IPod and iTunes install bug

Question

This is the text of an email I just sent to Apple Tech Support. Has anyone else experienced this?
There is a problem with the Windows XP install package for the iPod software. I had the 2nd gen iPod (10 Gig Click-Wheel), and now have the 5th gen iPod with video (I love it!). The software install has a problem that has shown up in every single install I have done, and occurs on every computer I have used. There are several string variables that are called from the install module that are missing from the string table. I am amazed that this requires an email from a customer, since it is an incredibly obvious bug and equally simple to fix! ****, if I knew what software development package was used to design the install, I'd fix it myself! Whenever I install the iPod software I have to close at least half a dozen error boxes that notify me that a string variable is not found in the string table. Its not a fatal error, but it does pause the install until I click 'OK'. Some of the missing variable names are: ID_STRING11, APPLECUSTOMSTRING2, and APPLECUSTOMSTRING3. These are some of the shortcut titles from my program menu. (The last one is the name of the help file after installation!) Any basic testing done on the install package would identify this bug, but it has never been fixed! I am a software developer myself. If I ever turned in a project with a bug this obvious my boss would be reading resumes to pick my replacement. Especially if it remained in later versions! Its incredibly unprofessional. Hopefully, now that I have taken the time to point this out, it will be fixed. All any of your programmers need to do is:
1) Run the install package on a clean Windows pc. (ie a pc not used for programming) It needs to be a clean pc so that all files needed for install come from the install package. (If the files are there already, it won't be a valid test.)
2) Each time the error message appears, write down the name of the variable it cannot find.
3) Open the file that contains the string table so that it can be edited.
4) Create and initialize new string variables using the names that you wrote down, then assign values to the new variables.
5) Save and close the open file, then recompile the installation package.
6) Finally, include the fix in the next software update.
If any programmers disagree with this, PLEASE let me know.... This is such an obvious error, and appears to me to have a simple fix, that I'm tempted to send in my resume. I'd love a cushy programming job where the boss never checks my work! I know Apple has no love for Bill Gates and Microsoft, but this is ridiculous!

Answer 1

Never seen (or heard of) these errors before.
if I knew what software development package was
used to design the install
Files &
Software Installation
OK... That's just strange. I've helped 3 friends and 2 family members install the iPod Updater and iTunes to their PCs and I've hit this problem each time. Nobody has ever asked about this before? If the errors were confined to my PC it would make sense, but I got the same errors on the other 5 computers... The developer articles imply that the string tables are compiled with the install package, so it wouldn't be caused by missing files. Unfortunately neither package is open source, so I can't look at the source code. The software is also written in the Mac environment, and I write software for the Microsoft environment, so I'm doubly blocked. Since none of the errors interfere with installation, and have no impact at all with the programs they install, I guess I'll just quit whining about it. Thanks for answering a somewhat bitchy post.