Newegg has the new Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB Serial ATA Hard Drive (model #ST31500341AS) on sale for $189.99 with free shipping.
In November 2006, less than two years ago, I paid $366 for a 750GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB Serial ATA driver (model #ST3750640AS).
Twice the capacity, half the price, in less than two years. Amazing.
(See also.)
I love the idea of a “quiet, deskside supercomputer”:
The Cray CX1 product incorporates up to 8 nodes and 16 Intel Xeon processors, either dual or quad core; delivers up to 64 gigabytes of memory per node; and provides up to 4 terabytes of internal storage. Systems can be configured with a mix of compute, storage and visualization blades to meet customers’ individual requirements. The quiet, deskside supercomputer features Windows HPC Server 2008 and interoperates with Linux.
Apparently you’ll be able to buy one of these babies for as little as $25,000 from Amazon.com.
Pretty lousy week to launch a product aimed at the financial services market, though.
(via Mary Jo Foley)
Apple has just released a new version of iTunes 8 intended to fix the horrific problems I reported earlier this week, including STOP errors (AKA the Blue Screen of Death) for some Windows Vista users.
This doesn’t appear to be a permanent fix, however. As I note at ZDNet, the new version replaces Apple’s problematic USB driver with an older version.
If you experienced problems with iTunes 8, you should uninstall the current version and replace it with this one. If you’re not experiencing any problems, I recommend leaving well enough alone.
I’m interested in hearing from any iPod/iPhone owners who have experienced this problem firsthand.
Via e-mail, Dwight Silverman asks some questions about my coverage of the iTunes 8 mess. My answers appear in his follow-up post, but I thought they were worth sharing here as well, especially because the same questions have appeared a few times in the Talkback section over at ZDNet.
Dwight asks:
You take Apple to task for installing more than just iTunes without disclosing what it’s doing, including the installation of additional drivers. But I am not aware of any Windows program that installs drivers as part of an overall package that says, “OK, we’re installing these drivers.” I wish they would, but they typically don’t.
My response:
These days, many software companies include some sort of changelog or readme file as part of a new release. If Apple did that, they could note that they updated the two drivers in their changelog. They might even make a note of what those drivers do and why they’ve been updated. Had they done that, the troubleshooting would have been easier.
Dwight’s second question:
In addition, there are a lot of Windows programs that install other software modules and don’t mention them — and not necessarily spyware. This is fairly common. Is what Apple’s doing with Quicktime really all that unusual?
My response:
Really? I install a lot of Windows software. In most cases that I have encountered involving complex software, there is a Custom install option that allows you to choose or exclude various modules. I use the Custom install option for everything. If the installer offers third-party software, such as the Google toolbar, you are always given notice and allowed to choose not to install it. Google, in fact, insists on that. Most of those other companies also include at least a pro forma mention in their license agreement about other software they’re installing.
Apple doesn’t do either of those things. At some time in the past, iTunes was just that. Then it became iTunes+QuickTime. Then it became iTunes+QuickTime+a bunch of other stuff. But they don’t tell you about the other stuff in their license agreement, in the notice they offer as part of the update text, or in their installation. You click the button, and it all gets installed. Your only option is to install it all, then go to Control Panel later and uninstall it. Until the next update, when you have to go through the same dance again.
Maybe some examples would help. I’ve included them in the extended edition of this post.
Oh my. Were you wondering how iTunes turned into an 80MB download? Looks like Apple’s installing a bunch of kernel-mode drivers and services and some unwanted applications with its iTunes 8 upgrade. Without any disclosure or consent.
And one of those drivers is one that’s been causing BSODs with Windows for as long as I can remember. Nice marketing strategy: Tweak Microsoft for an operating system that crashes, then ship code that crashes Windows. Thank goodness I’m not a cynic or I’d think this was a deliberate marketing strategy.
Details over at ZDNet. (And don’t miss the screenshot gallery.)
Update: A commenter over at ZDNet came up with the best one-liner I’ve heard yet:
iTunes ain’t done till Windows won’t run!
Damn, wish I’d thought of that.
Over at the Microsoft-sponsored Small Business Success Center, Harry McCracken has a great confession of the tech mistakes he’s made over the past 17 years (most of them spent as editor of PC World, and more recently as founder and proprietor of Technologizer.
It’s great list, well worth reading. I found myself nodding in painful recognition of the times I’ve done the same. I especially liked the caution against working in haste:
Just about every time I’ve ever had a computer upgrade go awry, for instance, it’s because I tried to rush it. My success rate is vastly higher when I take time to read instructions and double-check my work, and when I allow time for any troubleshooting that proves necessary.
To which I would add, the same applies when installing a new piece of software. No matter how appealing some shiny new bit of code might be, I’ve learned from painful experience to RTFM (and read the release notes too) and to scan message boards to see if any early adopters have been burned. And to make sure I have a backup and recovery plan.
Go, read, and say hi to Harry for me.
I grit my teeth every time Apple pushes another piece of software my way. I’m especially leery of iTunes 8, based on this comment from Dwight Silverman:
Windows Vista users may want to uninstall older versions of iTunes before installing version 8. There have been some reports of Blue Screens of Death with iTunes 8, and a clean install may prevent it.
Lovely. Maybe they can make an ad about it.
Update: I was able to reproduce the crash, and I think I’ve found the cause. The story’s even uglier than I thought. See An inside look at Apple’s sneaky iTunes 8 upgrade.
