The Broken Design of Microsoft's "Fix it" Tool 165
$luggo writes "Curious about MS Fix It, I recently went hunting in the MS knowledge base for articles that provide the new EZ-button. After locating on few, I decided to click the button to download the Microsoft Installer package containing the executable and/or files that automatically enable the DVD Library feature in Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate — on my XP Media Center. 'Surely, MS will use some scripting, HTTP User-Agent sniffing, or even Genuine Windows validation to verify that I am running Vista,' I thought. It did not and I canceled the download when I received the prompt to save the file. So, I wonder: is there a Fix-it for Fix it? Because I can easily imagine someone doing what I did without scrolling to the bottom of the KB article and verifying that the article applies to their OS/version. This is a great example poor design. Why not simply use the download approach that other articles / fixes / service packs use, whereby the user must select the appropriate OS?"
Re:What? (Score:3, Interesting)
Aren't the Knowledge Base articles usually specific to a particular OS anyway? I suppose an end user can stumble across a KB article that describes a similar problem, but on a different operating system version, download the file, and find out that it's the wrong one.
Certainly you wouldn't want to prevent someone from downloading a patch because they're not currently using the OS the patch applies to. It's a little silly to present you with a "Pick the OS" selector when there would only be a single choice.
Re:The right tool for the job (Score:2, Interesting)
Yes, because if there's one thing everyone wants, its not just to have an antivirus/spyware program that doesn't work properly (windows defender/live are nigh useless), but it's to have it possibly forced to be running at all times as a system component.
I'm not trying to be ad hominem, but that would be a Very Bad Idea. Not to mention it could create new antitrust/bundling issues.
I would compare this to forcing someone who buys a bugatti to bundle in a yugo.
Re:fail (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:What? (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm also following your line of thinking. Why should it automatically detect your OS. I could be downloading from Fedora laptop to give to Win desktop b/c my network drivers are fried. If it really isn't for your OS version, it won't work, end of story. Why is this on the front page? The link isn't even the correct one...and unless I'm not reading this all correctly, it seems like someone is searching for a problem, rather than presenting an obvious one.
Yeah, that's exactly what bothers me about this posting.
There are legitimate grievances against Microsoft, concerning both their business practices and their products, to where there is no need to grasp at straws like this. For the purposes of this post I'll define "grievance" as "anything you dislike badly enough to refuse to do business with them". Maybe you really don't like Windows, maybe you see that they were convicted of monopolistic or anti-competitive practices in several countries and don't care to reward them with your patronage, or maybe you're just cheap and don't want to pay for a Windows license (and don't want to infringe anyone's copyrights) when free OSes of high quality are readily available.
My point is that if you want to criticize Microsoft or Windows and related products, this is one of the more counterproductive ways to do it. I should make one thing known: I do not like Microsoft or Windows at all and I have reasons for that, but I recognize that plenty of other people do like them. To those folks, a half-assed criticism like this looks like you're coming from a position of weakness. It looks like you have some kind of religious crusade or personal agenda and generally something other than facts and reasoning to back up your position. The fact is that if you use too many tactics like this and destroy your own credibility, your audience probably won't take you seriously again. Not only that, they will often ignore anyone who sounds too much like you even if that person does come up with facts and reasoning.
Silly tactics like "clutching at straws" and "making much ado about nothing" in matters that are usually handled by facts and logic (we're talking about computing here, not creative writing) are a good way to harm your own credibility, at least in the eyes of a savvy audience. It's primitive, but if you must imagine some huge contest between Windows and $ALTERNATIVE then think of it this way: the "other side" has their shills and their religious crusaders and their frothing-at-the-mouth irrational people, too. This is a great way to give (figurative, of course) ammunition to them. If you must believe this is a contest, some kind of glorious battle for domination of the desktop, think of this as arming your enemy. You don't win a contest by doing that.
Re:Oh please! The Story "Fails". (Score:4, Interesting)
There could be many reasons to download it on XP. It's not a fuck-up until a Vista-only MS app installs on XP. Until then, it's just some guy downloading a file on XP.
Reminds of what I went through recently. Lured by all the hype about the new Consolas font (yeah, I get excited about such things), I decided to go download it from Microsoft and have a look. The font is there by default for Vista users, but what the hell, we're all running Windows right, and I don't recall Microsoft ever charging extra for their fonts.
The download went fine. The installation routine, however, required Visual Studio 2005 to be preinstalled so it quit with its error message. Not one to be turned away so easily, I discovered that the font is included with the (free) PowerPoint viewer. Downloaded that, installed it, made a backup of the newly-installed fonts, and uninstalled PowerPoint.
The font, I discovered, is unimpressive.
The moral of the story? Stupid is as stupid does. Self respect comes at a price, and a sane environment (something not available with Windows) is preferrable to chasing the promises of the new.
Re:81 posts so far (Score:5, Interesting)
Slashdot article with virtually all the comments defending Microsoft... Satan must be wearing a heavy coat, and using an umbrella to deflect pig crap.