What is the frustration-cost of Windows?
Last night, I was called in to check on a friend’s Vista-PC, which kept showing blue screens of death, at sporadic moments. The error-codes were just a collection of numbers and letters, and a Google-search just revealed that it could be a ‘hardware or software problem.’
I’m not going to go into the problem here, but I’ll just say that we tried to run the Windows system restore disks, which crashed half-way through, in the midst of formatting the drive. Vista PCs have, as you know, not been sold with the actual installation-CDs, though I understand that this is a right right now and the owner will go to the store and ask for them. After which, I will install Vista (my first time), as well as all the apps she needs for her productive day.
I’m angered that things like this are still happening! Having been a Windows user since 3.1, the only version that I’ve never had problems with was 2000, and XP now runs fairly good too. Vista, I’ve never tried, but I understand there were some driver-related problems, much like the 64-bit version of XP.
Typically, diagnosing and repairing a system like my friends will cost several hundred euros, if not more. And that is… if the store actually knew what it was doing! The error-codes, as mentioned, don’t point to a specific problem, and they previously suggested replacing the hard-drive, which she did and which didn’t fix the problem. Right now, the way I see it, I’m going to be installing a new Vista on it, the drivers, and the software. I’ll see if that holds. If it doesn’t, I’ll assume it’s a hardware-problem, and one piece of hardware will have to be removed after the other, to diagnose the cause.
Total time used to fix: 1 hour last night, 2 hours Vista CD pick-up, 2-3 hours installation & restore. And that isn’t counting that there’s 3 people involved, some gasoline, not to mention the months of trauma that she’s been experiencing through this problem. As well as whatever store-time + hardware-replacement-costs may be involved.
But why does it have to be so hard????!!!!! It really mystifies me how much of mess the open PC-architecure, in combination a fairly open ecosystem of hardware & software, is. You literarily have no idea, if there’s a piece of dust on a RAM-stick, if there’s a faulty driver, if an app is causing the mayhem, or if the problem is a Windows-update that went wrong. And, in case you are wondering, this is a HP-machine.
So, I ask once again, what the frustration-cost of Windows is? In my estimation, it’s pretty damn high, and I already suggested to them to get a Mac. It may be 50% more expensive and non-upgradeable, but the fact that I don’t have to worry about things like BSODs, is priceless.
I should disclose that I’ve been a Mac-user for 3 years now, which was both a hardware- and software-based decision.
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Tags: BSOD, Hardware, OS X, Windows
Apple, Architecture, Consumer electronics, Friends, Microsoft, Software, Technology, Vista, XP, innovation, open-source
To get a more general view, what’s the frustration cost of bad applications?
If you’re a the user and decision-maker, you can make a switch. I had to change my bank after enduring total frustration with my previous bank (featured recently at the daily wtf, http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Sampo-UhOh.aspx?view ).
The problem is, often in enterprise setting, you don’t really have any say in the matter. The decision-maker (buyer and payer) is different than the user, who has to bear the frustration cost. I guess this is one reason why enterprise softwares have notoriously bad UI and user experience, it just isn’t a factor.
I guess for many using Windows is the true Mojave experiment, you’re in an unfriendly, hostile environment not suitable for humans but you just have to grin and bear it… (yes, a really cheap joke)
I would agree with that to the extent that, in this situation, the consumer had little control over what parts are placed in the machine and the installation (and re-installation) of Vista.
The thing with organisational settings is that you are to some extent covered. It’s the businesses fault that a frustrating application was installed, and the business should have back-ups in case something bad happens. But who is responsible in a B2C situation?
I should also add that I’ve had several crashes on my Mac, after which I get a nice error-report when I reboot. In that report I can usually see where the problem is, as Apple just knows what parts are in the machine + OS and how they should work together. The error-codes in a Windows-report tell me NOTHING! Now that is frustrating.
Corrected: sleep-deprivation-related typos. Sorry!
Hi Vincent,
I totally understand your frustration and I went through this tons of time.
This is exactly what make me switch to a Mac, I simply couldn’t afford to spend so many time fixing my computer (and friend’s one).
The thing is, the world of PC has become too complex; too many different components and too many companies and no one “owning” the device.
The openness of the PC was its strength but it’s now it major flaw — and it’s totally out of control.
The idea the the PC world is open architecture is patently false.
The whole integration of Microsoft into the OEM and whitebox space regarding licensing and the implementation of this aspect of computing IS too hard and too encumbered for most average computer users to understand.
My main complaint, if all things were to stay the same but save one is to have appropriate computer self-maintenance hardware and software utilities imbedded in the computers being built. My main client issues are dervived primarily from simply not keeping drivers and the O/S up to date and optimized.
And honestly, there minimum requirements for an O/S should be set much higher. Even Dell recommends 3GB RAM and a QUADCORE processor with a dedicated video card to run Vista Premium. All computers should be at least that standard.
[...] system that so many people (including me) sometimes criticise. Unlike a Vista-PC, I tried to fix a few weeks back, where I had no clue what was [...]