'Windows Isn't a Service, It's an Operating System' (howtogeek.com) 445
A reader shares an article by former PC World columnist Chris Hoffman.
"No PC users asked Microsoft for Windows as a service," Hoffman complains. "It was all Microsoft's idea." "Software as a service" is trendy. But these types of services are generally hosted on a remote platform, like Amazon Web Services or even Microsoft Azure. Web applications like Gmail and Facebook are services. That all makes sense -- the company maintains the software, and you access it remotely. An operating system that runs on millions of different hardware configurations is not a service. It can't be updated as easily, and you'll run into issues with hardware, drivers, and software when you change things. The upgrade process isn't instant and transparent -- it's a big download and can take a while to install... [M]illions of applications (or computers!) could break if Microsoft makes a mistake with Windows.
What has Windows as a service even gotten us? How much has Windows 10 improved since its release? Sure, Microsoft keeps adding new features like the Timeline and Paint 3D, but how many Windows users care about those? Many of these new features, like Paint 3D and updates to Microsoft Edge, could be delivered without major operating system upgrades. Just take a look at the many features in Windows 10's October 2018 Update and ask whether they were worth all the deleted files and drama. Texting from your PC is great, but Microsoft could release an app that does that -- in fact, this was once supposed to be a Skype feature. Clipboard history is cool, and a dark theme for File Explorer is cute. But couldn't we have waited another six months for Microsoft to properly polish and test this stuff?
"Windows as a Service" does get us a few things. It gets us applications like Candy Crush installed on our PCs. It gets us an ever-increasing number of built-in advertisements. And it gets us activation problems when Windows phones home once a day and discovers that Microsoft has a server problem.
"Please Microsoft, slow down," the article concludes. "How about releasing a new version of Windows once per year instead? That's what Apple does, and Apple doesn't need 'macOS as a Service' to do it. Just create a new version of Windows every year, give it a new name, and spend a lot of time polishing it and fixing bugs.
"Wait until it's stable to release it, even if you have to delay it."
"No PC users asked Microsoft for Windows as a service," Hoffman complains. "It was all Microsoft's idea." "Software as a service" is trendy. But these types of services are generally hosted on a remote platform, like Amazon Web Services or even Microsoft Azure. Web applications like Gmail and Facebook are services. That all makes sense -- the company maintains the software, and you access it remotely. An operating system that runs on millions of different hardware configurations is not a service. It can't be updated as easily, and you'll run into issues with hardware, drivers, and software when you change things. The upgrade process isn't instant and transparent -- it's a big download and can take a while to install... [M]illions of applications (or computers!) could break if Microsoft makes a mistake with Windows.
What has Windows as a service even gotten us? How much has Windows 10 improved since its release? Sure, Microsoft keeps adding new features like the Timeline and Paint 3D, but how many Windows users care about those? Many of these new features, like Paint 3D and updates to Microsoft Edge, could be delivered without major operating system upgrades. Just take a look at the many features in Windows 10's October 2018 Update and ask whether they were worth all the deleted files and drama. Texting from your PC is great, but Microsoft could release an app that does that -- in fact, this was once supposed to be a Skype feature. Clipboard history is cool, and a dark theme for File Explorer is cute. But couldn't we have waited another six months for Microsoft to properly polish and test this stuff?
"Windows as a Service" does get us a few things. It gets us applications like Candy Crush installed on our PCs. It gets us an ever-increasing number of built-in advertisements. And it gets us activation problems when Windows phones home once a day and discovers that Microsoft has a server problem.
"Please Microsoft, slow down," the article concludes. "How about releasing a new version of Windows once per year instead? That's what Apple does, and Apple doesn't need 'macOS as a Service' to do it. Just create a new version of Windows every year, give it a new name, and spend a lot of time polishing it and fixing bugs.
