The idiots at M$

[headhawg]

I can't believe the sheer incompetence of good ol' Microsloth. In their infinite wisdom the patch that was supposed to mitigate the Meltdown security problem has made things even worse if you're running Windows 7.

Windows 7: To patch or not to patch (https://www.computerworld.com/article/3216425/microsoft-windows/microsoft-patch-alert-windows-7-takes-the-brunt-of-march-patching-problems.html)

Scroll down a bit to read the article I'm referring to. These people are like meteorologists -- they only need to be right half the time to make a six figure income. :rolleyes:

[forced89]

I have automatic Windows 7 updates blocked and never run an update until Ask Woody signs off on it.

[DeltaLover]

I can't believe the sheer incompetence of good ol' Microsloth. In their infinite wisdom the patch that was supposed to mitigate the Meltdown security problem has made things even worse if you're running Windows 7.

Windows 7: To patch or not to patch (https://www.computerworld.com/article/3216425/microsoft-windows/microsoft-patch-alert-windows-7-takes-the-brunt-of-march-patching-problems.html)

Scroll down a bit to read the article I'm referring to. These people are like meteorologists -- they only need to be right half the time to make a six figure income. :rolleyes:

Just out of curiosity: If you insist on Windows what it the reason of always update to the latest version?

I have not touched an MSWindows box for many years but based on what I read, windows 7 is considered to be legacy and its extended support will run out permanently in a matter of a couple of years, so what is that keep you from going ahead with your OS of choice?

[headhawg]

@DeltaLover
As most of the programs I use require Windows I don't really have much of a choice. Win10 is a complete disaster. And I am not moving to an Apple box. Linux is tempting, but I am not going to use some emulator like WINE to run my apps.

@forced89
I do the same as you re: Windows updates. I always refer to AskWoody. I think you may have been the poster who let me know about it. Thanks. The problem is that this is a newly discovered flaw, so when AW went to Defcon 3 I installed the Feb rollup after already installing January's. The Meltdown patch was in both so, too late (although I supposed that I could uninstall them).

The point is that companies like M$, Comcast, and other oligopolies continue to produce crap and the public (mostly) has to put up with it.

[DeltaLover]

@DeltaLover
As most of the programs I use require Windows I don't really have much of a choice. Win10 is a complete disaster. And I am not moving to an Apple box. Linux is tempting, but I am not going to use some emulator like WINE to run my apps.

@forced89
I do the same as you re: Windows updates. I always refer to AskWoody. I think you may have been the poster who let me know about it. Thanks. The problem is that this is a newly discovered flaw, so when AW went to Defcon 3 I installed the Feb rollup after already installing January's. The Meltdown patch was in both so, too late (although I supposed that I could uninstall them).

The point is that companies like M$, Comcast, and other oligopolies continue to produce crap and the public (mostly) has to put up with it.

I understand your pain but you have to also realize that it is a consequence of the decision to use an OS that is not developer friendly. Linux / mac are without a doubt the way to go for a developer / devop while as you correctly say Wine is there only as a band-aid and does not indent to serve as a fully fledged environment. Maybe you should consider replacing your existing dependencies to windows specific software with open source and start a gradual migration to linux or mac.

[Parkview_Pirate]

Thanks for posting this, headhawg. I've got a Win7 laptop that rarely connects to the internet, but I use it for a couple of programs, including tax prep which is coming up. I'll be sure to toggle off the automatic updates (which gets turned back on when updates are installed), to avoid the "cluster-cluck" of the March update.

I agree that Windows 10 is a disaster. Soooo, sooo invasive. When I built my PC a couple of years ago with the latest Intel chip, I found out that Linux wouldn't run on it, so I bought a copy of Windows 10. When it started to update firmware, I yanked it, and fortunately the distributions in Linux were working by then. I now have W10 installed in a virtual machine, but I haven't spun that up in almost a year.

@DeltaLover - I've been trying to wean myself off Windows now for 18 years, and I'm down to three applications (tax s/w, one horse racing package, and Dragon Voice Recognition). I know the tax guys offer web-based solutions, but I don't like the idea of keeping a copy on their systems. It's bad enough to transfer a copy when filing online. I'm surprised Linux voice recognition apps are so primitive. I'm not a developer, but as a consultant I have to deal with Windows environments all the time, and with Micro$oft being heavily involved in the Cloud, I don't see that changing.

