JorgeA

Wouldn't it be funny to hear back from the guy and find out his PC got infected by something anyway... --JorgeA

I don't allow my computers to do automatic Windows updates, I always set them to tell me when they become available and then to let me download and install them when I choose. Doing automatic updates for Windows is just inviting problems. However, in terms of the Windows Updates process in XP vs. Vista/7, I've found the latter to be more reliable since (unlike with XP) they don't appear and then disappear as a group. (I'm speaking independently of whether the updates themselves mess things up, and independently of the amount of bandwith that downloading them consumes.) Wow, I never thought I would see these words written by you! --JorgeA P.S. Happy New Year!!!

A couple of months old, but I just heard about this and it fits right in with our "Microsoft follies" theme: ESPN: NFL's highest-paid player describes Surface as an iPad knockoff This is what happens when you try to compete in a market whose very identity is defined by somebody else's brand name. --JorgeA

That reminds me of something else that I meant to include on my list. It may not (or may) qualify for jaclaz's "fundamentally relevant" requirement, but I find that the process of downloading and installing Windows Updates is significantly more reliable with Vista (and 7) than on the XP systems I've used. Usually the Updates process works (worked) fine on XP, but every so often the updates would have a way of being announced, then mysteriously disappearing off the face of the planet when I clicked on the little yellow shield in the Notification Area to get them. Not even going to the WU website would reveal them. Very strange. --JorgeA

I can think of a number of new things in Vista that made it easier or more convenient to use, or that improved functionality, or that enabled new or more productive tasks. In no particular order: The embedded scroll-down All Programs listings in the Start Menu, as opposed to the fly-out style that spread across the monitor screen. This occupied less screen space and (by not obscuring them) made it easier to follow complicated instructions elsewhere on the screen.The window thumbnail previews that appear when you hover over a Taskbar item. This increased the amount of information available about open files/programs without having to select them.Aero Glass transparency, making it easier to tell what's behind the current window, which is useful in certain circumstances. Again, this provides more information without having to resort to clicking and selecting.Search integrated into the Start Menu. Don't need to click a separate item there to do a search, nor do I need to specify what kind of file to look for on my computer. Just easier and more convenient all around for me.Run a program from the Vista Start Menu search box. Again, fewer actions involved than selecting Run in the XP Start Menu, then typing the program's name, then clicking OK to run it.Windows Media Center, a fantastic but tragically neglected program. I can (and do) record TV news shows and documentaries off the air and store them locally for later use. (Yes, I know that there was an XP Media Center edition, but IIRC that was available mainly on specialized -- and way overpriced -- PC models.)The Show Desktop feature, which again comes in handy in certain circumstances. --JorgeA

BTW, anybody else notice the Windows Insider Program announcement that the Terms of Use are changing next month? I wonder what that's all about. Maybe they'll require testers to uninstall any Start Menu alternatives and use only Microsoft's new FrankenStartMenu that "features" Metro tiles in the right panel. --JorgeA

Blame for the whole sorry state of Windows must be shared with Microsoft by too many of its users. I don't know what's more shocking: the fact that an annoying bug (which AFAIK did not exist in Vista/7) has been known for years and nothing has been done about it, or the totally blasé attitude toward this flaw of the people who've replied. --JorgeA

--JorgeA

As much as I'd like to be able to keep using Vista forever, IMHO it's not being "pushed out" as a specific strategy. Rightly or wrongly, the vast majority of people who had the chance to buy and use Vista decided either to stay on XP or to wait until Windows 7 came out. Now you can't buy Vista anymore (except for the odd remainder sales here and there), so over time the usage will slowly dwindle down to Windows 95 levels as people replace their computers. Although they're much better at supporting their OSes than the non-profit Linux folks, Microsoft never promised to support Vista (or any other OS) forever, and we now have just over two years left on Extended Support. The clock is ticking... --JorgeA

Fortunately (some might disagree ), everything I need still works great on my Vista system. Now for some hopeful news: Windows 10: Microsoft hints at Aero Glass' return, but only if you vote for it Anybody using the Win10 Technical Preview, please search for all suggestions in the Windows Feedback app proposing to bring back Aero, and vote for them! There's no guarantee that they will listen, of course, but if nothing else then we'll at least have called their bluff (if that's what it is). --JorgeA

And speaking of Metro, tonight I finally got tired of looking at a crude blocky Start Menu with gawdy tiles in Win10, and installed Classic Shell. Man, there is just no comparison. It's an insult to what Ivo and @xpclient have done, to even try to compare Microsoft's feeble effort to theirs. Among the advantages of Classic Shell is that all those godforsaken Metro apps are now tucked away in their own Start Menu folder, as opposed to taking up visual space in the Win10 Start Menu. I no longer have to scroll through them to get to what I really need. Their Start Menu has transparency in the right panel; are Microsoft's developers less competent? (My answer: probably not, but their managers -- or more likely their managers' managers' managers -- certainly are.) --JorgeA

The thing is (as I saw somebody pointing out somewhere recently), Microsoft is pushing hard for a Metro UI that's failed everywhere it's been introduced, as customers stayed away in droves from Windows 8 while the Windows Phone (or whatever the heck they're calling it this month) remains strictly a minor-league player in the smartphone market. And this is after years of trying to foist Metro on the public. They're fast approaching the proverbial qualification for insanity certification (trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result). --JorgeA

