It's been a while since I've really had to deal with Microsoft's insanity when it comes to software installation. I've had my iMac for a few years now, and even in my current 1099 gig - where I use a PC - I'm not the one doing the installing. I've been isolated. Become used to an operating system that just works. Seamlessly. I'll admit, I've been spoiled. Until today. I'm helping a friend out, and installing some video conferencing stuff on the Windows XP instance I keep on my Mac for just such an occasion, it's only there if I really, really need it. So far I've spent the past hour installing, re-installing, and re-re-installing stuff, all so I can get Windows videoconferencing on my Mac that already comes with it.
Holy crap on a cracker, what a nightmare.
I'd forgotten what an ordeal updates and installations are on a PC. Really. I'd blissfully put all that out of my mind and let Steve Jobs and his crew whisk me away on a comfy carpet of no-worries. First I need the security updates. And, being Windows, there are a LOT of those. Then the extra stuff like Internet Explorer - which this video conference thing needs - and then the .NET framework, and the updates to that, and then the video conference software itself. And on and on and on.
And you know what? It's not going to work. You know it, I know it, Bill Gates knows it, the people who wrote the video conference thing know it. It's one huge pantomime opera we all agree to go through when we know the end result is going to be 'Just use Skype.' It's like a North Korean show trial, or elections in Libya.
Why do I bother?
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