"Wait until it's stable to release it, even if you have to delay it."
microsoft doesn't care.. (Score:4, Insightful)
they're after eyeballs and dollars. and not necessarily in that order.
frequent updates, forced upon users, is a platform for them to shove shit up your ass and down your throat at the same time. ads. paid placement. paid installs. more ads. user data. user tracking. more ads. more placements.
fuck windows 10. most people with windows computers don't need windows to do what they do on them. switch to linux. switch to macs or fuck, even chromebooks (even with google's own addiction to paid placements and ads). but just fucking go cold turkey on microsoft.
your windows 7 gonna kick the bucket in 14 months? here's your next operating system: https://news.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]
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Re:microsoft doesn't care.. (Score:5, Interesting)
My Daughter's windows 10 computer became unusable a month ago after an update. She finally brought it to me because she needed to do some work on it. I asked her why she didn't bring it a month ago and she said she just used her phone for everything. Most people are moving from Windows to Android. Windows has made PeeCees such a fucking pain that more and more people just use their phones. The exception of course is Gamers. I spent about 3 hours fixing her piece of shit peecee and the whole time I was cursing Microsoft. I retired almost 2 years ago and haven't had to deal with it in all that time. I sure as fuck don't miss it.
Seems like OSX is SAS as well to me... (Score:5, Interesting)
If you think about it OSX has very much moved to Software as Service - it costs nothing anymore, it's just that Apple offers as a service, that it will keep your device current for a while. Or maybe it is the updating that is the service, since OSX does not have activation codes or anything and you can stay on one version forever if you prefer.
To the extent that is not working out for Windows, they need to figure out why Apple seems to do SAS in a way that most people like, whereas Windows does not (I always hated Windows Update).
Re:Seems like OSX is SAS as well to me... (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple offers as a service, that it will keep your device current for a while.
A good reason to never use Apple. Linux will keep your device current forever.
As much as I abhor the direction Microsoft has taken Windows and many of their software offerings to this subscription based bullshit, you can't ask a vendor to sell you a one time license and then keep everything up to date forever. People and companies have to make money to fund operations and their lives. Gouging is one thing, I will rail against that all day, but you're straight up insane if you think I am going to write you a piece of software, charge a reasonable license fee once and now I work for you for free until I die.
This is why long term, Linux is basically a charity case on a lot of distributions.
Re:Seems like OSX is SAS as well to me... (Score:5, Insightful)
As for software that by design needs communication with a supplier-run server (most modern games) I think they should have some sort of fall-back mode, in which you can still play single player games when the company decides to switch off the servers needed for multi-player games. I can't see why any non-game software should need constant (or at least very often) contact with a supplier-run server for it's proper working.
You can do that with Apple hardware also (Score:4, Informative)
I see no reason why I shouldn't be allowed to keep using old software as long as I want to.
You can do that with Apple - I have very old Apple laptops that still work perfectly well.
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I have very old Apple laptops that still work perfectly well.
With no updates, ever, unlike Linux.
Re:You can do that with Apple hardware also (Score:5, Informative)
I have very old Apple laptops that still work perfectly well.
With no updates, ever, unlike Linux.
Good luck finding a Linux distro that still gets updated and works on a 486 hardware. Linux distros are generally better at retro-compatibility but they're not infinite either.
Re:You can do that with Apple hardware also (Score:4, Insightful)
Because you have the source, you can update it yourself, or you can find a like-minded group to maintain it. This sort of thing goes on all the time with Linux.
Of course, you may find one day that the 486 is just too slow (though they did live on as industrial controllers a lot longer than commonly known) and you will move on for that reason. Never because you can't update the software.
I know, this concept is hard to understand by someone who is used to just being screwed by companies that control hardware and software, the latter being jealously guarded, and hidden away rather than shared with those who need it.
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Sure, you *can* update Linux to keep your old clunker computer going. There are even a few very specialized areas where that happens, to a limited degree. For the vast majority of people, it's not worth it.
Ubuntu's idea of "long term support" is three years (five for servers). Apple seems to have decreased their length of support for old OSes, but they're still running at three years (three versions back). The same as Ubuntu.
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Because you have the source, you can update it yourself
But it would never be worth my time to do, it is far cheaper to just upgrade to a supported machine than it is to spend my time (or money employing somebody) to keep the operating system up to date for old hardware.
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That's hardly an issue when the hardware it does run on is freely available on garbage dumps around the world.
