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Ancestry Daily News
9/5/2002 - Archive
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"Rootworks: Software Upgrades" |
"Rootworks: Software Upgrades"
A computer is not made of whole cloth. It's a quilt of scraps, a psychedelic
mix of hardware, firmware, software applications, drivers, and data—sewed together
by people who likely have never been to a quilting bee and who honestly believe
that their part of the system works with all of the others.
We've talked about the layers of computers. To review, they are:
Hardware. This is very tangible. You can see it, touch it, hold it in your
hand, and enjoy the satisfying sound of it flying through a glass window.
BIOS (Basic Input Output System). This is the most basic set of commands
on your computer, and it stored in chips on the hardware motherboard itself.
This lets you use the biggest hard drives they sell. Or not. BIOS upgrades are
best performed by those priests and acolytes at the Computer Store.
Operating System. This is the set of computer instructions that helps your
application programs and your hardware get along. They both think that they
are the most important parts of the computer, and the operating system constantly
lies to each of them, saying that they are indeed the most important part of
the system. All the while, the OS is sure that IT is the critical ingredient
in the system.
Drivers. These programs are generally written to help the OS tell lies to
specific hardware devices, such as printers, scanners, network cards and video
cards. The right driver can't lie to the device, but it can repeat one from
the OS or the application.
Software applications. When we think of a computer "doing something"
it is generally the software that does the doing. Examples of computer applications
are spreadsheets, family history research programs, word processors, e-mail
programs, webbrowsers, and poker games.
Data. This is the collective name for the family photos, databases, word
processing files, and spreadsheets that you have created once or twice already
and hope not to have to create again.
Are you running the current version of software for each application that you
use? Do you have the current patches or service packs installed? Software upgrades
are the easiest upgrades to perform. Today, let's talk about how you can keep
the software on your machine current--or whether you even want to try.
What Is It?
The biggest problem with computer software is that it changes. One would
think that a computer and program, brought home from the store, would continue
to perform those functions until the day, many years hence, when the machine
would no longer turn on. I have had clients who did exactly that--they bought
state of the art computers and software and then used them for 10 years. But
for the most part, you can't do that. The old programs can't recognize the new
machines (just try to run DOS on a 40-GIG hard drive without partitioning, or
to use 256-MB of RAM). The reason for this problem lies, in large part, on the
fundamental nature of the software business.
Software firms hire expensive programmers, who write a program for the company.
The company sells it to all of us, and then what do the programmers do? And
after everyone has bought the program, how does the company make money? The
answer is, in a word, upgrades. A successful software firm doesn't just sell
one product to each user. Instead, they create a years-long commercial relationship
with you, desiring to sell you an upgrade each year. Sometimes it's every two
years, but the basic idea is clear--and there is an analogy to the factory.
The factory exists to make things to sell. They don't want to close the factory,
so they continue to make new things that they hope you will want. Software firms
are under the same pressure, so they continue to make changes and offer them
for sale.
Eventually, there are so many changes made that the company finds it difficult
to support each of the versions that is in the marketplace. At that point, they
withdraw support for the oldest products. Sometimes they offer special upgrade
offers to try to avoid leaving any customers behind, but eventually they will
move on with the customers who write checks regularly, and leave behind those
who don't. There is no other reasonable approach for a software company--those
programmers have expensive cars and PDAs and someone's got to pay for them.
Eventually, the user is forced to upgrade because some combination of the hardware,
the operating system, or the capabilities of the software are no longer adequate.
Perhaps you need support for MP3 files and the 1995 version of your program
doesn't have it. However it comes to you, the Software Upgrade Monster will
eventually hunt you down and make you sew another scrap on your quilt.
There are some computer programs available that will help you keep track of
the current versions of the software for your computer. The goal of this article
is to describe them.
Name Two of Them
Today, we will talk about a few programs that list software upgrades:
Oil Change, for the PC.
CatchUp, for the PC.
UpdateAgent, for the Mac.
VersionTracker, for the Mac.
Update Agent is a program, which costs $10. Catchup and VersionTracker are websites
or Web-based programs. They are both free. Oil Change is a Web subscription
service, priced at about $20 per year.
I'm not fond of Oil Change. I've tried several versions of it over the years
and have not been impressed by it. The idea is very good, but the execution
is not always even with the idea. It claims to check "all your installed
software" but in the past it had a very Microsofty bias in the content.
Now, it recognizes a lot of Win and Norton software, but it still doesn't list
all of my installed software. I admit that I have come to favor the Symantec
version of everything over the MacAfee version.
I prefer CatchUp, because it not only recognized many of my applications (including
Brother's Keeper and Family TreeMaker for Windows, by the way), but it also
recognized many of my software drivers, and recommended upgrades for those as
well. Basically, it made one webpage with links to the current versions, telling
me which were free and which had to be paid for. It's a product from ZDNet,
the people who publish "PC Magazine" and its great reviews.
When It Works, What Does It Do?
VersionTracker for the Mac is a website that, for each date, lists the updates
for Mac Software that have been released that day. The user has an option to
buy or download them. This list is a "master list" and doesn't attempt
to identify which ones are related to your installed software. The other three
programs look at your machine and then compare your installed applications to
a list of applications and versions that they maintain. Since the updates are
in date order, I guess I'd search the page for my application name to find its
most recent update.
No program made a complete list of all of the programs that I have (actually
I don't have a Mac and didn't try those programs), but these applications are
getting better. In each case, the updates are listed, and the user can choose
to download and/or purchase them one at a time. Of course, one of the tricky
things about Windows is that some installs want to update files that are in
use, so they prompt you to reboot. I found that using CatchUp was frustrating
in this regard--I had to reboot, reload the browser, re-visit the Catchup page,
and then re-analyze my installed programs to get a current list. Listen to me,
I'm complaining about a free service that is there for my benefit. I sound like
my children.
What's the Down Side?
The biggest downside, in my opinion, is the lack of completeness. I wanted
to find each of my drivers and applications and get an idea how to get them
all just like I wanted. While the lists are growing each year, I'm not saving
as much time as I could. I'm not as sure that I'm current as I want to be. I
still have to check manufacturer's websites for some updates.
Link Me Up (more stars is better)
Beau Sharbrough's Website ***
Contains some pages of basic information that expand on this article.
CatchUp Services - CNET.com****
The site with the online checkup.
Oil Change ***
MacAfee's Oil Change site.
The place to demo, download, and read about UpdateAgent for the Mac.
VersionTracker ***
Free website that lists daily releases of updates, with links to DL and/or purchase.
What Else?
Part of the reason that I shelled out $20 for the current version of Oil
Change was that it also included a "Hardware Upgrade Advisor." This
is another good idea that isn't quite working. The idea is that they have tables
that describe a Bargain, Home, Business, Game, Power, and Road Warrior system.
They look at your hardware in a variety of categories--processor speed, disk
size, RAM size etc - and in each category rate it as:
Meets the recommended level
Consider Shopping
Upgrade needed.
This is a fine idea. But when I tried it, I got a couple of "Consider Shopping"
ratings that I couldn't understand. For example, it said that I should upgrade
to a 32X CD-ROM drive, but mine was 48. It also said that I should upgrade to
a 15" monitor, but mine was 17". If these tools can't provide reliable
information, I'm not sure how people can get the expected benefit from them.
The RootsWorks series of articles focuses on genealogical applications for
generic technologies. Beau would like to hear from you at rootsworks@sharbrough.net,
but due to the volume of e-mail received, he is unable to answer some e-mail
messages. Please note that he cannot assist you with your individual computer
problems. Visit Beau's website at www.sharbrough.net
for links to previous articles and updates on this one.
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