Posts by bombastic bob 10663 publicly visible posts • joined 1 May 2015
"Why not just let users choose when they want to apply updates?"
"Because they might choose 'never' because their machines are running nice and stable."
Micro-shaft quite obviously feels [not thinks] that THEY should be in control of YOUR computer. After all, they're smarter, younger, more 'hip', etc. etc. etc. [fill in whatever possible excuse they might come up with for such *evil* *b0rg* behavior that they're engaging in by forcing updates upon us].
"Also UI90 is better for reducing eyestrain from all the sloppy blur / fade effects."
and eyestrain from the following:
a) poor contrast colors (light blue on bright white - what idiot thought THAT up?)
b) poor UI 'cues' for what is a button, etc.
c) uber-thin window borders that make resizing difficult, if not impossible
and the NAUSEA from the 2D FLATSO, in general
"The snarky comments and cheap shots about the "dated" interface demonstrate that the author of the piece has fallen into the trap of thinking that a UI is meant to be pretty and stylish, not functional and useful."
yeah but the Win-10-nic and "Ape" "The Metro" and "UWP" interface is anything *BUT* 'pretty' nor 'stylish'.
It's more like what Micro-shaft arrogant+smug "developers" decided to SHOVE INTO OUR COMPUTERS without permission. Because it's "modern". And we're LUDDITES for *HATING* it.
nothing 'pretty' nor 'stylish' about THAT. It's more like 'the few' imposing their will onto 'the many'.
Article: "Last century called. They want their UI back, please"
"This Century" can *KEEP* their 2D FLATSO FLUGLY Win-10-nic and Windows "Ape" *CRAP*!!!!
_I_ _WANT_ _THE_ _RETRO_ _UI_!!! You know, 3D skeuomorphic, what basically *SOLD* everyone on windows in the FIRST place!!! (compared to windows 286/386 and so on, it was a HUGE improvement)
So thanks, ReactOS, for not giving up. More o same, please. I would like to do my accounting stuff on YOUR OS instead of "what micro-shaft did to windows out of smug arrogance" (with forced updates and slurp and UWP and 'The Store' and that HORRIBLE 2D FLUGLY UI).
"Hence the confusion at the highest levels WRT to Brexit"
I agree with a lot of what I'm reading so far, things like produce sent to France, or JIT manufacturing deliveries affected by new inspection requirements. Many of your concerns are valid, for sure (the doom/gloom FUD however, isn't). Politicians need to get off of their collective asses and get some work done to keep negative effects down to a minimum.
So, how about a 'Brexit' that actuall ADDRESSES these concerns in a sane manner before 'Brexit Day'?
OK that would make too much sense for politicians. But I think the USA is already working on forming proper trade deals with UK (at least, that's the perception). EU should be doing something similar. (or they COULD address the reasons why 50.1% or so of UK voters chose 'leave' but that would make too much sense as well, wouldn't it?)
Anyway, it's "change" so you should EMBRACE it, right? [I know _I_ am expected to embrace 'change' when it's the OTHER way...]
bash on windows works really well in Cygwin. So do the other POSIX tools.
If MIcro-shaft would simply support a built-in X11 server for windows, with Cygwin pre-installed, a LOT of compatibility and cross-platform problems would be solved (they used to go the 'subsystem' route for things like OS/2, why not POSIX and X11 and use Cygwin rather than INTERIX/SFU/SUA ?). But NOOOooo, they have to go down the "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" path. 'Power Hell' for Linux is exactly _THAT_. If it weren't so obvious that Micro-shaft is trying to take over the Linux environment, so they can control, extend, and then DESTROY what it used to be [in favor of some subscription-based spyware infested 'adware or paywall' version], maybe Micro-shaft might get away with it.
But the "Linux community" knows better, especially those of us who WENT TO LINUX (and other POSIX systems like FreeBSD) because of what Micro-shaft was up to early this century (the '.Not' initiative being the first of the worst, and it goes downhill from there).
I'm like a "former windows fan" who was BETRAYED back at the beginning of the century, when Micro-shaft took a wrong turn beginning with the '.Net' initiative. So I saw the writing on the wall, and learned how to work with POSIX systems instead, seeing as Apple also went with POSIX for OS/X, so there were really just two kinds of operating systems to learn and master.
