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Microsoft's Problem Isn't How Often it Updates Windows -- It's How It Develops It (arstechnica.com)
Ever since Microsoft settled on a cadence of two feature updates a year -- one in April, one in October -- the quality of its operating system (taking into consideration the volume of bugs that emerge every few days) has deteriorated, writes Peter Bright of ArsTechnica. From the story: The problem with Windows as a Service is quality. Previous issues with the feature and security updates have already shaken confidence in Microsoft's updating policy for Windows 10. While data is notably lacking, there is at the very least a popular perception that the quality of the monthly security updates has taken a dive with Windows 10 and that installation of the twice-annual feature updates as soon as they're available is madness. These complaints are long-standing, too. The unreliable updates have been a cause for concern since shortly after Windows 10's release.
The latest problem has brought this to a head, with commentators saying that two feature updates a year is too many and Redmond should cut back to one, and that Microsoft needs to stop developing new features and just fix bugs. Some worry that the company is dangerously close to a serious loss of trust over updates, and for some Windows users, that trust may already have been broken. These are not the first calls for Microsoft to slow down with its feature updates -- there have been concerns that there's too much churn for both IT and consumer audiences alike to handle -- but with the obvious problems of the latest update, the calls take on a new urgency.
The latest problem has brought this to a head, with commentators saying that two feature updates a year is too many and Redmond should cut back to one, and that Microsoft needs to stop developing new features and just fix bugs. Some worry that the company is dangerously close to a serious loss of trust over updates, and for some Windows users, that trust may already have been broken. These are not the first calls for Microsoft to slow down with its feature updates -- there have been concerns that there's too much churn for both IT and consumer audiences alike to handle -- but with the obvious problems of the latest update, the calls take on a new urgency.
Imagine owning a car. One fine morning, you wake up and the steering wheel has been moved from left to right, and the brake pedal is on the ceiling. You call up the manufacturer, ask "why'd you do that."
Answer: "it's better, you'll get used to be new driver experience."
Microsoft's Software Development Life Cycle:
1. Does it compile? If Yes, Ship it!
2. Get input from unpaid Beta Testers - ignore most of it
3. If they complain, they are "doing it wrong"
4. Introduce More Bugs, and optionally Bug-Fixes and Features
5. Re-Compile
6. GOTO 1
"We're getting too many lawsuits!"
"Fire all the lawyers!"
"We're getting too many bug reports!"
"Fire all the QA!"
My biggest bugaboo is that Windows updates obliterates the CUDA-enabled nVidia video driver I have installed on the laptop, and replaces it with the craptastic non-CUDA Microsoft WHQL driver... which is why I have the whole thing disabled as deep in the registry as humanly possible.
Would it kill Microsoft to look for 3rd-party drivers before stomping all over shit with their own versions? I mean, if it weren't for a few CG apps (and the lack of a decent nVidia GPU in the latest MacBook Pros), I wouldn't care, but damn...
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
I just wonder what happened to software ENGINEERING.
Why is it that user data ends up scattered everywhere ?
Why not have all the Windows software run from a read only directory,
and all Apps & Programs added on run from their own read only directory,
and keep all user info in its own User directory.
Things get scattered about and stuffed in hidden directories, etc.
I would like to see microsoft sort out the OS and default apps / office, so all of it runs from its own read only drive.
Then all data and cookies and registry, etc gets stored on its own drive or separate folder.
Also it would be best if they made Windows & Office completely portable so it can just run off a flash drive keychain & not be so tied up into lengthy installs into a PC.
Licenses can be sold to people and businesses and not linked to hardware platforms.
Go backup the older days of SP's also windows server is a bit slower but 2016 really needs an SP or update roll-up to fix the long updates.
Their software has always been bad to excreable. And I'm not the first one to slowly realise that this is probably not malicious intent most of the time (though there's that too, definitely), but indeed the very best they can do. It's never been "good", they're the Uwe Boll of software. They Just Cannot Do It. No amount of "more power" is going to change that.
