Quietly admitted?
They should be shouting it from the top of every mountain.
The Fscked up big time.
I am really glad that I blocked all updates to my Windows systems when they started to force GWX down my throat.
Windows printer bug fixed
Microsoft has this week quietly admitted on its website that one of its security updates broke printing on pre-Windows 10 PCs. The MS16-098 patch, issued in August, fixes privilege escalation bugs in kernel-level drivers on Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2 Service …
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Saturday 24th September 2016 09:01 GMT BobChip
Mountain tops?
If M$ are going to call out all the times their software has screwed users up from a mountaintop, we're going to need a lot more mountains. Seriously, why do people pay good money for this stuff?
(None of this bothers me at all, since I don't use Windows. I have not had any trouble with any of my printers or scanners, throughout numerous system updates over many years. And I can run my OS and software on a fast SSD, while keeping all my data and files on a separate spinning steel HD, without the slightest difficulty.)
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Saturday 24th September 2016 10:02 GMT itzman
Re: Mountain tops?
Seriously, why do people pay good money for this stuff?
1/. Because it comes pre-installed and not having it is not an option
2/. Because installing anything else is work.
3/. Because everyone else has it.
4/. Because the world is full of people who make money out of fixing it.
5/. Because their games won't run on Linux (yet)
6/. Because their niche applications won't run on Linux (yet).
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Saturday 24th September 2016 13:03 GMT WolfFan
Re: Mountain tops? @itzman
Why, oh, why, do people downvote posts like itzman's which do nothing more than state the perfectly obvious truth? If you buy anything not from Apple or a Chromebook, with very few exceptions it ships with Windows and the users have paid for it when they bough the hardware. They get it whether they want it or not. If they want to install a different OS, the have to actively find something else, format the drive, install the OS, install drivers for the hardware (if there are any...) and generally mess with the system. The general public merely wants a computer. They, mostly, don't know how to install new OSes. They don't know about drivers. They don't care. 90+ percent of the world has Windows or Macs. There are lots and lots and lots of people who support Windows systems, and a few who support Apple. And, of course, users want to use computers to DO SOMETHING... and the something they want to do will work with Windows, but might not with Linux. These are facts. I really don't see why people hand out downvotes for simply stating the facts.
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Saturday 24th September 2016 15:01 GMT a_yank_lurker
Re: Mountain tops? @itzman
@WolfFan - I think the first post is saying why don't people demand Slurp get its act together. And if the option to ditch Winbloat is available, take it if Slurp refuses to fix its internal problems and stupidities. I doubt Slurp will fix anything internally unless forced by users leaving to do so and we will continue to see problems with peripheral devices not working.
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Sunday 25th September 2016 07:20 GMT kryptylomese
Re: Mountain tops? @itzman
My family all have computers and I have given all of them Linux (some were used to Windows previously) because I never have to fix it and I did not even have to teach them how to use it (their age ranges from 7 to 80 years old). Granted, they may not have known how to install it. However, modern Linux is simpler for people to use than Windows - and much more reliable!
Most people don't use rare software, they just use a web browser and office (Libre office works brilliantly nowadays)
Unfortunately, games are still an issue even though WINE is very good it still cannot provide 100% compatibility.
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Sunday 25th September 2016 10:25 GMT Pompous Git
Re: Mountain tops? @itzman
Why, oh, why, do people downvote posts like itzman's which do nothing more than state the perfectly obvious truth?
What makes you think desktop publishing is a "niche" application? We gave up hot type decades ago.
There was no Downvote from me BTW, but anything not available on Linux is "niche"? Get real!
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Monday 26th September 2016 20:25 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Mountain tops? @itzman
The majority of people don't write computer programs either, but that doesn't seem to have prevented the proliferation of the necessary tools for Linux.
I'm not saying that it wouldn't be good to have desktop publishing, but, as far as I can see it, there are a few problems.
1) Generally speaking, the tools to write computer programs are required to build an operating system - so to get where we are, we needed (some of) them.
2) The Venn diagram of "people who know about writing software" and "people who are willing to work on tools to write software" is a lot larger than the Venn diagram of "people who know about writing software" and "people who know about desktop publishing or are willing to learn".
3) Even if that wasn't the case, commecial projects have a larger pool of "willing to learn" with the incentive of "being paid". And may, in fact, be willing to pay for the sort of people who'd fit into the second Venn diagram in point 2.
4) With so many tools for doing software out there, it lowers the bar for people to work on them. Which also takes people from the pool of potential FOSS desktop publishing developers.
5) In most cases writing HTML or using word processors is "good enough" - and full blown DTP is overkill.
I'm not saying that it's a *good* thing...
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Monday 26th September 2016 05:35 GMT Steve Davies 3
Re: Mountain tops? @itzman
Well said. People want to use their computers to do stuff.
