
Windows: The Dread of Updates - spariev
https://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=50715
======
daly
Oh but you're going to miss that pretty screensaver... You know, the one that
says (<sarcasm> "Do you like what you see?" </sarcasm>) ... NO, I LIKED THE
WORK I WAS DOING

I bought a new computer. I bought the Flight Simulator 2020. The flight
simulator wouldn't work. MS Support said to update Windows, which I did.
FS2020 worked... for a week. Then MS Support said to update Windows to 2004.
The whole update took about 6 hours, time I would like to have spent flying.

Of the 3 weeks I had FS2020, a FULL DAY was spent on the phone with MS
Support, with the ONLY change being a new, updated Windows. 24 hours of
"support" spread over 3 weeks. 3 work days I could have flown.

FS202 is an amazing program. But it won't run if (a) the remote license check
fails (b) the operating system isn't up to date, (c) the wifi is down, or (d)
FS updates aren't applied.

Would you keep a great car if (a) it wouldn't start if the owner's manual
wasn't up to date? or (b) it wouldn't start because your lease isn't up to
date? or (c) the onboard computers weren't the latest update? or (d) the wifi
was down? I'd get rid of the car, no matter how good it was.

I got rid of FS2020. I now have a sweet Linux install.

If you value your time, your work, or your money... Don't use Windows.

~~~
jiggawatts
I got massively down voted in another forum for critiquing FS2020 for being
"self-important", for want of a better word.

For example, take the FS2020 downloader. Instead of using the game-store
downloader, with its highly optimised CDN and streaming package format, they
wrote their own downloader.

Okay, fine. Let's accept for a moment that perhaps Steam, or XBox, or whatever
couldn't handle the enormous size of their game, despite being roughly the
same size as COD5 or Doom Eternal and that the FS2020 team needed the game to
load faster to "deliver a good experience".

So the FS2020 team clearly _spent effort_ to write "something better". That
something better was atrociously bad. So bad that the game immediately earned
the nickname "download simulator", because that was the experience most users
had of the game for the first 24-49 hours or so.

It took 5 hours to download on _gigabit fibre_ internet. It should have taken
30 minutes!

The FS2020 downloader makes every mistake possible to make in a downloader.
It's synchronous. It downloads tiny files. It doesn't use a local CDN. It
decompresses files after downloading them in a single thread, without
downloading anything during this time. It downloads the base game and then the
patch separately, instead of the pre-patched version. It doesn't recover from
interruptions properly.

I could go on and on.

Someone in the development team of this AAA game decided that _they know
better_ than the people that operate the Xbox content distribution network.

It's arrogance born of ignorance.

~~~
joezydeco
FS2020 was a 3d worldview tech demo that got smashed up with the FSX14 flight
code. The 50 pounds of mush got shoved into a 40 pound sausage casing and then
shoved out the door.

To think Microsoft had any real planning on this product is wishful thinking.

------
breakingcups
The user-hostileness of Windows Update astounds me. This week I had a
notification about updates. I still had many tabs and a few editors with
(unsaved) content. I put my computer to sleep to continue the text day,
figuring I'll do the update then.

Nope. Microsoft in all its arrogance decides that no user can be trusted to
make proper decisions about their own hardware. It set a wake timer, booted up
my PC in the middle of the night and rebooted it (killing all my processes,
wiping out my work) to install its update. It's unforgiveable. There's no way
to turn just the forced reboot feature off permanently. The only thing you can
do is suspend updates for a bit, temporarily.

I own my hardware, I want to own my software. I'm sick of this "OS as a
service" turn Windows 10 has taken.

I used to exclusively use Linux desktops but got back into games.

However, this combined with the deceptive Microsoft account bullshit when
installing makes me think I should make the switch back again.

~~~
nichch
Using Group Policy you can set Windows to download but not install updates.
[0]

Setting this, I have never had an unexpected restart. Please keep in mind that
future Windows updates may adjust this setting. I have had to re-apply the
policy at least once.

I’ve also had issues with wake timers which have needed a combination of
settings to fix.

Personally, I have moved away from Windows for every device I have excluding a
dedicated gaming PC. I agree that this is hostile behavior and is completely
unacceptable.

[0] The group policy is located at

    
    
      Computer Configuration\ Policies\ Administrative Templates\ Windows Components\ Windows Update

and is called “Configure Automatic Updates”. Enable it and select “3 - Auto
download and notify for install”

~~~
disown
> Please keep in mind that future Windows updates may adjust this setting.

This is a big problem. Changing settings or even re-installing junk that you
worked hard to remove.

An even bigger problem is that microsoft can just simply disable this setting
whenever they want in the future.

------
trynewideas
Who has insight into _why_ these updates are so fraught? I see tons of rants
about how bad it is, and I've had mixed experiences at best — some hardware
I've never had problems with for years, others reliably shit the bed on any
significant update.

Is it possible from Microsoft's side to have good operating system updates
within Windows' existing constraints, considering the hardware diversity? (And
on the flip side, why has Apple had so much trouble recently with avoiding
updates that break features, despite controlling the hardware?)

I get that it's challenging, that's clear, but why are updates in these
proprietary OSs so apparently unsolvable?

~~~
jiggawatts
This is a solvable problem that was largely solved in the past.

And then Microsoft elected to save a lot of money by firing the entire QA
team.

You are their QA team now, so don't be surprised if you find bugs. It's your
job.

------
spariev
My current setup is a laptop with Windows 10 as a host and an Ubuntu VM for
work, and while it was nice avoiding the common Linux laptop issues, I really
do consider migrating to a Linux only setup because of how awful and
unpredictable recent Windows updates are.

~~~
ardy42
> My current setup is a laptop with Windows 10 as a host and an Ubuntu VM for
> work, and while it was nice avoiding the common Linux laptop issues, I
> really do consider migrating to a Linux only setup because of how awful and
> unpredictable recent Windows updates are.

Have you tried delaying feature updates? The "higher" your edition, the longer
you get to delay them. I got Windows 10 Professional, and the first thing I
did was set those updates to be delayed for a year (I figure by then their
involuntarily crowdsourced QA will resulted in a relatively stable build). I
haven't had any serious problems yet.

Don't get me wrong, though, I hate what Microsoft is doing to Windows and I
think this is all stupid and sad.

~~~
spariev
Thanks for the advice, Actually I have disabled the updates altogether (I have
the Pro version) and currently on 1909 version. My plan is to set up a backup
laptop (90% done atm) and only then run the updates on weekend

------
Nginx487
I run all my Windows software in Parallels/Virtualbox instances, on
macOS/Linux respectively. It is very hardened Windows 7, and it has very
limited access to the internet, and Windows 7 still receive some updates,
which I assume cover critical vulnerabilities. I hope to keep this setup for
2-3 more years.

I remember, I said huge No to Windows 10 when I realized I can't change
Administrator password offline, as I created MS account during setup. Big
mistake of mine.

~~~
tinus_hn
Windows 7 is out of support and does not receive security updates.

~~~
Nginx487
I said it's hardened enough to be safe against common threats.

Also, business editions receive updated until 2023

------
iask
As the pandemic continues, my wife had me purchased a Cricut craft cutter,
accessories and supplies to keep her and the kids occupied with crafts...since
school was also closed for summer.

Literally every time she goes to use the laptop there’s an update...takes over
an hour to get things started. Eventually she got tired of the updates and now
back on the phone scrolling.

------
Stierlitz
“The point is that it takes some time to get all of these things running again
after a reboot.”

I too would like my desktop restored to its last setting on reboot.

------
xg15
So, any insight what was happening during those six hours?

