Dear Bill Gates.....

[Jessterw]

But they haven't seen it, so it isn't true

[Gurm]

Oh, I've seen it. The problem is that I recognize it for what it is - a system glitch. A screwup. A problem to be fixed. Not "oh that's how Windows is, I guess I'll just ignore it until it crashes my system".

[agallag]

Yup, and you can usually trace it to misbehaving third-party software, or more often, drivers. It's quite rare that these kind of problems are MS's fault.

[Jessterw]

Oh, I've seen it. The problem is that I recognize it for what it is - a system glitch. A screwup. A problem to be fixed. Not "oh that's how Windows is, I guess I'll just ignore it until it crashes my system".

What sort of logic is that?

Yes, it's a (system) glitch with Windows Update. Most definitely a screwup. A problem that likely will bever be fixed because of how sporadic it is. It is exactly how Windows is. I'm not trying to knock Windows, I was a happy user for a long time, but you're fooling yourself if you think stability problems and mysterious settings issues aren't an inherent part of Windows. And yes, other OS' have their fair share of the same, though usually in the latter. And yes, third-party software and drivers contribute more than their fair share of instabilities into Windows, but on the same token, saying that alludes to the view that MS' own software is less error prone (which is so far from the truth it's not amusing anymore).

But that's not the point here. You're taking a specific issue and generalizing it. This is an issue with Windows Update. This is not some system glitch that the user was aware of and chose to ignore. Nor did it crash the user's system. It somehow ignored a choice the user made and did its own thing, resulting in a loss of work. Plain and simple.

As for the mouse issue, well, who knows, given that can be caused by any number of things.

[lowlifecat]

grrr... i was updating my parent's system yesterday. I know for a fact that i have the system set up not to automaticly download updates nor re-boot after installing updates.

well, first part works, it didn't automaticly download. I started installing the updates and went to work on my sister's comp thinking that when i came back up i would have the "updates completed, please reboot the computer" popup.

guess what; system rebooted anyway while i was away. damn annoying!

[Dr Mordrid]

Add me to the list who've seen it as of last night. I had wiped our middle sons old laptop an installed XP Pro. All the drivers were those installed by XP itself & I had just finished setting auto-update NOT to reboot etc. I started d/l'ing patches & left to do something else. When I returned it was starting up after an auto-reboot

No software, no updated drivers, no nothing but what M$ put there.

[Jessterw]

See doc, it's all your fault. You're such a "noob" you walked away

[Dr Mordrid]

Grrrrrrr.......

[Gurm]

I was referring more to the mouse problem. The guy in the article rants about how his mouse misbehaves, when that's CLEARLY a known problem - he knows he's got it, and he's not addressing it. Instead he's blaming Microsoft for it.

The Windows Update thing is pretty new, apparently lots of people are seeing it now. I'm sure MS is going to catch no end of grief over it.

But regardless, this particular article is pretty whiny. The guy lost his bookmarks, and has an already pretty defective machine, and he's whining about it.

"Ha ha! Let's bash Bill Gates because he's rich and successful and used to write decent software! HA! WHAT A LOSER!"

*sigh*

[lowlifecat]

Rofm @ gurm's title.

[Dr Mordrid]

"Ha ha! Let's bash Bill Gates because he's rich and successful and used to write decent software! HA! WHAT A LOSER!"

*sigh*

Yup, he is. If given the opportunity I'd gladly switch to Leopard for 'normal use' bootups if Apple sold it to end users. $200 gets you 1 site license for Windoze and 5 for OSX.

[Taz]

But regardless, this particular article is pretty whiny. The guy lost his bookmarks, and has an already pretty defective machine, and he's whining about it.

He's whining about the fact that he specfically set an option and Windows decided to ignore that and do what it wanted to do which resulted in him losing work. I would expect anyone to be annoyed if that happened to them, even you

[Gurm]

He's whining about the fact that he specfically set an option and Windows decided to ignore that and do what it wanted to do which resulted in him losing work. I would expect anyone to be annoyed if that happened to them, even you

Absolutely. I concede that. Of course, most of us don't actually use automatic updates...

[Taz]

Of course, most of us don't actually use automatic updates...

Until Microsoft remove the option to switch them off

[Gurm]

Until Microsoft remove the option to switch them off

Won't happen. Lots of places are behind restrictive firewalls, MS still ships CD's to corporate customers!