Soooo...do you guys think Microsoft will ever fix the underlying problems with Windows?

[sapphirescales]

It amazes me that Microsoft wastes so much time adding features that literally NO ONE asked for like Cortana and Inking but they don't fix the underlying issues that have been plaguing Windows forever. The one that really irks me is the 260 character limit. Yes, I know you can enable long paths but it's still a problem with a lot of software. Why is this even still a thing? And how about network discovery? That has never freaking worked right. And no, Microsoft, the answer isn't another Windows RT/S Mode fiasco. Nobody wants what's essentially a phone OS on their computer. You've spent 6 years moving settings from the Control Panel to the Settings mode and it's still not done. There's still no decent backup software included with Windows. There's NO reason why Microsoft couldn't have a software like Time Machine built into Windows. File History sucks royally.

I just look back on great Microsoft products like Windows Live Essentials and I wonder what went wrong with this company. It's like they just make up new crap to add to Windows just so they can get a paycheck but don't give a rats ass whether they actually make Windows better. Their disorganized, half-assed plan to coerce people into buying crap from their store was a total failure yet they STILL try to push their garbage Edge browser and do everything they can to trick users into signing up for a Microsoft account if they dare choose to use a local account.

Windows is a great OS. It's very powerful. But you can't just keep putting lipstick on a pig hoping people won't notice it's a pig. Microsoft doesn't even try to make Windows user friendly anymore. At this point they're basically putting lipstick on a pig's corpse and they don't even bother to spray air freshener to try and hide the stench of rotting flesh. The ONLY thing that keeps people with Windows is their wide range of software compatibility, and with cloud based software that advantage is nullified. And it's not the new crap they keep adding that keeps people on Windows - it's the old features that people still use (despite Microsoft's best efforts at hiding these features).

All I can say is thank God Apple doesn't license Mac OS to PC vendors. If they did, then Windows would be dead in 2 years in the consumer space and probably 5-10 years in business.

 

[NviGate Systems]

I was just thinking about the same question but for eBay. Heh.

It essentially boils down to what kind of corporate environment they have. Right now it's ADD. They love to start new projects but can't fix anything.

 

[GTP]

"Soooo...do you guys think Microsoft will ever fix the underlying problems with Windows?"​

Of course they have...

 

[britechguy]

File History sucks royally.

Speak for yourself. As a versioned user data (as opposed to system image) backup system it's hard to beat File History. It does everything that any versioned user data backup I ever used when working data centers did, but on the home computer. But even I'll admit that the recovery side, particularly if it's being done on a machine other than where the backup was created, is way more clunky and obtuse than it need be.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Windows 10 backup is time machine... and it's already there... (Note I said Windows 10 backup, not Windows 7 backup... which is ALSO in Windows 10)

Back that up with OneDrive for profile redirects and you have local archives + cloud storage.

If you want image backups, that's entirely different. MS's model is screw the OS and the applications, you can reinstall a platform in 15min it's a waste of time to protect end points like that. And you know what... THEY ARE RIGHT!

 

[britechguy]

If you want image backups, that's entirely different. MS's model is screw the OS and the applications, you can reinstall a platform in 15min it's a waste of time to protect end points like that. And you know what... THEY ARE RIGHT!

Another "speak for yourself." The amount of time and effort most put in to customizing a system to their liking is, to put it mildly, non-trivial. I don't want to have to start from scratch were my system disk to bite the dust.

There's a reason that I call doing a completely clean (re)install "the thermonuclear option" that I avoid unless all else fails. Having a system image protocol in place is an essential part of computer ownership for the vast majority of users who don't have an IT support department or other entity (such as yourself) doing same for them.

I dread to think how many hours I'd have to spend reinstalling software alone were I to have to start from scratch. And the very thought of having to do so makes me queasy.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@britechguy Learn to use the defaults, and move on. We little people don't get to make the choices on this, we use what we've been sold.

Windows isn't Linux... it doesn't get customized. And reinstalling all the applications with appropriate licensing being available is in the installation script that includes initial setup automation.

That above statement is largely why I don't like servicing residential anymore. Businesses I can blow away a system and have it back to a state the user expects it in less than 10 min in some cases.

Meanwhile... I used to do what you're doing. But all that does is reinforce bad habits. And I'm dealing with this now, in a very ugly personal way as I attempt to locate a recently deceased uncle's financial data on his computer. The problem? Thanks to improperly configured profile redirection on Windows 7, but then upgraded to Windows 10... I have THREE completely separate copies of his profile. And even I with all my years of experience can't tell them apart or figure out which one Windows uses in any given moment.

Yes, N&P is a nuclear option, but it's the option that gets users back to the defaults, which is where it's most easy to serve them, which means their repair bills go down, because the time investment goes down.

TLDR, it's inefficient to service customized user interfaces. If a client wants to pay for it... great! But I don't have any of those anymore. I have many that WANT IT, but when they see the $$$ involved they run.

 

[britechguy]

That above statement is largely why I don't like servicing residential anymore.

But some of us do, and the needs of residential (including my own) are at odds with what you propose.

If ever there were a case of different situations and different needs, this is one of them. Your solution is not, and never will be, universally applicable. It's just not appropriate nor time efficient where the circumstances you accurately describe for business settings are not prevailing.

