On Tuesday I was thinking about how rarely I have any troubles with Windows crashes. I actually thought to myself, "things have improved". Windows XP is better than Windows 2000, which was better than Windows 95 (I skipped 98 - I know, I know), which was better than Win 3.1, etc. In fact, my mind drifted all the way back to the Windows-free Compaq I had in the late 80s (2MB RAM) and my misty memory of that machine never causing me a lick of trouble. So I said to myself, "Hey Microsoft, good job".
That lasted for a day (actually about 18 hours). Yesterday I installed the latest release of Internet Explorer Ver. 7. Why, oh why, did I do it? Okay, no major troubles, but still …
First, it takes so long to install it. I presume that's because Microsoft is still tying the browser tightly into Windows. (I thought that was going to end?) I have uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox a couple of times and you know what? Takes about 5 minutes to do all of that. Yesterday, it took what seemed like half an hour to finish all that was required to get IE7 running again.
The first thing I noticed is that my toolbar selections were gone. Why? Who knows? Not a biggie to fix, but regardless it left me wondering what else might not work. Then today I went through the usual steps to get my daily Mets fix, but Windows Media Player won't play. I still have no idea why and now I'm angry.
So, here I am, a mere 36 hours after I was thinking nice things about Microsoft and I'm fuming at them again. They just can't stand prosperity.
UPDATE—2pm: Solved my Windows Media Problem over lunch. Found an answer on the discussion boards at Microsoft. Whew! I have to hear those Met games. (Even though they're so far out in front now that the month of September should be nothing more than a tune-up for October.)
