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The Linux distillery Why do Windows programs suck so freaking much? (and what can they learn from Linux)
The Linux distillery Why do Windows programs suck so freaking much? (and what can they learn from Linux) | Why do Windows programs suck so freaking much? (and what can they learn from Linux) |
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| by David M Williams | |
| Sunday, 30 November 2008 | |
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Page 3 of 4 Apple iTunesSure, I’m an iPod user. I’ve gone through a couple of models and now use both an iPhone and a 160GB iPod Classic. Yet, I manage these on iTunes on my home desktop computer which has masses of disk space. Featured Whitepaper
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I also have iTunes loaded on my laptop because I’m used to it, and it’s dead easy to copy music back and forth between the two machines. I can rip the odd CD on my laptop if I buy one while travelling and sync it back later to the main machine and thus the i-devices. Yet, Apple force you to run a load of services just on the odd chance I might opt to connect one of their devices. Going back to the task manager screenshot, Apple are responsible for AppleMobileDeviceService.exe, iPodService.exe, iTunesHelper.exe and mDNSResponder.exe. Now, one of these I could understand. It’d make sense there’s a process listening in case you plug an iPod in. But why two? What’s the difference between AppleMobileDeviceService and iPodService? And what on earth does iTunes need a “helper” for? It’s a music playing program I load when I want to search for, or listen to, music! Apparently iTunesHelper is actually to facilitate communications between the iPod and iTunes – so actually, all three of these processes pretty much are for the one and the same thing. And don’t get me started on mDNSResponder! When I first saw that process running I expected it to be a Trojan hijacking DNS requests. It doesn’t stop just with these. No, Apple have a compulsion to suck up as much of your computer as they can. Return to the registry key above and you’ll also find “QuickTime Task” running on startup. QuickTime is installed with iTunes and now insists on doing something when you boot – namely, to give you a system tray icon so you can quickly access QuickTime options. (Because, of course, QuickTime is so important that it’s the major #1 application on any of our computers, right, Apple?) Actually, if you right-click the QuickTime system tray icon and go into Preferences you’ll find an option to remove the system tray icon. Problem is the program still runs on startup, just now you don’t even get to right-click it if you did want to set an option! Crazy! Let’s sort all these out. First, in the Registry section above remove the Quick Time Task. Next, if you know you’re not going to plug an iPod into the computer in question remove the iTunesHelper task too. Then press the Windows key + R and type services.msc and press enter. You will see the Services control panel which is another section of Windows that controls what runs on startup. Locate the Apple Mobile Device and iPod Service entries. Double-click on each one in turn and set the startup type to be Disabled. While you’re here, now go and look at the Bonjour Service. This is what’s behind mDNSResponder.exe. And might you ask what it actually does? The description reads, “Bonjour allows applications like iTunes and Safari to advertise and discover services on the local network. Having Bonjour running enables you to connect to hardware devices like Apple TV and software services like iTunes sharing and AirTunes.” Puh-leeze, Apple, give me a break. Make it an option next time. For now, set your Bonjour Service to be disabled too – unless, of course, you use Apple TV and AirTunes with your computer. For the rest of us it’s just a waste of CPU and RAM. Coming up, the triumvirate of Google, Logitech and Java ... plus what Microsoft could learn from Linux. CONTINUED |
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