We do what suits us, and our clients and their needs/desires, best. And that's appropriate.

 

[Philippe]

It's like they just make up new crap to add to Windows just so they can get a paycheck. [...] The ONLY thing that keeps people with Windows is their wide range of software compatibility [...]

This is so true! 100% stock market driven company... like everything nowadays.
The whole "update" system is flawed: sell a buggy system & then "sell" patches (keep people in chains, force them to upgrade, etc.)
The way it should be: make a rock solid product & let people learn and enjoy it - my $0.02

Learn to use the defaults, and move on. We little people don't get to make the choices on this, we use what we've been sold.

This is the modern thinking now, this is how kids think... such a pity.
My old way of thinking: it's my machine and I want it the way I like. I don't want anyone to choose for me. I know it's kind of dinosaur's thinking

 

[Sky-Knight]

@Philippe this "kid" is 40. You can still do whatever you want on a computer, it's just a waste of time on rebuild. When you stick to the defaults, life is so much easier.

Endpoints are supposed to be disposable. Custom disposable is possible... just expensive.

Want full custom? Use Linux.

P.S. All software is buggy... *nix just got hit with a massive problem in sudo that basically removes all security from all *nix ever if you have a shell login. Patches are a constant, and will never go away.

 

[britechguy]

My old way of thinking: it's my machine and I want it the way I like. I don't want anyone to choose for me. I know it's kind of dinosaur's thinking

The problem being, it was never that way, either.

There have always, always, always been defaults, and there always will be. Some of those, many I'd say, you could customize. Others not. In the world of Windows, as far as the overall nature of the end user's possible range of experiences, depending on what they do or do not choose to do, has not changed in its basic nature.

 

[britechguy]

All software is buggy... *nix just got hit with a massive problem in sudo that basically removes all security from all *nix ever if you have a shell login. Patches are a constant, and will never go away.

Amen to that!! Every time I see people try to claim that Linux (or MacOS, or whatever) is "the perfect OS" I immediately know they've never used it long term.

Bugs are a part of software, any software. It's your personal usage patterns that most often determine whether or not you directly experience them.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@britechguy Do you want to go back to the way Windows 7 used to update?

I don't know about you, but Win10's monthly rollups are VASTLY easier to manage. Now I wish Microsoft would only do a single feature update a year, with two years of support per version... because this semi-annual feature update march is a bit painful but all in all... Win10 works pretty well.

Those that have a hard with with it make me scratch my head. I don't have to nuke it hardly ever... I deploy systems and they stay out in the field for years on end and when they come back in it's because someone did something really stupid, or there's a catastrophic hardware fault.

The only time I run into trouble is when I get a user that wants to use some hack he found online to tweak something, and then three feature updates later the machine is buggered. Format C: is the only means to get back to a supportable space. I can't know how to support every custom tweak in existence. That's why I preach defaults... because it's the only knowable space we can all share to support the product.

And that method by the way, applies to everything not just Windows. KISS principle... keep defaults whenever possible. Document places where it isn't. Deploy.

 

[Porthos]

Now I wish Microsoft would only do a single feature update a year

Technically it is now for the past 2 years. one is a large one and one (small) that just enables some changes that have been downloaded in the previous 6 months.

 

[britechguy]

@britechguy Do you want to go back to the way Windows 7 used to update?

What ever gave you that impression? I have the feeling you meant to reply to @Philippe, post #9, but cannot be absolutely certain.

 

[Sky-Knight]

What ever gave you that impression? I have the feeling you meant to reply to @Philippe, post #9, but cannot be absolutely certain.

You didn't, it was rhetorical. I don't think either one of us wants to go back to that fiddly busted mess that was Windows 7 updates. I just turn it into a bit of a rib anytime anyone complains about how Windows 10 updates. I mean sure the process is imperfect, and MS pushes a bad update from time to time but we spend so much less time managing patches now relative to what we used to spend back then!

@Porthos But the update scheduling is still the same. Sure, we get one big feature update, and one small one. But each update level is still only supported for 18 months. But yes, at least we can skip the spring releases, and stay on what amounts to the LTS releases in the Fall from now on and avoid some of the pain. Well, if you're on Pro anyway... everyone on Home gets updates whenever they push the button, or whatever happens to be current when they timeout on whatever release they have now.

 

[Porthos]

But each update level is still only supported for 18 months.

Things change fast in 18 months. But I see your point.
I like the cadence, I have a service I charge for to do the feature updates for my residential clients.

 

[GTP]

Learn to use the defaults, and move on. We little people don't get to make the choices on this, we use what we've been sold.

Ahhh tell that to the dozens of hours I spend ripping and tearing, customising and setting up Windows how I want it setup.
We do get to choose.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Ahhh tell that to the dozens of hours I spend ripping and tearing, customising and setting up Windows how I want it setup.
We do get to choose.

You do! And then when your machine is replaced you get to do it again. And when you do it for yourself it's one thing, when you have to pay for someone to do it that's quite another.

If you have clients that are willing to pay for the time it takes on your part to do that work... go for it! My clients aren't, they want it done fast, and they want it done cheap. That means defaults.

 

[frase]

"Soooo...do you guys think Microsoft will ever fix the underlying problems with Windows?"​

Of course they have...

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Warning Undercarriage..Warning Undercarriage..WTF!!!