Windows Installer download link



  • Oh nice

    Besides not being an actual hyperlink, the URL for the installer download page is no longer that one. Nice, very nice.



  • I'm actually kind of surprised that it's not on the disc so it can install it for you.  SQL 2005 includes/requires .Net 2.0 so I'd be surprised if it's not there somewhere. 

     

    But yeah, I do hate having the URLs not being actual hyperlinks - would make things easier if they were.  As far as why the link id isn't valid any more, who knows - but atleast is in the Popular download section.



  • [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]

    Besides not being an actual hyperlink, the URL for the installer download page is no longer that one. Nice, very nice.

    [/quote] 

    Though thankfully you can just use ctrl+c on a messagebox like that. Then paste into notpad, copy just the url and paste and go in firefox.



  •  I'm really suprised that, considering the type of link posted, that it's no longer valid.I thought that was the point of having such a link that can be looked up in a db.



  • @Thief^ said:

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]

    Besides not being an actual hyperlink, the URL for the installer download page is no longer that one. Nice, very nice.

     

    Though thankfully you can just use ctrl+c on a messagebox like that. Then paste into notpad, copy just the url and paste and go in firefox.

    [/quote] 

    I'm hoping you were being scarcastic.



  • @MiffTheFox said:

    @Thief^ said:

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]

    Besides not being an actual hyperlink, the URL for the installer download page is no longer that one. Nice, very nice.

     

    Though thankfully you can just use ctrl+c on a messagebox like that. Then paste into notpad, copy just the url and paste and go in firefox.

     

    I'm hoping you were being scarcastic.

    [/quote] 

     

    Hardly anybody knows about this gem, but it actually does work. Go try it the next time you encounter an error message. 



  • @seriousJoker said:

    Hardly anybody knows about this gem, but it actually does work. Go try it the next time you encounter an error message. 
     

    Oh my...

    How long has this been around?

    Although most users don't even know this works....  I really tend to like what Firefox does, just making the text in the dialog box selectable to avoid any of this unknown keystroke business...



  • @MiffTheFox said:

    How long has this been around?
     

     I first found out about it in 2000, but it was apparently old then. I don't believe I've ever seen this feature mentioned in any documentation, either...


  • Garbage Person

    Bloody fucking SQL Server and its fucking absurd installers. 500 meg download for 2008 Express, unpack it (which takes FOREVER), and THEN it tells me I need Windows Installer <arbitrary version slightly higher than I have>. Which is a 3mb download. Unpack the install again, page through 10 minutes of "NEXT",  and it tells me I need PowerShell. A god damned 1.5mb download that MOST DEFINITELY could have been included. At least I can stay in the installer this time. SQL Server has a fancy fucking custom behemoth of an installer that automatically resolves dependencies but doesn't fucking do anything about it. WHY!?



  • @seriousJoker said:

    @MiffTheFox said:

    @Thief^ said:

    Though thankfully you can just use ctrl+c on a messagebox like that. Then paste into notpad, copy just the url and paste and go in firefox.

     

    I'm hoping you were being scarcastic.

     

     Hardly anybody knows about this gem, but it actually does work. Go try it the next time you encounter an error message. 

     

    I actually had a hard time reading the 'use ctrl+c' message. It was so hardwired in my system that you could not copy those error messages that I had to read the comment twice to understand it. Good to see I can actually learn something from the sidebar :).



  • my bank at some point decided to force HTTPS on their online banking system (nevermind that its login already did submit over HTTPS, from which point on everything being HTTPS). how did they do it? they placed a text-only notice on their HTTP front page stating that they no longer support HTTPS-less logins, along with the URL of the HTTPS front page as a plain-text non-link. adding more nose-rubbing, their HTTPS front page ALSO has a similar notice stating they no longer support HTTPS-less logins, and a "proceed" link to the actual login form. thankfully, they didn't place a non-link URL to the login form there too.



  • @Weng said:

    Bloody fucking SQL Server and its fucking absurd installers. 500 meg download for 2008 Express, unpack it (which takes FOREVER), and THEN it tells me I need Windows Installer <arbitrary version slightly higher than I have>. Which is a 3mb download. Unpack the install again, page through 10 minutes of "NEXT",  and it tells me I need PowerShell. A god damned 1.5mb download that MOST DEFINITELY could have been included. At least I can stay in the installer this time. SQL Server has a fancy fucking custom behemoth of an installer that automatically resolves dependencies but doesn't fucking do anything about it. WHY!?
    And people wonder why I have a soft spot for MySQL.



  • @DOA said:

    @Weng said:

    Bloody fucking SQL Server and its fucking absurd installers. 500 meg download for 2008 Express, unpack it (which takes FOREVER), and THEN it tells me I need Windows Installer <arbitrary version slightly higher than I have>. Which is a 3mb download. Unpack the install again, page through 10 minutes of "NEXT",  and it tells me I need PowerShell. A god damned 1.5mb download that MOST DEFINITELY could have been included. At least I can stay in the installer this time. SQL Server has a fancy fucking custom behemoth of an installer that automatically resolves dependencies but doesn't fucking do anything about it. WHY!?
    And people wonder why I have a soft spot for MySQL.

    Looking on the brigt side, SQL Server did at least bring us Slammer, which provoked much mass hysteria and many lulzy "zOMG TEH INTERNETS R DYING UNPLUG EVERYTHINGS NAO!" posts on NANOG....



  • @lpope187 said:

    But yeah, I do hate having the URLs not being actual hyperlinks - would make things easier if they were.  As far as why the link id isn't valid any more, who knows - but atleast is in the Popular download section.

     

    Microsoft reorganizes their website pretty much yearly.  And even a system like the "go" page with a linkid that supposedly isolates ordinary humans from their annual reorgs is ineffective if it's never updated to point to the new content.

    If I want to find something on *.microsoft.com, I use Google.



  • Do you have some problem understanding the term "instructions" or merely following them? The download page for SQL Express 08, for example, makes it pretty clear you may not have all the prerequisites on, say, Windows XP SP2. I'm guessing lots of them are preinstalled on e.g. Vista.


  • Garbage Person

    People READ those pages? Microsoft usually fills them with so much redundant/irrelevant bullshit that I stopped doing it long ago. 



  • @MiffTheFox said:

    [quote user="seriousJoker"]Hardly anybody knows about this gem, but it actually does work. Go try it the next time you encounter an error message. 

     

    Oh my...

    How long has this been around?

    Although most users don't even know this works....  I really tend to like what Firefox does, just making the text in the dialog box selectable to avoid any of this unknown keystroke business...

    [/quote]
    Added in Win95, I believe. Seems more like an easter egg than an actual feature -- it even plays the "invalid key combination" sound when you do it!


    Also note that it only works on "real" errors -- those displayed using MessageBox() or similar API functions. So custom DIALOGEXes don't do it unless the programmer re-implements it.


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