(and I wonder how many OTHER betrayed windows fans switched to POSIX / Linux operating systems?)
"How is piping text between commands better than piping objects"
because there are a LOT of text-massaging POSIX utilities that are tried+true, well understood, and relatively easy to work with. I can, for example, use 'awk' 'cut' 'sed' or 'grep' to massage any reasonably-formatted text data, and the result of piped text data can also be assigned to a shell variable within something like bash, or in a language like Perl, where you can do even more with it programatically.
"An Object" is, unfortunately, too vaguely defined for such utilities to work with. Passing objects (rather than text-based data) would be denying yourself the ability to make use of the standard POSIX command line tools, the very things that have made the POSIX command line shells *SUPERIOR* to anything on DOS or windows for DECADES.
But if you want to do everything "the Micro-shaft way" instead of using POSIX tools, have at it.
well, I'd be MORE concerned if the slurped info lead to convictions later on. But as it's just "being snoped on" it's something to be concerned about, but nothing to be paranoid about. yet.
USA is going through some similar problems, with the alleged "meta-data only" NSA snooping.
I'm sure 'bad guys' already just assume they're being snooped on and use some kind of code [and "burn phones"], which calls into question the validity of such snooping in the FIRST place, right?
I stand corrected on the Visual Studio Code installer - there's no ISO! I checked the MSDN download area for it... LAME! (since it allegedly runs on Linux, you'd think an MSDN subscriber could get an ISO for a Linux version without cloudy-BS, but NOOoooo...)
icon - because - facepalm
I just wrote a semi-long post about free installers (including one I wrote) and then realized that the complaint was about the VS installer, and not about being unable to (easily) build your own SETUP image with an ISO as the output...
When I go to the MSDN subscriber download web page I can usually download a DVD ISO for the DevStudio "whatever version" so it's worth pointing out that for MSDN subscribers (no small chunk of change, annual subscription) you can DL an ISO and install it THAT way. For some cloudy freebie "ghetto" version, yeah, the installer must suck pretty hard, because ultimately they want you to use the 'pay for' version, right?
I haven't checked for an ISO of the latest DevStudio, though. I certainly don't want a cloudy installer because they *SUCK*. But I've DL'd a 2010 ISO, a 2012 ISO, etc. before. I only use the 2010 version since the rest of them SUCKED as far as I was concerned. I hated it when 2012 went all "the metro" even for a W7 install. YUCK! I even installed it on "Ape" to at least "give it a try". Bleah. Waste of time. But yeah you need the ISO images around for 'whatever' 'in case you need it'.
(/me recently had to DL a Win-10-nic ISO - I've got it, haven't installed it in a VM yet, but I'll need to test a winders application with it at some point in the near future... yuck - the things I'll do for potential customers, they make me 'feel dirty' sometimes)
"multi monitor support"
If you had 2 monitors for the same desktop, probably works 'as-is'. If you want 2 desktops on 2 monitors, in theory it should work if you open a separate window on the 2nd desktop, or moved a 2nd window to it, THAT might do what you want.
Well, then again I'm thinking of a Mate desktop here, so maybe Win-10-nic is too brain damaged to do something that's otherwise SO simple to do (for the last 15+ years) with Gnome, KDE, and now Mate desktops (and Cinnamon and vtwm and fluxbox and xfce and everything ELSE that has multi-desktop window managers, like practically ALL of them).
/me tried using right-click 'float' on a tab in VisualStudio 2010, but all it did was stay INSIDE the same @#$% IDE "one window to rule them all" as a floating MDI child. That's just freaking LAME. Micro-shaft should make it work like Firefox's tabbed IDE, where you can drag a tab outside the window and create a new one, or drag it back and put it inside the tabbed list again. This stuff is _NOT_ "Rocket Surgery" after all!!! yeah, I _have_ to port my non-windows application to windows for the sake of customers, but I do most of the work NOT on windows, muahahahaha! VS is just open so I can conveniently test-build it after moving source into svn and then onto the winders box... (then re-build, etc., make sure the mostly-POSIX code also works in windows - I'm really happy how wxWidgets is so MFC-like that it makes doing an IDE with it practical for me, with parallel MFC-specific code in the same source - maybe 10% of it like that)
"That's why you *disable* Jedi to get the new thing."
oh yeah, THAT explains *everything*! (see icon)
Seriously, though, how do I shut off BOTH "features"?
