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Windows 10 Forced Update Resets Default Apps To Microsoft Products (theinquirer.net)
Freshly Exhumed writes: Microsoft has told The Inquirer that it is aware of a bug which has been causing users' default programs to switch to the bundled Microsoft options. After deleting the update, a user discovered the next day that Windows had reinstalled it and reset the default settings again. InfoWorld gives some real world scenarios: "If you have Chrome as the default browser on your Windows 10 computer, you'd better check to make sure Microsoft didn't hijack it last week and set Edge as your new default. The same goes for any PDF viewer: A forced cumulative update also reset PDF viewing to Edge on many PCs. Do you use IrfanView, ACDSee, Photoshop Express, or Photoshop Elements? The default photo app may have been reset to -- you guessed it -- the Windows Photos app. Music? Video? Microsoft may have swooped down and changed you over to Microsoft Party apps, all in the course of last week's forced cumulative update KB3135173."
It seems that accidentally is another English word that is reversing its meaning.
So sorry, it won't happen again until next update.
Never attribute to malice etc etc, but this isn't the first time Microsoft has pulled this sort of crap, and the fact that they still haven't put safeguards in place to prevent these "bugs" is telling.
I usually hate class action lawsuits, but as a Win10 user I'm getting sick of this crap. Between the spying, excuse me, "telemetry", the reboots in the middle of the night with the laptop closed, to resetting all my app associations, it's just a fucking joke. I don't believe for a second the app associate reset is a "bug", or a "glitch". It's something Microsoft is trying to sneak past us hoping that, if they do it enough times, we'll give up and use their app instead of the one we want.
Don't tell me to run Linux. I do run Linux. I also need my laptop for things Linux won't run.
Just by "mistake" - what are those individuals doing it smoking over there, the "I am the Allmighty" weed?
Between this, the user experience spyware, the WinSXS nightmare, and the general vulnerability of the operating system overall, our company is moving all computers away from Windows. MS keeps shooting themselves in the foot. The schadenfreude is delicious. Unfortunately, UPS and FedEx shipping software still require Windows. But we keep them isolated and on Win7 (hopefully for as long as possible).
Anybody else doing likewise? I'd love to hear of a large company moving away from MS products.
Pick one from this selection of images: http://photobucket.com/images/...
Windows 10 updates have been doing this since it was released to the general public in July 2015, why is it only just making headlines now?
I was prompted to select Microsoft Edge earlier this week and selected Google Chrome instead. Not sure if that was the forced update or gamma radiation.
As an IT support contractor, Microsoft is a JOB SECURITY company that pays my salary. Every month the same Windows issues popped up on different computers that need remediation. I'm 20 years into my IT career with Windows. Woo-hoo!
Damn I loved Eudora. At some point in the process of going from computer to computer I lost it, but that was a seriously nice email client. Sadly for a while I ended up on Thunderbird, which is a stinking pile that makes Windows Live Mail look like manna from heaven.
Microsoft is simply apping apps that app other apps, which is what modern app appers know is the right thing to do!
Apps!
Try Sylpheed.
I started using it when I was running a NetBSD desktop, but it has a decent Windows binary that is downloadable, too.
One of the things I like best about Sylpheed is the way it properly nests emails if you subscribe to a List server.
Also, the way messages are stored as individual files in a directory hierarchy, but can also easily be archived into mbox files.
People keep saying MS is changing for the better, but this is the exact kind of shit that earned them so much enmity in the first place.
There's an even more evil bug going around in the Windows 10 fever pit right now, the sudden loss of Start menu functionality. One day you boot up and although there's still a Stafrt button, it no longer brings up its menu, and any program icons you pinned to the Taskbar are gone. As with so many other bugs in a new Windows version, a search reveals that a lot of people are getting this and there is a plethora of suggested workarounds, but none of them will work. You have to reinstall Windows.