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I see no reason why I shouldn't be allowed to keep using old software as long as I want to.
You can do that with Apple - I have very old Apple laptops that still work perfectly well.
Not quite true. If ever your filesystem gets corrupted you probably have no simple way (if any) of reinstalling the Apple software you currently have. How do you install an old version of MacOS? How do you install an old version of Keynote? Or GarageBand? Or anything really.
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that is what backups are for...
How do you restore a backup on a non-bootable Mac system ?
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Same way you install software on any other computer that doesn't boot I guess?
You know you can boot a Mac off a USB stick right? If you're concerned about destroying your hard drive, OS X will be happy to make one for you.
It's similar to most other computer manufacturers who give you a recovery partition on your hard drive instead of physical media.
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Oh I agree with that completely. If I buy a piece of software, especially an OS that is required for the machine to even be used, I should be able to use it as long as I want (albeit without indefinite support). I also wholeheartedly hate DRM that has to perpetually phone home for the software to continue functioning normally. It doesn't work in consumer applications to prevent piracy, and lawyers work a lot better in commercial applications for licensing enforcement as sad as that may be. I think whoev
Re: Seems like OSX is SAS as well to me... (Score:2)
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you can't ask a vendor to sell you a one time license and then keep everything up to date forever.
This is a good point, though the comparison with MacOS is probably not straight-forward. Apple sells you hardware and then provides you the software to run it.. for a long time (usually). The difference is that Microsoft was sold software licenses from the start (this was their innovation compared to the older model, more like Apple's today) and it seems that is the business that is changing.
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Not really a difference, or a worse one (Score:2)
There is a difference in liability between, say, Ford, and someone who built a kit car in their garage.
There is none at all when Ford and the kit car sell in the same volume, as would be true of compassion Microsoft with Open Source software.
In fact if you considered it, open source would be the Ford really, being used by many more people...
The only question would be where would the liability fall, but probably if you took every contributor from larger open source repos you could extract quite a lot of mon
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My mac laptops getting close to a decade and it still runs new OSX just fine, bar the Metal 2 stuff, but thats a hardware issue. Apple have been fine with backwards compatibility for the most part. Yeah they did drop PowerPC compatibility, but the fact that it was even there for a while was pretty impressive.
Microsoft doesn't care (Score:5, Interesting)
It is amazing to still hear after all these years that people think that Microsoft takes telling. They don't. Microsoft will decide what you are going to accept.
I'll probably get marked as troll for this, perhaps only because the truth triggers some folks.
There is a conversation going on CNet right now that brings out all of the reasons why the faithful will accept whatever Microsoft tells them they will accept.
The locked in factor. Some people look at the lock-in to Microsoft almost like it is some advantage.
The Macs are too expensive. Will they be too expensive when they pay a monthly fee for Windows?
Linux is something something
The fact is that Many Windows users will simply accept whatever Microsoft decides that they will accept. Microsoft knows this, and has no reason to change tactics.
Re:Microsoft doesn't care (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Microsoft doesn't care (Score:4, Insightful)
<troll>Shouldn't we say the same about Linux users and systemd?</troll>
On a more serious note though, if you look at the migration off XP and Win7 it's clear that most users don't want OS updates twice a year but more like twice a decade. Linux distributions are different because there you upgrade all your applications too, I don't think I've ever upgraded because of OS-level services.
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No we shouldn't, because there's a clear philosophical difference.
Operating Systems are not a democracy. They are a Dictatorship. Like all dictators it's at least in the partial interest for the dictator to keep some of their subjects (users) placid and occasionally even outright happy, but the reality is you can't please everyone, and dictators have their own priorities too.
What separates the dictatorship of Apple and Microsoft, from the Dictatorship of Linux is that all subjects under the rule of Linux ar
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Has the author ever used a Mac? Where does he think Microsoft got the whole OS as a service thing?
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Swap “Microsoft” and “Apple” and the statements still hold true.
Perhaps I've lived in a bubble, but Apple is nothing like Microsoft - Examples pleas.