(oh _I_ know - use 'pluma' like I normally do, get the syntax highlighting but none of that other *@#$%*, _ESPECIALLY_ lack-of-intelli-sense! )
if I wanted an IDE written (as if it is) in Java (script), I'd use Eclipse. Or 'Android Studio'.
Hey Micro-shaft, how about this: STOP with the 'new, shiny' and just FIX WHAT YOU HAVE, and GIVE US BACK MORE CUSTOMIZATION.
When I _must_ winders-code, I use DevStudio 2010. Why? NO 2D FLATSO and no "the Metro" nor UWP! And it builds W7 applications WITHOUT [after a few targeted configuration options] the @#$% *&%$ F$#%+&^ '.NOT' in it!!!
/me points out that WITHOUT the '.Not', shared runtime, and shared MFC dependencies (i.e. static link EVERYTHING), an application built for W7 wouldn't have "those issues" if running under Wine. I've read the licenses about shipping these things, about NOT installing them on non-windows operating systems. So I want people to be FREE to use MY applications wherever they want. Even for free OSS stuff, they're still 'customers' and _I_ want to treat them THAT way. [how are YOU guys doing in that department, eh Micro-shaft??? yeah I thought so]
on a semi-related note: Python in DevStudio. I don't know whether I should laugh or cry.
I say: STOP the:
a) slurp
b) ads
c) threat of a subscription model
d) forced updates
e) 2D FLATSO mandate
f) strong-armed 'Microsoft cloudy Logon' for your HOME COMPUTER
g) removal of user customization
h) "the Metro" in general
i) "the Store" in general
j) 'breaking the model' for 3rd party add-ons that attempt to un-do what you did WRONG to Windows
k) "one windows" to rule them all, "one windows" to find them, etc.
l) treating CUSTOMERS as if they are MINIONS
I have more, but that's "a good start"
"Unfortunately the coding is in house."
yeah I can imagine what the 'Halls of Redmond' are REALLY like, these days:
a) many employees in the break room a good part of the day, because game consoles and ping pong and foosball are SO important to a company's work environment these days...
b) 'sharing in the experience' like a bad 'Marin County' light bulb joke (how many people from Marin County does it take to change a light bulb? 3 - 1 to change the bulb, and 2 to 'share in the experience')
c) agile/scrum 90% of the time, actual work 10% of the time
d) bureaucracy the size of MOUNTAINS, dwarfing the ones around Seattle even
e) junior coders given as much design decisionmaking (or possibly MORE) as senior coders [this is obvious when you look at the diferences between 7, 8, and 10, and how it went DOWN HILL so fast]
f) senior coders retiring and taking their stock options NOW, while the gettin's still good.
g) no need to QA your work, there's the first round of 'windows update' for that.
'Temet Nosce' - yeah I saw 'The Matrix' too
Micro-shaft has been direction-changing a LOT these days. They anger their customers, anger the "Developers Developers" with moving targets, and FORCE their 'changes for the sake of changes' up our ass down our throats. And they FREQUENTLY make business decisions that have less to do with profit and MORE to do with "market control", to what end we probably don't want to know.
What has been successful for Micro-shaft in the PAST (with the 'average' customer) is what the article mentions, things like XBox and Office, as well as what made Micro-shaft successful in the FIRST place: Windows.
Windows 3.0 was successful because it was "pretty". I remember hearing people seeing the Solitaire 'demo game' playing on various monitors around a computer store, and how much they liked it and wanted Windows 3.0 BECAUSE of it. The 3D skeuomorphic appearance was a night/day difference from Windows 2.x's "2D FLATSO" and lousy color combinations, and you could personalize a LOT of things with respect to the appearance.
Now Micro-shaft is back to 2D FLATSO and lousy color combinations, as well as 'data slurp' 'forced updates' and LESS user customization in Win-10-nic, in the name of CONTROLLING AND TRACKING THE CUSTOMER.
