jrweiss wrote:I have to disagree here.7im wrote:As for just swapping the order of the download/upload, that goes back to what I said about making changes. No change is a small change where reprogramming 400,000 clients, and 25+ servers is concerned.
They would only be reprogramming a dozen or so clients, and I suspect the source code logic in that segment of the client is identical for all of them. The number of servers is totally irrelevant. All it takes is to move the initial download connection to just prior to the initial upload connection. All the remaining logic remains intact, including the timing for waits between subsequent attempts of either action.
As it is, an unsuccessful upload attempt can delay the download of the next WU for hours, and the start of the next WU in the server queue is not at all affected by the WU results awaiting upload. We know this because there will eventually be a download attempt even if the upload does not complete.
Go ahead and disagree.
How well does this simple switch work with 200,000 clients using the old way, and 200,000 clients using the new way during the change over?
How does this count against you for -bigadv bonuses? 
How do you stop an unstable client from just downloading all the WUs, and never uploading any? (Yes, I know this can be prevented, with more coding and checks.) So you see, there is a lot more to think through than simply flipping a switch, or swapping a load order.