Since you asked, here's an example of how Apple forces shit on users and you just have to accept it. It's a minor issue but the first one that came to mind
When command tabbing on OSX, it used to switch between different app windows no matter what sort of apps they were, they're just a collection of open windows on the Mac desktop. It was changed sometime in 2015 I think, so now when command tabbing it switches between groups of windows, grouped by what sort of app they are (such as cmd tabbing to the termin
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Microsoft will decide what you are going to accept.
Which is why I'm on Ubuntu Linux even as we speak.
Re:Microsoft doesn't care (Score:5, Insightful)
If you've spent the last 15 years trying to switch to Linux and haven't succeeded, that is not the Linux people's fault but yours. The comment "just copying application files from point A to point B is still a complicated mess" tells me that you do not want to change your Windows-derived habits, no matter how bad they are, to a superior Linux workflow. Why would I want to copy application files from A to B anyway? FFS, please just install them from the package repos on B. If not possible, try to get the application as a Snap/AppImage. If not possible, get the application's source code, compile and install it.
Please consider using FOSS alternatives to the software you think you can't live without, and you might be surprised by how good they actually are.
Another thing: it's in fact easier to copy an application's data/config from A to B, since reasonable applications store that data in (plain text) config files/folders in your home directory. No obscure registry wizardry upon running some installer. That is one of the best things in Linux: I've kept my home partition with the relevant configuration over years while updating/upgrading the underlying system, no need to reconfigure everything (save major KDE version upgrades).
My opinion: Microsoft is VERY poorly managed. (Score:2)
One of the many, many articles:
Windows 10 is possibly the worst spyware ever made. [networkworld.com] "Buried in the service agreement is permission to poke through everything on your PC." (Aug. 4, 2015)
A previous comment of mine:
Microsoft is damaging customers and itself. [slashdot.org] (Oct. 22, 2018)
Posted March 31, 2018https://slashdot.org/comments (Score:2)
https://slashdot.org/comments.... [slashdot.org]
Not understanding what windows 10... (Score:5, Insightful)
... is really about.
It's about the final move to take control of the customers PC out of the users hand and move all apps into authenticated spaces controlled my corporations. Big companies like Apple and Google pioneered app walled gardens behind their smart phones over the last 10 years, and the the videogame gaming industry, being tech companies, have always wanted to take control of software out of the end users hands for profit.
The internet allowed all this to happen because the average citizen is a tech illiterate moron. The last 20 years for anyone who was involved in tech in the 90's has been surreal, everything we were worried about in the 90's like trusted computing is slowly coming fruition due to ignorant people getting smart phones and the internet removing any and all ability to hold software companies accountable.
What are you going to do when Microsoft, Valve, or Activivison develop some new locked down piece of software? You are hundreds of miles away from these companies, you have ZERO market power in this relationship. In ye old days, they were forced to give you the complete software, otherwise they would be comitting fraud. "software as a service" is really just another name for fraud where companies undermine your ability to own, control, and operate your PC and software free from company influence.
All companies want to turn every piece of tech into a dumb terminal and they are largely getting their way because 90% of the population is tech clueless, those of us who know how technology works, were pretty horrified when say RPG's like ultima were rebadged and labelled mmo's in the 90's and a gullible and lay public lapped it up. Things like Ultima online, EQ, world of warcraft were paving the way towards an era where companies can steal whatever isn't nailed down outright because the average person is a moron.
You have no freedom and rights under big business because many aspects of how we are socially organized would need to be rethought in an internet enabled society, there's no accountability, it's just a one way fuck you free for all and companies are making mad bank.
That is why it's a good idea also (Score:5, Insightful)
The internet allowed all this to happen because the average citizen is a tech illiterate moron.
No-one "allowed" anything. What happened was Apple built more locked down systems by default, and people responded by buying systems for personal use they did not have to administer or rely on an entire industry of charlatans to fix things like viruses (read: Best Buy PC repair).
The thing is, it really *is* a good idea for "tech illiterate morons" to have locked down systems. They really need that because they simply cannot manage handling computer security as you and I know it today.
It's not like there are no ways around this. On OSX you can still run apps from untrusted developers - if you tell the machine to allow that. And that seems like a pretty good compromise to me, ship a locked down system by default and let people open it up more if they can handle the extra responsibility.
