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Legacy Update: Fix Windows Update on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

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Re: Legacy Update: Fix Windows Update on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

#91

Post by idiocrat »

kitsunesoba wrote: post #51
Animats wrote: post #34

I could see staying with Windows 7. That was the best version Microsoft ever made. Microsoft finally figured out how to make it stable, and it didn't have all the ad and cloud crap nailed in. You can run current Firefox, current Thunderbird, and current LibreOffice, which covers the basics. Most Windows software still works.

Windows 7 also had the best customization/theming, followed by XP. Both 7 and XP had some amazing looking community-made .msstyle themes but 7's theme engine allowed for things like full transparency while XP was limited to 1-bit transparency. This was nice in that it offered UI looks that were more modern than the classic theme yet more understated than the gaudy Luna/Aero. Then Windows 8 came along and decided flat…

I wonder what is the rational of removing features like allow for customization.

Re: Legacy Update: Fix Windows Update on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

#92

Post by wlesieutre »

mrcarruthers wrote: post #88
Koshkin wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That was the best version Microsoft ever made No. 7 was a rollback on Vista. The best one which was not a step back but rather a step forward was Windows 2000. (Some even swear by NT4, which I feel also has some merit.)

Vista was a necessary evil on Microsoft's end. While yes some things weren't great (Aero), the main issue was always drivers. Microsoft had to switch the ways drivers work for some very necessary security reasons. This led to many hardware manufacturers just not making new drivers or slapping together the shitiest thing and hoping it worked. Took a few years but eventually everyone had new hardware (with decent compa…

Their other issue was giving in to Intel on lowering the requirements of a "Windows Vista Capable" sticker, so a lot people were buying hardware for Vista that really shouldn't have been recommended, especially at the start of Vista's era.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2008/03/the-vista-capable-de...

Re: Legacy Update: Fix Windows Update on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

#93

Post by gsich »

idiocrat wrote: post #91
kitsunesoba wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows 7 also had the best customization/theming, followed by XP. Both 7 and XP had some amazing looking community-made .msstyle themes but 7's theme engine allowed for things like full transparency while XP was limited to 1-bit transparency. This was nice in that it offered UI looks that were more modern than the classic theme yet more understated than the gaudy Luna/Aero. Then Windows 8 came along and decided flat…

I wonder what is the rational of removing features like allow for customization.

Designers in constant need of change, otherwise their jon would be useless.

Re: Legacy Update: Fix Windows Update on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

#95

Post by armagon »

This is so exciting.

I've got an old netbook and decided to put back on the OS it originally came with, Windows 7 Starter. I was so surprised when I couldn't run updates; I finally attributed it to having old security certificates, but couldn't figure out how to update them, and some important updates that I installed on other computers (a number of HTTPS sites are impossible to see without the right certs) and copied over would not install. Such a pain.

And here, just like that, Windows 7 SP1 is installing.

To those who made this: Thank you so much!

Re: Legacy Update: Fix Windows Update on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

#96

Post by userbinator »

badsectoracula wrote: post #39
throwaway0x7E6 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

really? who, when? I have actually lived through that era, and I can't remember there being negative sentiment about XP. I don't know about the dark corners of the internet, but the people in my circles were neutral about XP, hated Vista, loved 7, hated 8, hated 10 and hate 11 to this day, the only criticism of XP I saw is about the UI, which doesn't make sense to me - switching it was a matter of 3 clicks

Pretty much everyone i remember hated XP's "Fisher Price" look. Also there was a ton of compatibility issues, at the time Microsoft saw Win98 as the biggest competitor to XP and it wasn't until SP2 that XP was seen as good. Funny enough, a quick search for "windows xp fisher price" has this Ars Technica article about exactly that topic (people hating Windows XP when it first came out): https://arstechnica.com/informa…

One of the first things I did was always revert to the Windows Classic theme, because it was very easy to do so. There were also plenty of other custom themes should you want something different.

