Microsoft Server Down on Labour Day Weekend

I was trying to update a couple of Windows 8 apps this weekend, the kind that you get for free or a small fee in the Windows store and I kept getting a busy signal.  Seems my little Microsoft Store tile had a little 2 that indicates I have two apps in there that you need to just update but I get the busy signal which is that little partial circle of dots that tells you something is sort of happening. And then you just get a rather formal notice that the site connection failed and to try again later.

I also tried giving Asparion Clock+ a review since I found that for a small charge you can upgrade this handy little app with multiple timers that run in the background in Windows 8 which have soft, melodic chimes and stuff that doesn’t make you jump out of your seat when they pop up on the screen. But since they are tied to the Microsoft store—Can’t do that!

And I wanted to test my Internet Server Provider's connection speed to test my theory that when the young ones get home, the download and upload times get much worse. Well, they all go back to school next week so I expect my local service to start fading sometime in the late afternoon when the schools all empty out and kids of all ages rush home to the safety of their computers and other related electronic toys that need Internet access. Kind of dumb when you think about it because they should be outside playing with their friends and enjoying the nice fall weather and burning off some of those gazillion calories that they ingest from all those fast food not-so-good-for-you-process-the-b’Jesus-out-of-something-that-approximates-real-food. And that app didn’t do anything because it is both a Microsoft product and tied to the store.

Well it is Labour Day Weekend in lots of places and so the folks in Redmond, Washington where Microsoft has its worldwide headquarters, are all probably at an annual picnic where Bill Gates is probably getting his speech ready for this year’s theme which could easily be “We can Sell Crap to Anybody” in reference to the not-so-user-friendly Windows 8 operating system.

Well I gave it a real try and even wrote a “be patient” story called How to avoid Frustration with Windows 8 but mine is quickly wearing thin. The Gates clan would have been better off bringing out Windows 8 as Windows for Tablets or Windows for Small Stuff where you might need that screen-finger-navigation-sign-language technique of using the stupid things. But for the PC they should have just left Windows 7 in place and be done with it. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it and if it is more like Windows 7 if it is working pretty well and functions as well as your toaster than just leave it alone.

And all the Mac users and Linux folks are all saying I told you so but there stuff isn't an option either since they have a rather short list of stuff you can do on those operating systems. So somebody out there should take advantage of this opportunity and come up with an operating system that can run a gazillion apps, doesn't crash, doesn't use some cockamamie finger dance method to interface with it and is just plain easy and reliable.

So Microsoft folks when you get back to work on Tuesday start working on launching Windows 9 which is a variation on Windows 7 that just cleans up what was already the best option out there for everyone. Hope you had fun on the weekend because you kind of screwed up a lot of other nice folk’s weekend with shutting down your website.

I think you need some work on providing better customer service and I am available at a reasonable price to help you with that if you like.

And after researching this some more I was able to determine that the server is not down at all but access to the store is not working and Microsoft provides no reason or feedback as to why. So the lack of proper customer support issue still applies.