Do not forget the consequences of security failure are worse now than they have ever been. Even ten years ago, if a phone or computer got hacked to most people it wouldn't be a huge deal losing a whole system. Now so many people have entire lives stored on computers and phones, keeping at least the ability to restore a system and/or prevent access is a lot more important than it has been.
Tbe real question should be (Score:4, Insightful)
Is microsoft a bacteria or a virus? /s
When their "services" become so network centric that you can't use your computing device for anything when your network connection is unavailable, then you can ask the users the original question.
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Is microsoft a bacteria or a virus? /s
Parasite.
Embarassing (Score:5, Insightful)
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That would be embarrasing given how you can control this to happen outside of your event time.
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Like at 3 AM, when my laptop is stored inside its padded bag. Fire risk anyone?
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
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Indeed windows 7 to 8 proved 3 years is too soon to work out bugs and stupidity of UI developers. 2009 to 2016 for win 7 to win 10 makes me think every 7 years is fine for new OS that is for general business use. Of course win 10 is a bloated pig that slows does systems but maybe that's another issue.
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Indeed windows 7 to 8 proved 3 years is too soon to work out bugs and stupidity of UI developers.
Yet recent changes have proved that smaller incremental changes are far better than dumping a new UI on users every 3 years. You've fallen into the trap of applying a worst case scenario to a situation that isn't occuring. If anything the old big update with long gaps process is something we should be getting away from.
Re:Every year? (Score:4, Insightful)
You are right that a lot don't want it but it will never happen. Some people think MS users are here for the Kool-Aid but most aren't. Apple still has this whole cult thing going on so they tend to get away with planned obsolescence and their customers don't object to buying overpriced hardware because its shinier than the current model.
Most windows users get a PC then stick with it until they feel the need to upgrade. Look at how many are still using Windows 7 & XP.
Sure there are some who are die hard Microsoft fans but for most, they use it because its convenient, it came with the PC or because
of some software that requires it (usually games or business/industrial software). Things are changing and as time go on less and less
people will be in this situation which is why they're making the change from the Microsoft Tax to the Microsoft Rent.
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We don't, but I'm sure Microsoft wants to sell us a copy every year. Or quarter.
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Given that they seem to be releasing new versions more often than once a year now, you don't want them to slow down?
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go shoot the person who said we want a new version of Windows every year. We do not.
What do you mean by version?
Do we want a new version of Windows with new APIs, dramatically different underlying stacks, completely changed interfaces? No.
Do we want to wait 5 years for minor incremental changes and improvments? Also no.
"New Version" of Windows is not the same thing that it has always been.
Candy Crush? (Score:2)
Re:Candy Crush? (Score:4, Informative)
We are, at my work, going to be moving to a newer Windows version soon...so I will once again have to strip out a bunch of shit and re-do the image.I personally wanted to go with LTSB, but several of our vendors are moving to Store Apps (I'm looking at you, Boeing Toolbox) so I'm being forced to implement AppLocker, Corporate Store...and am still fighting with management over getting Admin rights to the Store in our tenancy to do my "new" job managing the Store for Business which I would rather not have to do...it's only a matter of time before the MS store is compromised with malware just like all the others.
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That's what I thought too. Installing Candy Crush on a new install is one thing, but riding it along with other updates on existing systems is awful.
Then again, MS has always done this - updates come with new shit you didn't ask for. I'd always have preferred they just update the stuff I've got and at most, tell me about the stuff they wish I would look at. So in that sense, I suppose this is nothing new really. I wonder what they got paid for doing it?
Windows 10 was supposed to be the last Windows ever - i
Bryan Lunduke (Score:5, Interesting)
Bryan Lunduke, who worked for Microsoft, and talks a lot about Linux subjects, made a good point in one of his Linux lectures that really opened my mind.
The "Who asked for this?" question. systemd having a full network stack and various other huge features instead of just being a better init script. With Wayland, and Mir, was anyone really going "OMG, X Windows sucks so bad. I really hate being able to stream a graphics shell over ssh on a system that was fast enough to use on a 486." I can't really do his arguments justice with my old man's memory, but the point is sound.
