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Microsoft's BSOD Is Getting More Descriptive With QR Codes (cio.com)
itwbennett writes: Reddit user javelinnl posted a picture last week showing a new dreaded Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) featuring a QR code and a link that may appear in a future version of Windows 10. "Right now, the code and the link take users to a webpage that discusses generic fixes for errors that might cause a crash," writes Blair Frank from CIO. "In the future, though, Microsoft could provide a QR code that leads to more specific information about what caused the computer freeze up." As of this writing, Microsoft had not responded to Frank's request for comment, but when he forced a Blue Screen of Death on his Surface Pro 3, he was unable to get a QR code to appear, though a link to the help page did. The QR code shown in the image simply points to a generic resource page for "troubleshooting blue screen errors."
Windows is designed for people who know where to click for word, solitaire and facebook.
What you call human readable is not readable for them.
I think what Microsoft really needs to incorporate, is the transformational power of Emojis to liven up each BSOD into a masterpiece.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
What makes this great is that your client/coworker/family member can take a picture of the code and send it to you. That's far more doable than having them try to remember what the error message said. "Oh, it said skynet falls or something". Apps like Google goggles will search the picture for the QR and you have usable information.
What if your client/coworker/family member directly take a picture of the error message? Why going through this QR crap?
Windows Phone sales set to double, as Windows Phone users now need a phone to take a picture of the QR code when their phone crashes.
I mean, I remember when they actually used to include bonafide technical information on the screen, like faulting module in addition to the usual stop code. I know they had to remove it to make room for the :( emoticon and all, but maybe one day you can again find out what's wrong with your Windows PC via QR code. Maybe. One day. Microsoft cannot comment any further at this time.
In the future, though, Microsoft could provide a QR code that leads to more specific information about what caused the computer freeze up.
Microsoft has not been able to provide useful error messages for the last 30 years, why should it be any different with QR codes?
That was my reaction as well, if it's like the Windows Update help stuff then it's going to be just another way of telling users "Something went wrong. We have no idea what it is, or at least we have lots of data to help diagnose it but we aren't going to give you any of it. Here's a link to a Bing search that will return 200 hits for other people who have run into this problem and couldn't solve it either. Error 800420EE". Totally, utterly useless.
I think they should also patent the idea.
Like, I don't know, say, a system log that would store messages from drivers and system components like dmesg?
How about a memory dump before crashing that can be inspected later?
What makes you think that Windows does not store messages and does not create a dump (hint: it does. Stop errors are logged in the system log, and default is to create a dump file upon a stop error. Space is even reserved for the dump file on the system drive to guarantee that a dump can be created even if disk is full).
But hey, why don't you make your own assumptions and go by them to diss on something that you obviously don't know anything about?
When you restart your computer, Windows will recognize the dump file and will offer you to upload it to Microsoft. In case of device driver crashes (the most common cause along with hw fails) Microsoft will even notify the vendor if they have registered for crash information.
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Like, I don't know, say, a system log that would store messages from drivers and system components like dmesg?
You mean like the windows event log which captures the cause of the BSOD and stores it for looking at later?
How about a memory dump before crashing that can be inspected later?
You mean the file c:\windows\minidump.dmp that is created when a BSOD?
Whatever happened to human readable error messages even?
Sure, care to name an example of an OS that provides a human readable error message for a complex issue that was able to cause the kernel itself to croak?
Stop reinventing the goddamn wheel, it's not gonna work if it's square.
The wheel hasn't changed. Only the shape of the check engine light is changing, and quite frankly that was always useless and broken.
Speaking of 'harvesting data', it would be interesting to see what sorts of URLs end up showing up.
There are always privacy implications if you want to provide genuinely useful input on why a system crashed, since a crash dump can be very informative indeed about what the user was doing when the crash occurred; that's not some sinister MS-thing, just how it works. However, as the wonder full people in audience analytics 'user engagement tracking' and whatnot have spent years exploiting; it's really, really, easy to get additional data on who is following links by programmatically generating unique ones that redirect to the destination, rather than just linking directly.
If the QR code is just "https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/123456" then it makes me want the damn kids to get off my lawn; but it's otherwise harmless. If it eventually ends up at that domain; but starts out as an email marketing standard referrer-slurry URL that redirects you through one or more unnecessary tracking steps before eventually landing you at the URL you were supposed to reach in the first place, that's slimy above and beyond the call of duty.
Actually, while the post you're replying too is dumb, there is one really simple reason not to change the BSOD.
Reliability.
Lets go over the scenario and we'll see WHY the BSOD screen is SUPPOSED TO BE EXTREMELY SIMPLE.
A BSOD occurs when the kernel has detected a major failure or corruption within itself. At the point when its determined to BSOD, the system IS UNSTABLE AND UNSAFE. The system is deciding THE ABSOLUTE SAFEST THING TO DO IS STOP DOING ANYTHING, because THE SYSTEM IS UNSTABLE AND IN AN UNKNOWN STATE.
At this stage POTENTIALLY ANY INSTRUCTION CAN BE FATAL because you are no longer sure about anything in RAM, any data structures such as page mappings or anything else. (Sure there are some bug check BSODs that are relatively safe, but those don't happen in release/unchecked builds.)
You do as ABSOLUTELY LITTLE AS POSSIBLE in the BSOD phase of runtime. The mini dump is written to a pre-allocated location of disk ... THE SWAP FILE, that the OS put into a protected region of ram so it couldn't be corrupted in the event of a problem. It doesn't allocate more space, it doesn't move space, it just writes to known good locations. If it tried to read the disk directory, it may be corrupt and read it incorrectly, then write to the wrong portion of your disk and destroy the data structure.
On the next boot, when the system is in a stable state, THEN that mini dump (or full dump if thats the case) is written to an actual file on the file system that you can access, but its in swap until the OS boots, sees it in swap, and writes it to a standard file.
Now some dip shit from marketing wants to put a 100% worthless QR code on the screen. Thats something that has to be calculated. That means intentionally doing more computations on an unstable system and ignoring all conventional wisdom. The QR code provides no benefit and adds risk.
Its a stupid fucking idea probably done by some young engineer to naive to understand why he shouldn't be playing in that code. Or worse still, probably some jackass in the phone group decided that crashes should have a QR code so they could sell phones with QR readers to admins.
Across the board, its a stupid fucking change with way bigger risk than benefits.
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All the data is right there in c:\windows\minidump.dmp
... at the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying beware of the leopard. As I said in my original post, "we have all the data but we're not going to give it to you", all you need to do to get it is walk your mother through running the command-line dumpchk.exe and interpreting the results over the phone for you. It's so simple, anyone can do it!
Theoretically, MS could even collect this information across systems and say, "Lots of other people with the same version of the driver have experienced similar crashes, but the problem appears to be fixed in there new driver, which can be downloaded here:" and then link to it.
Except you turned that service off at Thanksgiving because you didn't want Microsoft spying on your mother.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."