Eye of newt and toe of frog - a curse on Microsoft ...

Forum for admin topics, member introductions and general non-hifi chitchat.
Geoff.R.G
Posts: 1562
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2016 2:46 pm
Location: Denham UK
Has thanked: 132 times
Been thanked: 476 times
Great Britain

Re: Eye of newt and toe of frog - a curse on Microsoft ...

Unread post by Geoff.R.G »

Microsoft has an attitude problem, it believes that the computer you paid for belongs to Microsoft "we'll update it when we want, we don't care whether that is convenient or not". They also believe that everybody needs X Box, I don't so why is it part of Windows 11? If Microsoft is serious about its acceptance by its captive audience it needs to stop trying to force them to use Microsoft's preferences and accept that users have different requirements.

As an example, if you go to Settings you see a number of icons across the top of the window. If, like me, you don't want to use Edge one of these says "Web browsing restore defaults", another "Rewards Start Earning" there is no way to remove these even though I won't be earning any rewards and I find Firefox more secure than Edge. Apple on the other hand don't care which browser I use or whether I buy apps from them or elsewhere.

What I would really like to see in a new version of Windows is less! Fewer unwanted applications, fewer restrictions on my choice of default app for various file types and a smaller operating system. The same applies to MacOS, but Apple don't seem to be quite so forceful in "encouraging" the use of their preferred apps.
These users thanked the author Geoff.R.G for the post (total 3):
CN211276 (Tue Jun 29, 2021 8:07 pm) • Grumpytim (Tue Jun 29, 2021 9:11 pm) • Lindsayt (Tue Jun 29, 2021 10:53 pm)

User avatar
slinger
Posts: 9233
Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2012 4:30 pm
Location: The Garden of England
Has thanked: 4567 times
Been thanked: 3118 times
EUROPEAN_UNION

Re: Eye of newt and toe of frog - a curse on Microsoft ...

Unread post by slinger »

I don't know where you're seeing the "Earn Rewards," doodad, Geoff. I've certainly never seen it in my Win10 installation.
As for browsers, I run Edge, Chrome, Firefox, and Opera, but I can have any number of browsers. When I was developing websites I had eight or nine to test cross-browser compatibility. Edge, by the way, is only a Microsoft browser in name. It's pretty much just a rebadged Chrome now.

I know what you're saying about X-Box, but that doesn't really bother me either, and I'm probably not the target audience anyway. :lol: There are two major gaming systems, the Playsation and the X-Box. Like it or dislike it I can't honestly blame Microsoft for nudging people towards the one they own. As I say, it's never impinged on my computer use for one second, so why should the fact that it's sitting there bother me?

Please don't think I'm a Micro$oft fanboy. I detest Micro$oft. They are, as far as I'm concerned, the only game in town though, so one learns to make the best of what one has. It doesn't take much poking and prodding, and there are a few free pieces of software to trim the fat by disabling things like Cortana.
Amps - NVA P50, AP30, A40, Stanislav Palo Tube Headphone Amp BB 85
Speakers - Monitor Audio Silver RX2
Cables - NVA LS1+LS3, SSC, Gotham S/PDIF, IBRA Optical
Digital - NAD C516BEE, SONY ST-SDB900 DAB TUNER, TEAC UD-H01 DAC
Analogue - Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Esprit SB, Graham Slee Gram Amp 2 Phono
Cans - Grado SR80, ATH-M50X

Geoff.R.G
Posts: 1562
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2016 2:46 pm
Location: Denham UK
Has thanked: 132 times
Been thanked: 476 times
Great Britain

Re: Eye of newt and toe of frog - a curse on Microsoft ...

Unread post by Geoff.R.G »

slinger wrote: Tue Jun 29, 2021 9:12 pm I don't know where you're seeing the "Earn Rewards," doodad, Geoff. I've certainly never seen it in my Win10 installation.
I am using, very rarely, Windows 10 Home, and it appears at the top of "Settings". This may not be the case with Windows 10 professional.
These users thanked the author Geoff.R.G for the post:
slinger (Tue Jun 29, 2021 11:24 pm)

User avatar
Lindsayt
Posts: 4213
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2012 9:06 pm
Has thanked: 1079 times
Been thanked: 692 times
Nauru

Re: Eye of newt and toe of frog - a curse on Microsoft ...

Unread post by Lindsayt »

slinger wrote: Tue Jun 29, 2021 9:12 pm ... I detest Micro$oft. They are, as far as I'm concerned, the only game in town though, ...
Linux Linux Linux.

Linux is Switzerland France. Whilst Windoze is England Scotland.

