Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Bill Gates tries to install Movie Maker

techemails.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–49 of 49 posts

Re: Bill Gates tries to install Movie Maker

#41

Post by Tijdreiziger »

julian_sark wrote: post #12

I have recently bought a new PC, without a DVD drive, naturally. And tried to re-install my copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. This copy is a "pre order" DVD set I got off of eBay simply because it was a good price, but it's bound to my "Microsoft Account", the same account used in my Windows 11 install. I spent a good part of an hour trying to get this to install. The Microsoft store (also slow as **) didn't l…

> I literally don't know why they would force me to present a (virtual) DVD if there is no other checks whatsoever. This makes no sense but to hurt customers.

This was very common back in the day. It’s a form of DRM: it prevents you from playing the game on two computers at once.

It used to be common to make your life easier (even if you weren’t sharing the disc) by downloading an unofficial ‘no-cd’ patch, which was a patched game executable that omitted the ‘disc present’ check.

Re: Bill Gates tries to install Movie Maker

#42

Post by porcheetoh »

midoridensha wrote: post #6
rayiner wrote: post #3

I’m quite shocked Bill Gates’ email was so nice. Can you imagine if it had been Linus Torvalds or Steve Jobs? Maybe that explains how it got that way.

I'm much more shocked about how poorly-written Bill's email is. He sounds like he's almost illiterate. Any random post here on HN is far better written and more understandable. How did this guy get where he is now? Anyway, his account sounds like a typical Windows user experience, especially from that time. I guess that shows the power of having a monopoly: users are forced to put up with it, no matter how awful it i…

I have this heuristic I use to determine whether someone is worth listening to, or whether I should ignore them. Look, it rejects Bill Gates! I’m very smart.

Look, everyone uses heuristics to assess the world. Turns out yours is somewhat broken. Might want to update it.

Re: Bill Gates tries to install Movie Maker

#43

Post by pifm_guy »

midoridensha wrote: post #18
pleb_nz wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You didn't understand what he was trying to communicate?

There were a few places where the text didn't even parse, probably because of missing words. Normally, when I see writing that bad (like on a discussion forum like this one), I just dismiss the author and skip the comment. A mistake here or there is understandable, but this was too much.

> There were a few places where the text didn't even parse,

I suspect that to be some artifact of the way the email has been stored/archived over the years.

Sorta looks like the email was line wrapped to 100 chars, then line wrapped again to 95, and whatever words fell off a line were deleted.

Re: Bill Gates tries to install Movie Maker

#44

Post by mock-possum »

soooo he's got a copy of windows that he never updates, and he's surprised when the latest versions of official microsoft software doesn't run on it?

I mean - I'm not saying that's a good experience, or that it's one I am or would be happy about, but... it's not super reassuring to learn that Bill Gates is about as windows-literate as my own mother. :\

Re: Bill Gates tries to install Movie Maker

#45

Post by julian_sark »

Tijdreiziger wrote: post #41
julian_sark wrote: post #12

I have recently bought a new PC, without a DVD drive, naturally. And tried to re-install my copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. This copy is a "pre order" DVD set I got off of eBay simply because it was a good price, but it's bound to my "Microsoft Account", the same account used in my Windows 11 install. I spent a good part of an hour trying to get this to install. The Microsoft store (also slow as **) didn't l…

> I literally don't know why they would force me to present a (virtual) DVD if there is no other checks whatsoever. This makes no sense but to hurt customers. This was very common back in the day. It’s a form of DRM: it prevents you from playing the game on two computers at once. It used to be common to make your life easier (even if you weren’t sharing the disc) by downloading an unofficial ‘no-cd’ patch, which was…

You're absolutely right!

Man, I used to download so many no-cd patches back in the days, but lumped it all in with "real" copy protection in my mind.

+2 for the trip down memory lane. -1 because now I need to drink before noon to forget about the horrors of fiddling with CD-ROM based games and their silly schemes. So yeah, +1 :)

Re: Bill Gates tries to install Movie Maker

#46

Post by ncr100 »

jmkni wrote: post #4

> Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable? The file system is no longer usable. The registry is not usable. This program listing was one sane place but now it is all crapped up. This made me laugh out loud

It's tragic his leadership was so ineffective.

Re: Bill Gates tries to install Movie Maker

#47

Post by dartharva »

midoridensha wrote: post #6
rayiner wrote: post #3

I’m quite shocked Bill Gates’ email was so nice. Can you imagine if it had been Linus Torvalds or Steve Jobs? Maybe that explains how it got that way.

I'm much more shocked about how poorly-written Bill's email is. He sounds like he's almost illiterate. Any random post here on HN is far better written and more understandable. How did this guy get where he is now? Anyway, his account sounds like a typical Windows user experience, especially from that time. I guess that shows the power of having a monopoly: users are forced to put up with it, no matter how awful it i…

I'm much more shocked about how poorly-thought midoridensha's comment is. He sounds like he's almost illiterate. Any random discussion here on HN is far better written and more considerate. How did this guy get where he is now?

That's what you sound like. They are discussing technical user experience, not engaging in some Oxford debate. His articulation is good enough for the message to pass through.

Re: Bill Gates tries to install Movie Maker

#48

Post by mrkramer »

sn_master wrote: post #37
thih9 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there an example of similar feedback but form Linus Torvalds or Steve Jobs, to compare?

Linus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVpOyKCNZYw

Linus is cocky and arrogant, I mean rightfully so but still....

Re: Bill Gates tries to install Movie Maker

#49

Post by WhyNotHugo »

doubled112 wrote: post #24
zaphodias wrote: post #22

> These 45 names are totally confusing. These names make stuff like: C:\Documents and Settings\billg\My Documents\My Pictures seem clear. Almost forgot what paths on Windows look like lol

It’s a lot to type and there are spaces. I am glad they switched to C:\Users\billg\Pictures

Missed opportunity to call it C:\Home\billg\Pictures (going for slash instead of backslash is too ambitious).
Post reply on HN