I wrote about this last month, when I picked up a CableCARD-tuner-equipped quad-core HP Pavilion m9300t PC for under $850. (See Best Media Center deal ever? for the details and this follow-up on the trials and tribulations of installing a CableCARD tuner.)
Today, I notice that the same deal has returned, with a different coupon number and (currently at least) an instant rebate of $100. Details of the current deal are at Ben’s Bargains. If you spec it with a 750GB hard drive the price is slightly higher than I paid, but only just a little. I would go with the 320GB drive, use it as the system drive, and add either a 750GB or 1TB second drive for media storage.
My capsule review so far of my m9300t: Excellent build quality. Easy (but annoying) to remove the crapware. Very, very quiet. Adding a second hard drive was way more difficult than it should be, thanks to a clunky drive cage and some very tight cabling.
I’m in the process of setting up a second CableCARD-equipped system here. Sounds insane, I know, but there’s a good reason. One system is for our household’s everyday TV/music/picture/video activities. It does not get beta software installed on it, period. I manage it like an appliance and do the absolute minimum of tinkering or tweaking with it. That second system is the one I’ll be using when Windows 7 betas begin appearing, and I’ll be able to tinker with it and even break it without blacking out the TV in the living room.
I set up that first system about a year ago, and it’s been running smoothly after we got past the rough spots. I figured that this one would be easier, but sadly, that’s not turning out to be the case. Yes, the hardware has improved, and the software support is much better, but the system is still complex, and there’s no way around that.
So, yesterday afternoon I spent just over an hour on the phone with my friendly local Comcast rep (and there is not a word of irony in that statement – she really is awesome). When we finally finished, the CableCARD tuner and its card were registered in Comcast’s database but I still wasn’t getting a signal. I actually tracked down part of the problem this morning (I needed one particular software update) and the tuner is now accepting analog cable signals and should be able to tune in premium channels when it gets another “hit” from the Comcast head end. (Update: Yep, that’s all it took. CableCARD tuner now working perfectly. The installer will be out on Thursday to set up a second tuner, and hopefully it will go more quickly.)
This is research for me, and my expectations for success were low going in, so I didn’t find it overly frustrating. But I would not wish the experience of CableCARD setup on the average TV viewer. Not yet.
The biggest problem in troubleshooting is that it’s impossible to locate where the system is breaking down. Consider all the pieces involved:
And then you wait. Could be 5 minutes, could be 45. If the system doesn’t work, how do you know what’s gone wrong? Is it a bad CableCARD? Is the tuner itself defective? Is there a missing DRM component? Did the hits not arrive? Is a firewall getting in the way?
I now have enough experience with these touchy devices to make the troubleshooting go smoother, and the Vista Media Center forums at The Green Button help a lot, too (like this thread, which offers a great snapshot of the frustration and success involved in setting up one of these systems). But still…
My Comcast contact says she hasn’t worked with any other Media Center owners but has had plenty of experience with TiVo HDs. Because those are closed boxes, some of the problems I listed above aren’t applicable. But still, she tells me, they have plenty of CableCARD issues with TiVo devices, and they’ve learned to send installers out with a sack full of CableCARDs each time, because they don’t always work. (And I didn’t mention the difference between S-Cards and M-Cards in the list above, or multi-stream cards, or SDV, or any of the other issues that can get in the way.)
In the long run, this issue will resolve itself as IP-based services become more popular and the need for content delivered directly over cable or satellite diminishes. But that will take years and years to reach critical mass. In the short term, I think the best way to solve this issue is for someone, maybe even Microsoft, to create a Windows-powered device that’s designed and built from the ground up to be a digital media device: headless, quiet, packed with storage, with all drivers and firmware installed from the start, and not intended for use as a general-purpose PC. Hmmm. Maybe I need to start a company.
Todd Headrick of Microsoft’s Windows Home Server team (hi, Todd!) has an interesting post on the official WHS blog, asking for thoughts on whether the next version should be split into Basic and Advanced versions:
we are back in the product planning phase and culling through all of these suggestions. What if we had 2 versions of Windows Home Server – one for the "basic" household and one for the more "advanced" household. What should we think about using as limits for the number of users and computers for a "basic" version and for an "advanced" version?
For me, the answer is easy. Please, please, please do not release a separate SKU. The basic product allows you to connect up to 10 computers and have 10 user accounts. The product is built on Windows Server 2003, which already has the capability to accommodate additional users by adding licenses. So find a way to let me buy an addition 5-pack or 10-pack of licenses for that server for a reasonable price ($10 per seat sounds about right).
The trouble with splitting into different versions is that the temptation to start segmenting features becomes irresistible. Oh, you want the Frammis service? You’ll have to upgrade to the advanced version. Arrrggghhh!
The original design philosophy of Windows Home Server was (and still is) to be a device that is simple to set up and use and whose functionality can be extended with add-ins and services. For a refresher in that design philosophy, go back and read this post from Charlie Kindel of the WHS team. Although it applies to the storage subsystem, the concepts apply equally to the rest of the product. Here are the first two bullet points from that list:
Must be extremely simple to use. Must not add any new concepts or terminology average consumers would not understand. Simple operations should be simple and there should not be any complex operations.
Must be infinitely & transparently extendible. Users should be able to just plug in more hard drives and the amount of storage available should just grow accordingly. There should be no arbitrary limits to the kinds of hard drives used. Users should be able to plug in any number of drives. Different brands, sizes, and technologies should be able to be mixed without the user having to worry about details.
Those are really good ideas. Please keep it simple, folks.
Ed Bott 