IMHO, the OS is a tool that just needs to facilitate that operation. It does not need to be a nanny and try to help/get in the way. Oh how did we ever manage with good old Dos eh?
I have to conclude that your downvote was probably due to the fact that you mentioned Apple and didn't slag them off which seems to be the norm aroyund here these days. It does not matter that the news item we are discussing is about Microsoft. I know that this will gather even more downvotes for trying to inject a modicum of reason but that's life ain't it....
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Saturday 24th September 2016 16:44 GMT Will Godfrey
Printers. Pah!
Why is it that we seem to hear of more problems with printers (on any OS) than all the other devices people attach? They've been around as long as I can remember and have always been a pain in the arse.
Just what is it about sticking (mostly black) dots on paper that's so arcane?
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Saturday 24th September 2016 23:01 GMT Down not across
Re: Printers. Pah!
Well, printing is only arcane on Windows. On UNIX systems, printing is a non-issue, basically thanks to Apple's CUPS, which is used by all except Windows.
I solved that issue few decades ago by ensuring all my printers do PostScript. If all else fails, generic PostScript driver will do a fine job. If one is not available most formats can be translated into PS otherways and then sent to printer raw. Yes, even on Windows.
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Sunday 25th September 2016 10:29 GMT Pompous Git
Re: Printers. Pah!
I solved that issue few decades ago by ensuring all my printers do PostScript.
When I first put a Postscript simm into my HP Laserjet 5P, thus turning it into a 5MP, I attempted to share it on the network from a Linux box. After some frustrating hours of failure, I contacted the dudes who wrote SAMBA and they suggested I do what they were doing: Share it from a WinNT box.
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Sunday 25th September 2016 10:38 GMT Pompous Git
Re: Printers. Pah!
On UNIX systems, printing is a non-issue, basically thanks to Apple's CUPS, which is used by all except Windows.
My current printer, a Postscript Lexmark C543dn, generates a "waste toner receptacle full" error every time I print. It never did this on Win7. After 12 months, the Linux forum I posted the issue to has generated one response. An email from someone who has the same problem and hoping I can solve it for them. Lexmark's response was to replace the waste toner receptacle with an empty one. I can't begin to understand how replacing an empty waster toner receptacle with an empty waste toner receptacle will solve a software problem.
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Monday 26th September 2016 06:18 GMT GrapeBunch
Re: Printers. Pah!
"My current printer, a Postscript Lexmark C543dn ..."
Same printer here. I had tremendous problems getting it to print from XP on the LAN. The 100 MB printer package from Lexmark is pretty much useless. Even before XP was deep-sixed by MS, my reliable way to print anything was to take the job on a USB stick from the computer which is 3 feet from the printer, move it to a Win 7 machine 30 feet away, print (wirelessly on the LAN), then go fetch. I suppose it's OT to note that I had better networking under Win95 than I have currently under Windows.
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Monday 26th September 2016 06:55 GMT Pompous Git
Re: Printers. Pah!
Same printer here. I had tremendous problems getting it to print from XP on the LAN.
Are you sharing it as attached via USB to a computer, or printing to its IP address on the LAN? I've not had any hassles printing to mine as a LAN attached printer. But then I acquired it after retiring my last XP box. If you're still having hassles, I could unretire the ASUS EeeBox and see if I can help.
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Sunday 25th September 2016 16:41 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Printers. Pah!
"thanks to Apple's CUPS, which is used by all except Windows."
It wasn't really Apple's CUPS, they just liked it so much they bought the developer. MS have been known to do similar (it's where NT started :)).
"Michael Sweet, who owned Easy Software Products, started developing CUPS in 1997. The first public betas appeared in 1999.[3][4] The original design of CUPS used the LPD protocol, but due to limitations in LPD and vendor incompatibilities, the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) was chosen instead. CUPS was quickly adopted as the default printing system for most Linux distributions. In March 2002, Apple Inc. adopted CUPS as the printing system for Mac OS X 10.2.[5] In February 2007, Apple Inc. hired chief developer Michael Sweet and purchased the CUPS source code.[6]"
(wikpedia:CUPS)
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Monday 26th September 2016 09:06 GMT Anonymous Coward
Did anyone mention Keyboards and Mice?
I know off-topic but some recent MS "update" stopped a win8 box from seeing the keyboard and mouse, I know a "minor irritation" and why am I complaining but the Asus laptop is question is a round trip of some seven hours away, needless to say after much "reboot and try this" the new Ubuntu install is working fine and I'm loathed to spend too long trying to fix windows so it can screw up again next week. If someone handles this tripe during the day the last thing they want to do in the evening is more MS.
There are applications that require windows but thankfully fewer than ever in this use, my dad is finding Linux just fine.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