No, unfortunately they're still around. The battle is centered now in the Microsoft Win10TP forums, where @NoelC has been doing yeoman work. It's depressing to think that some people seem to be simply incapable of understanding the concept of choice. But that's the conclusion I'm being led to by the discussion over there. --JorgeA

To my mind, one of the most worrisome aspects about the Win10TP is the atrocious Windows Feedback app. If this is supposed to showcase how wonderful it'll be to live in app-land, then count me out. For one thing, you can't tell what items you've voted on previously -- the app just lets you keep voting "Me too" and going through the motions as if it's recording it. Your new vote never shows up in the updated list of votes for suggestions, but the fact that it lets you go through the process serves to highlight the sloppiness of the feedback app. Microsoft -- oooohh, Microsoft itself!! -- made this. Is this the level of quality and functionality we can expect from Metro/Modern/Universal apps, and is this really the model that we are expected to believe is going inevitably to replace Win32 applications? Gimme a break. For another, once you're done voting on an item, you're taken back to the top of the list, as opposed to the place in the list where you had been. This means that you have to find, all over again, where you were so that you can proceed from there with your review of the suggestions on the list. The overall impression is one of Amateur Hour rather than a serious feedback tool befitting the supposed importance of the volunteer work that TP users are doing for the computing world's premier operating system. Then again, maybe the crumminess of the feedback app merely illustrates the level of interest and attention that Microsoft bigwigs are really giving to their testers' opinions. Back to the oligarchy vs. democracy debate, but with a different angle (the oligarchs preferring crud). --JorgeA EDIT: Apropos of what I said above, check out this comment on Paul Thurrott's site: [emphasis added]

bphlpt and jaclaz: Thank you for the info and analysis, this jibes with what I thought... even down to how utterly vague it all sounds right now. Obviously I was (wishfully) thinking that this technology might offer a way to wean oneself from Windows while still being able to use Windows applications. I do know that there's WINE for that, but was hoping that this Docker might become an easier, more convenient, or more reliable way to do the same thing. I'll keep an eye on it. --JorgeA

Cool graphic there. Yeah, there's plenty of folks out there who, for whatever reason, will be OK with their vendors reaching into their pockets every month. --JorgeA

Now for an interesting critique of Cortana, one of the much-anticipated additions to Windows 10: Windows 10 Build 9888 includes Cortana -- but so bloody what? Read the whole thing, he makes other excellent points and some funny ones. Of course, like people who wear Bluetooth earpieces and don't mind being looked at like escaped loony-bin inmates, Because Actually They Are Such Important People -- Cortana would lend itself to a lot of mischievous uses (good-natured and otherwise). Imagine some guy on the train "reminding" himself to "call" Cindy at 6, Lucia at 8, Amanda at 10, and Ivy at 10:15 -- just to give off a certain public impression of himself. The possibilities are endless. --JorgeA

And here's an even more disturbing one: With Windows 10, Microsoft could move to a subscription-based model While I don't think that the evidence in the article indicates that Microsoft does currently intend to do this, the hypothesis is plausible. Despite repeated denials by MS beat reporters such as Mary Jo Foley, the idea that Windows will become a subscription service refuses to die -- and at this point, I wouldn't put anything past the Microsoft decision-makers. --JorgeA

Sorry I've been quiet, it's the holiday season. Here's something to (hopefully) start revving things up again: Windows 10: New leaked screenshots reveal brand new UI for Settings; death of Control Panel? Has anything come out more recently to confirm (or, better, to deny) the impending death of Control Panel? If true, that would be another step in the creeping imbecilization of Windows. Even if all the old settings and options made it over to the "PC Settings" app, the vast amounts of empty screen real estate in that app would be, like arthritic pain, a recurring reminder of the sorry state we've reached. And it would contradict the claim that the new version of Windows would be device-aware and able to adjust itself accordingly. With any luck, this'll be nothing more than an experimental internal build whose "features" will never see the light of day. --JorgeA

Wow, nobody knows anything about this?? --JorgeA

Paul Thurrott (at long last) comes around to some of the positions we've been expressing here for close to three years now: (Re-)Embracing the PC As you will see if you read his blog post, Paul is still fascinated by the Windows Store and cloud foolishness, but he's slowly coming around on more and more points. --JorgeA P.S. A perceptive observer down in the comment section:

I (of course) prefer Aero Glass and the 7-style Start Menu, and hope that either Microsoft will shape up or that somebody else will step up to the plate and provide an alternative OS with the desired features (easier said than done). WINE works for many Windows programs, but not all of them and not all of the time. It's worked OK on the Windows programs I've tried in my limited experience with it, but how to use it isn't a model of clarity. --JorgeA

Pretty cool. They say it's not Android but it will run Android apps. Would that somebody were to make an OS that wasn't Windows (8/10) but ran Windows programs reliably. If only the ReactOS folks (for example) would get their act together... --JorgeA

Hewlett-Packard is marketing Windows 7 Pro as an upgrade! Lest anyone think that this means an upgrade from, say, Windows 7 Home Premium, here's a sample PC listing from that e-mail circular: Officially a "downgrade," but H-P marketing is acknowledging the market's verdict that the OS improvement runs in the other direction. And yes, there are other, less "industrial"-looking models available... This must be a new low for Windows 8. --JorgeA P.S. The choice of browser for that second image is thanks to @dencorso.

Windows 10 build 9888 shows up with a kernel version of 10.0 Well, at least maybe they're finally putting an end to the silliness of the brand number mismatching the kernel version number. --JorgeA P.S. Paul Thurrott has more information about this version, and upcoming changes, here.