Comment On More Like Didgeridon't!

Those damn Aussies ... they always have to outdo everyone else.

"That's not a time zone synching application - THIS is a time zone synching application!"

tharfagreinir:

Those damn Aussies ... they always have to outdo everyone else.

"That's not a time zone synching application - THIS is a time zone synching application!"

Thanks for the laughs!! Boy, I really needed that this morning...

tharfagreinir:

Those damn Aussies ... they always have to outdo everyone else.

"That's not a time zone synching application - THIS is a time zone synching application!"

Brillant!

captcha: tacos -> hey, that's a good idea, I was thinking about what to eat today

Maybe you Linux guys could write it in one line of Perl (or at least brag about having the ability to write it in one line of Perl).

Damn right I could!

everything is bigger in autralia. but everything is *biggest* in texas! ph33r the Houston Time Zone Update...

I don't want to disappoint you, but this is a somewhat-uninstaller bug. If the install metadata of each line is incorrect, lets say points to an invalid or nonexistent directory, the program tries to find an appropiate parent directory. In this case, the whole Program Files. Then it counts all the files' size. This is why it takes so long to show such a simple list of installed programs. As far as I know.

Yea, cus that's sane.

karnokd:

I don't want to disappoint you, but this is a somewhat-uninstaller bug. If the install metadata of each line is incorrect, lets say points to an invalid or nonexistent directory, the program tries to find an appropiate parent directory. In this case, the whole Program Files. Then it counts all the files' size. This is why it takes so long to show such a simple list of installed programs. As far as I know.

And if the metadata points it to the c:\
it tries to find the parent and crashes!

(ok... maybe not... but i'm hoping it does it!)

dont_feel_like_logging_in_at_work:

Maybe you Linux guys could write it in one line of Perl (or at least brag about having the ability to write it in one line of Perl).

Damn right I could!

Yeah... I see you can brag.

karnokd:

I don't want to disappoint you, but this is a somewhat-uninstaller bug. If the install metadata of each line is incorrect, lets say points to an invalid or nonexistent directory, the program tries to find an appropiate parent directory. In this case, the whole Program Files. Then it counts all the files' size. This is why it takes so long to show such a simple list of installed programs. As far as I know.

I thought the reason that it takes so long to load the list of installed programs was that the icon data was embedded in the .exe, so the Add/Remove programs dialog has to run through all of them to extract it.

Can we start a new rule that all screenshots need to be in PNG? I mean, even Paint can save in PNG so you have no excuse ...

I say it's simply negative.

karnokd:

Then it counts all the files' size. This is why it takes so long to show such a simple list of installed programs. As far as I know.

I wondered why it took Windows so long to load that stupid list up.

CAPTCHA: Speaking of tacos, YUMMY

I hate the way it takes so long to bring up the Add/remove software dialogue in Windows >2K. Say what you like about Windows 9x, but at least you could uninstall things quickly.

I don't know how it calculates the file sizes, but the 4GB mark puzzles me - "surely" Windows XP should be able to anticipate apps being over 4 gig. I wonder if it might be a function returning -1 somewhere?

Oh, and +1 on the PNG screenshots - When will people realise that JPGs just aren't suitable for some image types?

KNY:

Can we start a new rule that all screenshots need to be in PNG? I mean, even Paint can save in PNG so you have no excuse ...

I demand WBMP! How am I supposed to read this site on my nokia without it!

I bet that time zone updater has one hell of an easter egg ala Excell 95 with it's 3d fly around. Except this has full network capability, multi-player communications and really cool BFG's!

karnokd:

I don't want to disappoint you, but this is a somewhat-uninstaller bug.

No shit, Sherlock.

Don't forget Windows Genuine Advantage, because Time Zones (R) are a Microsoft product and you wouldn't want anybody pirating them and setting up their own time zones. If everybody did that there'd be no standards at all and it would be impossible to make the trains run on time.

Nah, that couldn't be it. It probably includes the Austrian (!) language pack because some programmer misread the spec.

Generic Phil:

I hate the way it takes so long to bring up the Add/remove software dialogue in Windows >2K. Say what you like about Windows 9x, but at least you could uninstall things quickly.

I don't know how it calculates the file sizes, but the 4GB mark puzzles me - "surely" Windows XP should be able to anticipate apps being over 4 gig.

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2004/07/09/178342.aspx

It probably doesn't help the calculations that this is probably no more than an uninstaller and a changed registry key, with no actual program to calculate the size of.