Anyone I know who uses Windows does all they can to prevent updates, including - perhaps especially - IT departments. For some strange reason, it only takes one time of the CEO having his computer go into a forced update in the middle of a presentation to lenders, and policy changes REAL fast.
If Microsoft Windows was only bought based on its quality and reliability there wouldn't have been a Windows 3, and if there had then ME would have killed it off, and of not then Vista would have, and if not then Windows 10... and so it goes one. Windows has never really been ready for the desktop - it's still unbearably bad/slow at even simple file handling.
Microsoft have zero incentive to do things better because the market never punishes them for their mistakes. They just shrug their shoulders and carry on regardless.
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
M$ is shit. Switch to Ubuntu. It's faster, way more secure, has all the apps and games you could ever need.
"Fuck you, who else are you going to go to?"
A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
Microsoft's problem is that they continue to screw things up and still somehow manage to make even more money. And not just a little, a lot. So they aren't changing anything folks.
Its not just Win 10. I cringe every time I have to reinstall exchange with a new CU. Ive had them fail after the binaries are purged and so there I sit, with no exchange, no failback, and no real solution. Server 2016 is HORRIBLE - it can take 2 - 3 hours to update.
But yet, they double their money. So its not going to change. Sucks to be a windows admin. I guess its what we all deserved for not kicking them to the curb when we had a chance 10 years ago.
I predict it gets worse, a lot worse, before any changes are made.
the animators and artists I know moved to Windows and Dell gaming laptops for their workflow from Apple (they still kept the Apple laptops for playback of works in public) -- lost time and work due to Windows has been so frustrating to them so they are starting to look at adding Linux into their toolbox
Sometimes I pine for the days of simpler computers with user control, like a C64, a CoCo3, Atari ST, or Amiga.
I got so annoyed with poor quality from that company years ago - I'm content with an unpatched offline Windows 7 sp1 installed in a vm on a Linux host for quietly and peacefully getting work done - I also have some offline test machines that I'll install W7sp1 when needed -- I'm done with their destructive and time wasting updates!
Just wait for an acrade game running windows (yes do) That get's dropped kicked after rebooting in the middle some of some best game ever.
So Microsoft is copying Ubuntu's update cycle, but fails to realize that Ubuntu and other distros leverage the power of FOSS in their development cycle.
Sounds like the same old Microsoft.
Windows would be better off if it was broken up in to components and all the "features" were software installers unto themselves while the core OS stays small.
There actually is a problem with how it updates it. You see, Windows was designed to emit a two-byte NOP at the beginning of every function, just so it could be hotpatched to redirect to a longer jump instruction. This mechanism would allow reboot-free updating of core system files.
I don't see any reboot-free updating of core system files here.
You ALMOST had a coherent sentence there.
Microsoft has a lot of legacy baggage to deal with in windows. In many cases I can install an application written for windows 95 and it will work in the latest build of 64 bit windows 10.
This is a blessing and a curse. Lately it's been more of a curse. The whole desktop software model that Windows was born in to is sort of on the way out.
The reality of 2018 is that software is a service. The internet is an every-changing sea of new stuff and there is no place for a static, monolithic operating system that does not change. Security updates. New services. New technologies. New everything.
Microsoft's solution is to force rapid fire updates and periodic refreshes. Problematic? Yeah. Classic windows applications don't like that. Is there a better way to do it? Probably not for windows.
Remember windows 8? When Microsoft tried to sell everyone windows that's not windows? That went over like a lead balloon and even today uptake of windows 10 store apps is minimal at best.
People want windows. So we have this.
Boy, you sure are fucking stupid.
Works much better like this:
I have no desire to have my one Win10 computer "upgraded", I just want bugs fixed. It came with one "upgrade" installed, and wouldn't do much of anything until I installed the second "upgrade", and I'm afraid to let it near an working wifi access point until I figure out how to stop it from installing this latest one. I'm still trying to find how to remove the CRAP I didn't want from those previous "upgrades".