With Windows 10 users living in the in the nightmare world of the Panopticon, I'll bet dimes to dollars Microsoft knows exactly how many people are not using Microsoft's own programs to open their software. Some manager somewhere saw the numbers weren't good enough to ensure her bonuses, so MS pushes out an update to reset the preferences which users have clearly chosen. I bet it works, too, after 3 months the numbers are will still be above where they were before the update. Evil like this has the unfortunate tendency to work.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
And next week's new "feature". This is how the new Microsoft rolls out unpopular policy and feature changes.
This happened (happens) all the time. Not new to Windows 10. Happened with Windows 8 updates. Windows 7 updates. Vista updates. Windows XP updates... I think you should be seeing the trend now. They make this mistake from time to time. Every time it happens, the same story comes out Then they either apologize or say it was done for security reasons. So, please, just ignore this non-story and move along.
Nobody at Microsoft ever got fired for erring on the side of hemorrhagic fever.
The mere contemplation of insufficient virulence, however, causes Microsoft employees to suffer a nervous, liquid fly incident.
They can't help it. It's simply in their DNA.
(For all the budding screen-writers out there, that clip is an expo-dump done right.)
I've already had a Win10 automatic update reset all my file associations to the Microsoft apps before. How does this keep happening?
I tried to use Corel VideoStudio X5 yesterday, but it crashed on startup. Did some searching and discovered Micrososoft security updates KB3134814, KB3126587 and KB3126593, installed on Feb. 9, 2016 were the culprits. After removing them Corel worked fine again.
Thank for the update. I just checked and my Ubuntu system does not seem to be affected by this.
If I had a dollar for every Windows 10 scandal that I did not give a shit about...
Windows 10 upgrade only resets the defaults if you go with the "recommended settings" option. If you select "customize" then it prompts you whether to update your default programs or keep the existing.
If you take Microsoft's "recommended settings"; is it any surprise that they set you up on Edge for your browser, the new windows 10 photo viewer, etc, and a few other application defaults?
It's nuts. There is a REAL problem with Microsofts telemetry situation; but too many of you get side tracked by every little irrelevant detail; and then run around like chicken little foaming at the mouth; and it takes all your credibility away.
- "Oh no! Windows 10 has waaay too much telemetry ... "
o "Oh, that sounds a little disturbing, tell me more?"
- "Oh no! Windows 10 sets your default browser to edge if you select 'recommend settings'.
- "Oh no! Windows 10 tries to connect to the internet so that it can update the icon that says whether or not you are connected to the internet!"
- "Oh no! Windows 10 connects to the internet a thousand times in the first 24 hours"
o "er...I see you left Windows update service turned on!"
- "OMG Micro$$$oft evil! Bing sounds stupid. They made it easier to get to device manager and control panels... by changing somehting. EVIL!!"
o "Yeah, I've forgotten why I was listening to you."
Are you sure it hasn't just opened the new file as a second tab and switched to it, or something along those lines? FWIW, I've never seen the behaviour you described with Adobe Reader. In fact, I don't really get the Adobe bashing on this one, because Reader has consistently been better than all the half-baked in-browser alternatives that keep popping up, which apparently struggle with such complex viewing operations as showing two pages side by side or rotating a landscape figure page in an otherwise portrait document so you can read it. Reader isn't perfect, but it's still way better than any of the in-browser viewers I've seen, and has significant advantages over some of the free-standing alternatives like Sumatra too.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
You wouldn't have any money at all.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
First off, the proper term is GNU/Linux; you're not just being advised to run only the Linux kernel. If the people advising you know what they're talking about, they should be advising you to run a completely free OS -- a free kernel (such as GNU Linux-libre) and free software on top of that. The more free software you can get on your system, the more you can put yourself in control of your computing. And this terminology difference is also apropos because this issue comes down to the very issue being raised in that term "GNU/Linux", namely software freedom -- the developers of the GNU system want to share in the credit so as to remind people to demand software freedom.
