In his blog, Scott Adams describes his exasperating experience following a change of motherboards. Central to the story is the fact that he has two phone numbers for Windows re-activation, both of which claim they are an official Microsoft call center and that the other is a scam. Neither are any help anyway. Seems to be a topical issue right now.
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Windows Meets New Motherboard - Scott Adams' Experience
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(Score: 3, Interesting) by Snotnose on Sunday December 21 2014, @05:15AM
To me, Scott Adams is the guy who wrote the Adventure games for the TRS-80. I know an imposter started a popular comic strip some 10 years later but, IMHO, Scott Adams is the Adventure guy.
yeah, tongue in cheek, I RTFA. But my point stands. While I'm at it, get off my lawn.
In the end, America was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by gman003 on Sunday December 21 2014, @07:48AM
Are you *sure* they're different people? Has anyone ever seen both of them in the same room?
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Sunday December 21 2014, @08:11PM
I met that Scott Adams; he interviewed me for a programming job there (it was the Apple II, not TRS-80). I screwed up royally; I worked at Disney at the time, so my hair was short and my face shaven, and I wore business attire to the interview.
Everybody there looked like they were straight out of a Cheech and Chong movie; all hair, beards, jeans, t-shirts.
I didn't get the job.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by unitron on Sunday December 21 2014, @05:48AM
...versions of Windows versus the retail package, and he got a pop ups from some scammers and called those numbers.
But the real problem was that his repair guy didn't know about OEM version problems either.
something something Slashcott something something Beta something something
(Score: 1) by someguy123 on Sunday December 21 2014, @05:58AM
Yeah, working as intended. Cuts corners on hardware (Gateway), cuts corners on support, then is unhappy. Go figure.
There are issues with Microsoft/Windows, but this isn't an example of one...
(Score: 2, Insightful) by dime on Sunday December 21 2014, @02:56PM
A consumer is said to be "cutting corner on hardware" because he buys a gateway?
Can you please give us your approved list of hardware vendors? Is it just alienware? Or do you mean newegg and that everyone on the planet should just know how to assemble a computer and install one?
Does the article mention whether or not his computer met your approved number of LEDs in the case? I know that's probably the second thing on your checklist.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Sunday December 21 2014, @08:16PM
Have you ever dealt with MS "support" before? Maybe they're better now, but I had a hell of a time with them with DOS 6.2. From an old post that will be in an upcoming book:
Then there's “product activation”. Everyone tells me that they had no problem with it; but none had to use the phone to do it, and I'll not likely forget the one time I called Microsoft tech support for a DOS 6 problem; their memmaker program trashed my machine. I spent two hours mostly on hold, on a long distance call (on my dime) and Microsoft's rude and ignorant employees didn't solve the problem, but blamed other software vendors and other hardware vendors.
In desperation I called the motherboard vendor, JDR, who knew of Microsoft's memmaker bug and had a workaround. I spent five minutes on the phone with their knowledgeable and polite tech guy, and in ten minutes the machine was working. Microsoft blew goat dung!
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by frojack on Sunday December 21 2014, @06:01AM
Seems to me the last time I added a new mobo and triggered a re-activation in was a nobrainer. It still had the same disk, I still had the eula sticker, keyed in a name and email and bam. Done.
Same machine a couple years later, hard drive crashed. Had to get install media from HP, but once I had that it went smoothly, with the same on line procedure.
I've never had to call. If I did, I'd start on the net at microsoft.com
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Sunday December 21 2014, @07:34AM
> Had to get install media from HP
You blow off waiting around for snail mail or traveling to a bricks and mortar place, and just say the rest of the process was smooth? Which, it wasn't. You shouldn't have to key in anything at all. Didn't have to do any such thing for Windows 2000. What did you use to do that part? A Live CD? An old computer you had to dig out of storage? A friend's computer? Well, okay, Windows is now programmed to give users some grace, let people connect and surf the Internet for a few days before insisting on a license key, to eliminate that chicken and egg problem. But still, not smooth.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 21 2014, @08:10AM
If your Windows came with an install disk then you are seriously out of date. Nowadays 20gb of the primary hdd is chewed up with os install and restore partitions. When the hdd dies outside warranty you are SOL.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 21 2014, @08:46AM
Unless you had saved a disk backup image or created restore media.... *crickets*
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Monday December 22 2014, @04:11PM
Good luck with that. I tried moving the Windows 7 install of a Lenovo Thinkpad to an SSD I upgraded it with. I used a combination of DD and ntfsclone to copy the partitions but no dice. There are three partitions: boot, restore and windows. Boot has a boot manager which I assume also contains diagnostic utilities and the restore loader. I made sure everything matched up: partition size, starting sectors, sector count etc. My goal was to start the restore partition to do a clean windows install to a new partition on the SSD. The damn thing refused to boot at all, even the diagnostics. I am sure I could have poked around the boot loader partition and fixed it but screw that noise. Who wants all that complexity?