Of course, the promise is that the new "update" allows me to remove a few more of unwanted applications from the previous "updates", but that's not enough to let me trust them.
But, Apple is the same way - To fix security issues on iOS11, I have to go through and disable all the new crap in iOS12, including the things I disabled when 11 was installed that 12 turned back on. Of course, one of the things turned back on (the "app bar" in messaging) now removes functionality from the app if you disable it, as as punishment for disagreeing with Apple's vision of the perfect interface...
New *features* sells software. Bug fixes don't.
Microsoft will keep churning out crud. Same shit. Different day. That same old 90s era C++ "we know better than you" attitude is still very much in evidence.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
It will all be fixed in Windows 12.
Have gnu, will travel.
It's just Joe Dragon. He's never made any sense.
Peter Bright = GOITERMAN alias FROGMOUTH! Ask him why his photos online almost always have his hand in front of his chin hiding his pouch!
"Microsoft needs to stop developing new features and just fix bugs."
Generally true, but what does Microsoft do about core features that are so intensely buggy that they are literally unsalvageable?
Computer over. Virus = very yes.
If updates were perfect and 100% bug-free, the way Microsoft is now doing them is a big problem all by itself:
1) unless you have an IT department at your disposal and work with enterprise-level licenses or "professional" licenses, which means not most home users, there is poor if not awful control of how the update process works. How big with the update be? How long will it take to download? How long will it take to install? All of these receive unreliable estimates. When will the updates happen? Unless you set "active hours", and somehow never manage to stray outside them, you can be surprised with an update that will monopolize the use of your machine at any time. That's fine if you're not doing anything important, but if you are, sucks to be you.
2) the updates sometimes take enormous amounts of time. Hours and hours. During that time your machine is effectively unusable. I don't even mean network connection/download time. I don't know why, but some major updates take an insane amount of time to install. Worse, at some stages they give bad feedback (empty black screen for quite a while ... but it's doing something), and there are multiple reboots, so even if you think it's done... surprise, there's a whole other phase.
3) some of the updates are feature changes that compel people to learn things all over again. For someone who struggles with learning a computer it is like a constantly shifting sandpile of uncertainty. Worse, even if you set things up the way you like, some updates will happily reset everything and ignore your settings.
Taken together, the update experience is awful even if it doesn't cause the machine to be unbootable or break drivers, which sometimes it does. At that point it is a disaster that regular users are unlikely to handle without going back to the store and paying someone to fix it.
This all happens because Microsoft thinks incremental bug and security patches should be lumped together with feature updates that most people don't care about. If there was an *easy* way to specify security updates ONLY, no feature updates, I'd choose it.
My observation is that M$ is experimenting with either different ways to spam Windows users, and/or looking for ways to force them into their cloud/store to (hopefully) rent or buy services through it. This is probably the main reason for changes.
I get "Windows notifications" of new or upgraded services offered by M$. The pretty login screens sometimes show vacation spots that M$ appears to be sponsoring*. (I must admit, I have clicked out of curiosity after seeing some nice photo. I fed the troll, and had to shower afterward.) And MS-Paint has a notice toolbar icon that the app will be moving to the cloud soon with a link to their store. The app may be free (now), but they can get you into their store to shop around if they move their usual Windows goodies up there.
They look at Google App Store and Apple Store as their future revenue growth, not selling OS's. The OS is to become their ad and MS-cloud tie-in platform. Linux-based OS's are slowly nipping at their OS cash cow, and they are scrambling for alternative revenue. They lost the phone and tablet OS wars, and consumers and small biz are slowly but increasingly shifting to Android and arguably Apple for desktop replacements or alternatives. New users only use M$ for compatibility, not because they want to. M$ is being pushed to be the new IBM, and Google is the new M$, but M$ won't go quietly, since they see how IBM is struggling to remain relevant. (IBM's A.I. ads have desperate PHB written all over them.)
