How DTA is this dominant at all is a bit of a mystery to me. It allows me to download sequentially names files in rudimentary batches yes but thats not exactly mindblowing tech.
The likely end of DownThemAll
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Re: The likely end of DownThemAll
#92[deleted]
Re: The likely end of DownThemAll
#93How DTA is this dominant at all is a bit of a mystery to me. It allows me to download sequentially names files in rudimentary batches yes but thats not exactly mindblowing tech.
This is a large reason why:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-mover_advantage
But what you listed also isn't all it provides. Imagine being 99% done with a 35.6GB download. If Firefox crashes, you get to start that download from the beginning. As if you hadn't downloaded any part of it at all.
DTA would recover and you'd download 1% of that 35.6GB instead of the entire 35.6GB.
That's a large reason to use DTA over the built-in download manager by itself.
Re: The likely end of DownThemAll
#94Mozilla is dead. Long live Mozilla Extended Support Release! https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/
Here's hoping the old extension system deprecation comes after the release of ESR 45, so we can have support for old extensions until March 2017!
Re: The likely end of DownThemAll
#95How DTA is this dominant at all is a bit of a mystery to me. It allows me to download sequentially names files in rudimentary batches yes but thats not exactly mindblowing tech.
This is a large reason why: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-mover_advantage But what you listed also isn't all it provides. Imagine being 99% done with a 35.6GB download. If Firefox crashes, you get to start that download from the beginning . As if you hadn't downloaded any part of it at all. DTA would recover and you'd download 1% of that 35.6GB instead of the entire 35.6GB. That's a large reason to use DTA over…
One would hope that anyone providing a 35GB download would provide a torrent or magnet-link download. Maybe I'm wrong, but is seeding the torrent any more expensive than the same bandwidth from a web/ftp server? And then, it's also possible to offload some of the bandwidth onto the swarm, assuming there's more than one concurrent download.
It is a little amazing that the downloading functionality provided out-of-the-box in all the major browsers is such hot garbage still.
Re: The likely end of DownThemAll
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a large reason why: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-mover_advantage But what you listed also isn't all it provides. Imagine being 99% done with a 35.6GB download. If Firefox crashes, you get to start that download from the beginning . As if you hadn't downloaded any part of it at all. DTA would recover and you'd download 1% of that 35.6GB instead of the entire 35.6GB. That's a large reason to use DTA over…
One would hope that anyone providing a 35GB download would provide a torrent or magnet-link download. Maybe I'm wrong, but is seeding the torrent any more expensive than the same bandwidth from a web/ftp server? And then, it's also possible to offload some of the bandwidth onto the swarm, assuming there's more than one concurrent download. It is a little amazing that the downloading functionality provided out-of-the-…
So instead of a download manager I need a torrenting program? ;) That's just shifting the problem of "poor downloading" to a different tool. Many would prefer to not have to install another program and would prefer installing an add-on for a program they already have installed.
I do agree with you about torrent/magnet link being provided. Though sometimes large .iso downloads don't come with a torrent/magnet link.
E:
Regardless of file size - even if the download is only 20mb - it's annoying to have to redownload the entire 20mb instead of starting where it left off. What if I'm having connection issues? What if the server is having connection issues? Starting at n% and slowly making progress is better than starting from 0% or having the download be impossible...
Re: The likely end of DownThemAll
#97How DTA is this dominant at all is a bit of a mystery to me. It allows me to download sequentially names files in rudimentary batches yes but thats not exactly mindblowing tech.
This is a large reason why: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-mover_advantage But what you listed also isn't all it provides. Imagine being 99% done with a 35.6GB download. If Firefox crashes, you get to start that download from the beginning . As if you hadn't downloaded any part of it at all. DTA would recover and you'd download 1% of that 35.6GB instead of the entire 35.6GB. That's a large reason to use DTA over…
> If Firefox crashes, you get to start that download from the beginning.
Pretty sure the built in FF download manager does this too. Either way I had kinda assumed this as a base-line for any downloader. Hell that toy project that I programmed as a kid could continue downloads.
My point is DTA does zero special from my view, except that I know the brand (First mover - as you pointed out) and batch (useful to me as I don't know of any other way). Presumably there is some wget magic that can do it, but I'm on windows so DTA is easier.
Re: The likely end of DownThemAll
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
The main reason people install it I thought is because 1. It allows downloads to start and stop. No more 90% of that iso then having to start again. 2. It opens up 4 thingies on the file and downloads simultaneously. So 4 times quicker if the website is restricting bandwidth per connection.
> 1. It allows downloads to start and stop. No more 90% of that iso then having to start again. I'm surprised Firefox doesn't do this itself, as in, this sounds like a clear bug. Is there some reason the upstream project by itself doesn't get this right? > 2. It opens up 4 thingies on the file and downloads simultaneously. So 4 times quicker if the website is restricting bandwidth per connection. ... this works in 20…
> ... this works in 2015?
Sites like rapidshare used to 'mysteriously' fail for me at 95% when running Downthemall.
So yep some 'sites' have/had counter measures.
But if you're not a file sharing site counter measures likes these cost $ to implement.
Not saying it's ethical, like ad block (which also has counter measures) it's a fine like between a power user and taking advantage.
Re: The likely end of DownThemAll
#99For me, tree style tabs and the ability to have 100s of tabs open is the killer feature of firefox, and the reason I don't use any other browser. I will likely stop updating if these cease to work, and switch to any other browser which allows me to continue my workflow (or maybe start developing my own fork).
I suspect that a substantial portion of firefox's remaining users are there not because of the core browser (which is now almost indistinguishable from chrome), but because of an extension which either no-one cares or no-one is able to port to another browser.
Re: The likely end of DownThemAll
#100First, see https://billmccloskey.wordpress.com/2015/08/21/firefox-add-o...
1. these ideas are being announced far in advance of any actual changes
2. firefox devs (see link above) actively want to support current popular extensions, by adding to the Web Extension APIs
In fact, you can participate in this discussion with Mozilla devs more directly: https://webextensions.uservoice.com/forums/315663-webextensi...
Nobody working on Firefox wants to take away your most useful extensions, become a "clone" of Chrome (or any other browser) or otherwise has ulterior motives. The goals is really about improving performance and security and making add-ons easier to write and port between browsers.