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1. Continuing a discussion from The SKY Software Customer Support System:

   You wrote:
   < < I know you think Gates and co. sitteth at the right hand of the Holy Father in Renton, but a BSOD is an uncontrolled shutdown. In some circles they're called catastrophic failures, as was the second to the last one I had that made me reinstall everything, Win8 and every app from the ground up...no orderly shutdown, no ability to recover from backup...nothing. Zilch. I had to do a complete rebuild of the whole system. >>

   First, Bill Gates: Hmmm… Gates or Jobs? Who is the better person? Pretty much anyone who knew Jobs would tell you he was a jerk as a person and an asshole for a boss. Gates, although a very shrewd businessman, was pretty well liked on a personal level. He’s an amazing philanthropist too. To be clear, I don’t put Gates on a pedestal, but if I did I’d feel good about it.

   BSOD’s: Yes, they are catastrophic. That’s really the point. Windows _cannot_ continue to run because the problem is too severe. That’s why you get the blue screen. Windows creates a memory dump if possible, posts the message (the BSOD) and stops the computer. The point is that “Windows” did not create the situation that causes the BSOD. It is trying to prevent damage that might result from continuing to run. The equivalent in a Mac is called a Kernel Panic. I’ve had those on my Mac too – probably in a higher volume as a percentage of time used than on my Windows machines. They weren’t caused by a flaw in OS X, but by faulty hardware or software. Remember the WiFi problem I told you about with my previous Mac? Well, Kernel Panics happened frequently when I had that problem. The problem was that the Air Port board was warped and because of that, not seating properly on the motherboard. I was able to straighten the board so that it would seat correctly and fix the issue. Was this a defect in OS X? Should I have a negative attitude toward Apple because of it? Should you have a negative attitude toward Apple because of it?

   Oh, and for the record, I have plenty of bad things to say about Windows on my Windows 8 Weekly website: http://www.windows.sky-software.com/articles/whatsbetterwhatsworse.htm

   I call them as I see them. To be clear, though, I absolutely consider Windows 10 superior overall to OS X. The key word is ‘overall’. That does not mean I think OS X is bad. There are things I absolutely love about OS X that I wish Microsoft would replicate in Windows. One example is that it is much more obvious and simple to duplicate a file in OS X. There is a ‘duplicate’ context menu command. It can be done in Windows, but heaven help you the first time you try to do it.

   You wrote
   < < So I had the Geek guys check out the hardware because I thought, like you said, after a dozen or so BSODs over time it must be a hardware failure. It turned out to be a MS-sourced video driver (native with no improvements or updates available from MS) crashing Windows 8.1. But just to make sure they beat the PC to death for over a day running their proprietary checks and said it was fine with no errors or marginal hard drive segments, memory issues, etc. >>

   I suspect most of these ‘geeks’ are young, possibly teenage, employees and are not getting high wages for their job. I don’t consider them experts. Also, I assume you realize that the MS-sourced video driver was almost certainly written by the hardware manufacturer (of the GPU) – not by Microsoft. I tried to research this and came up empty handed, but common sense tells me that Microsoft ‘brands’ drivers they include in their Windows installers as ‘Microsoft’ not because they wrote them, but because they passed their test suite and they can be identified as a system included driver. These drivers are much more likely to be stable than other drivers simply because they’ve passed Microsoft’s testing. It does not guarantee perfection, though. (This is speculation because, as I said, I wasn’t able to confirm this through an Internet search.) Because Microsoft doesn’t write them, they can’t update them. All they can do is provide updated drivers when they become available from the manufacturer through Windows Update.

   You wrote
   < < But they did say that they have at least a half-dozen similar incidents each week of BSODs, and MS doesn't give them the updates or fixes to correct the problems. And they don't have such failures on Macs, and they were virtually unanimous that Apple provides better support at both the customer and their professional level...but it's a better product to start with and so needs it much less. So I go with the guys who make their living fixing these things. >>
   A simple internet search on “Kernel Panic” will show that there are plenty of BSOD’s on Macs. Keep in mind that most Mac owners are not going to take their Mac to a ‘geek’ facility for repair. They will take it to an Apple store (which you have already mentioned are plentiful in your area) unless one simply isn’t available within a reasonable distance. In addition, the percentage of Macs vs. PCs assures there will be far less Mac repairs than PC repairs even if all Mac owners took their Mac to a geek facility for repair.

   You wrote:
   < < I've had BSODs since this PC was new, and they've reoccurred at regular intervals for the last five years since I first bought the PC. And as for MS "doing me a favor" by crashing my system...how so? The orderly system shutdown could be done for such events, but the only place I find that is at the vendor software level...Firefox, etc. I've played the game and submitted every crash record back to MS automagically as MS advises and all I get back is a msg. to the effect of "nobody home/come back later"! Oh, and the Geek guys confirmed that also, saying that was MS's canned response for Win7, too, even before they "officially" stopped supporting it! >>
   If this problem is truly as you’re describing it, then every person that bought the same computer as you has the exact same problem. Where is the class action lawsuit? I suspect this issue is much more likely on your specific computer and is not a problem with all computers of the same model. If you do a web search on your computer model and the BSOD error message you’ve been getting, do you get a ton of hits? If not, I doubt things are as you perceive them.

   You wrote:
   < < And as for Apple supporting MS-based software or emulating Windows, why should they? >>
   Because their customers want them to and, importantly, they have more than enough resources to do so. It’s as simple as that. Apple has made a big point of the ability of their Macs to also run Windows which is important – especially in the business world. To not provide drivers for Windows 8.x or 10 (which would probably be a very minor change from the Windows 7 drivers) creates bad will with their customers. It certainly does with me.

   BTW… Microsoft supports both Android and iOS with many of their software products and that list is growing. The only Apple software of any significance, that I’m aware of, that runs on an OS other than Apple’s is iTunes. Apple relentlessly forces their customers into their own ecosystem. When your Apple device is prematurely abandoned by Apple, you’re stuck with shelling out more big bucks to get a new Apple device.

   You wrote:
   < < Sure they crap out, but Apple also fixes stuff and takes an interest. Here in Denver, CO alone there are at least six Apple walk-in stores where one can deal directly with them, including two with on-site repair. Apple also has online interactive troubleshooting...free. MS has three stores in the whole state...none with on-site repair and no help without up-front payment. The Geek guys thank their stars. >>
   Let me get this straight… You think Microsoft should repair and troubleshoot the products sold by other companies? Remember, until very recently, Microsoft did not sell computer hardware. So, let’s be honest and clear. The geek guys are not repairing Microsoft products. They are repairing HP, Dell, Acer, Lenovo, etc. products. Also to be clear, Microsoft did not configure, design or get paid for (other than a small license fee for Windows) those computers. As part of the license for Windows, the manufacturer is responsible for supporting Windows on those machines which is the only sensible way to do it. To suggest that Microsoft is responsible for supporting those products is ludicrous in the extreme.

   The bottom line is that you’re blaming the wrong company. If any company is to blame it is the company that made your notebook computer.

   My guess is that you’ve already decided you’re going to buy a Mac and that all this discussion is rather pointless. I’m sure you’ll end up with a very nice computer. I sincerely wish you a trouble free and happy experience on that new computer. I have a feeling, though, you’ll find yourself missing a few things from the Windows OS. 😉

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