Cloud is their only recent success story; thus, they're hellbent in turning Windows into an MS-cloud portal. I'd do the same if I were a greedy MS executive trying to leverage the co's only success.
* To be fair, I haven't found a direct tie yet, but some appear very suspicious. I should turn off the login wallpaper, but have to admit they supply some cool pics if you use the tuning feature to see what you like.
Table-ized A.I.
This IS a service pack. Simply changing the name back won't solve these problems. The problem is they change so much shit with each Service Pack and then force it down user's throats without testing with the hope of sticking to some arbitrary timeline for releasing them.
I think sometime in the mid-late 2000s or every early 2010s Microsoft re-focused on security at the expense of new non-security features.
For awhile.
These days, any company that's in the market that Microsoft is in needs to have a "security in depth first" approach. This means as close to zero security-related bugs as possible and fixing or providing reasonable mitigations for security issues as quickly as possible.
Bugs that lead to unwanted data deletion or, for that matter, "silent failures" on requests to delete data, are security bugs even if they do not lead to unauthorized access.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
I'm surprised that Dell, Lenovo, Best buy, Amazon, nVidia, and others haven't gotten together and collectively told Microsoft to get their act together -- Apple is completely free to ignore customers as it only affects Apple as customers move on -- Microsoft has more commercial dependants
Sure, Microsoft has gone downhill and seems to change things to the worse needlessly, but what you describe better fits Apple. They are the ones who with an OS upgrade reverse the direction of your friggin' mouse scroll wheel, telling you "this is the natural direct", and on by default since you should get used to it!
Older days, odd number service packs bricked the machine.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Mod parent up!! However, that comment may, in some ways, be too kind.
Microsoft is poorly managed? Plenty of evidence.
Microsoft was badly managed 10 years ago.
Microsoft managers lack social ability. They have done ENORMOUS DAMAGE to the Microsoft brand name. That is my best understanding and opinion.
Some of the many, many reports of Microsoft managers thinking they can manipulate and control everyone, as though the managers are government dictators:
Windows 10 is possibly the worst spyware ever made. "Buried in the service agreement is permission to poke through everything on your PC." (Aug. 4, 2015)
Microsoft's Intolerable Windows 10 Aggression (May 27, 2016)
Microsoft is infesting Windows 10 with annoying ads (March 17, 2017)
Microsoft, stop sabotaging Windows 10. (March 21, 2017)
A huge problem: A high percentage of people who work with Windows computers make more money if there are more problems with Microsoft and Windows. There is a conflict of interest.
Apparently Microsoft managers decided they would try to be like Google's Android. They apparently decided to try to gather information about everything, and try to sell that information. Most people with cell phones don't have the technical knowledge necessary to know if they are being abused.
Can a company be sued for supplying computers with Windows 10? If a company supplies Windows 10 computers to businesses and doesn't get a signed agreement from all business customers that the customers know Windows 10 allows Microsoft to gather data from their computers, the supplier could be the target of court cases, and possibly even go to prison. No business customers want Microsoft employees to have access to their company information. My opinion, shared by many others.
People working with desktop computers don't want to be distracted by ads. They don't want to try to learn new, complicated user interfaces.
Despite regular bold statements that agile methods have improved everything, experience shows that it has mostly degraded software quality and consistency and only improved short-term revenue for software companies.
Regarding Windows, this has gone downhill so much that it defies good sense. It actually used to be a pretty decent platform (at least starting with Windows NT 4 and Windows 2000), very consistent. Starting with Windows 8, it started degrading. You just have to remember their main strategy was to push forward Windows on mobile platforms. They failed spectacularly with the mobile market, yet they kept insisting with all the same methods. Windows 10 is essentially the result of a strategic failure, which is incidentally consistent with agile methods, as those basically promote no long-term vision or strategy and only focus on short-term makeshift jobs, AKA "new features".
Be nice, or MS will merge with Comcast.
Table-ized A.I.
Exactly when was Microsoft Windows a high quality Operating System?