User avatar
slinger
Posts: 9233
Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2012 4:30 pm
Location: The Garden of England
Has thanked: 4567 times
Been thanked: 3118 times
EUROPEAN_UNION

Re: Eye of newt and toe of frog - a curse on Microsoft ...

Unread post by slinger »

I used to run a SCO Unix box at work, so it probably wouldn't be a stretch for me, but unfortunately, most of the DAW software I use doesn't have Linux versions, and I really don't want to start buggering about with emulations just to get software that runs quite comfortably already working.
Amps - NVA P50, AP30, A40, Stanislav Palo Tube Headphone Amp BB 85
Speakers - Monitor Audio Silver RX2
Cables - NVA LS1+LS3, SSC, Gotham S/PDIF, IBRA Optical
Digital - NAD C516BEE, SONY ST-SDB900 DAB TUNER, TEAC UD-H01 DAC
Analogue - Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Esprit SB, Graham Slee Gram Amp 2 Phono
Cans - Grado SR80, ATH-M50X

User avatar
r3xj0hn570n
Posts: 198
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2021 4:54 am
Has thanked: 52 times
Been thanked: 129 times
Norfolk Island

Re: Eye of newt and toe of frog - a curse on Microsoft ...

Unread post by r3xj0hn570n »

slinger wrote: Tue Jun 29, 2021 9:12 pm ... I detest Micro$oft. They are, as far as I'm concerned, the only game in town though, ...
The 3 times in my life when what i purchased included a MS OS (3 laptops over the years), the pre-installed OS got booted a total of once (off the drive, permanently). I used to use Debian, then Ubuntu, until they polluted the administration side with a suite of egregious programs collectively called systemd. Since then, i've migrated to Devuan and onto antiX. All these are linux distributions.

I can honestly say that i've written two projects for MS Windows over the years, a file system device layer to monitor changes to a FAT filesystem and a USB device driver for radiologists to use when examining images on their workstations. Both times i was horrified at the underlying architecture.

Prior to using linux, i was using solaris, dg/ux, and back in uni, i was using VMS and unix. Thankfully, i've never had to use MS Windows to produce actual work, it seems to me that it's an impediment. Right now i have a dual monitor setup, 5 workspaces each with around 5-17 open windows, a whole bunch of virtual machines AND a laptop x2x'd (so that's 3 addressable screens) running an email/web browser, all on a machine that's over 5 years old and a laptop that over 10 years old. Try that on MS windows and at the very least, you'll run out of memory.
These users thanked the author r3xj0hn570n for the post (total 3):
Lindsayt (Wed Jun 30, 2021 12:27 am) • Grumpytim (Wed Jun 30, 2021 7:43 am) • slinger (Wed Jun 30, 2021 7:56 am)

User avatar
slinger
Posts: 9233
Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2012 4:30 pm
Location: The Garden of England
Has thanked: 4567 times
Been thanked: 3118 times
EUROPEAN_UNION

Re: Eye of newt and toe of frog - a curse on Microsoft ...

Unread post by slinger »

Windoze is, basically, crap built on top of crap, built on top of crap. Instead of writing new applications and modules, it feels like the developers merely set themselves the task of mitigating the effects of as much dodgy code from previous versions as they can with every new iteration.

W11 should have been a complete rewrite. Nobody was expecting it, so they could have taken all the time they needed to get it right. Not something Micro$oft is famous for. Of course, knowing Micro$oft, that would have meant that 50% of W10 programs wouldn't run because the developers wouldn't be entirely sure how they ever ran in the first place.

However, having said that, I work mostly with music software and 3D modelling software plus the ubiquitous Photoshop. All of the stuff I use is rock solid on w10, so in actual fact, I've got no real-world complaints. However, knowing what's "under the hood" dismays me. I always attempted to make sure my code was tidy, and (if necessary) well-annotated. Sloppy, bloated, code offends me.
Amps - NVA P50, AP30, A40, Stanislav Palo Tube Headphone Amp BB 85
Speakers - Monitor Audio Silver RX2
Cables - NVA LS1+LS3, SSC, Gotham S/PDIF, IBRA Optical
Digital - NAD C516BEE, SONY ST-SDB900 DAB TUNER, TEAC UD-H01 DAC
Analogue - Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Esprit SB, Graham Slee Gram Amp 2 Phono
Cans - Grado SR80, ATH-M50X

Geoff.R.G
Posts: 1562
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2016 2:46 pm
Location: Denham UK
Has thanked: 132 times
Been thanked: 476 times
Great Britain

Re: Eye of newt and toe of frog - a curse on Microsoft ...

