Naughty Windows 7….
Windows 7 release candidate feels a bit more like a proper version of Windows – it says “Windows 7 Ultimate” on it and everything. However, it’s back to the naughty step with Microsoft, as it overwrote the MBR.
Now to be fair it is a 64-bit OS overwriting a 32-bit OS. But an “overwrite MBR” prompt would be nice.
In Microsoft’s defence, I once wrote a 6502 disassembler. It’s a fairly simple instruction set, but detecting executable code even in that environment isn’t easy; x86 v x64 is another order of magnitude, to say the least.
What’s more annoying, though, is the Ubuntu grub reinstall instructions. And, OK, /dev/sda instead of /dev/hda, and I had to use ./grub-install –root-directory=/mnt/linux /dev/sda as the command… Foolishly I booted from my USB key into DSL and tried running install.sh in the grub directory, like I used to do in Mandriva, but guess what – it didn’t work!
We need an industry standard for this folks. Otherwise it’s too easy to shout “anti-trust” and “monopoly”. To most users it’s a process that sounds simple, but bootloaders send shivers down the spines of even the most hardened BOFHs, never mind developers…
Oh, and I’m posting this from the Ubuntu live CD – I haven’t dared to reboot yet!
Tags: Linux, Microsoft, Ubuntu, Windows 7