[c-nsp] "Enhanced" download procedure

[Joe Maimon]

Jay Hennigan wrote:
> What the #$^&$@# is going on with Cisco's download site?  It completely 
> hangs Firefox with some shopping cart java thing.  And this is downright 
> scary:  http://www.west.net/~jay/images/cisco-wants-root.png
> 
> Enhanced downloads, brought to you by the same people who brought us 
> enhanced interrogation?
> 
> Is there a workaround?  What happened to our friend kobayashi ?
> 

Yes, there is a workaround. Put a windows server somewhere with good 
bandwidth, use modern browsers and java to download the file, place it 
into a TFTP/FTP/HTTP served up from there and now you are good to go, 
with just this short little detour.

There are some concepts that web monkeys dont grasp very well, such as:

If it aint broke, dont fix it.
Throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Reinventing the wheel, badly.

It is not cisco specific, but they do seem to go through this every 
couple years. Half of google searches for cisco documentation land you 
on a cisco page that doesnt exist anymore and doesnt redirect anywhere 
you want to go.

This wouldnt be such a problem if folks in the know could use nice 
standardized methods such as FTP or lynx compatible HTTP to download 
what they want, regardless of which download method of the day is 
currently in effect.

As it happens, I would venture to say that most utilizations of cisco 
downloads are by people in the know.

This bulk/batch downloader does have its upsides, but without any decent 
alternative readily available, you are stuck with its considerable 
downsides, some of which can be coded around and some which just plain cant.

Perhaps cisco is trying to address a perceived problem with getting 
people who may not be in the know to do security updates.

I would suggest that they focus on methods that would allow a download 
and upgrade direct from the console of the equipment in question.

Perhaps the larger issue is the terminology shift - "Shopping Cart" 
implies purchasing.

Joe