Annoyances for 18 August, 2013

Actually, these have been building for a long time; I've just decided to collect them now, and ideally, find some answers.

Bitcasa:

• Opaqueness of Bitcasa:  it says "513kb to go" or "788 bytes to go", and seems to just switch back and forth between those numbers.  Network bandwidth at 250KB/sec for several minutes, never getting to zero.  3 hours to finally finish from where it said 13M (and 33 hours from ~1570Mb...
  
• Efficiency of Bitcasa:  800M of RAM when I'm just looking at files?  1G+ sometimes?  You're using a huge chunk of disk for cache, what do you need all the RAM for ?
  
• Interface:  I alt-tab over, Cmd-, to bring up preferences (only to see how munch I am using) and then what key do I use to get rid of the window?  ESC?  Cmd-W ?
  No, I HAVE TO CLICK.  I DON"T WANT TO USE THE MOUSE>
  
• bitcasa, why 15 minutes to list 600000 files (using find + stat)?
  Doulbe why:    sustained CPU at 80% during this time, but not much network.  Should be less that 50M total transmitted (need to estimate).  I saw stuff disappear before; until I trust you more, I'm going to keep checking.  [Maybe staggered checking is better.]

Last.fm -- 25M download?  It seemed to never install successfully either.  Finally, with iTunes 11 it does?

iTunes -- you say you're started, but no window?  Why don't windows show when I alt-tab to the icon?  Where are you?  I have to click ?!?  To get the 'agreement' window for new iTumes?  what's so special about this window, why can't it act like a normal window?

Maybe it's not just iTunes, maybe other applications too since Mountain Lion.  Or maybe just Apple's apps ?

Mountain Lion (10.8.4) - I finally recently upgrade from Snow Leapord (10.6.8) about 3 weeks ago--had to because my LEAPmotion controller required it.
Pros:

• Upgrade process *very* smooth -- totally online, cheap ($20), no effort (1 click, walk away, come back, no surprises)
• Hibernate seems to work now; at least it has a couple times.  I frequently fall asleep on the couch after opening my laptop when it's charged, and don't bother plugging in (or it comes unplugged)...  then I wake up to it being off.   Maybe I should take care of the "Service battery" status?  -- but pretty impressed it still gives 2 hours after 4 years.
• Re-opens (all?) applications that were running from before reboot.
  Slightly mixed about this; Terminal opens, but not all my screen windows.  
• TimeMachine also uses free disk when you're not connected to your TM backup drive?
  or is this part of MobileMe, I mean iCloud ? no, I didn't sign up.
• Also, java:  automatically downloads 1.6 when I started Eclipse;
  and system updates automatically install 1.7 (aka Java 7).
• XCode (developer tools, compiler etc) and easy one-click install from the app store.
  Mostly I needed it for 'macports' so I could update it (because my old system was so out of date..).
  Possibly useful in the future for iOS, though I think 1) Android is bigger and better, and 2) HTML5 is a better choice before native iOS.  Still, a think iOS wrapper app might be able to provide some control/integration features.
• Notification center -- seems to be a good centralized idea.
  Configurable.  Note to self:  I should maybe not have my calendar reminders on screen ?

Cons  (or more things that I haven't gotten used to (yet)):

• 'Natural scrolling'
• 'desktops' v spaces.  wish I could rename.
  but maybe it best that they remain temporary, to reduce multi-tasking ?
• CalendarAgent takes a lot of cpu, never syncs...
• MagicPrefs starts with two icons (doesn't seem to be two copies running)
• Bitcasa *doesn't* autostart.
• VMware .. gone.  I didn't upgrade before even when VMware fusion nagged me;
  after the upgrade, it's "damaged goods".
  Maybe I'll just stick with VirtualBox -- it's multi-platform.
• no Rosetta?  I might like for a thing or two .. ?
• app store.  I'm an old-school sysadmin control-freak who wants total control;
  maybe I should just relent, realize you can't pop the hood on some machines

Still note this is WAY ahead of WINDOWS.  To people who complain Macs are more expensive, realize that you will not have to spend 1-2 hours per week with anti-virus scans; your disk speed is not reduced because every file also has to be read by anti-virus software before your program starts or your application can read it.  How much is your time worth to you?  Consider the reduced frustration and stress.  (Windows is a sinking ship ..).  

windows abomination legacy sinking ship; please, launch your torpedo.  competition is good, but windows is just not up to the task.  everyone, just keep it in some virtual corner (if you have to have it) as a warning to future occupants.  suckit ballmer.

LEAPmotion - eats a ton of cpu.  20% when no movement, 65% cpu when I'm moving my hand around it, even when nothing is reading...  (so I have an old computer..  2.5GHz dual core should not require that much).

VMware -- something better could be done than being gone after ML upgrade.  Is it ML's fault?

CiscoVPN -- fills up my log files (system.log, others?) with messages like
acwebsecagent[151]: License : One or more of the License/Public Key can't be NULL

and plenty others.

[ maybe uninstall, re-install w/ out certain components ? ]

General notes on software:
although better than ever, the current state is still lagging behind my vision by what seems like five, ten years, and growing.  So while I get older, more jaded, more cynical and curmudgeonly, it's more frustrating.  

On the other hand, I understand how hard it is to write software..  and how short our vision really is, a limited understanding and capacity for anything beyond a few chunks at a time.

On the third hand, there is more development than ever before, exponentially so; I get frustrated with myself trying to keep up.

There are better software management tools.  There are just so many.  And each are different, for
rpm's, pkg, npm, ruby gems, python libs, github, maven, CPAN, JPAN, RCRAN (?);
sourceforge, google code,



... will organzine and update more later.
maybe find some answers.