Linux vs. Vista download performance

Previous: Making Vista liveable

When installing one of the two Windows program I need, I noticed a significant discrepancy between the download times on Vista and Ubuntu. Vista doesn't always behave this badly, so there must be a factor involved in this that isn't obvious to me. In any case, here's what I observed.

I needed to install the Zune software (to manage my Zune portable media player) on the Vista instance on my dual-boot Toshiba Satellite P500. I booted into Vista, opened Internet Explorer, and navigated to http://www.zune.net/en-US/software/default.htm to download the Zune 3.0 software.

The download ran for about 10 hours before it was rudely interrupted by the scheduled automatic system update at 3:00 a.m. I awoke to discover the machine had rebooted into Ubuntu, the default OS, after the Windows update restarted the system. The download had not been completed. I tried again, and saw that the download was proceeding extremely slowly. I canceled it and decided to download the file from Ubuntu, just to see if there might be a difference.

In Ubuntu, using Firefox, the same download finished in 5 minutes. Same site, same file, same Internet connection, same hardware. Different OS, different Web browser. In other words: Two suspects.

The 133 MB file was not the Zune software. It was only the installer for the Zune software. Having installed Zune software before (on Windows XP), I knew the installer would have to download components during the installation procedure. Those downloads could not be done on the Ubuntu instance because they were tied into the actual software installation. So, there would be another opportunity to observe download behavior on Vista.

Booting into Vista again, I copied the Zune installer and ran it. When it got to the downloading components step in the installation, the downloads once again ran extremely slowly. I left it running and went to work for the day.

When I returned 11 hours later, the download components step was still running. It finished after 11.5 hours. The remainder of the installation steps finished in a few seconds.

Based on previous installs of Zune software, I can say the Zune installer was not the cause of the slow download. Internet Explorer was not involved in this step, so it could not have been the culprit. Only one suspect remained: Vista.

Hmm. Largest software company. Many of the top engineers in the field on staff. More than 25 years continuous product development experience in the Windows product line. And this is the best they can do? Really?

Interesting.

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