The Broken Design of Microsoft's "Fix it" Tool

$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?"

Comments

Wow.

[RightSaidFred99]

You guys are really hitting the bottom of the barrel in the MS jihad movement, aren't you?

You mean MS lets you download a patch even though it doesn't apply to the machine you download from?! CRAZY!?!

What next, going to claim Bill Gates is the antichrist and is just trying to somehow make money off of giving away most of his money to charity? Oh...wait, you already do that. Ahahaha. Jackasses.

Something simillar happened to me

[CoolCat]

I was testing ubuntu and accidentally I typed sudo rm -rf / and woosh! everything broke!

This is unbearable!

Re:fail

[paganizer]

Well, I can't.
After careful thought, I've decided that my personal reality will not allow something like this "Vista" to exist; it does not belong in a sane, ordered universe. or, even my own sort of Benny Hill style universe.
So I have decided that Microsoft did not release any products between Windows XP media center 2005 and Windows 2008 (which, to my shock and almost horror, doesn't suck).
(I really wanted to push that back to Windows 2000 SP4, but then I wouldn't be able to use my laptop to record TV)
If you think about it, I mean REALLY think about it, it would make Microsoft almost seem like a nice, warm, fuzzy sort of company; half the articles on /. these days seems to be on the topic of "Windows 7 doesn't suck as bad as Vista!!!(but, of course, isn't as good as XP)"