Normally only "insiders and professionals" need to care about WinUpdate
Eric, I'm assuming that 'normally' means when troubleshooting has not become
an issue owing to some random dysfunction(s) like freezing, sudden
rebooting, or any single or mix of annoyances?
Your average "lay customer" doesn't know squat > about the messages in Event
Viewer.
Eric, I would suggest that you are guessing what level of PC knowledge that
the average lay user possesses. Your assertion might be correct if you were
to have written: 'average inexperienced lay customer' - I suspect that the
level of knowledge of today's average PC consumer/user is much higher than
'squat.'
For the most part, Microsoft communicates just fine with the users on what
they need to know and with the geeks on what they need to know.
For example? When I made my initial attempts to create a peer-to-peer wired
network and ran into difficulties getting the many geeky required OS network
settings to work, did the Microsoft tech writers for the OS online 'help &
support' network troubleshooting section 'communicate just fine' by advising
me - repeatedly - to "contact my network administrator?" Does an Event
Viewer communicate 'just fine' when it records "the last shutdown was
unexpected?" Why do I need to know that - particularly if, as a user, I
repeatedly experience many random, unexpected shutdowns?
If those > logs didn't make sense to you, chances are you're not one of the
geeks. Why
did you care what was in them?
I learned to become a mainframe programming geek on the job, 1967, probably
before hardly any computer science curriculums existed in the Western world
& a few years before IBM had developed any competitive mainframe to sell.
Tech magazines began to publish a few columns about computers in the mid to
late 50's. A few large private corporations saw their promise & began
experimenting with vacuum tube mainframes years before transistors enabled
mainframes to run beyond a 30 to 60 second operation. Still, I do not
consider myself very much of a computer geek. My college major was English
Lit. That's not unusual. I taught computer programming. Graduates in
Liberal Arts often proved to become the most competent programmers.
So, Eric, you seem to think OS program logs were meant to communicate with
geeks only? Frankly, if that's true, that's also unwise. I have nothing
against geeks. Some have created our arts, religion, philosophy, and
science. Geeks, however, who take vain pride in distinguishing themselves
by using jargon only diminish their productive capacity and thereby
undermine the potential of the society that is their support. Making
another observation, it appears your logic has become counter intuitive by
relying upon such a limited concept of what communication is all about. I
began this thread by asking why there is an apparent contradiction between
the Event Viewer/WinUpdate messages.
I think you answered correctly. Did not our exchange prove my point - that
my question would not have been necessary had there been no apparant logical
contradiction between those log messages? Had the messages been properly
written to convey their intention - as you have explained - no
contradictions would have been apparant. Has not this been a waste of my
time & yours = a diminishing of productive capacity = weakening of society's
potential = proving again that Microsoft does a lousy job of communication?
Eric - you might be a very bright fellow but were I to consider hiring you
to profit from any of your special capabilities - you would have to agree to
being reprogrammed on how to properly communicate & think not as an insider
but like the rest of us on the outside.
Good luck - Blithe
