For those of you who are old enough to remember: Windows Update used to be a website that scanned your machine using an ActiveX control.
My work runs some scientific instruments on Windows 3.1 and Windows 98 still. The equipment is from the 80s and cannot be upgraded. To buy a new one costs 5 million dollars. Ironically, when parts break on it now, it’s super expensive to fix because of rarity of parts. Luckily the computers are not on the internet.
What type of instruments?
Dynamic secondary ion mass spectrometers, or D-SIMS for short. It’s an analytical tool to measure very low concentrations of elements in materials. We use it to help mining companies find gold that’s wrapped up in various minerals like pyrite.
Hm… I don’t think I ever updated Windows prior to Windows XP cuz I do not remember this website. I grew up with DOS and progressed through every iteration of Windows that existed, too, so it’s not like I am just younger than the service.
Even with XP, I remember having to get a disc mailed to me for SP1 and SP2.
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The very first time I used the Windows Update site I thought it was the coolest thing ever.
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A decade later their miserable update process was one of the things that made me hug my Linux box, and cemented my rejection of Windows.
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A decade after that (still responsible for supporting Windows at work) I could not believe how they’d managed to make it even worse, and continually found myself wondering how Windows users weren’t melting down their customer service lines with complaints.
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Today I have to admit, “eh, it’s no package manager, but they seem to have made it a lot better.”
Edit: I’m probably using the term “decade” slightly loosely there, but not too much.
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