A class-action suit won't help Microsoft Windows users if those users accepted terms to allow the proprietor to do this to your computers.
But the heart of the issue remains: it's your computer, you should be allowed to run the software you want with it, and make sure that that software does only what you want. So what you want is software freedom. Not user subjugation to someone else's authority unvetted by you on a level that's as detailed or as abstract as you wish. You can't have that kind of control with nonfree, user subjugating, proprietary software no matter who the proprietor is. No amount of believing otherwise, adding more nonfree software, or changing configuration parameters on nonfree software (such as setting registry values this way or that way) will give you software freedom.
Digital Citizen
But they sure are fucking up every inch of the roll out making it much more unattractive than it should be. Someone should remind them that patience is a virtue.
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
That's really not fair. This is nothing like the house that Gates built. Microsoft of the 1990s and early 2000s went to extraordinary lengths to ensure stability and backward compatibility on the Windows platform, far beyond what most in the industry have ever done before or since. They did start to shift their stance on that a few years ago, with for example less effort to support other people's software and devices/drivers that relied on undocumented features, but that should never really have been their responsibility in the first place so personally I don't hold that against them.
However, this "update any time we feel like it and break whatever" attitude is relatively recent and seems to be squarely on Nadella and his senior management team, who can't get the boot fast enough as far as I'm concerned. Microsoft of 2016 is actively customer-hostile in numerous ways, and as both a private individual and a business person I want the old MS back so I can get on with using computers to help me do interesting and useful things instead of fighting with them.
I was in a meeting just this past week with a bunch of other local consultants and freelancers, and at lunch time this subject happened to come up because someone had been looking for a new PC and checking out the latest status with Windows 10. It turned out that nearly half the people in the room -- and these were all clued-up people when it comes to IT, who would not make decisions about infrastructure or security policy lightly -- no longer install any Windows updates on their Win7/8 machines by default now, even security updates unless a specific threat was identified. Literally no-one there was installing more than security updates as standard policy any more. Also literally no-one was using Windows 10, nor had worked with any customer or client who was using Windows 10 outside of evaluation/lab settings yet. The general sentiment seemed to be that a lot of places are deferring major purchasing decisions until at least the dust has settled, or in a few cases actively switching to alternatives (almost invariably Linux on the server side and Apple for laptops).
For an organisation that famously had "Developers, developers, developers!" as its battle cry under previous management, that is a potentially catastrophic shift in attitude from a group that would almost certainly have favoured a Microsoft platform for a wide range of projects just a few years ago.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
Since beyond all the other problems people have had with it I've hit a bug where Edge doesn't work at all. (I know I know, I should consider it an improvement.)
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
One wonders if Microsoft feels the agreements/penalties they were boinked with by the authorities are no longer anything to be concerned about.
That or Windows is now designed and built by chimps (and that's being uncharitable to those of the chimp persuasion).
Below, my own text file of procedures which I use to denature both upgraded and new installations of Win10 on the machines I deal with. It's pretty drastic, but it's been working well, and the miserable goddamned Apps seem to not come back, or at least not all at once, which allows me to periodically check on: C:\Windows\SystemApps\, C:\Users\MainUser\AppData\Local\Packages, C:\Program Files\WindowsApps, C:\Users\All Users\Package Cache for any .cabs or whatever that may have insinuated itself back into the system and kill them in their sleep, too.
/set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy (via superCMD)
What follows is my own deal, and I'm not hear to discuss the minutia of what program I should use Ninite for or any of the rest of that OCD bullshit. Use whatever the hell you want to. You're an adult. I am too. Go away and leave me alone with that kind of crap, ok?
What follows is also a bit short-hand-y and since this is Slashdot, I presume you can figure it out, and I'm not here to hold you by the hand, either. See above re: You're an adult.
Ok, on with the show.