WHAT! MAKES! THEM! *FEEL*! [not think] THAT! GOING! BACK! TO! THE! FAIL! IS! A! GOOD! IDEA???!
And, it's REALLY too late to re-introduce "Windows Classic" and capitalize on THAT like 'New Coke' and 'Coke Classic' did back in the 80's. If they'd done THAT a year after releasing Win-10-nic, I'd have probably gone with it for my own stuff, assuming 'Windows Classic' would be very much like 7.
So, in effect, Micro-shaft has blatantly abandoned the 'success' model (giving customers what they want/need) and replaced it with the "take over the world" model.
Well, maybe THAT is who they REALLY ARE?
"Typical PC sold for "home" use isn't going to have the vPro that has these flaws, I think."
yeah, right, "restrict" home users to an INFERIOR model? i don't think so. Yeah I know that's an extreme 'straw man' kind of position but I'm using that illustration to make the point that ANYBODY should be able to have ANYTHING HE WANTS and if it's a "business" version, then so be it.
Besides, the problem here isn't whether or not a user is a 'home user'. the problem is that INTEL PUT THIS THING INTO THE SILICON. It is a _REASON_ to _NOT_ use their silicon.
HEY INTEL how about an UPDATE to LET US CANONICALLY SHUT THE @#$% *OFF*???
"Have mercy on my aching ocular orbs."
A couple of points that can be addressed without losing the current 'look'.
a) off-white background to limit the blue level. Lowers eye strain
b) no more "grey on white". *EVAR* (especially when hovering).
(and the 'edit comment' text size is just TOO SMALL - can you fix THAT too, please? I didn't test with the new site appearance, though, so maybe you DID fix it?)
"JS is pretty much a prerequisite for seeing ads"
NOT true. By careful use of session identifiers and server-side effort, advertisements can be served up, clicked through, tallied, etc. _WITHOUT_ client-side scripting. It's just that the "programmers" who do it the CURRENT way are *LAZY*, *UNEDUCATED*, and *LACK* *CREATIVE* *THINKING*. That's all.
/me coded a web page, to be run on a fondleslab, using ONLY server-side script and CSS, to solve certain kinds of puzzle problems in a popular video game. So that way when I play it I can use a fondleslab to solve those, when they show up. Otherwise I'd never be able to complete the game. Some of them are _IMPOSSIBLE_ without a computer, or extended white-board analysis.
Anyway - I _KNOW_ it can be done, and I have NOTHING but CONTEMPT for ad-networks that REFUSE to do it *PROPERLY*. And it's GDPR compliant if you do it PROPERLY. how about THAT one!!!
"wide screen monitors are a thing of the past"
not on MY planet. and I'm certainly no "luddite". I *despise* vertically oriented aspect ratios anyway. My eyes are next to each other, side-by-side, and I view the world in "wide screen". Ultra-portrailt mode (>2:1 aspect in vertical orientation) makes it hard for me to recognize objects in photographs, let alone read TEXT. You and the other 3 people that agree with you can keep your vertical orientation. I'll take WIDE SCREEN every time!!!
/me rotates slab devices into LANDSCAPE mode nearly all of the time.
Oh, and El Reg? Please keep this in mind, i.e. make it look good in LANDSCAPE orientation, k-thx.
Please don't even REMOTELY fall into "the blackhole of scripting nightmares" (and the UNNECESSARY bandwidth consumption that comes with the CDN and 3rd party scripting bloatware library downloads) that too many OTHER sites "feel" they "need".
Using 'NoScript' caused most of the graphics to "not display". Please test with NoScript and its default settings, and make sure the appearance is the same. If it's because of "a bozillian different servers" are feeding content, please stick to ONE server (or at least one URL base), or maybe two at the most, and no use of scripting to load graphics. Most browsers are smart enough to keep connections alive. You don't need 'many parallel servers' to feed content efficiently for a single web browser. (so please don't head in that direction either, thanks).