After 32 years, it's still barely usable, completely unstable, full of security holes. I run approx 300 servers and zero of them run Windows, across all the desktops I manage, only three of them run it, because of a crappy software that some clients require. It's fair to say that Microsoft Windows is a usable, some what functional OS, that can solve simple problems, but past that, forget about it.
the semi-annual feature updates are NOT 'service packs' of old.
service packs were primarily compilations of previous updates and fixes in a neat and tidy package, with perhaps a simple or minor change or two. you could download and save the sp installers to apply to a base os install to 'bring it up to speed'
'feature updates' introduce new and significant changes that is bloated so much it requires a full download of a windows install media and an 'in place upgrade' method of installation. you can download (with a little hoop jumping) and save a feature update installer.. and it's the entire fucking os and a bunch of shit you didn't want thrown in for funzies because you, dear user, are both the product *and* the beta tester.
As a .NET architect that's been using Windows for my software for 16 years, I want to sadly announce that I am no longer planning to port any future new code to Windows since it is unstable. This includes both Windows 10 and Windows Server. For Windows Server, Active Directory has been flat out unstable everywhere I worked with 100% of the instances (100+ boxes) that would not stay up for even 2 years without major failure.
PFSense, CentOS, Ubuntu, FreeBSD.. or even MacOS. Windows is dead for future software development needs or execution.
Good luck MS!
Regards, .NET Architect
Your Over-certified, over-educated
The only new feature they need to implement in Windows 10 is the one that unfucks the UI and reverts to Windows 7.
Other useful features would involve removing the dire windows store, UWP apps, the new settings bullshit and reverting to control panel.
Honestly, what are these new features and why does it take so long to release them ?
I have been using w10 since before it was GA (I'm one of those insiders who registered to get a free copy) and haven't seen much changes. A few tweaks concerning the configuration or control panel.
I don't use Edge, Cortana or Timeline.
6 months to deliver more emojis ?
My issue is not whether windows is more superior or inferior to other operating systems. In my work I use all because the best tools are not available for all operating systems. My issue is that i never use new features and they always end up slowing down the OS. I think the OS should be in the background and simply work. I will happily add the software I need for my work -- whether open source or commercial. I cannot think of a single OS that I use that has ever added a feature I use since multitasking became commonplace. As for Linux, which I use a few hours a day in my work, I am 100% CLI. I can do all I need and more from the CLI. I don't need cute icons and cute screens to work. Even in windows, I have a CLI interface running all the time because it is the easiest way to accomplish certain tasks and run non GUI software I have developed for my work. Without the GUI it loads in a hearbeat, performs the task, and exits fast. Perfect!
Peter is completely wrong on this. This is not about development but about how Microsoft went from in house testing to Insider's or volunteer users who report back through feedback on issues. Sometimes these issues get ignored, or not addressed properly. Maybe a change to more in house reviews, a elimination of set release schedules, and a commitment to not ship a release out until its really ready. Personally I find too much focus on adding new features and less on making sure the core OS is at its best. Its that old problem for marketing, new features sell, stability and bug fixing is not a big seller.
good thing their users are so lazy and stupid they just lay there and whine about it instead of using Free Software.
I don't have anything against creimer & I'd have no reason to contact or bother him. I don't pull the bogus crap you losers do to both he & myself in your lying or libelous posts via UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous posts that REGISTERED 'lusers' like c6gunner DO do + fucked up & got himself caught doing to me IMPERSONATING me!
No questions asked c6gunner = post submitter & signed off as "APK" (me) https://linux.slashdot.org/com...
So after that he ran from a fair challenge I put to him https://linux.slashdot.org/com... after insulting me.
That last link's a FAIR challenge to him to show he's done better work & his IMPERSONATIONS are all he has (that & STALKING ME by UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous posts like a psycho loser would do).
