Windows 10 - Deeper Impressions

[rn10950]

Not quite OT, actually fairly well related to the topics in this thread from a number of different angles:

 

I don't like the current model that software companies just continually change their products and we just race to love them. This model comes from apps - toys - on phones. It is not suitable for serious software, in which people might have been trained and need retraining. Not everyone learns by clicking wildly til they understand, though people young enough to have grown up with software cannot understand this (or don't care). And people with this world view are now senior enough to be pushing it. Everyone is on the bandwagon now: Microsoft, Apple, FireFox, Adobe are just four of them. Worse, as all the software depends on the other software, NOBODY can get off the rollercoaster.

 

I got there while researching changes in the latest FF update that disabled my Adobe Acrobat "Create PDF" plugin.   (I did find the way to re-enable it, but unless Adobe gets around to signing the plugin's code for my version of Acrobat, I'll be staying on FF 43, or switching to Pale Moon.)

 

The Firefox people can prattle all they want about how this is protecting me, but in effect what they have done is acting like malware by depriving me of established functionality. So it's either facing some theoretical, indefinitely small chance of being affected by whatever vulnerability they're patching -- or a 100% probability of losing the ability to convert a Web page to PDF.

 

--JorgeA

Trust me, most of Firefox's user base feels the same way, in fact, most of the contributors do.

[helpdesk98]

I can not do the monthly subscription model. I feel like I will pay more in the end and not have used the software anywhere near enough to justify getting the subscription. At least when I bought a piece of software with the non-subscription model I knew that it cost x amount of dollars, it will be supported for y years and I can probably get a few extra years out of it in the end. (still running MS Word and Excel 2000)

 

 

rant:

I remember a time when you used to get in a car travel to a store that sold PC software and it had these round circular disks inside with full versions of the software that you wanted. Then you go to the cash register and pay money making the disk and the contents yours to do with what you wished for as long as your system was up and running. They also gave you the whole program not just a sliver of it and then ask for more money later. Now you mostly buy online (you can still go to the store and buy a piece of cardboard with a key on it, but in the end you still have to download the program of the internet) and give then direct access to your wallet!

[JorgeA]

 

By the way, can you not print to PDF, Jorge?

 

-Noel

 

I actually don't know because the very next thing I did after finding out that the function didn't work, was to look for how to re-enable it, if possible. (Fortunately it is, for the time being.)

 

Thing is, even if I could "print to PDF," on a lot of websites if you "print" to PDF, the text will come out overlaid with URLs or menu elements and is well-nigh unusable. More often than not, I use Acrobat's "convert to PDF" extension (FWIW listed as that and not a plugin), which usually renders the page correctly and even preserves the hyperlinks.

 

That said, if Adobe doesn't fix the issue soon for my version of Acrobat (X), before long I will be forced either to ditch Firefox or to get a different full-featured PDF creating+editing application. A few months ago I learned there's a way to install the Acrobat extension on Pale Moon, so that may become my next browser stop (and just when I was warming up to Firefox).

 

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

I can not do the monthly subscription model. I feel like I will pay more in the end and not have used the software anywhere near enough to justify getting the subscription. At least when I bought a piece of software with the non-subscription model I knew that it cost x amount of dollars, it will be supported for y years and I can probably get a few extra years out of it in the end. (still running MS Word and Excel 2000)

 

 

rant:

I remember a time when you used to get in a car travel to a store that sold PC software and it had these round circular disks inside with full versions of the software that you wanted. Then you go to the cash register and pay money making the disk and the contents yours to do with what you wished for as long as your system was up and running. They also gave you the whole program not just a sliver of it and then ask for more money later. Now you mostly buy online (you can still go to the store and buy a piece of cardboard with a key on it, but in the end you still have to download the program of the internet) and give then direct access to your wallet!

 

Agreed on everything you said there, including the rant!    Oh yeah, and they even gave you thick, printed user manuals in the box.

 

BTW I'm almost as "bad" as you: I'm using MS Office 2007. Had I been on a $99/year subscription for it since the purchase, it would already have cost me like 3x what I paid for it way back when. (For any MS apologists reading this: and no, there isn't anything in newer versions of Office that I have the slightest interest in.)

 

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

 

Trust me, most of Firefox's user base feels the same way, in fact, most of the contributors do.

 

 

I believe you! Who or what, then, accounts for these unwelcome changes?

 

--JorgeA

[Drugwash]

Who or what, then, accounts for these unwelcome changes?

Instantly, this line from the "I, robot" movie popped into mind:

"Now, this is the right question!"

[NoelC]

I might add, though not a regular Firefox user myself...

 

"Is there maybe an obscure option you can change to overcome the limitation, at least for now?"

 

-Noel

[Tripredacus]

I got there while researching changes in the latest FF update that disabled my Adobe Acrobat "Create PDF" plugin.

Something similar happened with Firefox I use at work, except it deleted all my plugins!

The only thing I let auto update is Chrome because it has always been seamless, except for that time Flash stopped working a couple years ago.