Less 'bandwidth intensive' is _ALWAYS_ better! (even if it's not YOUR bandwidth that's affected)
NOTE: I _ALSO_ suggest fixing ad banners so that they NEVER have script in them. That way, they'll still work when people use NoScript. IT professionals SHOULD use NoScript, and practice "safe surfing". They should understand just how *INSECURE* scripting is (meltdown, spectre, 0-days, bitcoin harvesting, yotta yotta) and NEVER run scripts on anything but the MOST trusted of web pages, and even then, by specifically allowing for it "just for this session". With _THAT_ kind of very security-minded thinking, you'd expect MOST 'El Reg' users to NOT allow scripting, not even for El Reg. So make your ads work WITHOUT the script. Then we're ALL happy!
New column design: 4-wide instead of 3-wide: easier to scroll article titles. I like it.
HOWEVER, putting non-size-compliant panels (including ads) and THEN cramming others to make 'em fit: not so much. It breaks up my ability to eye-scan the page for interesting things to read. In other words, it GETS IN THE WAY. Things that GET IN THE WAY simply *ANGER* IT people. But you knew that.
And pseudo-random panel size changes are WAY too similar to a "the Metro" tile screen. That's enough to HATE it, right THERE!!! Think about how SOME people actually take it upon themselves to gripe at *ME* for using things like CAPITAL LETTERS for emphasis (I do this to break up monotony and stress points). But, at least the text itself doesn't change size.
"The Metro" and "Tile Screen" and "Start Thing" are _NOT_ "modern", no matter how many millenials whine and call people like me "luddites".
The existing 3-wide panel design _does_ waste a lot of screen real estate. So going to 4 wide is good! Changing panel widths at semi-random to put an oversized ad panel in there? not so good.
And, finally:
The 'subscribe' "button" at the bottom looks like a flat red rectangle. How about some 3D skeumorphic effects to make it look like a BUTTON instead? That's right, I want to START a REBELLION against the 2D FLATSO! (I gotta try). FYI I use 'bitmap image' buttons for my stuff. The files are usually very small, and you can make 'em look like "whatever" that way. Hand-draw in the 3D skeumorphic, maybe with a vulture watermark, some ALL IMPORTANT 3D skeuomorphic features, and voila! [your own articles and research show that flat rectangle buttons make for BAD UI cues - can't recall the article, it was from about a year ago]
There's supposed to be a shadow effect in CSS but it may not be supported in all browsers. However, using a "bitmap button" works every time it's tried.
"Why does Microsoft even have that many different sites for login & authentication services."
I'm glad SOMEBODY already said it, 'cause I was sure THINKING it!
Here's another thing: If I attempt to crack M-shaft security, in order to perform vulnerability tests, and the captain DOES notice, will I _STILL_ get arrested by some idiotic law that prevents "regular people" from doing such tests for research purposes? You know, like some of the DMCA crap passed a while back? The same kind of "law" that says penetration testing is ILLEGAL, regardless of the reason for it? (like the arguments for making GUNS illegal because SOME people shoot other people with guns for criminal reasons, so 'they' wanna BAN THEM ALL)
DMCA did what it did because there's no 2nd Amendment for HACKING. worth pointing out.
/me NOT grabbing my coat. SOMEONE has to say this kind of stuff. watching out for black helicopters, though...
yeah I remember being told that Vines ran on a version of UNIX ported to a 386 box, and if I remember correctly, the DOS drivers for it were nearly 200k... [that was HUGE back in those days]. Some DOS programs wouldn't even run with the network drivers loaded. As I recall that problem was "fixed" by running windows 3.0 though, using 386 'enchanted' mode to run DOS programs.