With Windows 8 Metro, or the Ribbon interface, or any of the other Microsoft failures... was anyone explicitly ASKING for this? Or, was it just some middle or upper manager type trying to justify his existence by pushing something his intuition told him would be "the future" with no science and user studies to back it up? Did the decision get made BECAUSE users complained, or, was the decision made, and any evidence contrary (such as research or users) simply thrown under the rug?
Are people DEMANDING lootboxes? Are people demanding DRM?
Are people demanding phones with shit battery life that are thinner and thinner and easier to bend? Or "notches" in their screens instead of full screens?
Where do these anti-features come from? I don't know. But I've at least started to ask the question "Who asked for this?" to help me identify those features and the examples are boundless.
Re: Bryan Lunduke (Score:4, Insightful)
Linux has the same problem. People who write software can't ever stop updating things. At some point you reach the design pinnacle and from there on its downhill. A hammer from today still looks like a hammer from centuries ago.
Re: Bryan Lunduke (Score:3)
Take X for example, it has been "deprecated" in the public opinion for years now, but the innovative replacements for it are not fully ready yet.
I'm not saying this to be ungrateful, it's just that after many years I've grown skeptical of revolutions and more fond of incremental changes, and Linu
Re: Bryan Lunduke (Score:5, Interesting)
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Who Asked For This? The guy whose job it is to devise changes to Windoze so that they can claim that it is "new and improved". When in reality, it is merely different.
In other words; NOBODY asked for most of these changes.
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End users: no. MAFIAA/PHBs: yes.
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With Wayland, and Mir, was anyone really going "OMG, X Windows sucks so bad.
Yes they were.
The "Who asked for this?" question. systemd having a full network stack and various other huge features instead of just being a better init script.
People have asked for this. You may not have, but that doesn't change this. Actually specific the network stack no people didn't but implementing one turned out to be the most straight forward to to give people what they were asking for.
I really hate being able to stream a graphics shell over ssh on a system that was fast enough to use on a 486."
Go your hardest. This is something that 99.9% of desktop users find a strange requirement. So let me turn your question on itself: "Who asked for this?" I don't do it so it seems like a silly requirement to include for the system that just renders a GUI.
With Windows 8 Metro, or the Ribbon interface, or any of the other Microsoft failures...
Metro?
The "service" they have on MS Answers doesn't help (Score:5, Insightful)
This issue may occur either due to software conflicts or if unused files are present in Windows. I would suggest you to run system maintenance troubleshooter and check if it helps.
And then in the following comments there are floods of users saying THIS DID NOT HELP, PLEASE GIVE US SOME F***ING REAL HELP. It's like this regardless of the actual problem. It's always someone with an Indian name posting the "solution" and it's always the same basic boilerplate garbage suggestions that don't solve the problem. There is never any follow-up. There is an intervention by an actual Microsoft product team employee that can legitimately help on an extremely rare basis. On a related note, I'm fairly convinced that Feedback Hub is a fancy way of referring to
I swear, dealing with the Windows 8+ era Microsoft is like dealing with a petulant three-year-old on a constant basis, one that will deactivate or crash your shit at random and pull a South Park BP executive style "we're sorry!" when it becomes big tech news.
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Then guess what the follow-up advice is? "Reinsta
Re:The "service" they have on MS Answers doesn't h (Score:4, Interesting)
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Hadn't you figured it out yet? (Score:3)
One Purpose (Score:3)
Cigarette is to "nicotine delivery device" as Windows OS is to cash delivery machine!
Spyware as an Operating System (Score:3)
This is their real business model. Microsoft dreams of being Google.
"A$ A $ervice" (Score:2)
"As A Service" means that you're not buying something you can keep, but agreeing to pay a monthly fee to use the service. When Micro$oft tries to do that, don't do that upgrade. And start making plans to escape.
In fact, when Blizzard games become available on Linux, I'm going!
