4 ms·

I'm wondering why the guy at Microsoft in charge of Windows is still employed. Over the prior weekend my installation of Playnite (a catalog/launcher for my ga

I'm wondering why the guy at Microsoft in charge of Windows is still employed. Over the prior weekend my installation of Playnite (a catalog/launcher for my games) was broken by the update, until I moved its data off of OneDrive[1]. And the other day I figured out that a couple of icons on my desktop had become completely inert and unresponsive due to the same bug - again due to an interaction between the Windows Shell and OneDrive. And this one I can't fix, I can't shift my desktop out of OneDrive. MS's strategy at this point is that Windows is a loss leader to get people onto the subscriptions for Office and OneDrive. So when the Windows team releases bugs that break usage of those services, forcing people off them onto alternative solutions, the guy in charge of those updates really needs to be answering some tough questions. [1] I've now got SyncThing handling this.

stevetron 9mo ago
[flagged]
ferguess_k 9mo ago
They don't have David Cutler to mow the lawns. I have worked in larger shops (smaller than MSFT but still large enough, almost 10K employees), and people in general are very forgiving about making mistakes. You would think it was a good thing, but what it shows was that no one cared and none took responsibility.
- saghm 9mo ago
  If youn put me in the starting lineup for an MLB team, I'd strike out every single at bat for the entire season, and it's wouldn't be a "mistake" on my part; I'm just fundamentally incapable of doing the job. A mistake is something that happens when someone capable of doing the job well happens to not do it well in a specific instance (without ill intent, of course). If it happens often enough, the question should be whether it's a mistake or if they're not able (or not willing) to do the job as expected. I don't know that this is what's happening here, but the issues seem to be large and frequent enough to at least warrant a discussion.
  - ferguess_k 9mo ago
    I think system programmers are supposed to come under a more strict standard, simply because they are system programmers. There are programmers, and there are system programmers. I'm not saying that people should be sacked for just one mistake, unless it is a pretty large one (criminal e.g.). But I'd say system programmers should be allowed to make the same mistake three times maximum. I think that's pretty generous. If the culture does not allow enough time for reflection and education, then that's a different story. The other programmers do not need to hold the same standards simply because their code (presumably) impact less.
    - anthk 9mo ago
      If you knew what kind of software runs on Java, C# and even VBA you would shit bricks.
      - ferguess_k 9mo ago
        I actually know. A lot of financial software ran on VBA. I heard from a friend that about 15% of option market-making sits on some 30 years old VBA code...Yeah they should be treated as critic software, too.
    - high_na_euv 9mo ago
      System programmer can crash your system Web dev can leak shitton of valuable data
- oxygenbreather 9mo ago
  There are fewer and fewer 'David Cutler' types and more and more 'Pavan Davuluri' types at Microsoft. Wonder if the blame is really down to AI or indeed a lack of attention to detail from a new kind of workforce.
  - ferguess_k 9mo ago
    'David Cutler' types are definitely not popular, in his prime time or in nowadays. My only regret is that I have never worked under such a person.
    - themafia 9mo ago
      People assumed they could "modernize" software engineering, but, at the end of the day, it's still mostly engineering and very slightly about software. People optimized for the wrong thing.
      - ferguess_k 9mo ago
        Yeah, system programming is especially similar to real engineering I guess, which requires a certain characteristics.
- pjmlp 9mo ago
  On his garage interview, he mentioned nowadays having fun with XBox Cloud hardware running Azure Linux. https://youtu.be/xi1Lq79mLeE?t=10730 https://youtu.be/xi1Lq79mLeE?t=10730
  - ferguess_k 9mo ago
    Yeah I think he moved away from Windows some 25 years ago, after Windows 2000. He gave me the vibe of trying to build something really solid and then move onto the next important target, never lingering in one place for too long.
rdiddly 9mo ago
+1 for SyncThing. No cloud, thanks. And unlike OneDrive, it actually works. OneDrive screwed me when I tried it, so I completely uninstalled it. Still on Windows 10 too. Not regretting it so far.
- BLKNSLVR 9mo ago
  OneDrive slows my directory navigation to a pace reminiscent of mid-90s computing. Double-click folder name, wait 5 seconds, douhle click next folder name, wait another 5 seconds. As such, I've moved my working directories out of the bubble in which OneDrive is (corporately) configured to operate. This is 2026. All this processing power, storage and memory capacity and speed, network bandwidth, and we're regressing thirty years of performance gains. Bang up job Microsoft. I'm glad I managed to personally extricate myself from that particular squirrel grip a while back.
- jen729w 9mo ago
  +1 for Syncthing so that I can take the opportunity to correct the very common mis-PascalCasing of its name.
  - rdiddly 9mo ago
    Thanks, I hate it
nicoloren 9mo ago
Same thing happened to me last year: some files on OneDrive where deleted. It was random txt files that I use to log ma progress on projects. I moved everything out of OneDrive and I backup on hard drives. That is a shame because OneDrive was a very good product.
- nicolailolansen 9mo ago
  "OneDrive was a very good product." - Was it though?
  - burnte 9mo ago
    No, it was never a good product. It's always been the worst of the file sync apps. How they're so inept when dropbox has been around for almost 20 years is a real mystery. This is a solved problem
  - nicoloren 8mo ago
    Well it worked for me 2 years, until it didn't...
NamTaf 9mo ago
I’m not 100% sure if this will solve the problem, but I recall that if you open the explorer folder viewer and right-click on the pinned shortcuts on the left (Desktop, Documents, etc.), then in properties > location you can move the folder target. Maybe this will allow you to change it from a OneDrive folder to somewhere else?

