week later, he had gotten a PowerBook, had asked me to locate the update facility for him (Apple menu → Software Update… as we mentioned) and was able to take it from there by himself.

This is emblematic of why people are fanatic about Apple in general, and Macs in particular. It doesn’t get in the way of experienced users, and it’s actually possible to use for “Aunt Tillie” users. It’s not about being a cult, it’s about not being treated like a dolt. And that’s a world of difference.

Finally. (30GB, 14h battery, $299; 60GB 20h battery, $399.)

Now, perhaps, I can stop posting about iPods for three goddamn seconds.