Ah, windows 3.0! And, the 3D Skeuomorphic interface that made people WANT to run it! not like Win-10-nic. *diig* *dig* *dig* (obligatory digs at Win-10-nic)
that all depends on what the "personal conduct violation was"...
seeing as how Silly Valley operates (with political correctness and the hypocrisy of power) I have to wonder what the TI guy did to get fired in such a short time. Here are some ideas:
a) told a joke that "someone was offended by" [even if it was considered 'harmless' 10 years ago]
b) refused to attend "sensitivity training" (too busy running the company)
c) fired (or recommended firing) a [insert protected class here] for simply not doing the job right
d) was seen eating at a Chick Fil A or buying stuff at Hobby Lobby
e) was heard uttering profanities after stubbing a toe or banging an elbow, some of which may have involved certain body parts or behaviors that are politically incorrect to mention.
f) donated money to a non-politically-correct organization, ballot measure, or politician (this never happened before, right Mozilla?)
g) CONFIDENTLY spoke out in favor of lassaiz faire capitalism at a business meeting
h) made (joking?) reference to a 2nd story window that opens too easily whenever you lean on it
i) is a TRUMP SUPPORTER!
yeah, any of THOSE might be "fire-able" offenses to the "modern" "political correctness uber alles" crowd, who don't give a RAT'S ASS about how well you do your job, or [as CEO] keep people from being laid off, but INSTEAD "major in the minors" with 'respect' to the easily-offended snowflake grievance-of-the-day political correctness fascists.
I bet I'm right, too. And if he'd simply gone skinny dipping in the secretarial pool, well, someone high up would simply have ammo for later. To get canned in a few weeks, "one of the above" (or similar) would have to have been committed, a SIN against the "new religion" in other words.
and if (when?) this 'new religion' ever aims YOUR way, are you just gonna take it? Especially when all of the 'new' howler monkeys are slinging their poo and downvoting you for "being" ? Or maybe you could FIGHT BACK and have some fun with it?
From the article...
"sacrificed on the altar of a Windows 10-alike single window experience"
All alike. All the same. Dumbed down to the lowest common denominator. Flat, 2D, and ugly. Pastel blue boxes on super-bright-white backgrounds
Whether we want it or not [and from what I see, *MOST* do *NOT*], this is Micro-shaft's "vision" for all of us, the 'minions' who are forced to use THEIR product because they practically cornered the market on it.
One OS to rule them all
One UI to find them.
"One UWP" to bring them all
and with FORCED UPDATES, *BIND* them!
"If you really think a few Russian hackers can compete with CNN, Facebook, or the Koch Brothers"
or George Soros [via "non-profits" like media matters, moveon.org, and chaos groups like ANTIFA with their 'rent-a-mob' protests and paid-for camera-visible riot-thugs]
or the "deep state" itself - right Mr. Strzok?
I have a few predictions on all of this:
a) if ANY of those "indicted" by Mueller EVER get into a courtroom, it'll end up like it's been for THIS case in which there really IS no evidence, but a symbolic "we do not expect it will ever go to trial" indictment. And lots of delay tactics. [Apparently, Mueller never thought his bluff would be 'called'].
b) this is all a symbolic waste of time as chaos is being spread by those "deep state" activists who simply want to disrupt the Trump presidency because they're angry he won the election
c) the REAL "collusion" is inside the D.O.J. and people watching "the other news" have known this for over a YEAR.
d) Mueller's "Get Trump at Any Cost" witch hunt is about to collapse into a black hole into which money and time will flow, ultimately along with the careers of those involved. Not much of an "Insurance Policy".
Trump and Putin do have one thing in common: they know how to play poker, and they're good at calling bluffs. It's about time to grab the popcorn, because in the next month or two, things are going to get wild, crazy, and "not good" for the anti-Trump "deep state" types that seem overly obsessed on this "Russian collusion" nonsense.
if Wine can simply have 100% XP compatibility [and application developers STOP USING '.Not' and other shared libs that have license restrictions for "not using them on non-Microsoft operating systems"] it would be possible to target XP (or even Windows 7) and have windows applications run PERFECTLY on Linux with the Wine layer.
It's a great concept. But Micro-shaft DELIBERATELY put roadblocks like "licensing" for ".Not" [and strong-armed inclusion of it as a dependency in nearly every DevStudio since 2003 (if I remember correctly) - it takes actual EFFORT to remove _ALL_ of the ".Not" dependencies for 'new application' wizard generated stuff, even MFC C++ statically linked applications!!!]. And since the ".Not" license quite literally FORBIDS installig it on Wine, it's hard for a software company to OFFER SUPPORT for you if you "install it anyway".
So yeah a bit of a catch 22 but I _DO_ like the idea. Perhaps an XP clone like ReactOS has a good shot as well?