Starting with Windows 8, they removed that option completely.

Re: Legacy Update: Fix Windows Update on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

#97

Post by wereallterrrist »

ShockedUnicorn wrote: post #59
wereallterrrist wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn near pure FUD with any remotely, remotely mainstream laptop. The Linux ecosystem is so wildly more consistent and predictable than Win10. I mean, my laptop doesn't overheat daily in my bag when its booted to Linux, but yeah, Windows is so easy. /s

I'm unsure what you mean with mainstream laptop, but with my Asus zenbook I had these problems: * Sleeping doesn't work, hibernate sometimes work * Keyboard buttons for screen brightness doesn't work * Ambient light sensor doesn't work * Vsync doesn't work * Processor always highly clocked, draining battery I was able to fix some of the issues in Ubuntu by compiling kernel addons of some sort. When I switched to Arch…

Power-profile-daemon, wayland, and running a somewhat recent kernel will likely resolve these except the keyboard shortcuts (though, likely a newer libinput with wayland instead of X will also resolce this).

Which zenbook? Ill try to find one here to validate explicitly.

Its hard to have these conversations sometimes because people use old versions of meh distros and then carry their anecdotes forward for years.

I literally cannot find a Zenbook on the market that has hardware that should have these issues. I'd really, really like to know what custom kernel patches (really?) you were taking to get hardware to work.

Re: Legacy Update: Fix Windows Update on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

#98

Post by metadat »

kitsunesoba wrote: post #51
Animats wrote: post #34

I could see staying with Windows 7. That was the best version Microsoft ever made. Microsoft finally figured out how to make it stable, and it didn't have all the ad and cloud crap nailed in. You can run current Firefox, current Thunderbird, and current LibreOffice, which covers the basics. Most Windows software still works.

Windows 7 also had the best customization/theming, followed by XP. Both 7 and XP had some amazing looking community-made .msstyle themes but 7's theme engine allowed for things like full transparency while XP was limited to 1-bit transparency. This was nice in that it offered UI looks that were more modern than the classic theme yet more understated than the gaudy Luna/Aero. Then Windows 8 came along and decided flat…

And Win7 Aero looked so good stock I never felt the need to go hunting for themes.

Then the abomination that is Windows 8 came along and took an enormous and terribly corrosive dump on the the party. Windows has been a conundrum to me ever since. It just doesn't feel right anymore like it used to with 2k, XP, and Win7.

I'm a bit sad about the decline, having spent many thousands of hours completely plugged in to Windows.. Every wish, only a click or keystroke away.

R.I.P. FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8

(for the youngn's: this is the everlasting devils0wn pirate cd key for Windows XP serial number. How awesome would it be if it also worked for a future version of Windows?)

Re: Legacy Update: Fix Windows Update on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

#99

Post by SanjayMehta »

Animats wrote: post #34

I could see staying with Windows 7. That was the best version Microsoft ever made. Microsoft finally figured out how to make it stable, and it didn't have all the ad and cloud crap nailed in. You can run current Firefox, current Thunderbird, and current LibreOffice, which covers the basics. Most Windows software still works.

I considered this but ending up loading Linux Mint instead with exactly the same basics.

Re: Legacy Update: Fix Windows Update on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

#100

Post by SanjayMehta »

Koshkin wrote: post #41
Animats wrote: post #34

I could see staying with Windows 7. That was the best version Microsoft ever made. Microsoft finally figured out how to make it stable, and it didn't have all the ad and cloud crap nailed in. You can run current Firefox, current Thunderbird, and current LibreOffice, which covers the basics. Most Windows software still works.

> That was the best version Microsoft ever made No. 7 was a rollback on Vista. The best one which was not a step back but rather a step forward was Windows 2000. (Some even swear by NT4, which I feel also has some merit.)

NT 3.51 was rock solid stable. 4.0 had some GUI implementation changes which made it unstable in the early days.
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