APK
P.S.=> Those of you doing that to BOTH myself & imo, also creimer are REAL pieces of shit & IF I ever caught you + had you face to face? You'd get your TEETH pounded OUT OF YOUR Weezil FACED JAWS motherfucker (I shit you not you fucking puss ass punks)... apk
Would you buy a car with loads of new features but had tons of bugs requiring dealer visits? Microsoft plain and simple lost touch with what is important. That is a OS that works well for everything you do on your device. Its not about features alone, its about making sure you don't break anything. Clearly when you release in a twice year cadence you tend to work on selling users on something new. But maybe Microsoft needs much less upgrades and more focus on a solid OS. Stop with the pre determined deadlines and release as needed when everything is tested properly.
Software engineers and business analysts may love it, but when you're updating stuff too often, it becomes a mighty headache to the end user. MS is simply too big to go this way with Windows....you can't update a billion devices 2x a year without something breaking.
Wait, we have this clickbait title:
Microsoft’s problem isn’t how often it updates Windows—it’s how it develops it
but this buried in the article:
Microsoft hasn't exactly revealed the development process being used with Windows 10
Explanation: barely tech literate clickbait writer for Ars Technica imagines they have a clue about how software development works at Microsoft. Argue all you want about the quality of windows, but don't try to pretend you have some understanding about software development and how it's gone wrong in Redmond.
Tesla owners are complaining about this very thing right now. The much lauded version 9.0 software update they're pushing out to Teslas right now rethinks the whole UI. Model S owners can no longer pick any two application to split on the top and bottom halves of their screens. Instead, Tesla decided the navigation window should always be present, with anything else you might want to see on a toolbar along the bottom that lets you pick one to slide up, overlaying the bottom portion of the nav screen.
So effectively, people who have been driving their cars since 2012 with things laid out their preferred way (backup camera screen always visible while music/stereo controls occupy the other half of the display, perhaps?) are now forced to do things differently.
It seems like the computer industry has this unique perspective that their designers know what's best for their users and dictate where and how you'll control what you use - changing it at will.
MS axed its QA years ago too. :(
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
That quality of the updates is an issue has been obvious for a long time. What gets me mad is the stress these updates bring to bear on my computer. It Microsoft had their way, Windows would churn up the hard drive almost all the time. I've already had several HDs fail in the last few years on both Dell and HP machines. So what I did was to disable Superfetch and set the update mode to "let me know about them but don't download and don't install any"; I'll let you figure out how I did that and yes, my machines run on Windows 10 Home. Even an apparently straightforward Desk Cleanup will bring the system almost to a grind for hours if you chose to also delete the system update temp files(because it needs to "optimize" stuff, see).
Microsoft should unbundle all the apps in windows. They only need kernel, file browser, command line, and software installer (could be locked to MS app store). It's bloated. It will make businesses very happy, plus gamers.
does all they can to prevent updates,
And then are shocked. SHOCKED! when the update they've put off for 6 months eventually installs itself.
Or they could just schedule it for a time that isn't during a presentation.
Not a single day goes by without me regretting installing Windows 10.
Stop adding new shit, fix the bugs and let the system be stable and then leave me alone!
Every time all my documents, that I use as reference material for something I am writing, is closed and windows forcibly rebooted I feel violated. Can I sue for psychological trauma?
Every time the "pay per startup", (very expensive), application I use is shut down for a reboot it cost money. Can I sue for that money back?
I would be glad to pay 3-4 times what I was asked to pay for MS Windows 10, to get a bug-fixes only stable version.
It doesn't always allow you to that.
It will just update cause it wants to.
http://progressquest.com/spoltog.php?name=Son+Of+Son+Of+DarkRookie
They never had it and they will never get it.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Windows has so many layers of backward compatibility that create a large percentage of the security problems. But if Windows wasn't backwards compatible with those old apps Slashdotters would be complaining that the lack of backwards compatibility was a cash grab by Microsoft to force you to buy new versions.