Well, maybe not. Slashdot tells me I have too few characters per line. Lovely. Just fucking lovely. Ok I shall reformat. Any groups of multiple dashes can be presumed to be double line breaks, ok?
Stardock Start10 ---------- Revo existing AV program ----------Reset folder view options including "date created" ---------- Taskbar properties ---------- Classic Personalize ---------- Screensaver & power settings ---------- Copy Win10 folder to desktop ---------- Defender to do not send ---------- Desktop icons include & view small icons ----------Computer, properties, advanced settings, best performance (Leave drop shadows, smooth screen fonts, view thumbnails ---------- systeminfo verify 10586 ---------- Windows Update ---------- DWS_Lite as administrator, enable professional mode - delete one drive - delete all metro apps - smash everything except defender (mind the checkbox)
Reboot
bcdedit
psexec w10privacy.exe (via superCMD inside Win10 directory)(be patient, it'll come)
Reboot
ToggleTweaker.bat
Reboot
Install Unlocker
C:\Windows\SystemApps\Cortana\SearchUI.exe kill with Unlocker
Reboot
OOShutUpWindows10 as administrator
Verify Defender still alive, if not:
\\\
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE_\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Defender
DWORD (32bit) DisableAntiSpyware needs to be set with a Value of 0
DWORD (32bit) DisableAntiVirus needs to be set with a Value of 0
\\\
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE_\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender
DWORD (32bit) DisableAntiSpyware needs to be set with a Value of 0
C:\Windows\SystemApps\ Unlocker killkillkill one at a time, starting with Cortana, which takes the longest
Reboot
Settings, throw all switches to privacy settings and check to see which Apps may have survived while you're doing it
Initiate Ninite Chrome, Firefox, 7zip, TeamViewer, CDburnerXP, VLC, All Runtimes, Irfan, qBittorrent, Google Earth
Revo full decrappification - TaskManager killings if machine sluggish
Manual Directory Pass for shitty programs leftovers search and destroy: Unlocker C:\Users\MainUser\AppData\Local\Packages for special destructive attention to apps, Unlocker C:\Program Files\WindowsApps (sometimes takes forever), Unlocker C:\Users\All Users\Package Cache
Finish/adjust/trim TT&V all ninite installations
Clean Start Menu
Sysinternals autoruns.exe killkillkill right-click, go to image, Unlocker, destroy: C:\Program Files (x86 & x64)\Microsoft Office\Office15\GROOVEEX.DLL all WinMail shit
Reboot
File associations TT&V full WhiteDoom pass for tweaks & trim
Java Suppress Sponsor Offers
Network/Printers
Printers/Peripherals
Go surfing to try to wash all the slime off of you.
Is it fascism yet?
It's not really people, though. Not in the traditional sense of the word: if you follow their posting patterns you'll discover that those saying things like "Microsoft has changed into a friendly, modern company" or whatever nonsense like that, are actually some kind of shills/sockpuppets. Their posting patterns don't resemble those of an actual person - they seem to be "activated" at strategic times, either to support some Microsoft action, or to spread FUD about an incriminating news regarding Microsoft. I fully expect that such accounts are farmed by PR companies, and that tens, perhaps hundreds, are controlled by a single employee.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Astroturf cost about $0,50 per post.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
MSFT stock keeps going up in the face of all these bugs and privacy violations.
You are assuming that there was something wrong with the updates rather than something wrong with the way Corel had programmed VideoStudio. The More Information section of at least one of the knowledge base articles mentions VideoStudio (X8 and X9) and suggests that you install the updates from Corel to fix the crashing issues.
I have no idea if that actually fixes the problem or just puts the onus to fix it back onto Corel, but it does indicate that this might not be a mistake on Microsoft's part.
The *company* that invented web browsing? Back when everyone was using Mosaic? Netscape Navigator would crash your machine when people didn't close HTML tags, and IE popped out later like an afterbirth.