[tupper]

I'll just leave this (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/29/technology/microsoft-reorganizes-to-fuel-cloud-and-ai-businesses.html) here.

[PaceAdvantage]

Thanks for posting this, headhawg. I've got a Win7 laptop that rarely connects to the internet, but I use it for a couple of programs, including tax prep which is coming up. I'll be sure to toggle off the automatic updates (which gets turned back on when updates are installed), to avoid the "cluster-cluck" of the March update.

I agree that Windows 10 is a disaster. Soooo, sooo invasive. When I built my PC a couple of years ago with the latest Intel chip, I found out that Linux wouldn't run on it, so I bought a copy of Windows 10. When it started to update firmware, I yanked it, and fortunately the distributions in Linux were working by then. I now have W10 installed in a virtual machine, but I haven't spun that up in almost a year.

@DeltaLover - I've been trying to wean myself off Windows now for 18 years, and I'm down to three applications (tax s/w, one horse racing package, and Dragon Voice Recognition). I know the tax guys offer web-based solutions, but I don't like the idea of keeping a copy on their systems. It's bad enough to transfer a copy when filing online. I'm surprised Linux voice recognition apps are so primitive. I'm not a developer, but as a consultant I have to deal with Windows environments all the time, and with Micro$oft being heavily involved in the Cloud, I don't see that changing.Win 10 a disaster? Wow.

Couldn't be further from my opinion.

Best Win operating system ever. I am 100% happy I am now off Win7...I have zero complaints.

[Dave Schwartz]

The only real problem is people running XP-era machines because most of those machines have motherboards that only support 3gb of RAM.

I have a closet full of those. (Literally.) None are currently operating, but I will actually use them when I do A.I. runs. They all have been upgraded to Win7-32 which runs fine with 3GB.

Of course, they do not connect to the internet ever so security is not an issue.

[headhawg]

Win 10 a disaster? Wow.

Couldn't be further from my opinion.

Best Win operating system ever. I am 100% happy I am now off Win7...I have zero complaints.I hope you have turned off all of the telemetry. (Not that it really matters as you can't turn ALL of it off in Win10.) I also suggest that you bookmark AskWoody.com and read the articles there.

M$ is making some really poor business decisions. They have two things: Office and Windows for desktops. They showed that they can't compete on mobile. And now they want to make a major move to the AI and cloud computing markets? What a joke. There are a dozen companies that will do both things better than them. So if they want to sacrifice the desktop market by being incompetent so be it. If I'm forced to move to Linux I will -- and so will everyone else

Sell your M$ stock now boys. It won't be worth anything in five or six years.

[Dave Schwartz]

Headhawg,

Although I am no expert on Microsoft, I believe that I've heard their only profitable product is Office, so what you say seems very plausible.

To that end, when I switched development platforms late last year I switched to one that supports Linux as well.

I believe in covering the bases. :-)


Dave

PS: That does not mean I will be developing in/for Linux. It means that if Windows actually goes away my code still works in Linux - with major changes I am sure.

[Parkview_Pirate]

Win 10 a disaster? Wow.

Couldn't be further from my opinion.

Best Win operating system ever. I am 100% happy I am now off Win7...I have zero complaints.

If you don't mind the "personal" in PC being taken away, I can understand your point of view. But if you have a more complex setup on a system (I have three operating systems loaded, plus three virtual machines), change control needs to be done very carefully. Firmware updates can brick a machine or device pretty quickly.

As for privacy, you basically have none. You are the product, and M$ joins the evil legions of Google and Facebook in monetizing you as their data collection minion.

As for the user experience, W10 was fine, but I didn't find it any more compelling than W7, and it was a whole lot heavier. Many of the changes were cosmetic, and I can't believe they're still getting mileage out of NTFS. But as far as "disaster" goes, I guess I still harbor some resentment about the ham-fisted way M$ forced the update onto their customer base. Reminded me of the "mandatory" fun functions I had to participate in while in the military, one of several reasons I served got out after four years.