Indeed. Windows is and has always been a toy. For a toy, the quality would be reasonable, bit for something you need to be able to depend on, it is a bad joke.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Get rid of Satya Nadella and it all goes away. The politics. The "bugs" that hurt users on purpose. The restarts that wipe out user work on purpose. The destruction of viable product lines. All of it. Get rid of Satya. He is a clown disguised as a gentle idiot. His job is to weaken Microsoft so that Apple and Google can split the Big Brother tech pie for the CIA.
The biggest SP problem I recall was NT 4 SP 6. 6a was released only 8 days later.
Ubuntu Linux updates on the same schedule. You want things fixed fast as possible. Not sure why frequency is an issue.
In the latest versions, you can put your custom group anywhere on any tab, name it whatever you want, and stick your features on it, including ones that aren't on the ribbon at all.
So, MS eventually listened to reason. Office 2007 was a mess though.
Are you saying it took MS 11 years to get the ribbon right? The fact they didn't get it right first before releasing it tells you something:
We are all Beta Cows! Say Msoooo, you beta cows!
Table-ized A.I.
- MS makes money be selling server software .... ,,,
- MS makes money be selling Office suit
- MS makes money be selling
- Way down in the earnings is money made from Windows 10 desktop.
MS is essentially only pushing Azure based software today. They're open sourcing or on the road to end of life ing as much of the rest as they can.
I'm supprised to see that Windows 10 is the last windows version since each major OS update was a reason to drop support for very long ancient legacy software (vb6 runtime dropped in Windows 11?)
Of interest is that the replacement for .net is .net core and those versions are comming out with less than 2 year release to end of life date. That's a big change compared to just about any SQL Server Enterprise version which has at least 10 years of support.
Also, MS is quitely developing JavaScript based desktop app replacements (e.g, SQL Operations Manger) for win32 versions (MS SQL Server Manager).
All of which lead to speculation that .NET is finally on the way to legacy zombie status and MS will push *capital yuck* desktop software which is a browser control wrapped around JavaScript, HTML and Node - and welcome to 'Unmaintainable Gulch' code throwing out 50 years of mostly improving software engineering practices.
Best point is that 45% of all software features are unused and we are as a society well beyond that point. Give me OS, Office a browser and a file system and that meets 95% of my daily computing needs (and no no no no no no no active directory or azure active directory needed).
They did post an updated Windows Server 2016 image that has all of the updates through this past February.
You're a psycho STALKING me UNIDENTIFIALBE anonymous &/or IMPERSONATING ME https://yro.slashdot.org/comme... saying lies I don't (I never say hosts cure spectre/meltdown OR that I have a Mac version (I don't)) ... & you have the NERVE to tell ME to "get some fucking mental health help"?
* You complete LOSER - You're a WEIRDO if there EVER WAS ONE!
(You're SO BAD that YOU DON'T EVEN STAND BEHIND YOUR OWN WORDS (lies) Mr. UNIDENTIFIABLE Anonymous).
APK
P.S.=> See the above: "Drink it in & DIGEST IT" as you EAT YOUR WORDS (so you can WASH THEM DOWN) you WEIRDO PSYCHO & STALKER (obsessed w/ me) punk... apk
I grew up in the Seattle area - home of Microsoft - using DOS and Windows and loved it, especially Windows 2000. We switched to Debian Linux at home years ago and haven't missed Windows. We run Windows 7 in a VM to run Quickbooks only until they require Windows 10 at which point we will ditch Quickbooks too. We are also switching away from Windows at work. I just received our new Synology NAS in the mail - The SBS 2011 server is being replaced by this Linux-based NAS that has more functionality (the kind that people actually want) at a fraction of the cost. Worker bees will run Linux - new System76 machines perhaps. LibreOffice, the GIMP, Inkscape, etc. - Linux software meets all of our needs here. We'll run Quickbooks on Windows in a VM if we have too until we switch away from it too. We are experimenting with LibreCAD for our 2D CAD needs. If it works, the CAD dept. will run Linux. If not, they may have to run Macs to have AutoCAD. We're ditching Microsoft for good though because of this nonsense.