Windows XP roots around all your mounted disks to look for uninstall info I guess.

Once I had a CD with 50,000 small files on it. bringing up the Add/Remove control panel took about three days.

Not First:

I demand WBMP! How am I supposed to read this site on my nokia without it!

I want 'em in ascii. My good ol' Lynx aint got no support for those fancy... whatcha call 'em? images? pfff

Perhaps the size was calculated with the OMGWTF winning calculator?

Why was he Uninstalling the Synching application in the first place? Don't we need to know what time it is in Australia?

KNY:

Can we start a new rule that all screenshots need to be in PNG? I mean, even Paint can save in PNG so you have no excuse ...

JPG is more standard than PNG so what is the benefit of moving to PNG?

ParkinT:

Why was he Uninstalling the Synching application in the first place? Don't we need to know what time it is in Australia?

Don't know know that all aussies can tell time by looking at the sun?

Danga:

KNY:

Can we start a new rule that all screenshots need to be in PNG? I mean, even Paint can save in PNG so you have no excuse ...

JPG is more standard than PNG so what is the benefit of moving to PNG?

Yeah, and the last thing we need is more rules.

KattMan:

ParkinT:

Why was he Uninstalling the Synching application in the first place? Don't we need to know what time it is in Australia?

Don't know know that all aussies can tell time by looking at the sun?

Maybe it was a 4-gigapixel image of the sun, taken by the Hubble telescope, with an astronomical simulator to move it about on the screen. You know, for cloudy days.

Danga:

KNY:

Can we start a new rule that all screenshots need to be in PNG? I mean, even Paint can save in PNG so you have no excuse ...

JPG is more standard than PNG so what is the benefit of moving to PNG?

Because screenshots of user interfaces (which generally only have a few colors and lots of empty areas) compress significantly better with PNG than with JPG, and without any loss in image quality (i.e. no blurring).

Is that a good enough reason?

Quietust:

Because screenshots of user interfaces (which generally only have a few colors and lots of empty areas) compress significantly better with PNG than with JPG, and without any loss in image quality (i.e. no blurring).

Is that a good enough reason?

Well, it would be if it weren't for one problem - almost every single time I've ever encountered a PNG screenshot on a web page it was uncompressed and as huge as a BMP. Most programs that create JPGs apparently compress them by default but that doesn't seem to hold true for most programs that create PNGs.

tharfagreinir:

Those damn Aussies ... they always have to outdo everyone else.

"That's not a time zone synching application - THIS is a time zone synching application!"

That's not a time zone synching application, that's a spoon.

Quietust:

Danga:

KNY:

Can we start a new rule that all screenshots need to be in PNG? I mean, even Paint can save in PNG so you have no excuse ...

JPG is more standard than PNG so what is the benefit of moving to PNG?

Because screenshots of user interfaces (which generally only have a few colors and lots of empty areas) compress significantly better with PNG than with JPG, and without any loss in image quality (i.e. no blurring).

Is that a good enough reason?

Its a 40-something kilobyte joke image. Who cares?

Michael:

tharfagreinir:

Those damn Aussies ... they always have to outdo everyone else.

"That's not a time zone synching application - THIS is a time zone synching application!"

That's not a time zone synching application, that's a spoon.

There is no spoon.

Michael:

tharfagreinir:

Those damn Aussies ... they always have to outdo everyone else.

"That's not a time zone synching application - THIS is a time zone synching application!"

That's not a time zone synching application, that's a spoon.

I see you've played time zone synchy/spoony before!

Well, it would be if it weren't for one problem - almost every single time I've ever encountered a PNG screenshot on a web page it was uncompressed and as huge as a BMP. Most programs that create JPGs apparently compress them by default but that doesn't seem to hold true for most programs that create PNGs.

I doubt that. Maybe it was a bmp that got renamed to a png. And, "almost every single time" could be selection bias - you don't notice the format if you don't say "this is loading slowly, wtf is going on"

Quietust:

Danga:

KNY:

Can we start a new rule that all screenshots need to be in PNG? I mean, even Paint can save in PNG so you have no excuse ...

JPG is more standard than PNG so what is the benefit of moving to PNG?

Because screenshots of user interfaces (which generally only have a few colors and lots of empty areas) compress significantly better with PNG than with JPG, and without any loss in image quality (i.e. no blurring).

Is that a good enough reason?

