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Comment by w00pla | Hacker News Reader

This crap is the embodiment of everything that is wrong with Linux.

Another non-serious example. I used a dual-boot Linux&Vista laptop. Innocently tried to update Ubuntu. This changed the boot loader to Ubuntu only (removed the Windows menu).

This may be fine for me, but it fails the grandmother test (or any other test of a normal casual computer user). Aren't updates tested before they are added?

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To be fair, Windows would have overwritten the MBR (so that it boots Windows only) without asking too many questions either.

Well, Windows is King, and so it can get away with stuff like that. However, Linux being the Maverick, it can't afford to pull shit like that anymore.

I've actually taken to installing Windows on a separate hard drive, and disconnecting my primary drive before I even begin the installation, because I've had Windows screw so many things up.

I actually can't think of a context where this would happen. There has been a recent upgrade of grub which could cause problems with dual boot systems, but it wasn't automatically upgraded to for precisely this reason (you have to go out of your way or do a fresh install). And a standard grub upgrade should have kept your previous settings intact.

So - since this happened and I can say with some certainty that it wasn't by design - have you opened a bug report about it? (I know that the unfortunate tone of this specific bug report is unfortunate but most are handled in a friendly manner)

This may be fine for me, but it fails the grandmother test (or any other test of a normal casual computer user).

I suspect that any dual-boot configuration would fail such a test, though I do admit to being out of touch with any computer user who might be considered normal.

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