[COMPUTERS] Not only is Windows a virus, it's a singularly inefficient one

[jducoeur]

Something like a week ago, Windows Update prompted me to please download and install XP Service Pack 2. I let it do so -- and it vanished silently, leaving me to wonder what has happened.

Just now, it reappeared, telling me that the update was 71% done, and suddenly sucking up half my CPU on the task. Mind, I've had this machine logged in and connected to a T1 line for at least 40 hours since the time this update started. It took a week to download the bloody patch. And Microsoft wonders why people get annoyed at them...

Comments

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

Plus, it breaks lots of games. Like, for example, Freedom Force...

[hfcougar.livejournal.com]

You know, I was almost starting to consider "upgrading" to XP...

[jducoeur]

Well, I should be clear here: XP is *vastly* better than any previous version of Windows. IMO, it's the first version of Windows that doesn't utterly suck. But it has its own distinct pathologies...

[hfcougar.livejournal.com]

I've found that every version of Windows sucks in its own special way. I'm personally sick to death of XP, but I think that's because I use it primarily for work and most of those associations have been problematic or negative.

I use ME, and it can be pretty bad, but it does what I need it to without complaint most of the time. So far my only major peeve is that I can't run iTunes unless I upgrade.

I'm not likely to do it this semester, because I'm in a cataloging class and there's a bug specific to XP which causes the computer to crash and auto-reboot if you try to print from OCLC. This makes a very big difference when doing my homework. (The people that only have access to XP have to cut and paste, I guess...)

[alienor.livejournal.com]

Microsoft has been slowly rolling it out so as not to overwhelm their servers. Would have been nice if they had TOLD you, but that's what's going on.

[jducoeur]

Amusing, but in that case I have to chalk it up as a design flaw -- it really shouldn't be telling people to start the update until it's prepared to have them commit it. If the issue is that they're staggering the servicing of the requests, they should have staggered the Windows Update notifications instead, to avoid user confusion.

(Not that bad design is anything new to Microsoft, but this is my field, so I'm sensitive to such errors...)