++

Then why don't we just go inside the registry and put in a size on the Esitmated... and then our Add/Remove programs would not take so long to load. Or better yet, unless it expects programs to grow (log or user files) why not just store it the first time and then it loads quick every other time? Guess we like waiting on MS to look everything up.

Maybe he should have clicked Custom and only chosen the components that he needed.

Danga:

KNY:

Can we start a new rule that all screenshots need to be in PNG? I mean, even Paint can save in PNG so you have no excuse ...

JPG is more standard than PNG so what is the benefit of moving to PNG?

SomeCoder:

Michael:

tharfagreinir:

Those damn Aussies ... they always have to outdo everyone else.

"That's not a time zone synching application - THIS is a time zone synching application!"

That's not a time zone synching application, that's a spoon.

I see you've played time zone synchy/spoony before!

you got me in trouble for suddenly laughing in the workplace. but thanks just the same.

Generic Phil:

I hate the way it takes so long to bring up the Add/remove software dialogue in Windows >2K. Say what you like about Windows 9x, but at least you could uninstall things quickly.

I don't know how it calculates the file sizes, but the 4GB mark puzzles me - "surely" Windows XP should be able to anticipate apps being over 4 gig. I wonder if it might be a function returning -1 somewhere?

Oh, and +1 on the PNG screenshots - When will people realise that JPGs just aren't suitable for some image types?

Except that on Windows 95 you were never able to completely uninstall a program... Things were better at the old DOS days when everything was on a single dir :)

Besides, nice blog entry, Willian. Microsoft never ceasses to amuse me! How far they can go to get backward compatibility... And never ever thinking about telling the user that a program's size is unkown if Windows doesn't knows it. The User can't stand that, the User can't stand to know.

And +1 for PNG images.

tharfagreinir:

Michael:

tharfagreinir:

Those damn Aussies ... they always have to outdo everyone else.

"That's not a time zone synching application - THIS is a time zone synching application!"

That's not a time zone synching application, that's a spoon.

There is no spoon.

I am the spoon. FEAR ME!

Generic Phil:

I don't know how it calculates the file sizes, but the 4GB mark puzzles me - "surely" Windows XP should be able to anticipate apps being over 4 gig. I wonder if it might be a function returning -1 somewhere?

That would be lame. I have some games on my computer that are above 6 or 7 Go.

The solution would be to find the real size it takes, and if you don't find it, you don't try to guess. You simply don't display any dodgy size at all.

man you'd need at least a few dvds for that software

also typo: baloon is spelt balloon :)

When New Zealand is on summer ("daylight saving") time, they are Greenwich + 13 hours.

You'd be surprised at the number of platform and API specifications whose conventions for representing time zones assume that the absolute value of the offset from Greenwich can never exceed 12 hours.

KattMan:

ParkinT:

Why was he Uninstalling the Synching application in the first place? Don't we need to know what time it is in Australia?

Don't know know that all aussies can tell time by looking at the sun?

It's easy to tell the time in Australia - it's either beer o'clock or snooze o'clock. If you can see a beer in front of you or you can get to a beer, it's beer o'clock. If you can't see anything anymore, it's snooze o'clock.

KNY:

Can we start a new rule that all screenshots need to be in PNG? I mean, even Paint can save in PNG so you have no excuse ...

What's so bad about JPEG artifacts? I learned from Indiana Jones that artifacts are something precious!!!!

PS: Isn't ignorance a fine excuse?

xyz:

man you'd need at least a few dvds for that software

also typo: baloon is spelt balloon :)

Last time I checked, 4095 MB will easily fit on one DVD. The blank DVDs you buy in the store can hold about 4800 MB.

Random832:

I doubt that. Maybe it was a bmp that got renamed to a png. And, "almost every single time" could be selection bias - you don't notice the format if you don't say "this is loading slowly, wtf is going on"

Of course you doubt it - because it opposes your own biased opinion. Why else would you attempt to explain the huge PNGs away with an excuse like them being renamed BMPs.

Now, I will agree that there is considerable selection bias because I typically only notice slow downloading images. For that reason I just checked my internet cache. 2367 JPG images, 431 GIF images, 7 PNG images, and no BMPS. Of the 7 PNGs all have PNG headers to match their extensions, all are simple web page graphics, five are under 1K, one is 9K and the last 15K. The latter two reduced to under 1k when loaded and resaved with Paint Shop Pro so they obviously were not compressed.

YMMV

Really looking forward to getting one of those Time-synching installation DVD. Sounds like a must-have.