Those guys are behind the curve and will soon be scrambling to make sure everything is up to date.
It's the same situation we had with every major revision of Windows in the past. Hordes of people insisting on keeping their outdated, but working and mission critical, systems up and running. Hordes of people slowly finding that they're having to pass on using the most up to date tools for their jobs because they decided to stick with end of life platforms. Hordes of people getting increasingly frustrated as their old infrastructure begins to fail and they're stubbornly insisting they keep on the old and 'working' while it falls apart.
I understand. I didn't want to let go of Windows 2000, what benefit did Windows XP give me beyond a pretty face? But you know, I was wrong then, and they're wrong now. Let's hope they wise up and start taking the steps to migrate successfully instead of waiting until the infrastructure is 15 years old and crumbling at the slightest touch. Those XP guys who come into my repair shop are a sorry bunch, y'know. But the Vista guys are too, and recently the 7 guys are looking pretty down themselves. It will be far too soon that 8 is on the chopping block, but we'll have the same problems with the same people who don't want to ride the curve and prefer to prop up failing systems with bubblegum and toothpicks.
It's just the same old story. It's not Nadella's Microsoft, it's start working on your migration plans and get ready because this happens every five years and it's not going to stop. It comes with the territory. Keep your tools maintained and replaced them as needed, don't hold onto that rusty hatchet that's going to crumble when it hits the wood, that you've already duct taped together. Be better than that at what you're doing.
I don't actually need a job but that'd be a damned easy job to do. I wonder how one gets the job as an astroturfer or shill? I write a lot. I'd probably do okay at it. I'm not sure I could do it for a product I didn't like, however. Meh, then again... That'd depend on how much I needed the money or how much I liked the company.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
The thing is, the earliest these guys are really going to be in trouble is Win7 EOL, and that's not for almost 4 more years. Win8 is even later.
Until that time, Microsoft have committed to supporting these platforms, which means if there really are essential security fixes then they ought to be provided. Even if they aren't, most of the customers and clients these guys work with have sensible defence in depth arrangements and don't rely primarily on OS updates for security anyway.
As for compatibility, Win7 is still the most popular OS on the planet and Win10 adoption in business seems almost non-existent so far. No-one in that group was even slightly concerned about any software or hardware they rely on stopping working in the near future. If anything, there was more concern about whether essential software and hardware might stop working in the future with Win10 than whether it would continue to be supported on Win7 or Win8.
Obviously everyone was also wondering how long current platforms would really remain viable for, particularly for Win7 machines, but the consensus was that Microsoft would almost certainly have made significant changes and could well be under new management by the time any real pressure was mounting. No-one expected OS-as-a-service to become standard practice in business environments, whatever Microsoft might like to happen. A few did think it might become established with home users unless a significant competitor appears, and there were some comparisons made with Apple's mobile devices and the iOS upgrade treadmill as a possible indicator of how much consumer markets will tolerate things changing/breaking in ways they don't like.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
In fairness, usually it's management that won't pay for the software licenses to upgrade, or won't prioritize and pay for the development time to use new package versions, or won't pay for new hardware until the old stuff is at death's door. Mostly, the IT and Ops people know how important it is to stay on top of the curve. It's obstructionist MBA types who cause the problems.
Imagine all the people...
I did install the updates, but it didn't help. Removing the updates did.
I guess that was because you are using a very old version that hasn't been updated in three years. The notice only specified X8 and X9.
Even though those were security updates that you uninstalled, the fact that most people will have applied the updates should hopefully mean that malware will not bother to target those security holes providing you with the similar protection that medical vaccinations do when they inoculate a large enough portion of the public to act as a buffer to those who are not protected.
While I still don't think that this was a problem of a bad Microsoft update, it still does show that Windows 10's inability to pick and choose updates is stupid.
