Microsoft update blunders going out of control

[RV_]

Whoa!

Microsoft is in rare form the past three months. This is the worst string of updates that are Microsoft' fault, I've seen in recent memory. I've been lucky in that I haven't seen any problems, but that is luck this time. since the layoffs, and the departure f Ballmer, the changes made allowing a new division to be in charge of their own updates doesn't seem to be working. I'll do 10 in any event and make my own decisions. But they need to get their spit together if they want to stay in business. Saying that other OS' have had bad patches, or done more damage, as we see in comments after this article and others is making excuses for MS. Saying one hates MS or uses Linux sounds like what we see in may places and sometimes here. Neither contribute to the topic, solve anything. But I have to criticize them for dropping the ball too many times in the past days since the new CEO took over. No choice but to be patient.

 

For those with problems, here is the corrected, updated, struck through,and ongoing ZDNet article with the latest info.

 

Excerpt:

 

"We have had an absolute deluge of problem updates from Redmond recently and some have been serious. What's up at Microsoft?

 

The last several months have seen a disturbing string of problems in updates released for Microsoft products. Last week we saw three four. It's time to worry about what's behind it all.

 

This isn't the first time I've brought this up. In Summer of last year Microsoft had buggy Patch Tuesday updates three months in a row. There had been others that year, some of which crippled systems.

The following list includes problems observed in just the last six months:
•Microsoft's June patches broke Office Click-to-Run for some
•August Windows updates cause systems to go into reboot loops (among other problems)
•September Lync server security update may not install successfully
•A file synch issue in OneDrive for Business force Microsoft to pull and reissue an update
•An update to add SHA-2 hashing to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 could cause system reboots
•New ciphers included with a security update to Schannel caused connections to drop and programs to become unresponsive
•October updates to Microsoft Word 2010 and 2013 could stop fields from updating (*)
•An Exchange 2010 update issued in December could stop Outlook from connecting to the server. It was withdrawn and reissued
•December update KB3004394 on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 can cause an inability to install future updates
•December update KB2553154 for Office 2010 disables ActiveX controls

 

Update on December 15: They keep coming. KB3008923 describes problems with MS14-080, the December Cumulative Update for Internet Explorer:

Known issues with this security update

•We are aware of some reports of functional issues on sites that use nested modal dialog boxes on Internet Explorer 11 that occur after you install this security update. Microsoft is researching this issue and will post more information in this article when the information becomes available.
•We are aware of some limited reports of Internet Explorer 9 crashing after you apply this security update. Microsoft is researching this issue and will post more information in this article when the information becomes available.

The MS14-080 security bulletin itself has no mention of any problems"

 

More in the article here:

 

http://www.zdnet.com/article/has-microsoft-stopped-testing-their-updates/?tag=nl.e539&s_cid=e539&ttag=e539&ftag=TRE17cfd61

[wa_desert_rat]

It's interesting, to say the least. As a long-time MS shareholder I was glad to see the end of the Ballmer era. The stock price went up 50% just the news of his impending retirement!

 

Theoretically, having each division in charge of their updates should be easier. After all, the updates have to come *from* that group anyway. Apparently there is something missing in the mix that isn't clear to me. Perhaps the developers of each product are less experienced with the mechanism of the updates and there weren't enough people in the former update division to spread around to the developers to show them how to do it.

 

It's been my understanding that MS has been a seriously political corporation for quite some time. That may not help.

 

Too bad because I just instructed a tech (yesterday) to do updates on two critical servers at one client at close of business. And before I get to them today I have to go to the dentist. Argh!

 

WDR

[RV_]

WDR,

I had no visible issues with fairly new hardware. If their stuff is three years old and under you may dodge that bullet. None of my Windows 7 or 8.1 machines have any issues I see.

[wa_desert_rat]

We had some issues with a server 2008 update but nothing serious. At least we can get back into it. Yesterday a login brought up a black screen...

 

WDR

[ed6713]

MS is getting as bad as Apple.

iOS 8.0 quickly followed by 8.0.1 very quickly followed by 8.0.2.

 

Actually, given the incredible complexity of these operating systems, I'm surprised there aren't more errors made.

 

Makes me miss my college slide rule. No updates required. :-)

 

Ed

[RV_]

I hear ya Ed.

 

I think they are both working harder on getting their unified ecospheres together, and dropping some balls along the way. If its tough on some users, it must be murder on the division chiefs that have to produce the new ones, and the update chiefs who have to keep them up to date and secure.

[Jack Mayer]

It is very difficult to keep updates working right.....been there and done that on some complex software. Actually, it amazes me they have as few issues as they do - both Apple and MS.

 

However, I STILL have a crippled W8.0 laptop that I'm waiting on 10 to upgrade. I can't put in any patches and cannot move to 8.1 without a wipe and fresh start with a physical disc. It is running so I'm leaving it alone....it is my development machine. I intend to replace it. Hopefully with a high end i7, soon. Of course that will have 8.1, for now. I'd consider going to a Mac if I did not have to spend a fortune on software. I'm not biting that bullet, right now. But for video stuff the Mac is attractive.

 

On the slide rule.....I just cleaned up my dad's house and found his old slide rule in a case. I tried to use it and could not remember how....I'll have to play with it some more. I remember in some of my engineering courses that we were allowed to use a slide rule, but NOT one of the new-fangled round ones. I have no idea where my round one is....

[wa_desert_rat]

On the slide rule.....I just cleaned up my dad's house and found his old slide rule in a case. I tried to use it and could not remember how....I'll have to play with it some more. I remember in some of my engineering courses that we were allowed to use a slide rule, but NOT one of the new-fangled round ones. I have no idea where my round one is....

