TooMuchBlue

My collection of rants and raves about technology, my kids and family, social/cultural phenomena, and inconsistencies in the media and politics.

2004-07-14

WindowsUpdate version 5

OK, I've been blowing the whole blog concept pretty badly. My New Years Resolution is now to post slightly more often than every six months. I've been checking into the beta of Microsoft's Windows Update version 5. Seems pretty slick, though it still suffers from some obvious flaws:
  • Requires Internet Explorer, the web browser with the most security vulnerabilities
  • Encourages you to configure Internet Explorer to automatically permit downloading and executing ActiveX components, an unsafe practice
  • Won't run on any browser except Internet Explorer
  • Makes it too easy to install updates you don't really need or want
  • Internet Explorer is the only compatible browser
  • Requires a pre-release copy of BITS 2.0, which you can't easily find on the Microsoft website
  • Complains and won't update unless you're browsing in Internet Explorer
  • Seems to have some trouble working through proxies
  • Incompatible with systems where Internet Explorer has been uninstalled
OK, OK, I'm showing my bias. I've switched to Firefox as my primary browser. I still have IE, and I might even try uninstalling it if it wasn't for (a) WindowsUpdate, and (b) Visual Basic debugging of ActiveX controls. Trish and the kids have set out on the road to New Mexico, with her mom and nephew Stephen. Since I'm home alone for a week, I may even be able to make a few more log entries.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Links to this post:

Create a Link