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Samsung disabling Windows Update?

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Re: Samsung disabling Windows Update?

#121
post #76
post #13

I don't understand, why is Samsung pulling stunts like this all the time? It would make sense if they were trying to get up the ladder but they are already there, they hold an unquestionably large market share of Android. Things like these won't do any good in the long run but only prompt consumers to actively avoid the brand. Some of the things that really surprises me: [1] http://gizmodo.com/samsung-rigged-the-s4-t…

Samsung hardware is top-notch. But they're a hardware company first and foremost. Most hardware companies tend not to be great software companies. The company culture just isn't designed for producing great software. See also: Sony. I can't think of a single piece of software made by Samsung that gave me anything other than a thoroughly negative experience. Even their phones function best when they are not burdened w…

You can't be great at one without the other, companies like Samsung, Dell and HP have failed to recognise this for a long time.

Re: Samsung disabling Windows Update?

#122
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Would you prefer if Windows worked like iOS where there are serious limitations on what apps can do in the background and where every application has to go through a central authority for vetting? I've thought about this for a while, and honestly, for desktops/notebooks/tablets? Yes. Maybe not just one App Store like iOS, but at least sandbox all possible non-os code similarly to ChromeOS, in a way that's on by def…

> Nowadays there's simply no reason for legitimate applications to have the level of access to the underlying system that they used to have I'm hearing this argument from time to time. But I'd like to know what exactly changed. I can think of a dozen use-cases for which a shared, system-wide filesystem would be absolutely necessary (yes, especially with computer-illiterate friends and relatives, as "files" is pretty…

People neglected the fact that having $HOME access was already bad enough and lived in the illusion that running applications as normal user was safe.

Re: Samsung disabling Windows Update?

#123
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait a sec.. Apple has like 8% market share for desktops while Windows has ~80%. And Linux has just a few percents.

If you look at market share for consumers, Apple is doing much better. HP, Lenovo and Dell still rule the enterprise, but Apple does very well with consumers. And more and more enterprises are moving to cloud based solutions, buying tablets and negating the 'need' for PCs, even if for the time being they're still buying cheap PCs.

If I look at that market Apple is almost nowhere to be seen.

Here in Europe, Apple computers tend to be above many salaries, forcing people that really want to have them to use leasing.

So healthy European countries do have quite a few. Not so healthy countries white brand PCs rule.

Re: Samsung disabling Windows Update?

#124
post #81

This is about as end-user hostile as the Lenovo Superfish thing. By the sounds of things, Samsung has managed to ship some of their laptops with devices that fail with the standard windows devices drivers, but don’t have their own pci-id which would allow Samsung to ship a custom driver. Samsung’s solution to this is not to issue a hardware recall & replace the laptops, but to expose their customers’ private personal…

its probably a short term fix while they work through the process of working out how to identify the defective machines and isolate them properly within Windows Updates.

still incredibly dodgy though.

Re: Samsung disabling Windows Update?

#125
post #83
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, you can do this on Windows too, but the problem is this update disabler executable was signed, so it would have run anyway.

There are two problems: how on earth samsung may have the idea to produce this kind of software and who is signing software without giving a look at what he is signing. A problem of software development mentality (on windows) and a problem of responsability.

Signing software only proves that it came from you. It doesn't say anything about what the software does. That's what your reputation is for.

Re: Samsung disabling Windows Update?

#126
post #63
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let the past be the past. The new MS is making some good moves. However, this is not MS's fault. When you operate in an OEM type environment, you will run into situations like this. For example, if OSX was an OEM offering, companies would disable services and make unsavory modifications. The reality, is like Lenovo, we have a bad vendor here and probably think twice before buying PCs from Samsung.

Honestly, it's hard to embrace the "new MS" when there are things like this still happening: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/22/microsoft-... I'm aware that Microsoft is a giant corporation and there are many different people employed. The amount of people who support Open Source most likely increased in the last years. But as long as they're doing the public "we love Linux and Open Source" and try to…

Where still is nearly a decade ago.

Re: Samsung disabling Windows Update?

#127
post #113
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, it's hard to embrace the "new MS" when there are things like this still happening: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/22/microsoft-... I'm aware that Microsoft is a giant corporation and there are many different people employed. The amount of people who support Open Source most likely increased in the last years. But as long as they're doing the public "we love Linux and Open Source" and try to…

What a bunch of total fucking assholes. That's not lobbying, that's blackmail. No joke but this sort of stuff makes a mockery of the positive things they have done recently. Ao much positive spin hiding the same asshattery.

Well really it's not much different from saying you will move out of your representative's district, move out of your state, or move out of the country if a law you don't like gets passed. Is it blackmail for a person to leave Indiana because of their pro-discrimination bill that recently passed? Was it blackmail for Salesforce to say that they wouldn't be doing business in Indiana? It's the same thing here. They're voting with their wallet just like everyone does.

However, it says in the article: A Microsoft spokesperson said: “We have looked into the nearly decade-old matter and we don’t recognise these claims. Fundamentally, it is not how we operate as a business. We have an honest and open engagement with the government and this is how we will continue to work with it.”

Re: Samsung disabling Windows Update?

#128
post #8

> When you enable Windows updates, it will install the Default Drivers for all the hardware no laptop which may or may not work. For example if there is USB 3.0 on laptop, the ports may not work with the installation of updates. So to prevent this, SW Update tool will prevent the Windows updates. So they "fixed" the problem of their driver getting overwritten by disabling all OS level updates? Oof. Screams shoddy dev…

Is this even true? Windows updates only drop critical updates and can't think of a case where updated Windows drivers were automatically installed over existing drivers without explicit request or prompting to do so (except perhaps for critical flaws where the driver itself compromises security). Just yesterday I had to manually find and select an optional driver update for Intel HD graphics which one would expect to…

Generally, Windows Update will update your drivers to the most recent version MS has available -- but they mandate WHQL drivers, so they're rarely the most recent. For example, while MS has nVidia drivers up on Windows Update, if you have a more recent version direct from nVidia, it will not overwrite that.

This situation is 100% on Samsung. They've put hardware out there that they can't target properly to overwrite the generic version.

Re: Samsung disabling Windows Update?

#129
post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a bunch of total fucking assholes. That's not lobbying, that's blackmail. No joke but this sort of stuff makes a mockery of the positive things they have done recently. Ao much positive spin hiding the same asshattery.

Well really it's not much different from saying you will move out of your representative's district, move out of your state, or move out of the country if a law you don't like gets passed. Is it blackmail for a person to leave Indiana because of their pro-discrimination bill that recently passed? Was it blackmail for Salesforce to say that they wouldn't be doing business in Indiana? It's the same thing here. They're…

We're less dicky in the UK and don't have masses of county specific bylaws so this is merely blackmail by threatening to punish.

Re: Samsung disabling Windows Update?

#130
Microsoft should start some kind of initiative to make building your own laptop more like Google's Project ARA. No manufacturer is doing a thing to advance the Windows platform but there's actually a competitive, vibrant market in a lot of aftermarket part categories (on desktop) - look at the shootouts for CPU fans, keyboards, cases, monitors. I'd gladly pay a little bit more and sacrifice some mobility to be able select a high quality frame, top-notch keyboard, silent/high quality PSU and lack of crapware.

I built a fast but near-silent Windows PC for music a few years back and I'm still impressed by what a great system it is.

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