Unread post by Geoff.R.G »

slinger wrote: Wed Jun 30, 2021 8:09 am Windoze is, basically, crap built on top of crap, built on top of crap. Instead of writing new applications and modules, it feels like the developers merely set themselves the task of mitigating the effects of as much dodgy code from previous versions as they can with every new iteration.

W11 should have been a complete rewrite. Nobody was expecting it, so they could have taken all the time they needed to get it right. Not something Micro$oft is famous for. Of course, knowing Micro$oft, that would have meant that 50% of W10 programs wouldn't run because the developers wouldn't be entirely sure how they ever ran in the first place.

However, having said that, I work mostly with music software and 3D modelling software plus the ubiquitous Photoshop. All of the stuff I use is rock solid on w10, so in actual fact, I've got no real-world complaints. However, knowing what's "under the hood" dismays me. I always attempted to make sure my code was tidy, and (if necessary) well-annotated. Sloppy, bloated, code offends me.
I really can't see Microsoft writing a complete new operating system. One of the things that I imagine doesn't/didn't help is that at least as recently a Windows 7 the OS could be run as 32 bit, I noticed that my work desktop was configured as 32 bit. MS Office was 32 bit until 365 was introduced. I don't know when 64 bit processors took over but I am guessing that it was more than five years ago.

Apple dropped support for 32 bit applications two years ago, one of the reasons given being security. I would have expected MS to have the same security issues with 32 bit applications yet they continue to support them. I can only suppose that this is to retain backward compatibility. In the camera world Nikon resisted changing their lens mount for more than 30 years after Canon changed theirs, the result was massive complexity with lens compatibility while Canon was able to capture market share because potential buyers became confused, they're still confused.

I know there are people out there still using legacy peripheral hardware, some excellent scanners for example, but there is software available to keep them running, it just doesn't come from the OEM. So, if MS were to write a completely new, 64 bit only, operating system, how many people would really be inconvenienced?

I was talking to an IT specialist on Sunday and he was lamenting the bloat in Windows 10 and complained that on at least one occasion an update had been run during a presentation, fortunately not one to a client. If the professionals are unhappy how do the private buyers feel?

User avatar
slinger
Posts: 9233
Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2012 4:30 pm
Location: The Garden of England
Has thanked: 4567 times
Been thanked: 3118 times
EUROPEAN_UNION

Re: Eye of newt and toe of frog - a curse on Microsoft ...

Unread post by slinger »

Micro$soft have now withdrawn the "Health Checker" that was supposed to tell you if your computer was W11 compatible.

Geoff, if your mate is an IT specialist he should have known you can delay Windows updates from the Update & Security panel. It's a bit like making sure your phone is set to silent.

There's also a Change Active Hours section which lets you define your "active hours" to let Windoze know when you typically use your device. It then won't automatically restart your device during this time.
Amps - NVA P50, AP30, A40, Stanislav Palo Tube Headphone Amp BB 85
Speakers - Monitor Audio Silver RX2
Cables - NVA LS1+LS3, SSC, Gotham S/PDIF, IBRA Optical
Digital - NAD C516BEE, SONY ST-SDB900 DAB TUNER, TEAC UD-H01 DAC
Analogue - Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Esprit SB, Graham Slee Gram Amp 2 Phono
Cans - Grado SR80, ATH-M50X

Geoff.R.G
Posts: 1562
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2016 2:46 pm
Location: Denham UK
Has thanked: 132 times
Been thanked: 476 times
Great Britain

Re: Eye of newt and toe of frog - a curse on Microsoft ...

Unread post by Geoff.R.G »

slinger wrote: Wed Jun 30, 2021 10:54 am Micro$soft have now withdrawn the "Health Checker" that was supposed to tell you if your computer was W11 compatible.

Geoff, if your mate is an IT specialist he should have known you can delay Windows updates from the Update & Security panel. It's a bit like making sure your phone is set to silent.

There's also a Change Active Hours section which lets you define your "active hours" to let Windoze know when you typically use your device. It then won't automatically restart your device during this time.
It was a package but instead of the company's controller allowing users to chose a suitable time it was apparently just left to get on with it, not entirely Microsoft's fault. However, what ever you do with active hours or days, irrespective of how you set things, if the system crashes with updates ready to install, guess what, on restart they will install. If it were anything to do with me, probably fortunate that it isn't, I wouldn't mandate any form of auto-update. If the system crashes it isn't convenient to update! The user probably wants to be up and running as quickly as possible.

Post Reply