I installed Linux on the SSD, the proper way to fix Windows boot issues 😉. I wound up using that Windows license for a VM on the same system. A much better setup overall. The spinning disk was backed up and turned into a mobile USB disk.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 23 2014, @03:44AM
That's not how you move a Windows install. You should have created a factory restore disk. The leaflets that came with your computer and Windows initially recommends that you do this. Windows is not Linux. You don't move Windows around like you move Linux around and you don't move Linux around like you move Windows around. Don't blame the OS when you don't know how to use it.
I made sure everything matched up: partition size, starting sectors, sector count etc.
Then you also used DD incorrectly. You want to copy the entire drive, not each partition individually. You didn't need to look at any of those. You also switched disk architectures: HDD -> SSD. At the lower levels HDDs and SSDs are completely different. You shouldn't use a low level copy tool to transfer data between the two.
I hope you don't consider yourself to be a computer expert (for Windows or Linux). You seem to know just enough to be dangerous, but not enough to actually know that.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday December 23 2014, @05:50PM
You obviously have never done this yourself. And you don't have to be a dick about it.
I have many, many times moved standard Windows installs from both large to smaller disks and smaller to larger disks using Linux tools such as ntfsclone, dd and gparted. I have even converted physical Windows installs to virtual machines (Both XP and vista). So yes, I do know what I am doing. The problem with Lenovo is they have a boot partition which loads Windows instead of Windows using its own boot loader. Their restore disk would put this same crap configuration back on disk. I do not want a diagnostic/boot partition nor do I want a restore partition.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 23 2014, @08:46PM
You're right, I didn't need the personal attack. Sorry about that.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday December 24 2014, @05:57PM
No problem.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by frojack on Sunday December 21 2014, @09:06AM
If your Windows came with an install disk then you are seriously out of date. Nowadays 20gb of the primary hdd is chewed up with os install and restore partitions. When the hdd dies outside warranty you are SOL.
I didn't find that to be truel
That was exactly my situation, the install/restore partition was toast, along with the rest of the drive.
But like I said, one call to HP, (after the warranty period) and I had CD media FedEx, next day.
Turns out the warranty on the OS is longer than the Warranty on the hardware.
I subsequently found out I could have downloaded it and burned my own. That option isn't their first choice, because most people don't have two computers to burn a cd with.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Sunday December 21 2014, @06:12AM
And his comic strip was about engineers vs. PHBs? Suddenly, I am sceptical.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 21 2014, @10:42AM
Pacific Bell in California.
Do you ever hear him complaining about his POTS service?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 22 2014, @08:46AM
Line switching graybeards...
(Score: 3, Funny) by maxwell demon on Sunday December 21 2014, @06:49AM
From the article:
Given that I'm pretty sure Microsoft claims to be Microsoft, that's a very interesting advice. ;-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Marand on Sunday December 21 2014, @09:04AM
• Do not purchase any software or services from someone claiming to be from Microsoft.
Given that I'm pretty sure Microsoft claims to be Microsoft, that's a very interesting advice. ;-)
Sounds like it could be their Windows 8 sales strategy.
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Monday December 22 2014, @02:25AM
Yeah, total garbage. I wonder what moron put this together.
Ask if there is a fee or subscription associated with the “service.” If there is, hang up.
Yeah, because Microsoft would never adopt a subscription model [wikipedia.org].
The advice they give on what not to do is total garbage, but the worst part is that they give literally no advice at all on what you should do. For instance, one might think that a phone-number or email-address specified on a microsoft.com page might be trustworthy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 21 2014, @06:57AM
I have for years followed that advice, and not only from Microsoft.
However, Microsoft is on to the very thing which I feel is the greatest promoter of piracy on the internet.... an absolute lack of trust.
