Microsoft reps continue to recommend Surface Pro 6 owners install a beta version of Windows

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I started to write about this a week ago, but decided to let it ride. Now, it’s back again. The advice being doled out for Surface Pro 6 owners on the
[See the full post at: Microsoft reps continue to recommend Surface Pro 6 owners install a beta version of Windows]

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GreatAndPowerfulTech

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woody wrote:

Those firmware and driver updates can’t be uninstalled. Something else they didn’t tell you in Insider school, eh?

Can firmware updates for anything ever be uninstalled?

woody wrote:

Telling people to install a version of Windows that’s still in testing, just to fix a Microsoft-created bug, is simply lousy advice:

If you want the fix while it’s still being tested, what’s the alternative?

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b wrote:

Can firmware updates for anything ever be uninstalled?

Yes, back in the 90s it wasn’t uncommon to have them in socketed EPROM chips. (Yes, with one E, and don’t put the PC in direct sunlight with the covers off if…)

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And any driver update can be uninstalled by removing the hard drive, right?

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Well if the driver was installed by attaching the hard drive… been even longer since I last saw one of those contraptions, and them I don’t miss at all.

Unlike socketed firmware. I mean, really, back in the day a firmware upgrade was a socketed ROM chip swap, which was naturally reversible as long as you didn’t get rid of the old chip or put it into the eraser. Had some significant advantages compared to the current system…

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All the more reason for Tablets/Laptops to offer Dual BIOS/UEFI chip options where if the BIOS/UEFI is borked the device can still be usable via the backup BIOS/UEFI.

Most PC motherboards for the home system builder market come with Dual BIOS/UEFI options and the system auto reverting to the read only BIOS/UEFI if the R/W enabled BIOS/UEFI gets so corrupted that the system can not even Post.  And That includes by extension an end users ability to reset the BIOS/UEFI to some earlier working state.

Maybe the UEFI standard could be updated for a Partitioned UEFI and one partition used for the update UEFI Image and one partition retaining the previous Known Good UEFI Image and the end user protected should some error get introduced and there can be some auto reverting mechanism if the new UEFI image is so corrupted that the system will not even Post.

Any product that is RTM(Release To Market) where that product’s maker has to recommend using any BETA edition OS/Firmware in order for that product to function should automatically fall under some consumer Lemon Law/Implied Warranty protections and the end user able to be eligible for a full refund.  That would stop all of that excessive experimentation by MS at the cost of end user product functionality. If I purchase a product and the OS/Firmware state is resulting in my product not being fit for intended purpose for extended periods of time then the Lemon Laws should maybe become applicable.

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