[JorgeA]

I might add, though not a regular Firefox user myself...

 

"Is there maybe an obscure option you can change to overcome the limitation, at least for now?"

 

-Noel

 

For now, it's possible to adjust the about:config setting as described here, to accept unsigned extensions. But I understand that even this option is slated to go away with FF 44.

 

--JorgeA

 

EDIT: deleted typo

Edited December 26, 2015 by JorgeA

[JorgeA]

 

I got there while researching changes in the latest FF update that disabled my Adobe Acrobat "Create PDF" plugin.

Something similar happened with Firefox I use at work, except it deleted all my plugins!

The only thing I let auto update is Chrome because it has always been seamless, except for that time Flash stopped working a couple years ago.

 

 

Whoa, it didn't simply disable the plugins?!?

 

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

We knew this already, but it's good to know that word is spreading around the Web:

 

Windows 10 Can Auto-Remove Software Against Your Will

 

Further issues relating to the Fall Update included removal of color calibration profiles, custom folder location resets, some quick actions being restored to default, and custom driver configurations removed without warning, causing some to have to completely reconfigure. As with the application removals, there appears to be no true rhyme or reason in which systems have been affected by the updates, only that the experiences have been largely corroborated around the web.

 

However, there's a reference and link to an official Windows 10 document that I hadn't come across before:

 

The antivirus removals stem from the same version issues affecting the other applications. If Windows deems your antivirus version to be an issue during the update, it will simply remove it, without warning, and replace it with its own antivirus package. You can find more information in the Windows 10 Specifications document, found here...

 

 

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

The lunacy continues:

 

Latest Microsoft updates erase Word customizations, can break Edge, Outlook, File Explorer

 

Microsoft’s latest Windows 10 cumulative update, KB 3124200, dropped last week, but clearly needed more time to bake. While initial reports suggested that the update would fix some issues with WiFi connections dropping out, the latest cumulative update is causing some significant problems.

 

Reports indicate that in at least some cases, KB 3124200 nukes all Microsoft Word customizations, including custom templates, AutoText, macros, envelope addresses, autocorrect, and AutoFormat settings. It also reverts any custom spell check options you may have stored. The problem is serious enough that Microsoft has published its own KB on fixing the issue, KB 3129969.

 

Some interesting background:

 

When Satya Nadella took over at Microsoft, one of his changes was to radically overhaul how Microsoft handled QA (Quality Assurance). Previously, Microsoft had roughly twice as many QA testers as developers working in the Operating Systems Group. After the layoffs, that ratio is reportedly 1:1. Developers are now expected to do much of the code testing that was previously outsourced to other groups, even if they don’t have much experience in testing code.

 

Combine that shift with the new, mandatory update policies and you get the current situation. Because Windows 10 now forces updates by default, the system will continue to download and attempt to apply KB 3124200, even if the update is repeatedly hanging on install or having other problems. Because all updates are now rolled into a single package, there’s no way for a user who wants the WiFi fix KB 3124200 includes but doesn’t want to risk their Word customizations to install one and not the other.

 

--JorgeA

[helpdesk98]

When Satya Nadella took over at Microsoft, one of his changes was to radically overhaul how Microsoft handled QA (Quality Assurance). Previously, Microsoft had roughly twice as many QA testers as developers working in the Operating Systems Group. After the layoffs, that ratio is reportedly 1:1. Developers are now expected to do much of the code testing that was previously outsourced to other groups, even if they don’t have much experience in testing code.

 

Combine that shift with the new, mandatory update policies and you get the current situation. Because Windows 10 now forces updates by default, the system will continue to download and attempt to apply KB 3124200, even if the update is repeatedly hanging on install or having other problems. Because all updates are now rolled into a single package, there’s no way for a user who wants the WiFi fix KB 3124200 includes but doesn’t want to risk their Word customizations to install one and not the other.

 

--JorgeA

 

I wounder since now less experienced testers are doing it are they now testing updates on a wide range of varying hardware or are they now using a limited selection, because they now have to do the extra work?

[TELVM]

For the enlightment of all you stubborn luddites, a chart found elsewhere showing the indisputable advantages of embracing change.
 

[NoelC]

For now, it's possible to adjust the about:config setting as described here, to accept unsigned extensions. But I understand that even this option is slated to go away with FF 44.

 

The question comes to mind:  Why EVER plan to remove such an option?  And if so, why would a plan like that be measured in weeks or months?  People actually need years - sometimes decades - to adapt.  What's the rush?

 

The unwashed masses would just leave it alone at whatever default setting.  Smart people, who WANT to be able to run an old plug-in, ON PURPOSE, and who might actually be capable of keeping in mind that they have changed the setting, might just be able to continue to use it quite effectively.

 

It's all one and the same "new world" mindset:

 

We just CAN'T let everyone continue to do whatever they want!

 

Imagine a world where everyone's just free to do that!  The horror!  Perish the thought!

 

Who's coming up with this ridiculousness?  Young people today don't like being limited by other people's arbitrary rules.

 

-Noel