I have a collection of slide rules including a round one. I still have the Pickett I used at college and the pocket Pickett that I carried to impress the girls.

 

WDR

[Vladimir]

MS is getting as bad as Apple.

iOS 8.0 quickly followed by 8.0.1 very quickly followed by 8.0.2.

 

Actually, given the incredible complexity of these operating systems, I'm surprised there aren't more errors made.

 

Makes me miss my college slide rule. No updates required. :-)

 

Ed

 

 

As a Forester, I needed up dates on running my college slide rule!! We did not use them that often and one time I remember trying to solve a problem with the slide rule and realizing I had forgotten how to do it!! I did gripe about calculators and computer programs, but I never wanted to go back to side rules.

 

However, I always hated engineers and their insistence of RPN for calculators. At least the acronym was well named!! I inisisted on buying TI calculators for that reason. I still have found memories of my TI-52 programable calculator. Bought one for the company at MACYS for $395.

[Jack Mayer]

I still have the Pickett I used at college and the pocket Pickett that I carried to impress the girls.

 

WDR

Jeeze, I NEVER was able to impress any girls with my slide rules.....I must have been hanging out with the wrong crowd. Now that I think of it, many of them were tending toward the hippy persuasion.

[Vladimir]

Jeeze, I NEVER was able to impress any girls with my slide rules.....I must have been hanging out with the wrong crowd. Now that I think of it, many of them were tending toward the hippy persuasion.

 

I think it depends on when and where you went to school. Slide rules were out at Berkeley in the late 60's and early 70's.

 

However, I kept a genetically modified Douglas-Fir in my bedroom and the ladies were impressed with the tree. Sort of like Christmas every day. Of course, this was when GMO was cool.

[wa_desert_rat]

Back in the 60s and 70s an engineer had to find the easier classes to get a date. Psych, English 300 and 400 classes, Sociology, those were always good full of cute girls. But any school that had a nursing program was really in demand. I'm not sure if that slide rule in my pocket helped or not but the girls back then all knew that engineers made good money when they got out of school.

 

Schools had long since given up teaching slide rules by the mid-90s when my kids were in school. When my son was about 17 I demonstrated to him how a slide rule worked. He watched me do some simple calculations and then asked me, "Why didn't you just use a calculator?"

 

The Pickett pocket slide rule went to the moon on every Apollo mission; Werner Von Braun has a famous photo of his desk with a slide rule on it..

 

And I still use an RPN calculator because it solves equations the way I was taught do it; from the inside out. And also because the HP calculators had excellent navigation plugins for reducing sextant sights for ship navigation (before GPS). The original HP-35 was dubbed the "electronic slide rule".

 

WDR

[StarDreamers.us]

This is just TOO much. Have a great trip down memory lane. Added my Lenovo pad running 8.1+ seems to be doing fine.

 

Safe Travels!

[RV_]

Wow!

I thought you guys were all my age in the techie category. Had I gone to college instead of dodging the draft, I would have gone in the 70s. But my Industrial engineering classes had scientific calculators and Macs in1986 when I started night classes while active duty. They had calculators on watches in the late 60s, I remember seeing them advertised in Playboy for $500 with tiny pin size stylus' to press the little buttons. I've seen slide rules but never used one.

[Bill Joyce]

I was in college for the transition from slide rules to scientific calculators and for the transition from keypunch cards (Hollerith cards/IBM cards) to terminals. Exciting times.

 

Anyway, I expect Microsoft to get its act together. The new CEO is now learning why things were done a certain way, which is good. Sometimes there is no good reason for the old ways, but sometimes there is.

[RV_]

I think most of us who like Windows agree. It does take some corporate transition time. They'll get it all together. I am amazed they have pulled off such a set of changes in response to customer feedback. XP, Vista, and 7 all had folks complaining because things got moved. Surprising when their Windows 8/8.1 is identical to Windows 7 in desktop mode. Control panel can be pinned to the task bar and be viewed in large icons instead of categories just like XP. Search is just starting to type on the start screen. The changes to 8 to 8.1, and the updates since don't bother me, some of it I don't notice.

 

Still my choice.

[Ray,IN]

I have a collection of slide rules including a round one. I still have the Pickett I used at college and the pocket Pickett that I carried to impress the girls.

 

WDR

My Post slide rule is lying on my computer desk, forgot how to use though. Ha, I just now located the instruction manual for my college slide rule: http://sliderulemuseum.com/Manuals/M226_Post_SR_Inst_1441-1444-1447-1452.pdf

[tjones1935]

Perhaps I should not post this because I don't want to jinx myself but I have not had any problems with Win 8 updates.

 

I need a new desktop over a year ago so bought a ASUS with Win 8 loaded so had to either change it back to Win 7 or learn 8. Biggest problem I had was getting all the software loaded because 8 was trying to protect me I assume, but finally got all that was compliant installed. Also the ASUS will not boot up with number lock on so each time I boot up I have to press that but that is second nature now.

 

Update 8.1 really helped but my biggest dislike with 8.1 is I don't care for some of the way some apps work such and the news. When I read an interesting article that I would like to copy the link and mail to friends, I have not found a way to locate the link. Sports is the same thing too.

 

Another irritant is when doing a system image it seem to look forever to see what hard drives are available instead of letting me just specify where I want the system image saved. I might add I installed a second internal hard drive that I use just for back ups and based my purchase of this computer being able to support a second hard drive.. I also do a system image on a external hard drive that I keep in a safe and I do both weekly.

 

One big like for me is that all email accounts are one location just select which one has mail. As I have gotten older I have moved all finance credit cards etc. to gmail so kids can access it when I become room temp and they cancel my ISP.