VS 2008 Professional Download Horrors

This one is really strange to me. Today was the big release to manufacturing of Visual Studio 2008. I decided to try and download the VS 2008 Professional edition (I actually downloaded Team Suite Trial fist) only to run in to the fun of the Akamai Download Manager.

This thing caused me so many issues! I wonder if this is the first time Microsoft decided to use this product. I was trying to download it while using IE 7 in Windows Vista only to notice that the page just kept refreshing. OK, so eventually I realize that the pop up blocker must be blocking the download but not telling me. I disable the pop-up blocker and see the Akamai pop-up and then it requests that I install an AcitveX component. OK, not my favorite thing in the world, but for VS 2008, you bet!

The download manager launches and asks me where I would like to place the file. I say "Download" please, it says "Sorry, you don't have access to that folder." I don't? That is strange. I try my E: drive instead, same story. I then try my Documents folder, it looks like it works. Except I get an error message stating that it can not access my documents folder and instead will place it in Temporary Internet Files.

3.3 Gigs later the file is complete, only to notice that the file is invalid. I hunt it down in Temporary Internet Files and it can't be copied or opened. The OS says the file doesn't exist!

Ok, this is frustrating. After a few more minutes I took the actions I should have taken earlier, I opened up Firefox. Now I go to the same pages I went to before, and it just works. The download manager opens (as a Java Applet this time) and I select my download location, and it just works. Why was IE such a fiasco?

You would have thought Microsoft would have tested this on Vista with IE, wouldn't you? Thank you Firefox, I couldn't have downloaded Microsoft's product without you! Who would have thought?

--John Chapman