Longhaul
07-12-2007, 17:29
I was going to post this yesterday in the "Most upsetting alteration to a game" thread, but I decided to expand it a little.
I've seen a few people on NSG mentioning that they play EVE Online, so they've probably already heard about the issue that prompted this post. I also know that there are a few software engineers/developers or persons with similarly-advanced coding knowledge, as well as plenty of people always willing to give their opinion, so read on.
A couple of days ago the producers of EVE Online (CCP) released the latest patch - a fairly major expansion - for download. The patch came in several optional forms, one of which (the one that patched from the previous version to the new version to save downloading a complete new client) deleted the boot.ini file from Windows' root directory. This meant that anyone who rebooted their PC would potentially have 'issues' (in some cases, they would find themselves straightforwardly unable to boot their PC).
(a smattering of links talking about it... (1) (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/06/eve_online_update_danger/), (2) (http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/06/1312254&from=rss), (3) (http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-4588919.html?sid=19c0d9a1df9b8bcc3f3510feb8be231c), (4) (http://www.forumopolis.com/showthread.php?t=64247), (5) (http://bitchyitguy.com/?p=34), (6) (http://myeve.eve-online.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=651679&page=1)... you get the picture, I'm sure)
I was affected by this myself. I installed the patch on my laptop and found myself unable to boot into Windows afterwards. This didn't affect me particularly badly (I'm very comfortable with most PC problems and was able to recreate the file after using a LiveCD to load a basic OS that would allow me to do file operations on the hard disk.. took about 6 minutes, most of which was spent looking for the right CD) but it's caused a hell of a lot of hassle for a lot of people.
Now to the question, and the point of this post. What kind of hell has various software (other than operating systems... I'm sure we've all seen enough 'MS Sucks' threads to last a lifetime) put the rest of you through? I'm talking about things like Sony's rootkit debacle, StarForce and things like uninstallers ripping out system files and taking your PC down with them when they go.
Please share :)
I've seen a few people on NSG mentioning that they play EVE Online, so they've probably already heard about the issue that prompted this post. I also know that there are a few software engineers/developers or persons with similarly-advanced coding knowledge, as well as plenty of people always willing to give their opinion, so read on.
A couple of days ago the producers of EVE Online (CCP) released the latest patch - a fairly major expansion - for download. The patch came in several optional forms, one of which (the one that patched from the previous version to the new version to save downloading a complete new client) deleted the boot.ini file from Windows' root directory. This meant that anyone who rebooted their PC would potentially have 'issues' (in some cases, they would find themselves straightforwardly unable to boot their PC).
(a smattering of links talking about it... (1) (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/06/eve_online_update_danger/), (2) (http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/06/1312254&from=rss), (3) (http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-4588919.html?sid=19c0d9a1df9b8bcc3f3510feb8be231c), (4) (http://www.forumopolis.com/showthread.php?t=64247), (5) (http://bitchyitguy.com/?p=34), (6) (http://myeve.eve-online.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=651679&page=1)... you get the picture, I'm sure)
I was affected by this myself. I installed the patch on my laptop and found myself unable to boot into Windows afterwards. This didn't affect me particularly badly (I'm very comfortable with most PC problems and was able to recreate the file after using a LiveCD to load a basic OS that would allow me to do file operations on the hard disk.. took about 6 minutes, most of which was spent looking for the right CD) but it's caused a hell of a lot of hassle for a lot of people.
Now to the question, and the point of this post. What kind of hell has various software (other than operating systems... I'm sure we've all seen enough 'MS Sucks' threads to last a lifetime) put the rest of you through? I'm talking about things like Sony's rootkit debacle, StarForce and things like uninstallers ripping out system files and taking your PC down with them when they go.
Please share :)