Since that update (KB3135173), I keep getting told that PDF is reset to Edge, JPG is reset to Photos, and MP3 is reset to Groove Music, but nothing actually happens to my file preferences. Windows 10 just keeps announcing that it made the changes, on a daily, or slightly less often, basis. It doesn't seem to be associated with any task in the Task Scheduler, either. I checked the logs at the time of the message. It just keeps telling me that "an app caused a problem" so it's resetting my preferences in those three file types. All three announcements come at the same time.
But nothing actually happens other than the announcement.
I'm running in a Limited User Account. Could that have anything to do with it? Why wouldn't the OS be able to make the changes? I'm glad it can't seem to do what it's threatening to do, but it's weird.
I feel just like a beta tester. Windows 10 is flaky.
I work with municipal utility companies and so far nobody I know of has upgraded to Windows 10. Stability and security are their major concerns. One IT guy told me that he had enough headaches to deal with already and didn't need another one. Can't say that I blame him.
Is that you working for MS? :P
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
You said, 'You obviously have no idea what the word "spyware" means.'
You obviously haven't been reading the many, many, many stories. Here are links to just 7 of the stories about insecurity and links to 2 stories about bad management:
Windows 8: NSA Backdoor Exploit in Windows 8 Uncovered (Aug. 22, 2013)
Windows: NSA "backdoor" mandates lead to a computer-security FREAK show Quote: "Microsoft Windows OS vulnerable to hackers, thanks to National Security Agency requirements." (March 6, 2015)
Windows: NSA Built Back Door In All Windows Software by 1999 (June 7, 2013)
Windows 10, Microsoft hiding what it is doing: Microsoft has no plans to tell us what's in Windows patches. Each update is a black box, and it's going to stay that way. (Aug 21, 2015)
Windows 10, Microsoft takes even more control: Windows 10 is spying on almost everything you do -- here's how to opt out (July 31, 2015) But, of course, Microsoft can change the spyware to avoid blocking.
Microsoft can't be trusted: How Can Any Company Ever Trust Microsoft Again? (June 17, 2013)
Microsoft releases EXTREMELY buggy software: Microsoft Kills Many Critical Flaws, Some 0-Days, Un-Trusts One Wildcard Cert (December 9, 2015) It is likely that there are many bugs Microsoft hasn't yet found.
Badly managed companies don't produce good products:
Microsoft has extremely bad management: The January 16, 2013 issue of BusinessWeek magazine has a large photo of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer (now replaced) with the headline calling him "Monkey Boy". See the BusinessWeek cover in this article: Steve Ballmer Is No Longer A Monkey Boy, Says Bloomberg BusinessWeek. The BusinessWeek cover says "No More" and "Mr.", but that doesn't take much away from the fact that the magazine called Ballmer Monkey Boy -- on its cover.
Worst CEO in the United States: Quote from an article in Forbes Magazine about Steve Ballmer: "Without a doubt, Mr. Ballmer is the worst CEO of a large publicly traded American company today."
Another quote: "The reach of his bad leadership has extended far beyond Microsoft when it comes to destroying shareholder value -- and jobs." (May 12, 2012)
Microsoft did away with bugs by renaming them "features."
Now it's on the opposite tack, and is calling features it deliberately put into the software, "bugs."
Microsoft. What a giant, steaming bowl of rancid, fetid shit! I wonder how long before the last moron who has been using Microsoft's garbageware wakes up and decides to get a REAL operating system, or office suite, or better, usually free replacement for whatever other garbage unsecure, buggy, irritating shit Microsoft produces and calls "software," his computer came with.
You can't spell, "FUCK MICROSOFT!" without fucking "Microsoft".
Are you sure about that? That's far more than I expected, considering how automated the whole process is.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
The More Information section of at least one of the knowledge base articles mention...
So I went to the linked article which pointed me for further information to a MS security bulletin which said I needed to refer to a KB article which sent me back to the security bulletin. I think I saw a white rabbit with a wristwatch at some point too. In any case I think what MS is trying to tell us is that they have a problem with too many levels of indirection through pointers.
