Al Gore hates me

Okay.

So. My computer seems to have decided that when it is busy downloading something, it is going to put ALL ITS BANDWIDTH into the downloading of that object. Every last tiny bit of bandwidth. Such that I am not able to load a webpage, and even gmail and google reader and gchat LOSE THEIR CONNECTIONS to the interwebs.

It started when I got my last computer, the Windows Vista monstrocity that should be shot and killed and thrown out a window. Except that it was so pretty (the laptop, not Windows Vista -- as soon as I got it, I told it to please make Windows look like regular Windows, so that I would not have to look Vista's ugliness in the face every day).

So I figured it was a problem caused by Vista. Because XP had NO PROBLEM allowing me to simultaneously download and internet.

Enter Shiny New iMac, who I have named Guy Debord.

iMac has the VERY SAME PROBLEM prioritizing bandwidth for multiple activities. And it makes me CRAZY. Because downloading is important, but generally speaking, if I'm trying to do OTHER THINGS while downloading, those Other Things are generally more important than the download.

My first suspicion was that it was a Firefox problem, but, on both Vista and Guy, the problem persisted even when Firefox was upgraded; and the problem presented itself even in iTunes -- I could not both browse the store and download files. Nor could I even download files simultaneously! All the files would get confused and think there was no available bandwidth, so none of them would download. When in truth there was LOTS of bandwidth, but the files were so unwilling to share it that nobody was able to download anything at all! Stupid files!

So I thought perhaps that it was a wireless problem, since I know prioritization is a huge issue with wireless networks (having worked for years with faculty studying wireless network protocols, I know that this is a problem that has not yet been fully resolved even theoretically in the wireless world -- or in the real world, since we still haven't resolved problems of resource allocation, else I would not be sitting here bitching about my lack of ability to simultaneously Download and Internet whilst there are starving children in Africa). But the problem is not a wireless problem, as it persists even over a wired network.

So. I sit here typing this into textedit because iTunes is downloading the latest update for my iPhone, and so the interwebs are shut down, and I am left sans outlet for my rantings.

I would suspect that the router, or perhaps my ISP, was the source of the problem, but the issue is new to both router and ISP, and persists over multiple platforms and multiple applications.

And so, ARGH.