Blame the end of Moore's law (Score:2)
Latest compiler (Score:2)
One thing everyone always misses with Microsoft's twice-a-year updates (same frequency as Ubuntu Linux mind you) is that they recompile every single binary in the OS now, rather than just replacing the few that have been touched in each update here n there. What does this mean? There have been new advances in compiler optimizations, plus new advances in memory allocators to help protect against certain types of exploits. There are also the mitigations for things like Specter and Meltdown, which are also bak
why not both? (Score:2)
Until an update made it unbootable again a few weeks ago, my Linux partition updated almost every day. Reboots were required in these updates once every couple of weeks or so. Several times a year, I'd have to spend significant time fixing a problem caused by an update. I imagine updates cost me around a week a year on average. This time, I decided to go back to my Windows partition. It just works better with my hardware - a laptop with the NVidia Optimus graphics configuration that Linux has never supporte
choice (Score:2)
you have choice, even more so today then 10 years ago.
you don't have to use windows at all.
if you don't like it, use something else!
How is Windows a service? (Score:2)
Windows as a service is great for Microsoft (Score:2)
Instead of unpredictable (e.g. sales of Windows 8, Windows ME) bursts of income at the release of a new Windows version in addition to relying on sales of new devices, selling Windows as a service generates a steady flow of income, which is really great for the cash flow and predictability of it. From a development point of view it might even be a motivation to put out a steady stream of improvements instead of bundling them up as a sales argument for Windows n+1. That'd be closer to open-source development
I wonder if it will really come to pass (Score:3)
If / when Microsoft decides to go with the subscription plan, I would think it would seriously impact a lot of software that relies upon it as the backbone OS to work. I wonder if they would get sued for effectively denying access to the OS without ongoing subscription payments.
Much of the software I have is license locked to my system via a permanent key. Any one of them costs far more than what the operating system does, yet if I fail to pay what will effectively be ransomware to MS, I will be unable to use said software in any form. Some of them have Linux or OSx variants I can switch to, but not all of them.
I am curious just how many folks are going to be willing to go with a monthly / annual subscription for an OS that has already taken too much control from the folks who use it. For the first time in my life, I think I would actually consider a " Yar Matey " version of the OS that has been stripped of all the controversial bullshit because re-licensing all the software I use on Windows would be quite a financial undertaking.
I know we've been saying this for years but, I think the year of the Linux Desktop is, in a hilarious ironic twist, going to be brought about by none other than Microsoft itself.
Re:What is WIndows? (Score:5, Insightful)
we can thank Linux in terms of hosting web apps and making Android tablets which devalued operating systems to nothing.
Linux reduced the cost of operating systems, not the value.
Re:What is WIndows? (Score:5, Insightful)
Windows 10 is not an operating system, nor is it a service! Windows is a combination of a virus and spyware! It is not a service for Windows 10 to steal every possible scrap of data from your computer so that they can sell your computer to advertisers! And this was the plan for Windows 10 all along...why do you think that they gave it away for free for over a year!! Only now people that fell for the Windows 10 scam are seeing that it really wasn't free as they start to show ads! Next will be the subscription that they will have to pay to keep Windows 10 working!!!
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Re:What is WIndows? (Score:4, Insightful)
I was initially inclined to agree with you. But, remember, Windows 10 did that very thing. How many people were tricked into moving from Win7 to Win10?
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Re:What is WIndows? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What is WIndows? (Score:5, Funny)
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CS 101
An operating system provides basic services to interface with the hardware - which in old times was little more than drivers. Thus a browser/explorer is not part of the operating system, nor a bunch of unwanted 'services that have no hardware dependancies.
This a a scam to rent you something that should be owned outright. Radio Rentals and TV Rental services mostly went out of business, but some scam artists thing there are enough fools out there willing to be held to ransom.
Predictions. Like electrici
Re: What is WIndows? (Score:2)
Cost and value are dependent on your point of view. Cost went down for us; value went down for Microsoft.
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With Windows 10 alone we work to deliver quality to over 700 million monthly active Windows 10 devices
So, Microsoft, out of those 700 million that you work on, how many do you actually succeed in delivery quality to?
Linux as a service (Score:3, Insightful)
In this day and age we can thank Linux in terms of hosting web apps and making Android tablets which devalued operating systems to nothing.