stevetron 9mo ago

[flagged]

ferguess_k 9mo ago

They don't have David Cutler to mow the lawns. I have worked in larger shops (smaller than MSFT but still large enough, almost 10K employees), and people in general are very forgiving about making mistakes. You would think it was a good thing, but what it shows was that no one cared and none took responsibility.

saghm 9mo ago
If youn put me in the starting lineup for an MLB team, I'd strike out every single at bat for the entire season, and it's wouldn't be a "mistake" on my part; I'm just fundamentally incapable of doing the job. A mistake is something that happens when someone capable of doing the job well happens to not do it well in a specific instance (without ill intent, of course). If it happens often enough, the question should be whether it's a mistake or if they're not able (or not willing) to do the job as expected. I don't know that this is what's happening here, but the issues seem to be large and frequent enough to at least warrant a discussion.
- ferguess_k 9mo ago
  I think system programmers are supposed to come under a more strict standard, simply because they are system programmers. There are programmers, and there are system programmers. I'm not saying that people should be sacked for just one mistake, unless it is a pretty large one (criminal e.g.). But I'd say system programmers should be allowed to make the same mistake three times maximum. I think that's pretty generous. If the culture does not allow enough time for reflection and education, then that's a different story. The other programmers do not need to hold the same standards simply because their code (presumably) impact less.
  - anthk 9mo ago
    If you knew what kind of software runs on Java, C# and even VBA you would shit bricks.
    - ferguess_k 9mo ago
      I actually know. A lot of financial software ran on VBA. I heard from a friend that about 15% of option market-making sits on some 30 years old VBA code...Yeah they should be treated as critic software, too.
  - high_na_euv 9mo ago
    System programmer can crash your system Web dev can leak shitton of valuable data
oxygenbreather 9mo ago
There are fewer and fewer 'David Cutler' types and more and more 'Pavan Davuluri' types at Microsoft. Wonder if the blame is really down to AI or indeed a lack of attention to detail from a new kind of workforce.
- ferguess_k 9mo ago
  'David Cutler' types are definitely not popular, in his prime time or in nowadays. My only regret is that I have never worked under such a person.
  - themafia 9mo ago
    People assumed they could "modernize" software engineering, but, at the end of the day, it's still mostly engineering and very slightly about software. People optimized for the wrong thing.
    - ferguess_k 9mo ago
      Yeah, system programming is especially similar to real engineering I guess, which requires a certain characteristics.
pjmlp 9mo ago
On his garage interview, he mentioned nowadays having fun with XBox Cloud hardware running Azure Linux. https://youtu.be/xi1Lq79mLeE?t=10730 https://youtu.be/xi1Lq79mLeE?t=10730
- ferguess_k 9mo ago
  Yeah I think he moved away from Windows some 25 years ago, after Windows 2000. He gave me the vibe of trying to build something really solid and then move onto the next important target, never lingering in one place for too long.

rdiddly 9mo ago

+1 for SyncThing. No cloud, thanks. And unlike OneDrive, it actually works. OneDrive screwed me when I tried it, so I completely uninstalled it. Still on Windows 10 too. Not regretting it so far.

BLKNSLVR 9mo ago
OneDrive slows my directory navigation to a pace reminiscent of mid-90s computing. Double-click folder name, wait 5 seconds, douhle click next folder name, wait another 5 seconds. As such, I've moved my working directories out of the bubble in which OneDrive is (corporately) configured to operate. This is 2026. All this processing power, storage and memory capacity and speed, network bandwidth, and we're regressing thirty years of performance gains. Bang up job Microsoft. I'm glad I managed to personally extricate myself from that particular squirrel grip a while back.
jen729w 9mo ago
+1 for Syncthing so that I can take the opportunity to correct the very common mis-PascalCasing of its name.
- rdiddly 9mo ago
  Thanks, I hate it

nicoloren 9mo ago

Same thing happened to me last year: some files on OneDrive where deleted. It was random txt files that I use to log ma progress on projects. I moved everything out of OneDrive and I backup on hard drives. That is a shame because OneDrive was a very good product.

nicolailolansen 9mo ago
"OneDrive was a very good product." - Was it though?
- burnte 9mo ago
  No, it was never a good product. It's always been the worst of the file sync apps. How they're so inept when dropbox has been around for almost 20 years is a real mystery. This is a solved problem
- nicoloren 8mo ago
  Well it worked for me 2 years, until it didn't...

NamTaf 9mo ago

I’m not 100% sure if this will solve the problem, but I recall that if you open the explorer folder viewer and right-click on the pinned shortcuts on the left (Desktop, Documents, etc.), then in properties > location you can move the folder target. Maybe this will allow you to change it from a OneDrive folder to somewhere else?