Microsoft and Windows I think I got spoiled because my Windows 10 update rendered my wireless mouse and keyboard unusable. I switched to ones with a cord and I have been stepping on the cords all day. One would think when an update comes along it would be tested so things like this don’t happen. I see where other people are having the same problem. Over the years I have gotten used to things going wrong with updates and some of them have been monumental. There are people who have had their computer knocked out by the update and all they are getting is a black screen. Talk about frustration, one updates their computers to not only protect them from viruses and such but also to improve the Windows functions and yet they are taking the chance of things getting worse, much worse. I realize that Windows is not a closed system which only uses approved software as does some if not all of the Apple products, but that is the reason I like it. There is always something out there you can use. When Microsoft Windows first became a reality, it used DOS. This was non-graphical. They had a problem with that since if they kept using it they would lose all their customers since Apple and Amiga came out with graphical interfaces similar to what we use today but a lot cruder. In 1973 Xerox PARC developed the Alto personal computer and it had a graphical interface which was the first one to appear. It wasn’t in color but still a huge advance in computing. The graphical interface on computers became known as the GUI. It wasn’t until 1995 that Microsoft introduced their GUI, it was known as Microsoft Windows 1.0. The Commodore Amiga computer was far ahead of Microsoft and if it wasn’t for bad management and suspicious loans forcing it out of business it might have become the more popular operating system. Windows 1.0 allowed people to point and click at windows to open them which was Stone Age technology at the time. In 1987 Microsoft tried to correct the problems with Windows 1.0 by releasing Windows 2.0 which actually had icons and keyboard shortcuts. Somehow Microsoft managed to remain even with being behind the times while other computer companies came and went. We had a lot of personal computers who names were lost in the sands of time. There was the Atari personal computer, Sinclair, Texas Instrument TI-99, Commodore 64 and before that the Vic-20 and the IBM PC Junior. A long list of IBM clones came and went. BeBox came out in 1995. I could make a list of those computers that came and went but I think you get the point which is there have been plenty of computers on the market which didn’t make it. Just a side note, the Commodore 64 sold more computers than another other personal computer model. Microsoft Windows just kept plugging along and eventually came out with Windows 3.0. This version was optimized for the Intel 386 processors and could do 16 colors. The first Amiga computer, the Amiga 1000 came out in 1985 way before it and could do 256 colors and had far better graphics, but Microsoft managed to get itself labeled the business operating system and still managed to sell its operating system to many computer manufacturers. Windows did have a lot of people complaining about problems, but that was true of all the early operating systems. When Windows 95 came out a lot of people had problems and if you Google Windows 95 problems you will still find a lot of complaints from the old days. I guess its true what you write on the internet never goes away. When Windows 98 came out it offered a lot of improvements including access to USB, DVD, a new filing system and much more. The web browser from Microsoft was now intergrated with the operating system. Then they came out with the most hated of their releases called Windows ME or Millennium Edition in the year 2,000. Windows ME is said by some to have crashed a lot more than it should have. Yes, I know an operating system should never crash but is was sort of expected to get some crashes in the old days. 2001 brought us Windows XT. The GUI was redesigned, there was a new operating system and a new kernel among other things which was supposed to make things more stable. Windows Vista appeared in 2006. Supposedly this version of Windows was supposed to have the ability to detect some problems before they affected the operating system. Security features were added and the power consumption was supposed to be less. We were told there would be faster start up times and some say they are still waiting for that. It wasn’t until Windows 7 came out in 2009 that many people felt they finally had a pretty stable system which was suited for their needs. I thought Windows 7 was head and shoulders above the operating systems which appeared before it and so did many other people. Windows 8 was released in 2012 and had a completely redesigned operating system and was even more stable than Windows 7. It looked different and worked even better. Sure, there were still little annoyances but I guess there always will be. Then there was Windows 8.1 and finally Windows 10 which came out in 2015. This began a policy of updates without changing the Windows version number and it became even more important to know the build number if you had a problem so you could research the problem. The rest is history and here we are today and as I said the last update caused me a problem.
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