Windows 10 - Deeper Impressions

[UCyborg]

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-USB-Blog/What-is-new-with-Serial-in-Windows-10/ba-p/270855

[ZaPbUzZ]

well, i miss aero glass and these patches are massively overweight. If i try to use the official media creator tool for setup it sets it up then deletes it from my usb so i have to make dvd.

sometimes it will delete data that would be deemed contravercial without my consent or even a warning and that annoying right click save to download images that don't actually save from ANY web browser.

Although i do not use insider builds this crap is not tollerable its like bugs in the revisions keep resurfacing either accidentally or deliberately as a result of turning off data collection components just that i have limited bandwidth am i a suspect?.

How easy social media sites can now bork your open source proxy app and peerblock apps with malware scripts.

Its safer to use a virtual machine and not the microsoft one.

Edited August 25, 2019 by ZaPbUzZ
typo and additional comment

[daniel_k]

Just installed 1903 from the oficial ISO.

Setup went OK.

However, when installing updates, KB4512941 failed 3 times to install.

What a bad joke, unbelievable!

Just gave up and will wait until next patch tuesday, probably this update will be superseded with a working one.

Glad I don't need to use this crap, was giving it a try (or trying to).

[jaclaz]

If you have certain, specific NEC device(s) with Intel Centrino 6205/6235 and Broadcom 802.11ac Wi-Fi cards ...

... you probably won't read this:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-information/status-windows-10-1903#706msgdesc

Quote

Safeguard on certain devices with some Intel and Broadcom Wi-Fi adapters
Microsoft and NEC have found incompatibility issues with Intel Centrino 6205/6235 and Broadcom 802.11ac Wi-Fi cards when running Windows 10, version 1903 on specific models of NEC devices. If these devices are updated to Windows 10, version 1903, they will no longer be able to use any Wi-Fi connections. The Wi-Fi driver may have a yellow exclamation point in device manager. The task tray icon for networking may show the icon for no internet and Network & Internet settings may not show any Wi-Fi networks.

To safeguard your update experience, we have applied a compatibility hold on the affected devices from being offered Windows 10, version 1903.

Affected platforms:
Client: Windows 10, version 1903
Workaround: If you are using an affected device and you have already installed Windows 10, version 1903, you can mitigate the issue disabling then re-enabling the Wi-Fi adapter in Device Manager. You should now be able to use Wi-Fi until your next reboot.

Next steps: Microsoft and NEC are working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release.

Note We recommend that you do not attempt to manually update using the Update now button or the Media Creation Tool until this issue has been resolved.

I have no better words than "total madness" to describe the above.

jaclaz

Edited September 18, 2019 by jaclaz

[Tripredacus]

So it is the same old story. MS changed something in the OS that they didn't put in the update notes or info they make available to developers, and some drivers stop working. I have even found another one that I have yet to troubleshoot, where one motherboard will BSOD on install due to the in-box IPMI driver in 1903.

[daniel_k]

3 hours ago, Tripredacus said:

So it is the same old story. MS changed something in the OS that they didn't put in the update notes or info they make available to developers, and some drivers stop working. I have even found another one that I have yet to troubleshoot, where one motherboard will BSOD on install due to the in-box IPMI driver in 1903.

They don't even bother to test the drivers provided with the OS. Seriously?

[daniel_k]

Quote

 

Audio in games is quiet or different than expected

Microsoft has received reports that audio in certain games is quieter or different than expected. At the request of some of our audio partners, we implemented a compatibility change that enabled certain games to query support and render multi-channel audio. Due to customer feedback, we are reverting this change as some games and some devices are not rendering multi-channel audio as expected. This may result in games sounding different than customers are used to and may have missing channels.

 

Isn't the Release Preview ring supposed to only receive minor fixes and security patches?

[alacran]

Well, I could say there is no news, just bad updates every month, another thing I can say is they are very consintence.

IMHO this is caused mainly because they are always trying to introduce new features/changes every month, they need to stop thinking this way and concentrate all efforts and all required time in fixing all that is wrong first, then when having the OS working flawlessly, they can comeback to introduce new features/changes but not before making extensive tests.

alacran

[cc333]

1 hour ago, alacran said:

Well, I could say there is no news, just bad updates every month, another thing I can say is they are very consintence.

IMHO this is caused mainly because they are always trying to introduce new features/changes every month, they need to stop thinking this way and concentrate all efforts and all required time in fixing all that is wrong first, then when having the OS working flawlessly, they can comeback to introduce new features/changes but not before making extensive tests.

alacran

In other words, go back to doing what they had been doing for for every other software release since MS-DOS!

That doesn't mean each OS release didn't have problems, but at least there wasn't this constant barrage of half-baked, kinda-sorta working updates every month! In the past, Windows actually got *better* with every update (for example, XP: XP was pretty truthfully not the greatest at first, offering little more than extra eye candy and bloat compared to 2000, but over time, as it was being updated, it became far better, to the point that it surpassed 2000 in terms of stability and performance).

c

[Tripredacus]

I remember the Windows 2000 launch day, everyone was so hyped. They installed it onto a computer in a presentation and it just BSOD constantly. I think that we didn't have a working Windows 2000 computer for about a week.

[jaclaz]

18 hours ago, cc333 said:

... (for example, XP: XP was pretty truthfully not the greatest at first, offering little more than extra eye candy and bloat compared to 2000, but over time, as it was being updated, it became far better, to the point that it surpassed 2000 in terms of stability and performance).

Be aware of the risk of confusing evolution in actual hardware with that a the OS.