These days Windows is not the only one come loaded with useless baggage, Linux too, come loaded with insane stuffs like systemd .
No one asked Windows users if they like their Windows to be loaded with garbage.
Similarly, no one asked us, the Linux users, if we want that insane garbage systemd , before they forced us to use it !!
Re:Linux as a service (Score:4, Informative)
You really don't have to install it, you know. Just look for "[distro] systemd remove" and you can do it if you really need to, and distros that come without it already.
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Why would systemd be an issue in the corporate world. What are you using that has problems with it? I'm smelling some bs here.
I have multiple products that required extra work to function in a systemd world but maybe more importantly systemd brings very little to the table in a virtualized server world and is more appropriate for desktops.
But if you had read the quote it was about the choice not to use it which is limited when the actual software you want to use has 1 or 2 distros as supported and those use systemd.
Re:What is WIndows? (Score:4, Interesting)
The commodity PC wars in the 2000's drove down the price of desktop systems down to less that $600. This made the price of the Windows OS way more conspicuous to vendors and customers, who disliked the fact that the OS (which they called the Microsoft Windows Tax) cost a good percentage of the price of a new PC even with vendor discounts and the fact the users weren't planning to use Windows.
Then laptops and netbooks became powerful enough to read email and surf the web. These are quickly followed by netbooks and smartphones. Users weren't willing to fork out another hundred $$$$ every year for upgraded Microsoft Word/Spreadsheet and other applications. So they all have had to move to the "service" model with annual or monthly licenses, and advertising in order to continue to bring in revenue. The problems with malware led to the development of app stores. Virus databases on PC's were taking up 250 Megabytes of disk space.
Re:What is WIndows? (Score:5, Insightful)
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I think you really underestimate how many computers still run Windows. And since windows 10 people didn't have to pay for an upgrade (hell even since 8.0 (because you could upgrade to 8.1 and W10 for free).
Also running a Linux upgrade isn't really any less problematic as an upgrade for windows 10, every single upgrade with ubuntu I had to reset stuff to get it working again, with W10 I only had to do it once, and that was due to not having upgraded the firmware of my SSD (ofcourse IMHO W10 should have check
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The reason no one will do those things is because, as of Windows XP, there are no new compelling features for an OS to offer. Windows XP did everything I, as a private individual, needed an OS to do. Microsoft has added some security features, and some things which I, as a computer professional, appreciate since then. Of course,since Windows 3.1 I have advised
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In this day and age we can thank Linux in terms of hosting web apps and making Android tablets which devalued operating systems to nothing.
However you want to agree/disagree with this, it has no bearing on the desktop OS market, where none of these pressures directly manifested.
The factors that led to Windows 10 being the way it is are:
-Microsoft got stuck supporting XP a *long* time after they stopped making money on it, which was an excessively unprofitable endeavor. When they tried to drop XP support in the way they had always said they would, it was a PR disaster. They did the math to compare the revenue of the rare customer that would b
Re: What is WIndows? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: What is WIndows? (Score:5, Insightful)
Windows as a service with a monthly bill is scheduled to go into effect in 2020 and 2022 depending on the market.
This is a set in stone date, you are in the beta update period right now and they are baking in all the support infrastructure for this right now. There will be a point in the 2020's where you boot that windows computer and it's going to ask for a credit card.
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To be fair it's not always fun, there's a learning curve for me (see below* for a prime example), but in the long run it's worth it.
* Last night Ubuntu decided, for no reason I could discern, to start using IPv6 DNS resolution for the cluster of POP3 servers I have to use, even though ethernet had IPv6 disabled. Took me two hours to figure out that's what it was, and only then by running PING -4 (which then worked). Had to add lines to
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For those asking for citation, The first link is the WAAS (windows as as service is the microsoft name) information for businesses, IIRC business deployment is scheduled for first deployment with retail deployment afterwards. WAAS will follow the same model as office 365, it'll likely start as an optional subscription for a year or two before the only option will be the monthly subscription just like office 2019 is the last standalone version after only a few years of 365 existing.
https://docs.microsoft.com [microsoft.com]
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