FYI: Microsoft re-releases botched Windows 8.1 Update 2..

This patch is setting on my computer under "optional" install. Should I install or not????

It might help if you weren't using confusing terms of your own, like there is no Windows 8.1 Update 2. The first link to the MS Blog actually says: So despite rumors and speculation, we are not planning to deliver a Windows 8.1 "Update 2." (emphasis added)

The rest are just a bunch of links to Infoworld, which seems odd considering it's an IDG property, not CBS. Plus lately Infoworld is full of nothing but a bunch of sensationalist click-bait BS, like all of this. Actually, not sure if it was ever anything else, but that's besides the point, but come on... They start off by lambasting Microsoft for giving unclear instructions and then immediately turn around and start using this "Update 2" terminology which was based on an unconfirmed rumor and despite Microsoft being crystal clear on the point that there will be no "Update 2" they keep on using the term and then even expand upon it with their own variation. Kettle, meet Pot. Pot, this is Kettle.

All of these articles seem to be written by the same person whose resume includes several "IQ Test" articles on programs, the obligatory wishlist for the next version of Windows article, and basically very little of any actual substance. Might be why he is the author of a "Dummies" book, a line with a well-deserved reputation for being light on substance (with a few rare exceptions).

Even giving him the benefit of the doubt that he has an editor or someone who is cutting out some of the more technical bits from the original copy, this is almost certainly one of those annoying types who don't know how much it is they don't know. They think they know a great deal more than they actually do. Most of the "evidence" presented in the few articles I skimmed through seems to be reading the Microsoft support forums. It's a start, I guess, but it never once seems to occur to him that maybe the people who go to support forums are people who need support. You don't generally have a few thousand people dropping by just to report that everything's fine and there's no issues to report. What you do get are a few loud people who are having problems. Not that it diminishes the experiences of those having problems, but even if you add up everyone across several different forums, we're still in the insignificant number range. Somewhere or another I saw an estimate that roughly 10% of the approximately 1.5 billion Windows installs out there are Windows 8/8.1, so we're talking like 150 million people using Windows 8/8.1 even using that rather low figure. This guy has found what, a dozen or so people according to one article? Even if we assume each of these dozen or so people were completely and totally free of malware and did absolutely everything recommended a person do before installing updates, we're talking about an insignificant number of people statistically speaking. But how many times have we seen the story played out on these forums that someone having problems uses some kind of registry cleaner or they were already having problems because of malware and thought that somehow installing an update for the OS would magically cure everything? Probably at least 80% of the time that's the case. So if that's anything to go by, likely over half of the people complaining had some preexisting condition.

None of this is to say Microsoft is off the hook for botching those updates a while back, that can very legitimately be laid directly at their feet, but they also took rather swift action for a company the size of Microsoft. If you compare Microsoft to companies like Oracle and HP for addressing problems with enterprise level software that they charge tens of thousands of dollars for, you take on a new appreciation for how Microsoft operates. HP recently decided that people who buy their enterprise level networking hardware have to pay for firmware updates on a subscription model. So if you bought some $10K switch a year or so back, and it turns out there's some major flaw in the firmware, no updates for you unless you pay HP for access to a fix. Oracle puts out patches for it's enterprise software on its own time table and if there's some known exploit for that Oracle database software you just paid a couple hundred grand for... Too bad, you'll have to wait 6-12 months for Oracle to decide to put out an update, if they fix the issue at all. Someone can double check this for me, but I'm pretty sure it was Oracle that was suing some third party support company for installing Solaris patches on customer systems. Oracle was claiming that because these companies didn't have a support contract directly with Oracle, they weren't entitled to those updates. And again, this is for servers that will cost tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The recent lawsuit filed by the State of Oregon against Oracle is also a prime example. Before anyone goes and says that it was just a bunch of politicians who don't know anything about technology that bungled it... It's not difficult to find example after example after example of companies and other institutions that have had a near identical experience with Oracle. So either Oracle is one of the most unlucky companies out there, constantly winning the contracting bids for companies and institutions full of people who just muck everything up, or the much simpler possibility is true and Oracle routinely lies, misrepresents and fails to deliver on multi-million dollar contracts.

Microsoft can be a pain, but when you compare them to other companies out there, it's like an uncomfortably warm day vs being in the path of lava spewing from an erupting volcano.

It'd be nice to see places like CNet and Infoworld do some reporting on these things, but that would require actual understanding of complex technological issues and doing more actual reporting than just skimming a few threads on the MS support forum, not to mention readers who could digest it. Much easier and safer to just bang the drum of "Microsoft sucks".

I personally am not affected, but I know some others I can warn about it.