Every time some program forces Safari to load on Mac OS X (which is often big OS updates displaying a "tour" of new features) it pops up this requester on quitting that tries to get me to agree to make Safari the default web browser.
Of course there's no "No thank you, and never ask me again" button and it's very easy to accidentally hit "OK" expecting it to be confirming you want to quit.
... and pointing out how it made the users' Windows experience more consistent. Yeah, that sounds about right.
When did you download Mint? Hope it wasn't in the middle of their website compromise!
However, that's just me being petty. Linux is fine as a desktop. Windows is fine as a desktop. The thing that ruins either is removing control from the user (e.g. forced Windows Updates on one platform, things like systemd / window manager "upgrades" on the other with no easy way back).
And this is no bug, it is completely intentional. Microsoift finds th e customer to be inconvenient, and always wrong.
Have at me shills
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Resetting your default apps is annoying. Having your OS claim you need to activate it when your computer didn't come with a CD key is worse.
Had to spend a while on tech support to get them to activate my wife's system as Windows 10 just decided to ignore the already activated Windows 8 when it auto-upgraded.
When did you download Mint? Hope it wasn't in the middle of their website compromise!
However, that's just me being petty. Linux is fine as a desktop. Windows is fine as a desktop. The thing that ruins either is removing control from the user (e.g. forced Windows Updates on one platform, things like systemd / window manager "upgrades" on the other with no easy way back).
Oh, yes, Systemd is the equivalent of forced updates, Yes ledow, thaou art petty in more ways than one. Tell me, what is the Linux equivalent of forcing Windows 10 OS onto an iMac running W7 in bootcamp that doesn't even have bootcamp software capable of running W10, and won't. (mid 2011 i5)
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Duhno, you could only make $25 a day on /. - still, $25 more than you currently get posing to /. ;)
"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
Look... I ain't a 3 year-old... and so is 100% of the rest of professionals....
Resetting the default app associations is a deliberate thing, NOT A BUG. MS has done so many stupid things in the recent past, they haven't made up for much of it and is already doing more stupid things.
I want Apple and other companies to step into the game and take over the market share from MS so that they will realize "messing with their customer is asking for trouble".
I post every day, pretty much. 'Snot like I've got a heavy schedule. At least I am free for most of the time. I've always got a tab open at Slashdot and I meander around a bit. I'd probably let them pay me $25 a day to post. Depending on the company, I might even "shill." (Though, I gotta be honest - I'm going to be dishonest and do it under a different username. I'm not entirely altruistic.)
I'd probably just donate all the money to the ACLU or something. Assuming I take 2 weeks off, work 7 days a week..
25*7*50 = 8750
That's a good donation to the ACLU. It'd even pay my internet bill(s).
35*3*12 = 1260
So, even if I let it pay for my three DSL lines (at home) it'd still leave me with ~7500 to donate to the ACLU. That's not bad at all! Err... I have internet here, as well as cable television. I don't actually know what it costs me and I can't seem to figure it out by looking at their site. I can't say that I've any recollection of seeing a bill for it. So, I have no idea what I pay for 'net here. I'm not usually here so I guess I won't count it.
'Snot bad speeds and I think it's fairly inexpensive. I get 50 down and either 5 or 10 up. It's far more than I need. At home, each line's real throughput is 13.5/1.5 and it's plenty for me. I'd switch to 10/5 if I could - I'd like to be able to tweak those numbers dynamically or with profiles. I have three disparate connections - and I can saturate all three and still get better than I pay for. (I pay for 12/.75.) However, they won't just let me pay 'em extra and buy all 45/6 in one pipe. (I also can't bridge 'em and get the throughput that way.)