"Most current problems seem to be caused by dodgy graphics drivers. I guess we could blame that on MS for not isolating the drivers properly..."
Well, when they LAID OFF THEIR QA TESTERS a few months before they release Win-10-nic, expecting The USERS to become their new Q.A. department via FORCED UPDATES., you get the expected QUALITY PROBLEMS that Win-10-nic has had since it was PREMATURELY EXCRETED from Redmond.
And yeah, driver bugs are probably the number one cause. Legacy driver support might actually _FIX_ that, but NOOoooo you MUST submit your signable Win-10-nic (new, shiny) driver binary to Micro-shaft, pay them the toll, and have them code-sign it on your behalf so you can be ALLOWED to load it in Win-10-nic. Real legacy driver support does not exist, as far as I can tell...
[real legacy driver support would allow you to continue using drivers that work perfectly in XP, 7, or even Vista, instead of requiring re-writes to work in Win-10-nic, including 32-bit drivers on 64-bit operating systems, but we can't have THAT, now can we, because then Micro-shaft wouldn't be able to COLLECT THEIR TOLL... which means to HELL with open source drivers, particularly software-only drivers]
"I would also be thrilled to have actual window borders back."
Just fornicating *NUKE* the entire "the Metro" interface changes that happened between 7 and "Ape", including the 2D FLATSO, "the Metro" in general, UWP, pastel blue on blinding white backgrounds, oversized non-intuitive shapes pretending to be buttons, and, as you mentioned, "practically BORDERLESS" windows that are hard to grab the edge of for re-sizing.
I used to have 3-pixel border widths configured in XP. i think you can still set that in 7. Of course, it all disappears in 10, because, MICRO-SHAFT knows BEST on how YOUR computer should look.
/me points out that APPEARANCE CONFIGURATION should _REALLY_ be an "accessibility" issue, because old eyes can't see those HORRIBLE 'the Metro" colors very well, at least NOT without eyestrain...
icon, because Win-10-nic is a *BIG* *FAT* *FAIL* and deserves to *DIE* a *HORRIBLE* *DEATH*.
Micro-shaft needs to DO WHAT CUSTOMERS WANT, and *STOP* trying to HERD us like CATTLE.
"my W7 system decided that the license key was invalid and I had to get it validated by MS "
beyond 2020 will they STILL do that for ya?
After my MSDN subscription renewal was completely 'cocked up' last year, I actually ended up getting refunded for an entire years' worth [I was willing to pay the normal price, but after a couple of months they're like "we're all settled" and I'm like "o...k..."] I technically need to change the license keys on any version of windows I have installed on test machines and in VMs ... but I hardly use them these days, and the old keys are still working (last I checked). Go fig. I do have one reconditioned 7 box I purchased on e-bay to make sure I could have one non-MSDN license for doing accounting and stuff with. No regrets on that one. I don't run windows update on it, either.
But yeah, when 2020 hits, will our windows 7 boxen suddenly STOP WORKING???
/me doing cross-platform WIN32 and X11 application at the moment, so i still need MSDN, yeah
"Microsoft finally listening to tired o' the hate mail from end users"
Fixed. you're welcome. Micro-shaft STOPPED actually LISTENING to customers, several years ago. They may PRETEND now and then, but we've been IGNORED since Windows "Ape".
To Micro-shaft, customers are MINIONS, or "Borg Drones", to be EXPLOITED, and MONETIZED. To individuals working at Micro-shaft, you might get some actual good service, but their internal bureaucracy [yes I've had to deal with it] is BEYOND some of the worst nightmares I've ever had related to GUMMINT bureaucracies... let alone a 'for profit' company that RELIES on customers paying for their products!!!
Micro-shaft effectively kicked out everyone from their 'insider' program who wasn't a fanboi of the 2D FLATSO, the "the Metro", the "the Store", the "the Start Thing", the "the Slurp", the "the Ads", the "cram it into your rectum" forced updates, and so on, back during the 'grand purge' right before Win-10-nic was first released.
They don't want to listen to actual CUSTOMERS and DEVELOPERS. They just want their FAN BASE "testing" it, so they can hear how great it is an how the bugs aren't that bad...
