61–70 of 306 posts
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I have the opposite experience. Nothing but Blue Screens on Windows.
You might want to run memcheck on the machine. Windows is terrible in many ways, but having regular blue screens is not at all normal.
1. Linux
2. MacOS
10. Windows
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I help run a service that uses hundreds of Windows boxes, and at any one time two or three of them always seem to have a borked windows update state. Recovery is utter fucking voodoo, and it's usually better to flatten a machine than attempt to repair things. A while back I installed a couple racks of shiny, new, absolutely identical servers (except for MAC addresses) with factory-imaged operating systems, and had tw…
>How do you even do that? flaky hardware?
This article immediately reminded me of a video I saw a while ago.[1] The long and short - MS basically laid off the staff that tested Windows, and much of it is automated nowadays (I bet the MBA educated executive at MS who was responsible for that got PHAT bonus, at the expense of Windows customers and laid off testing staff, of course). Seems like it happened in 2015, which is why it seems that windows updates hav…
This is why things like security audits exist - you can't judge a software product's internal quality from just what the salespeople tell you and what you see by running it, so you demand as a condition of purchase that someone look (with an appropriate NDA) at the internals and deliver a second opinion as to whether it's competent-looking code. This is also why things like PCI exist - you certainly can process credit cards without being careful about anything, but the credit card companies have decided (with an eye their own long-term profitability) that you only should process them with at least a little bit of care, even if that doesn't produce a visible functional difference. Yet.
Now, I'm not saying these are perfect processes by any stretch, but they absolutely act to prevent a company from laying off a division that provides an important but unseen function and coasting on reputation for several years.
No company the size of Microsoft is going to develop good software out of the kindness of its heart or a sense of professional pride or responsibility. Individuals do this all the time, of course - that's why Linux exists in the first place. But once you put a company around it, you should expect that it's going to have MBAs who don't want people to spend their time doing things that don't bring profit, and the customers should interact with the company accordingly: make sure the things you do want them doing bring them profit
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have the opposite experience. Nothing but Blue Screens on Windows.
You might want to run memcheck on the machine. Windows is terrible in many ways, but having regular blue screens is not at all normal.
I feel like Windows Update didn't used to be such a shitshow. Was I just not paying close enough attention a decade ago?
I help run a service that uses hundreds of Windows boxes, and at any one time two or three of them always seem to have a borked windows update state. Recovery is utter fucking voodoo, and it's usually better to flatten a machine than attempt to repair things. A while back I installed a couple racks of shiny, new, absolutely identical servers (except for MAC addresses) with factory-imaged operating systems, and had tw…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You might want to run memcheck on the machine. Windows is terrible in many ways, but having regular blue screens is not at all normal.
For me, a system that ran Win7 fine for years, has now bluescreended a far too high amount, and wiped notepad++ sessions etc more than once ... So it can't be the hardware.
Not saying it's definitely the cause, but strongly suggest you check if you haven't yet. It doesn't take long.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are people seeing ads in Windows 10? I often hear this, but I've never seen an ad (except MSFT's own ads getting to to try its new Edge browser.)
Oh, heck yes. Can I count the ways? - The Start Menu shows "suggested apps" by default - On first install/boot, the Start Menu is preloaded with about 10 sponsored apps, and many of them install automatically even if you don't click them. - These sponsored apps have a tendency to reinstall themselves _even after you just uninstalled them_ if you haven't rebooted your computer at least once or twice after first boot u…
> Taboola is the world’s largest discovery platform. Through our exclusive partnerships with many of the world’s top publishers, we serve 360 billion content recommendations to over one billion people across the web each month. You have probably seen our feed serving recommendations on sites like Bild, Bloomberg, NBC News, Le Figaro, MSN, The Independent and The Weather Channel.
Yup... MSN is right there in their list of customers! They mention "native ads" quite a bit on their front page. What are native ads you ask? They tell you:
> Native advertising is the concept of creating ads that are so cohesive with the page content, assimilated into the design, and consistent with the platform behavior that the viewer feels the ad belongs there.
and:
> As consumers become more resistant to traditional forms of advertising, Fortune 500 brands and consumer startups alike are allocating bigger budgets towards content marketing and non-disruptive ad formats.
Translation: People are starting to become resistant to the overt brainwashing, so we're making the brainwashing covert.
I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
How do the people that work in these places sleep at night?
This article immediately reminded me of a video I saw a while ago.[1] The long and short - MS basically laid off the staff that tested Windows, and much of it is automated nowadays (I bet the MBA educated executive at MS who was responsible for that got PHAT bonus, at the expense of Windows customers and laid off testing staff, of course). Seems like it happened in 2015, which is why it seems that windows updates hav…
Anyway, if you make money using your computer, don’t update. If you make money making updates, I don’t know.
I feel like Windows Update didn't used to be such a shitshow. Was I just not paying close enough attention a decade ago?
Windows 7 was peak desktop Windows. Server 2012 R2 was the peak on the server side. Everything after has been downhill.