I have recently run in to a couple websites which have a very annoying “feature”. Basically they have taken an internal policy applying to passwords and forced it externally on their loyal customers. This “feature” is to remember every password you have every previously had and not allow you to use it again. I don’t know what ‘Genius’ inside these linked companies thought this might be a good idea because this is how they run things with in the corporate walls, but out in the real world all that they are doing is forcing loyal customers to pull out their hair.

You may say “So what? That is a good way to protect the data, my company does the same thing.” Well corporate security has a good reason to force that on their employees, because they are protecting the intellectual property of the organization. Plus if that doesn’t work for you, they are paying you. I don’t know of anybody who says thank god for Company X they make me change my password every X months or every time I forget it. So what you end up with is a password that you have to write down or make so simple your 8 year old could guess it because it is not one of your standard passwords or phrases that you have developed and homed over the years.

Now combine that with the mandatory reset policy, that these companies have, if you happen to mistype the password 3 times while trying to guess which of your passwords it is. Oh and of course your password cannot be the same as any of your previous passwords, so you have to make it up on the fly, and after going through this process a couple dozen times you have used all your passwords that are common. So you get in to this repeating process of having to do a password reset each and every time you visit the website.

I really don’t understand most of the time what they are trying to protect. I can understand GoDaddy doing this, because it would be easy to transfer out valuable domains that people own, but what kind of data are people going to steal from Verizon Wireless, my credit card account is not shown, and I don’t really care if somebody sees how often I call my parents or wife.

I call on these companies and any company who uses this practice for external customers to remove this ‘feature’, while the intentions may have been noble the execution in the real world falls flat on its face. If anything this should be an option for customers, but then again I don’t personally know of anybody who would volunteer for this “feature”. If you really want to secure your customers against identity theft start implementing alternate authentication options such as OpenID or CardSpace.

It seems like the multi-billion dollar children are at it again. The bitter rivalry between these two companies ceases to amaze me. Apparently none of Apples products are ready for Windows Vista according to a Yahoo News article.

According to a document that Apple has posted on its Web site, none of the software that it’s made available for the Windows environment has been updated for Vista compatibility.

That includes not only iTunes but QuickTime, Airport For Windows, Bonjour For Windows, iDisk utility, and AppleWorks for Windows. All of those applications or utilities are listed by Apple as compatible with Windows XP and earlier versions of Windows, but not Vista.

It would seem that Apple is either very lazy or has alternate motives for not supporting Windows Vista. While I believe it was the latter, to try and push the consumers buying new computers at this time of year over to an Apple so that the buyers can still use their beloved iPod. Apple can give a bunch of BS about how they haven’t had time to update the software because Windows Vista was just released, but that is just another false truth. Windows Vista was first released to developers and corporations as a final and stable operating system back in the later part of November. In addition it had a stable API for months before that. So Apple has had a good 6 months to actually work on getting their products ready for Windows Vista.

Credit should be given to AppleDefects.com for tipping me off to this article.

Many of my co-workers and friends have been having trouble setting up iTunes on Windows Vista 64-bit. So I thought I would put together a quick reference sheet that will make it easier, since Apple hasn’t quite got their act together yet.

Background on Windows 64-bit
In the 64-bit versions of Windows there are two locations for programs to be stored by default.

• Program Files – All the 64-bit applications that can run with out any assistance from the 32-bit emulator.
• Program Files (x86) – All the 32-bit applications that need the 32-bit emulator to help then run under the 64-bit versions Windows.

Problem
When installing the latest version of iTunes (7.0.2) on Windows Vista 64-bit the install of the QuickTime software completes successfully, however when the iTunes software tries to install the application it produces an error message saying that it cannot find the QuickTime installation.

This is happening because QuickTime software is getting installed in the Program Files (x86) since it is not a 64-bit application. And the iTunes application specifically looks for it in the Program Files directory. I don’t know why the Apple iTunes programmers thought hard coding a path was a good idea, because they definitely could have looked up the install directory in the Windows Registry. As every programmer knows and has been slapped on the wrist by a more experienced programmer you should never hard code possible variations to your program. Especially if it is a hard drive path, because a non-standard install of QuickTime would lead to the same problem.

Solution
Basically the solution is very easy and involves a new feature in Windows Vista called a symbolic link.

1. Open up the Command Prompt as an Administrator (Go to All Programs > Accessories and Right Click on Command Prompt and then choose Run as administrator)
2. Create a QuickTime folder in both Program Files (x86)
   mkdir "c:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime"
3. Now we create a symbolic link to the Program Files directory
   mklink /d "c:\Program Files\QuickTime" "c:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime"
4. Now install iTunes as you normally would by double clicking on the install program.

If all the steps were followed from above you will have no problem getting iTunes to install correctly on Windows Vista 64-bit.

Update: If you are still having trouble you are probably experiencing the VB Script issue, where Apple wants you to run in an unsecured mode to install iTunes. I have outlined the steps to install iTunes in the following article.

Update (2007-7-12): I have been getting many thanks for this article as well as my other iTunes articles relating to Vista. If you would really like to do something for me, please visit one of the sponsors to the right or the left. They are how I support this site and keep it running.

Update (2008-1-21): One of the commenter’s below, found out that if you download iTunes from your Internet Explorer 64-bit version you get a version of iTunes that is 64-bit compatible. Now if Apple would only notify its users of this. Or fix their downloading software, or even the iTunes installer, to better detect Windows Vista 64-bit everybody would be in perfect shape. This is still a problem that could be easily avoided by Apple.