"how does anybody tolerate working in them?"
A properly designed cube is sound isolated [soft walls do this] and big enough for whatever you need, and isolated enough that it might as well be a private office. Hang posters instead of having a window, and you'll be fine. you can pin up 'whatever' onto the cloth walls. And again, PROPERLY designed cubes are nearly as good as a private office. And they cost a lot less to the company than private offices.
Think of what the 'cube farm' that Neo worked in looked like, in the first Matrix movie. That's close. Again, when done properly, it's like having a private office.
(of course I'd rather have a private office with a door, or better still, HOME office so I don't need to commute).
"not being able to hear what's happening around me means that I am "on alert" the entire time"
yes, having your back to an open hole, doorway, window, etc. is naturally "un-nerving". It's bad feng sheui too, from what I hear.
Good office environment means productivity. So, face the hole, or install one of those wide angle rearview clip-on mirrors like you might put in your car to see the kids in the back seat [a friend of mine actually did that, taped to the top of his monitor, and it was brilliant].
"the male or female who slathers on so much cologne or perfume that I can't breathe"
At least they're not **SMOKING**. OK not an issue HERE since the 80's [but 'vaping' would be ok]. I understand that in SOME places "they" still "allow" in-office smoking. I'd rage quit, LOUDLY and maybe even VIOLENTLY, the first time someone lit a @#$% cancer stick anywhere upwind of me. The exhaust *ALWAYS* gives me a *BAD* headache.
"I would happily shoot the sociopaths who think they have the right to share their conversations, thoughts and phone calls with the whole damn floor..."
Or the OTHER sociopaths that have to INCESSANTLY complain about everyone around them, particularly those who need to "interact" like the office plan implies...
yeah "fish bowl" office design is JUST! PLAIN! STUPID! (and I guess that pretty much says it all). Whoever thought that up needs to be re-educated with a cat-5-o-nine-tails *AND* a clue-bat. And maybe 'accidentally' 'fall' out of a 2nd floor window that swings open easily when leaned on...
"I really really hate all this new fad for whitespace"
It is _EXTREMELY_ bad for the eyes. I force the 'white' color to be a tad yellow on my machine to limit the eyestrain from all of it. Incidentally, the background whiteness ALSO makes 'el Reg' hard to read [especially in the edit screen, where the font is now 50% smaller than it was when reading the posts]. At least El Reg has grey panels along the sides, which are a HELL of a lot less *OBNOXIOUS*.
The problem is the level of blue in the white light. Blue light depletes the orange pigment in the macula which leads to macular degeneration. It's also why bluish flourescent lights are *HORRIBLE* for your eyes. It's why staring at a computer screen all day causes eye strain [try the 'yellowing' trick like I've done, you'll notice the difference].
You'll see white on black better than black on white. But all of the @#$%^'ing "Modern" (*spit*) web design is BASS ACKWARDS. and 2D FLATSO. It's "anti-reader-friendly". Or maybe "reader hostile".
(and 'soft white' lights, slightly pinkish, are easier on the eyes, just like white on black text. Hey, let's make this an "accessibility" issue, start a major *STINK* over it, and *FORCE* web designers to make it all "old eyes accessible" - heh)
I learned in a few minutes how to use the git command line utility when a customer said "I want source files kept on github in a private repo".
1. 'git clone https://example.com/pathname' <-- get a copy of the repo
2. 'git pull' <-- grab the latest source
3. 'git push' <-- update with your latest stuff
4. 'git log' <-- list all of the commits (which you can then use github to look at if you need to)
that'll get you started. look the rest up on an 'as needed' basis. (that wasn't too long now was it?)
(thinking of the children, learning to use git)
"Windows 95, after all was written by far better developers."
than the ones that wrote Win-10-nic and Windows "Ape".
fixed it for ya! (You're welcome)
/me points out that what made the '95 developers BETTER was a *WILLINGNESS* to actually *LISTEN* to their customers, and a *TRUE* appreciation for Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers. Ah, those were the days I actually _LIKED_ Microsoft...
(not sure what icon to use, but 'former fanboi' might fit this one)
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2025