It's no big deal, I just have a connection in the shop/garage, in the house that was here when I bought the place and had rehabbed instead of torn down (guesthouse sounds too pretentious and makes me feel like I'm projecting an image that I'm uncomfortable with), and the one in the house. I've buried conduit and run wired connections so that I have access to all three and I've configured the networks to allow interoperability between them. It works and I'm able to have a "spare" as well as having a dedicated line for sharing my torrents. I seed a whole lot of Linux ISOs. Even on my slow DSL, it's not uncommon to see me wracking up some impressive throughput totals.
By the way, you wouldn't happen to play KoL, would you?
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
Astroturf cost about $0,50 per post.
You seem really happy to speak your mind, I don't see you being voice for someone else's (at least not with your account).
By the way, you wouldn't happen to play KoL, would you?
I do now! (I wasn't aware of it, but I Googled it when you asked - Level 3, Accordion Thief).
"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
I remember a lot of those things, because I was there.
You seem to be cherry picking a few cases that support your position, while ignoring all the resources Microsoft did put into maintaining backward compatibility from one OS version to the next, even for applications that were using undocumented features they should not have been.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
Er...
Exactly the example I used, where systems with working SysVInit style scripts were pushed onto systemd if they wanted to stay supported and - in some cases - broke (because an upgrade to systemd, certainly, is not always as perfect and painless as made out, especially if you're using a lot of custom init scripts). Which is basically upstart all over again.
A google for "systemd broke" will turn up a lot of hits where people's computers stopped booting or not bringing up services even upgrading between versions or package upgrades, let alone trying to go from init scripts to systemd in one hit.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2...
Now the OS upgrade wasn't "forced" as much, but technically you didn't have to agree to the Windows 10 one either. It still required manual intervention to actually happen.
I'm more concerned with tablets - Windows tablets with 16GB of storage are trying to download and update to Windows 10, which is just ludicrous as often you have NO way back on such devices.
But, then, I've seen the same on cheap Android tablets that get updates that brick them too.
Stop making out the MS are doing something that nobody else is here. Even the Macs you mentioned have stuffed people and I've witnessed OS X and iOS upgrades that then stick because the machine wasn't actually supported (iPad 2's, which became like stunned sloths, for instance).
If you want to show difference, provide control to the user. You can still publish all the junk updates you want, but people then get a "No thanks" button and - unless you're fecking Apple - a "Don't remind me again" checkbox too.
Hah! It's an awesome game. LOL It's addictive but I finally broke my addiction a while back. Stay away from the RNG. Just... Just trust me on this one. Oh, you might do well for a while - even if you try the Martingale method... It's an unfortunate thing but inevitable that it will bite you - I'm not so sure that it's actually random, I'd like to see that code...
Err... I wasn't intending for you to play but there's an odd number of Mormons there. At least there were, quite a few of whom were dedicated players and I'm assuming they still are. However, if you *do* get into the game, let me know. Oh no, seriously, let me know. I'll send you a few meat and get you started on your way to an addiction all your own. *sighs* Seriously, let me know if you do get into it and intend to keep playing. I've got a character worth millions and millions and millions of meat. I have to keep it in items, otherwise I spend it in the RNG because I'm gonna figure that algorithm out one of these days.
No, really... I've screen-scraped and kept records, logged it by inserting it in the HTML, and even helped write a few tools to enable others. *sighs* I hate that thing... It's on the wrong side of the tracks, in the casino. I think you need a ticket and to be level 9. I don't know, I haven't played much in years. I've got hundreds of millions of meat put into that RNG. I'm "good" right now or so I think I left it. My lifetime's only down to like -72 million. It has been a full order of magnitude worse. I was in the positive at one point. That didn't last long.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
I've run into the same issue, and it has outright blocked my ability to assign InfranView as my default photo viewer - it completely removed it from the list of applications to choose from, and even uninstalling and reinstalling InfranView doesn't remedy the situation. I think I might have to manually assign filetype associations to bypass this idiocy.
@Mindless Drivel: 100% of Twitter posts ever Tweeted.