I hate paying for *anything* unless its with a trusted vendor.
Its NOT the money!!!
Its having to reveal funds transfer credentials that concern me so... those can be used to my extreme disadvantage.
The risks of using "pirated" content, in my estimation, are far less than the risks of revealing financial transaction codes on the internet.
Microsoft has earned my ire by things like having software that can infect my computer by as much as trying to read a .doc file, and businesses that feel they have to send me .doc files.
By finding ways around dealing with a business, I can eliminate the risks of revealing financial codes when I live in a world where banks will transfer money on electronic say-sos ( ACH transactions ) and leave me to detect and try to protest the unauthorized charges.
Once I have done business with a business, they are apt to send me .doc files. And I know anyone can spoof a email address. All one has to do is snoop my machine's contact list or the business's customer list, spoof the business I am doing business with, and send me an infection.doc . I feel helpless to educate business on digital hygiene when I am up against the Microsoft representative in the Executive office shaking hands with the CEO. Most businesses seem to consider an Executive Handshake with a Microsoft Representative far more meaningful than the respect of a customer.
I got my first infection from a business ( from my own employer, no less! ) in an infected .doc file. The "concept" virus. That was 15 years ago! Back in the WIN95 days!
Fifteen years later and Microsoft still has not fixed these infection vectors in their file formats. Businesses still send these damned files to their customers, even though the word on the street is never open attachments unless you know what's in them. Why businesses still do this to their customer is beyond me. I would just as soon mail a soiled condom to a customer than send him a .doc file.
I learned my lesson thirty years ago. On a BBS, no less. ANSI bombs. The lesson? NEVER mix code and data!
Embedded scripts are bad news.
Business will spend millions of dollars promoting an "image", yet many show such poor hygiene in their business communication.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 21 2014, @08:27AM
OMG, why try to install Windows on an innocent new mobo? Missed a golden opportunity to move to Linux, current warts and all, and bury the four flags logo OS. The install CDs make great coasters, and the best is it don't matter if they get scratched up.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 21 2014, @12:16PM
You'll never have to activate that shit again.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 21 2014, @06:08PM
What if he bought a new motherboard because the old one failed, and didn't have an OEM key to patch into the bios nor tools to do this since the internet is down becuase the old pc is teh b0rken and required replacing the motherboard?
it used to be that my pc would say invalid system disk, and then I would insert one that worked and life would go on.
but yeah fuuuu.... about the drm and the cloud that rained on our convenience parades. I am sure a pirated copy eliminates these issues. Nice guys finish last and all of that (or greatly inconvenienced only to discover it would be easier and faster to cheat. There are few who maintain their last vestiges of honor and dignity via OS installs.
Who knew OEM installs would become philosophical?
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Sunday December 21 2014, @04:46PM
That's the two guard, two door problem and the solution is well known [stackexchange.com] partly because it appeared in the film Labyrinth [wikipedia.org].
1702845791×2
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday December 21 2014, @07:18PM
Except that it isn't. The people on the false hotline are not obsessive liars, they are fraudsters who will say whatever supports their fraud. If for a given question the truth supports their fraud, they will tell you the truth.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Sunday December 21 2014, @11:33PM
It doesn't matter if a party lies consistently because you only have to craft questions to expose them and the structure of such questioning is well known and allows for the possibility of dealing with two rogue parties [wikipedia.org]. Admittedly, it is a secondary consideration when you're contacting such parties because you have one or more technical faults but it is possible.
1702845791×2
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Monday December 22 2014, @09:51AM
From the linked Wikipedia article (emphasis by me):
Which directly contradicts your claim
Indeed, a fraudster constructs a fiction and tells you the truth about that fiction with the only lie being the claim that this fiction were the reality. And the only ways to catch fraudsters is to either detect a contradiction to reality, or get them beyond the borders of their ability to consistently maintain their fiction, so they get into self-contradiction.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday December 21 2014, @10:35PM
The third line in the article is:
"Bought a Gateway computer from Best Buy"
I wasn't aware anyone ever did that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 22 2014, @10:18AM
I wonder if he literally wishes a slow painful death on those who disagree with his interpretation of things with regard to the motherboard.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 22 2014, @07:29PM
You just made me spit out my coffee, anon. Thanks for the laugh!