I had not used Shotcut for a long time, so uninstalled the previous version I last used in (I think) early 2023, and eventually managed to download the most recent version, 23.12.15.
But a couple of things happened during my first attempt at downloading, and I thought those things were strange and wanted to ask about them here.
FIRST ATTEMPT AT DOWNLOAD
Went to Shotcut.com, clicked on ‘Click To Download’,
Clicked on Windows Installer (for v. 23.12.15)
Taken to Sourceforge page
When I clicked to download the 131MB file, the download time initially displayed as over an hour!
About 5 mins. later, the download had decreased to something like 55 mins., so…
I cancelled the download
Normally, my 2023 MSI Crosshair 12th. Gen. i7 with 16GB RAM, would take a few seconds to download 131MB.
So, I proceeded by:
Checking Task Manager - everything looked fine, but I did close Skype
Next, I downloaded the Portable Install versions of Shotcut, and that took a bit longer than I thought it should - about 2 mins. - but it worked
Duplicated steps 1 - 3 listed above, but this time got a bit of a different download display (task bar) when I clicked to download Shotcut, and about 30 seconds later the download was complete, Shotcut was fully installed about 20 seconds later, and it opens fine.
What was going on here?
Why were things so abominably slow the first time I tried downloading, why did they work the second time, and why did I get a different part of the installation process (or different display, and MUCH faster download) the second time I tried downloading?
Windows may not like that you use open source software and mark it as spam or a virus.
In such cases you can try to disable the firewall and your virus protection for the installation on your own risk.
Under Linux I did not encounter this problem today!
What you say could explain the slowness in the process of the file being downloaded the first time I tried to download Shotcut.
But what you suggest does not account for the following:
I was successfully able to download Shotcut the second time I tried, which was only a few minutes after I first tried, and I think that was because - for some reason…
…I was directed to a completely different part of the Sourceforge page at a certain point during my second attempt to download the file (represented by me getting a very different kind of download disply from the first time I attempted to download the file
To me, those would point to something going on with the code, or some kind of misdirection on the Sourceforge page - a glitch, at the very least.
I was only presented with a few options, one of which was Microsoft, which I went to, but I saw it was a fee-based download, so I decided to not go that route.
Certainly could not see the multitude of options (mirrors) you show in your screenshot.
I also knew there was something awry in terms of the hour long time that was initially displayed for downloading a meagre 131MB, and wanted to try the original download link again.
And that is one of the reasons I asked here - to get this kind of informatoin.
I have no idea how Shotcut, which I clicked on from the Shotcut homepage, interacts with Sourceforge, what kind of relationship exists between the two entities (if any), who owns what.
I think it is perfectly reasonable that I ask a question here about the product this page was created for - I had no idea that Shotcut was hosted by Sourceforge (although having downloaded the programme several times over the past couple of years, I probably did so from Sourceforge, but had forgotten that).
I think I made an assumption when answering the question.
When clicking an html link that contains a url to another website your browser is then effectively communicating with that remote website. So there is no relationship between the two sites. Shotcut is just telling your browser where to go to in order to get the installer.
