We Do Need To Upgrade

  • Comments posted to this topic are about the item We Do Need To Upgrade

  • Each new release of Windows is almost as bad as a new product instead of an upgrade.  While I appreciate new functionality, upgrades are frequently expensive because of the removal of deprecated functionality.  Because, for Windows users, Microsoft has a bit of a corner on the market, they seem to do whatever the hell they want without any concern for the customers that have been so very loyal (willingly or not) over the years.

    I also cannot understand the lunacy that appears to be driving supposed improvements.  For example the DATETIME datatype very nicely follows simple spreadsheet capabilities, which also mean ISO standards, for STARTDATETIME+PERIOD = ENDDATETIMEand ENDDATETIME-STARTDATETIME = PERIOD.  Such simple temporal math is no longer possible with the DATE or the DATETIME2 datatypes. 

    Another great example of design lunacy came with the release of PIVOT.  Microsoft owns MS ACCESS and yet they seemed to ignore the extreme and very simple to use functionality of PIVOT  there when the designed the computational travesty of PIVOT in T-SQL.

    The thoughtless, apparently market driven, design lunacy continues with such things as not returning an ordinal position for their SPLIT_STRING() function and the fact that the "new' FORMAT function takes 44 times longer to format than the ol' CONVERT() function does just to name a few of many examples of "what the hell were they thinking" designs.

    The really bad part of all of this is that most people are deeply invested in the Microsoft stack and, since most of their associates are also invested in the same stack, they need to continue to drink the Kool-Aid that MS has served up, no matter how ridiculous it may be, to be able to communicate and stay in business with dependencies on that stack.

    Now they're even making it so that you MUST upgrade to the damned awful Window 10 if you want or need to upgrade to the latest version of Office or expose all your goodies to the security horror known as Office 365.

    Microsoft has always been a bit pushy but, especially lately, they've become a damned bully to drive sales through a captive audience.

    Oddly enough, MS can't even follow their own deprecation suggestions.  Take a look at the stored procedures MS still uses in SQL Server and look for semi-colons. 

    Between the half-assed, half-fast, and half-done code that MS has been pushing lately, I'll be surprised if anyone can write code that works the first time in the future.  Let's hope that none of that is military or critical civilian code, although I think it may be too late even for those.

    --Jeff Moden


    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.


    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

  • Losses should not be covered if the insurer can show they were the fault of the operating system not being patched.

    412-977-3526 call/text

  • This will only get worse and worse over time.  IT Dept budgets are being strained more and more.  The mindset can become if it's running why upgrade? VM can allow older physical systems to be virtualized to live on forever as well.

  • imo: For most companies, they will comply only if it will cost less than taking the risk of not doing it.

  • Regarding the ATM hack cited, it seems to me that the vulnerability has more to do with a machine design that allows someone to patch in a laptop, and also a lack of protocols that should have prevented someone from impersonating an onsite ATM technician. Even if there were a Windows OS security fix to block one form of malware, the hackers will simply create a new version so long as they have physical access to the machine's USB port.

    "Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

  • robert.sterbal 56890 - Sunday, February 4, 2018 10:12 PM

    Losses should not be covered if the insurer can show they were the fault of the operating system not being patched.

    I hope that gets written into policies. To me, Insurance is the best way to drive security.

  • Summer90 - Monday, February 5, 2018 7:01 AM

    This will only get worse and worse over time.  IT Dept budgets are being strained more and more.  The mindset can become if it's running why upgrade? VM can allow older physical systems to be virtualized to live on forever as well.

    That's been happening for a long time. Saw plenty of people VM SQL 6.x,2000 systems as well as older W2K servers.

  • Eric M Russell - Monday, February 5, 2018 7:58 AM

    Regarding the ATM hack cited, it seems to me that the vulnerability has more to do with a machine design that allows someone to patch in a laptop, and also a lack of protocols that should have prevented someone from impersonating an onsite ATM technician. Even if there were a Windows OS security fix to block one form of malware, the hackers will simply create a new version so long as they have physical access to the machine's USB port.

    It's a couple items ,and for sure, physical access makes things harder, but the longer an OS lives, the more vulnerable it can be if not kept patched.

    This is a constant race between security and criminals.

  • Steve Jones - SSC Editor - Monday, February 5, 2018 8:32 AM

    robert.sterbal 56890 - Sunday, February 4, 2018 10:12 PM

    Losses should not be covered if the insurer can show they were the fault of the operating system not being patched.

    I hope that gets written into policies. To me, Insurance is the best way to drive security.

    That makes it far to easy for insurance companies to evade claims. Your auto insurance is not nullified if you have a worn tire. Your medical coverage is not nullified if you weren't being careful with that knife.

    ...

    -- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --

  • Steve Jones - SSC Editor - Monday, February 5, 2018 8:33 AM

    Summer90 - Monday, February 5, 2018 7:01 AM

    This will only get worse and worse over time.  IT Dept budgets are being strained more and more.  The mindset can become if it's running why upgrade? VM can allow older physical systems to be virtualized to live on forever as well.

    That's been happening for a long time. Saw plenty of people VM SQL 6.x,2000 systems as well as older W2K servers.

    Very true Steve.  However, I think there was an explosion of SQL Server apps once SQL Server 2008R2 came out.

  • Summer90 - Monday, February 5, 2018 9:14 AM

    Steve Jones - SSC Editor - Monday, February 5, 2018 8:33 AM

    Summer90 - Monday, February 5, 2018 7:01 AM

    This will only get worse and worse over time.  IT Dept budgets are being strained more and more.  The mindset can become if it's running why upgrade? VM can allow older physical systems to be virtualized to live on forever as well.

    That's been happening for a long time. Saw plenty of people VM SQL 6.x,2000 systems as well as older W2K servers.

    Very true Steve.  However, I think there was an explosion of SQL Server apps once SQL Server 2008R2 came out.

    Heh... and at the same time, many apps exploded when it came out. 😉

    --Jeff Moden


    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.


    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

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