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April 16, 2006

Miscommunications

My laptop was running pretty slowly yesterday so I decided to scan the Add/Remove Programs list to clear out the cruft. Things were really chugging along. I sequentially uninstalled several pieces of software, and the process was very dissatisfying. I became more and more enfuriated at my computer as it proceeded. Here are some of the nuisances:

I could only remove one thing at a time.
Many pieces of software used the Windows Installer system which seemed to take forever and report very inconsistent progress (I know, Firefox isn't the best at this in its installer, either)
Most annoyingly, the uninstaller apps all reported themselves as performing a variety of actions that I never requested, as explanations for what they were doing during long periods of inactivity and progress-bar freeze. Common excuses were "Windows is Configuring " and "InstallShield is preparing a report on ".

You know, I never asked for blah to be "configured." I never asked for a report on bleh (What am I, a manager? Where is the report anyway? Does it have the appropriate cover sheet?) I just want the software gone. I'm getting really tired of excuses from software like this. Windows software seems to be getting worse and worse. On Mac, the typical way to remove a program is to drag it into the trash can. I can even do that to several programs at once! I do however have to be able to afford a Mac (I can, I have one). Many folk aren't as fortunate as I.

As a side note, I read an interesting article in Forbes a few weeks ago criticizing Microsoft for its delays shipping Vista, and asking why wouldn't you just side-step all the trouble and buy a Mac, since the odds were good many people would have to upgrade their PC anyway just to get the whiz-bang in Vista. The article side-swiped open source desktop initiatives, asking where the viable free alternative was. I think that was an interesting point, and especially so since the capabilities of Linux systems have come an awesome distance in the past few years but there have been few distributions or desktop environments that IMO make the most of all of those.

Posted by ben at April 16, 2006 6:05 PM

Comments

I never asked for a report on bleh (What am I, a manager? Where is the report anyway? Does it have the appropriate cover sheet?) I just want the software gone. I'm getting really tired of excuses from software like this.

Nice timing, since the latest Firefox on Windows now asks the user if he wants to submit feedback when uninstalling...

Posted by: Marc at April 16, 2006 6:53 PM

I'll be a weasel here and say at least I empathize with the rationale behind the exit survey. It's the inane "configuring" and "preparing" that drove me batty. I'd much rather just see a progress meter that slowly incremented over time saying "Destroying and deleting X"... maybe with a little animation of someone smashing their computer with a mallet.

Posted by: Ben at April 16, 2006 7:05 PM

I totally agree - the Install/Uninstall process on Windows is one of the worst user experiences for the whole system. Apple's ultra-simplistic drag/drop is much better.

However, I will point out that the "drag to trash" method of uninstalling give the app no opportunity to clean up for itself, and my Mac, which does not see much use at all, still has a small mountain of cruft left behind from uninstalled programs.

Posted by: Ben Hollis at April 16, 2006 9:33 PM

And lucky you, you don't have applications that don't even want to uninstall !!! It happened to me at work. I have 2 or 3 of these !

At home I switched to a Mac in December 2003 and I will never buy a PC (for Windows or any kind of Unix distrib) ever !

Now, if Firefox could just be better on OS X.

Posted by: Ritchie at April 17, 2006 2:40 AM

Here's a tip: if you uninstall a program as soon as you decide you don't want it, you'll find that the uninstall procedure is faster, more likely to work, and that you only have to run one of them in a series.

My machine runs as good as new. My only habit is to take advantage of "Patch Tuesday" to log on as administrator, patch windows and update every other peice of software I have (It's usually drivers, media players and some Adobe stuff that needs updating), and remove any software I don't use. Takes half an hour working remotely while I watch television.

The worst type of uninstaller is the one which doesn't supply the "remove" button (just Change/Modify), or which asks questions when you remove it. I really like the MSI-based installers; they're generally more reliable.

Posted by: James at April 17, 2006 5:08 AM

I must say that I think the package management applications used in many Linux distributions are pretty effective, although they need the loving touch of a design person (this is beginning to happen with Linux, yay!)

I just check or uncheck a box in front of the apps' titles, click "update", and they go away. Poof!

Posted by: Daniel Schierbeck at April 18, 2006 12:21 PM

Thanks for the nice post, Ben. I guess I'm afraid to switch away from Windows because I don't know how long it would take me to get used to another OS.

Does anyone know a really great version of Linux? I want to give it a whirl.

Posted by: Easton Ellsworth at April 20, 2006 6:36 AM

I myself use a stunning application on OS X called AppZapper for removing applications, it removes the settings, and extra files left over.

Posted by: John Pastor at April 21, 2006 11:43 AM

Vista is in danger of being obsolete by the time it actually hits shelves. Perhaps that's why Microsoft decided to invest over a billion in R&D for web developments... They know that their OS and Office years are coming to an end.

Posted by: Adam Brown at May 6, 2006 9:19 AM

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