On a SAME machine where 2000 runs with "good" drivers and without the need of post-end-of-life third party patches, it usually runs circles around XP (and is as stable if not more stable).

20 minutes ago, Tripredacus said:

I remember the Windows 2000 launch day, everyone was so hyped. They installed it onto a computer in a presentation and it just BSOD constantly. I think that we didn't have a working Windows 2000 computer for about a week.

I got a the time a HP Vectra who had BOTH NT 4.00 and Windows 2000, and it took me far more than one week (a few moths) to definitely switch to 2000.

jaclaz

[NoelC]

Change is inevitable.  Necessary.  We have increasing needs for tech.  Embracing change is not what this is about.

Creating incompatibility to suit business goals is not right.  Our parents were appalled at planned obsolescence.  Now we're told to accept it.  Embrace it.  Our tech becomes obsolete even before it can wear out the batteries!

Using Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt in the name of "security" as a way to herd people into doing what they would not do is deplorable!

Yet for the most part we find ourselves powerless, because people who predicted this and warned against ceding control were marginalized.  Ridiculed.  Pushed aside.

-Noel

 

P.S., the latest incompatibility I've noticed:  RDP from an older system into a Windows 10 v1903 system and your mouse jumps around when the cursor graphic is changed.  It didn't do that remoting into v1809.  The protocol has been good enough - indeed excellent - for decades.  It doesn't have to change.

Aero Glass just gets shut off and requires regular reinstalls, even though it works fine.  Presumedly because some jerk inside Microsoft wants us NOT customizing our Windows look, because that goes against their current Marketing direction.  Who the &%$& do they think they are?

We could talk about the atrocities Apple is pushing on people...  No more 32 bit programs.  No more putting things where you want them on your disk.  Can't reach your Documents area even though you've shared it?  Oh, right, that's security.

 

P.P.S., I'm typing this on a perfectly good Digital LK250 keyboard circa 1985.  And there isn't a better one built today.  Stuff doesn't HAVE to go bad just because it's tech.

Edited October 17, 2019 by NoelC

[win32]

42 minutes ago, NoelC said:

And we could talk about the atrocities Apple is pushing on people...  No more 32 bit programs.  No more putting thing where you want them on your disk.  Can't reach your Documents area even though you've shared it?  Oh, right, that's security.

 

P.P.S., I'm typing this on a perfectly good Digital LK250 keyboard circa 1985.  And there isn't a better one built today.  Stuff doesn't HAVE to go bad just because it's tech.

Speaking of Apple and keyboards, the "butterfly" switch keyboards on recent Macbooks are the worst ones I've ever used. Press the keys and they are only depressed by like half a millimetre if even that! I think they're also trying to drop full-sized USB ports but never paid much attention. What a way to lock everyone down.

Those keyboards are not to be confused with the ThinkPad 701 butterfly keyboard, which is probably far better than any Apple keyboard.

Six months ago I talked about the broken taskbar icons on my school PCs. They haven't gone away and I think they've deployed 1903 (there's a lighter Windows background on some of them; but again didn't pay enough attention to look into the System control panel applet. oh wait the OS version was moved to Settings. keep things in the same place the first time).

Someone changed a laptop's background to Bliss but an improvement in the appearance of the desktop was not appreciated by the IT staff.

Edited October 17, 2019 by win32

[NoelC]

Some marketing goon said "thinner is better" and for some reason people listened.  Now we have laptops, tablets, and phones that have gotten so thin you can hardly use them or even hold them.  So thin a keyboard can't possibly be ergonomic.  So thin you drop them (after which of course you have to buy a new one).  And let's not forget that the keycaps can get snagged and pulled off requiring no less than the replacement of the entire device.

Not long ago I got a heavy, thick Cat S61 phone with grippy rubber and raised edges that doesn't try to slip out of my hand or pocket every chance it gets, and if it DOES crash to the ground it survives.  The battery lasts most of a week.  Turns out it wasn't just a frivolous thought that extra thin, slippery devices are optimizing for something decidedly different from usability, and that when someone makes usability a design goal it actually CAN be achieved.

And yeah, there are only USB-C ports on new MacBook Pros (not sure about other models).  I have a nice little short female USB-A to male USB-C adapter cable that has saved my bacon a few times.

As a society we're not only not learning from the past, but the folks who seek to sell us stuff over and over are actively changing things away from stuff that worked just fine.  And here we are applauding and rewarding those who make such changes by buying even more crap from them.  Kinda seems like we consumers ought to try to be smarter about what we throw our money at, eh?  I think that would entail never listening to any Marketing info - something that's clearly impossible.

-Noel

 

Welcome, my son
Welcome to the machine
What did you dream?
It's alright, we told you what to dream

-Pink Floyd

[Tripredacus]

Thin products are a good idea for corporate types. The downside is that instead of designing things to be the same but lighter, they have designed things to be cheaper. Lower quality plastics has lead to tons of people having broken computers. Power adapter doesn't fit right, broken hinges but monitor still works, etc. You get what you pay for. I typically would prefer to stick to the high end business notebooks, which still come with optical drives. I recently turned down the purchase of a $1200 HP notebook for $150 simply because it didn't have an optical drive. 15 inch displays are good enough for travel, 17 inch is nice to look at, but they won't fit in my notebook bag.

Companies always tend to screw up good ideas. On the other end, Intel tried to make that "Ultrabook" thing work, but made the requirements so complicated that it wasn't really worth buying them... or worse... making them.

Personally, I wouldn't use any portable computer that wouldn't have a chance to survive being dropped.