Intel Software Manager

[levicki]

Guys, this software manger is nice and all, but...

1. There should be a more prominent notice that it is going to be installed -- maybe some users will get irritated when it pops up first time they start Visual Studio.
2. Download speed is very poor -- on 1MB/sec (megabyte, not megabit) capable link it is downloading with only 250KB/sec.

I suggest the following improvements:

- It should be capable of using more than one simultaneous connection for download of a single file otherwise what is the point of providing download manager which is many times slower than traditional download accelerators?

- You should be able to specify maximum bandwidth used for downloading.

- There should be "Start All" and "Pause All" button.

- During setup, before chosing full or custom install, there should be a separate question whether to install Intel Software Manager, when it should be launched, and how often to check for updates. Those things should be transparent for users and configured up front, not after the fact.

[TimP]

It's slower than that in some areas of USA. I get about 530MB/s on a 30MB/s service. I've known of customers not being able to download several days running.
When you go to the download site, it asks whether you want the manager. I never use it. Recently, when not using the manager, the ability to perform at least 2 simultaneous downloads from the site was restored for me.

[levicki]

I am talking about the software that gets installed with Intel Parallel Studio 2013 Beta, not on-site download manager.

The way that software is installed and configured when default setup is executed (i.e. if you do not customize the installation) makes it a new default for downloading Parallel Studio component updates.

In my opinion, if it is a new default, then it has to be at least equal if not better than manual update approach (downloading from browser, or using download accelerators).

Not only is installing an auto-update service without user consent sneaky and has privacy implications, but making it a default install option without ensuring that it has comparable performance to manual download options is outright foul play on Intel's part.

[SergeyKostrov]

Quoting TimP (Intel)

It's slower than that in some areas of USA. I get about 530MB/s on a 30MB/s service...

530MB/s...

I think you wanted to type KB...

[Tobias_Loew]

Hi,

my Intel Software Manager can't connect to the Intel servers as it's behind a company firewall. So it tries to connect and never stops trying...

I'm also not able to change the settings of the ISM as cancelling of the connection-try doesn't work.

Can anybody help me?

[levicki]

Go to <your program files>\Common Files\Intel\Intel Software Manager and edit ism2.exe.config file:

   <setting name="CheckingForUpdateAutoMode" serializeAs="String">
    <value>EveryDay</value>
   </setting>

Try changing EveryDay to Never.

Note that I didn't try this and maybe it won't help. If it doesn't, please file a bug report at premier.intel.com.

@Intel -- I told you that ISM sucks long before people started complaining about it, maybe its time to do something about it?

[SergeyKostrov]

I recently had lots of attempts ( more than 4 ) when I was trying download Intel C++ compiler version 8.1 Update 38 and downloaded the installation ( a really small ~80MB ) without Intel Software Manager.

[JenniferJ]

As for the download performance issue, it's been worked on. But no date on the fix yet. When there is a fix, I'll post the news here.

About the proxy: my Intel Software Manager can't connect to the Intel servers as it's behind a company firewall. So it tries to connect and never stops trying...

Could you provide more detail info about your env? OS. Did you set the proxy in IE for Windows or from the system env for Linux? The software manager tool supposes to get the proxy info from the system. 

Jennifer 

[SergeyKostrov]

>>As for the download performance issue, it's been worked on. But no date on the fix yet. When there is a fix... Thanks for the update. >>...Could you provide more detail info about your env? OS. Windows 7 Professional 64-bit with IE9.x and I could provide exact versions if you need. >>...Did you set the proxy in IE for Windows..? No. I didn't do anything special. The problem I described ( see post on Thu, 02/07/2013 - 07:21 ) happened when I was connected to a high-speed Wi-Fi network with a transfer rate more than 250KB/s and when thousands of users ( students ) were connected to the same network.

[JenniferJ]

Ok. Thanks Sergey, so you do not have any proxy issue with the Intel Software Manager then. 

See if Tobias Loew could help with some detail info then. 

Tobias Loew wrote:

Hi,
my Intel Software Manager can't connect to the Intel servers as it's behind a company firewall. So it tries to connect and never stops trying...
I'm also not able to change the settings of the ISM as cancelling of the connection-try doesn't work.

Could you let me know if it works after set the proxy on the system? 
Jennifer 

[SergeyKostrov]

>>...so you do not have any proxy issue with the Intel Software Manager then. Yes, I didn't have any issues with proxy. Something esle was wrong ( I don't think related to that Wi-Fi network ) but I managed to download the installation.

[Dix_Lorenz]

Same problem from Germany, DL speeds are 250KB/s, both in my office (20 MBit/s) and at home (100 MBit/s).

[levicki]

Speed problems are expected because Intel Software Manager does not use multiple connections to download server like download accelerators (FlashGet, GetRight, etc) do. I asked for that to be implemented but I am not sure what are Intel's plans regarding that feature.

[SergeyKostrov]

Today I didn't use the Intel Software Manager and downloaded ( without any problems ) almost 2GB of different updates for Intel software.

[levicki]

Intel, I really need you to make Intel Software Manager an optional component. I don't want it on my computer.

[Bernard]

>>>Same problem from Germany, DL speeds are 250KB/s, both in my office (20 MBit/s) and at home (100 MBit/s).>.> Download speed is directly dependent on the remote server upload speed and network congestion down the path.It does not matter that you have 100mbit/s channel.

[levicki]

iliyapolak wrote:

>>>Same problem from Germany, DL speeds are 250KB/s, both in my office (20 MBit/s) and at home (100 MBit/s).>.>

Download speed is directly dependent on the remote server upload speed and network congestion down the path.It does not matter that you have 100mbit/s channel.

Yes, but other software can download faster which means the problem is with ISM.

[Bernard]

>>>Yes, but other software can download faster which means the problem is with ISM.>>> Strange situation if the same server is hosting and uploading other software.It is hard to draw conclusion without the packet sniffer attached to download session(s).

[levicki]

iliyapolak wrote:

>>>Yes, but other software can download faster which means the problem is with ISM.>>>

Strange situation if the same server is hosting and uploading other software.It is hard to draw conclusion without the packet sniffer attached to download session(s).

It is not really strange -- because of being such an amateurish attempt at download manager, the ISM downloads with only one connection to the server while download accelerators are capable of making multiple connections and utilizing full bandwidth available on the customer side.

Also, in situatiions where even a browsers can download faster than ISM we have to ask ourselves how a tool can suck so much at the very same purpose it was made for.

[SergeyKostrov]

>>...we have to ask ourselves how a tool can suck so much at the very same purpose it was made for... I think some companies will never ask customers what they think or what they want to see in some software product. In overall, there is always a lack of users feedback before some software is released. Why? Because in these some companies everything is very confidential, etc ( I understand this and that's OK ). Users feedbacks are asked when something is Not working or some functionality is completely broken.

[levicki]

Problem is that I submitted a long laundry list of issues with ISM ever since I got my hands on Parallel Studio 2013, and I still don't see my main complaints addressed:

1. ISM is installed without consent. That is simply unacceptable.

2. ISM in mandatory. Again, unacceptable.

3. ISM launch settings are not exposed to user during setup. Also unacceptable.

4. As far as I know, default launch setting is to launch ISM with Visual Studio which can prevent access to it if ISM can't connect to the server for some reason.

5. Download speed is crap.

6. Interface is poorly thought out.

7. Default download folder is part of user's profile. For roaming user profiles on a corporate domain that causes a high amount of data to be transferred through the network when the profile is synced due to large size of downloaded files.

The fact that people who thought of bundling this tool and those who engineered it are so studiously ignoring the above complaints is making me really concerned.