Latest Windows 10 Update Breaks Windows Media Player, Win32 Apps In General (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The important data loss bug that interrupted the rollout of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, version 1809, may be fixed, but it turns out there are plenty of other weird problems with the release. As spotted by Paul Thurrott, the update also breaks the seek bar in Windows Media Player when playing "specific files." Microsoft does promise to fix the bug, but the timeframe is vaguely open-ended: it will be "in an upcoming release."

Also in the "how did that happen" category comes another bug: some Win32 programs can't be set as the default program for a given file type. So if you want certain files to always open in Notepad, for example, you're currently out of luck. A fix for this is promised by the end of the month. Setting default program associations is something that's been in Windows for 20-something years, so it's a little alarming that it should be broken. On top of this, there continue to be complaints that Windows 10 version 1809 doesn't work with iCloud, and machines with the iCloud client are currently blacklisted to prevent them from receiving the 1809 update. It's not immediately clear whose fault this one is -- it could be Microsoft's, but it's also possible that Apple is to blame.

Comments

Windows shouldn't be a service!

[zidium]

Windows just shouldn't be a service!

Leave it alone and give us big big upgrades every couple of years.... That's fine and acceptable and what we're used to.

This autoupdating crap means that any given morning, my box may be broken in very strange ways, with little if any perceivable benefit.

Re:Windows shouldn't be a service!

[Anonymous Coward]

This autoupdating crap means that any given morning, my box may be broken in very strange ways, with little if any perceivable benefit.

Apparently the great lumbering beast that is Microsoft has now decided they're agile, and they are willing to risk their reputation and the quality of their OS to push out new bullshit features.

This is why I refused to let my Windows 8.1 machine upgrade to Win 10, and why my next 'Windows' machine will be a pure VM on a Linux host -- one in which I severely limit its network access.

Sorry, Microsoft ... it's my fucking machine, you don't get to recklessly upgrade whenever you choose and break my desktop.

I don't know why MS is so insistent on Shit as a Service, but the reality it, they're just producing shit these days. This is, what, 3 or 4 consecutive weeks they've fucked up people's machines with this crap?

Fuck that, I'm not taking their steaming pile of shit beta builds or accepting telemetry and ads in my machine.

I predict MS is going to seriously lose customers over shit like this.

Re:Windows shouldn't be a service!

[reboot246]

"Shit as a Service" is maybe the best, most accurate description I've ever read about Microsoft's current operating system.

When my Windows 7 goes tango uniform, it sure as hell won't be replaced with anything from Microsoft.

Re:Windows shouldn't be a service!

[Megol]

One is a bug and the other a trend.

Re:Windows shouldn't be a service!

[Gravis Zero]

If you don't like how Windows 10 behaves then switch to another operating system. Anything less is rewarding Microsoft for bad behavior.

Re:Windows shouldn't be a service!

[gweihir]

Automatic updates are, in principle, not much of a problem. I have run Debian (w/o systemd) with automatic updates every 3 days for about 15 years now, both desktop and server, with one real problem in the whole time. Sure, major version updates are still manual, but everything else is not. In addition, I have some of my own boot-scripts in there and use self-compiled custom kernels. So this can be done reliably even with no-so-standard configurations.

The problem here is that MS cannot support this model, as their product is far too badly made and they do not have the technological expertise to stay on top of things. In addition, they are slowly becoming less relevant (mostly because of Android) and seem to be somewhat panicked, with one bad decision following another and UI changes (WTF? Who wants UI changes? This is a tool!) that are supposed to "revolutionize" things, but in reality just make things worse.

...and nothing of value was lost

[denis-The-menace]

Use VLC!
less BS/ads and sometimes works with broken files.

Overheard at the Microsoft bar...

[geekmux]

(Windows ME) "I will remain forever champion as the Worst Microsoft Operating System!"

(Windows 10) "Hold my beer."

The Year of the Linux Desktop; brought to you by Windows Update.

Not Apple to blame

[Anonymous Coward]

> It's not immediately clear whose fault this one is -- it could be Microsoft's, but it's also possible that Apple is to blame.

Nope. If an operating system breaks any userland program, it's always the operating system which should be blamed.

I think MS has lost control of their product

[gweihir]

As in they have managed to make it complex enough and have sacked or driven away enough good engineers that they really cannot make work well anymore. Sure, windows never worked very well, but this is a new quality of bad.

Now, what do you do when you stupidly have let one OS maker get a quasi-monopoly and that maker loses it?