Gates Spends Entire First Day Back In Office Trying To Install Windows 8.1 | Hacker News Reader

Gates Spends Entire First Day Back In Office Trying To Install Windows 8.1

newyorker.com

25 pointsk-mcgrady13 comments

This is satirical, but Bill Gates is well-known for trying to experience his company's products as an end user might and pointing out the problems that no one is really keeping an eye on. See, for example, this email on his bad experiences with Windows usability in 2003:

http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2008/06/24/full-text-an-...

I think it's a good example for any organizational leader.

Great leadership there. It's easy to get distracted by all of the strategy presentations, overseas growth goals, and sales numbers. Spending time as the user should be mission number 1 for senior execs.

In a way this is good - it means Gates is aware of the problems normal users face, and in his new role he's in a position to do something about them.

The article is satire

I really wish he had. I literally had the experience described with a brand new Windows PC (a Dell) that my uncle purchased:

* Unbox and boot the machine (Windows 8, stock Dell image)

* Connect to a network

* 1st things 1st, remove the trial McAfee A/V and reboot

* 2nd things 2nd, install updates...

* 3 hours and an untold number of updates and reboots later

* Update failed to install, please try restarting

* Investigate error message

* Download and run Microsoft "Fix It" tool

* Fail to install update; investigate further

I dumped an entire evening in to filtering through support discussions trying to find a valid solution to this failed update, working under the assumption that the Windows 8.1 update would be installed somewhere along the line with the automatic updates. Finally, I decided to download the Windows 8.1 update for IT administrators, and just try applying it. Eureka! That did the trick.

It is patently absurd that this is the experience a new computer user should be expected to endure.

I haven't read the New Yorker in a while so while I'm, 98% certain this is satire, there's still that 2% that's telling me it could be true.

This is probably due to my recent experience trying to go from Windows 8.1 RC to the release version. Windows 8.1 is the best version of Windows I've every used (maybe tied with 2000 for it's time) but getting it installed and working was just barely worth it.

Satire

And unfunny satire at that.

Keywords humor

This isn't news.

Also not particularly humorous, just to note.

So I'm really not sure what it is.

I knew this had to be satirical... What kind of "technology adviser" would update their OS to a new version (instead of doing a clean install) or install Windows 8.1 on a "work" PC.

Just because it's not from the The Onion doesn't mean it's not "The Onion".

Most expensive Windows installation ever.

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