Microsoft Windows holding up the start of my show

[Marcel Birgelen]

There is a specific use-case for Windows and that's desktop use. For desktop applications, like you and me use everyday, I'd say that Microsoft Windows 10 is mostly fine, although it could be a lot better if it were not for the many deceptive tactics Microsoft uses to switch around with your default settings and gave people better control over the update cycle.

But for "production use" I mean specific tasks where the functioning of the equipment is mission-critical. If your desktop fails, you probably have a few alternatives, but if an important component in a cinema fails, it can mean a missed show. If it fails as an important terminal for e.g. check-ins or POS terminal, it can mean a lot of delays, if it fails in a hospital, I don't need to tell you the potential consequences.

[Bobby Henderson]

In the case of a d-cinema projection and media server system, yeah, I question the merits of using a general purpose OS like Windows for that. Could the reasoning be gaining compatibility for a wider (and newer) variety of hardware? Otherwise it would appear to be better to choose a specialized OS with a minimum of background processes it needs at launch.

IIRC, the first d-cinema systems appeared to run on unique OS setups and software. Doremi gear I saw in the late 2000's sure didn't look like it was using anything Windows related -at least not the media players that were connected directly to the projectors. I vaguely remember a towering Dell SAN server that might have been running Windows.

I'd say that Microsoft Windows 10 is mostly fine, although it could be a lot better if it were not for the many deceptive tactics Microsoft uses to switch around with your default settings and gave people better control over the update cycle.

Yeah, some of the crap Microsoft pulls in the background with regard to updates is not cool at all. A few weeks ago I basically had to stop in the middle of a design project because my Windows installation had a ton of background activity running in relation to a fairly big update. It was making my computer unstable and choppy, which is not good when when doing things like manually drawing and adjusting Bezier vector paths. I had to let the computer restart and install this big update, which took what seemed like 10-15 minutes or more. When the process was finished I had a new weather widget thing on the lower right part of my task bar. Annoying.

Windows Ink regularly pisses me off. I have a Wacom tablet hooked up to my notebook PC at home. Most of the time I do not let the tablet's settings use Windows Ink. That's because if the feature is enabled and I select a text tool with the Wacom pen I'll get a stupid pop-up box wanting me to hand-write my text. That's despite the notebook having a keyboard. But the Windows Ink thing has to be enabled for pressure sensitivity to work in certain graphics applications. These days if I need to create any graphics with pressure sensitive effects, I'll use my iPad Pro and Apple Pencil to do that. Even with Windows Ink disabled nearly 100% of the time some random Windows update will turn it on again and sometimes even disable the Wacom software. The issue is pretty easy to fix, but it's still annoying when it happens.

[Steve Guttag]

Bobby, TMS systems have, historically, used some form of Windows OS to run the application. I suspect that some of it has to do with the ease and tools available to an entity to get their program up and running plus the very large amount of suitable hardware and ready made systems available. So, the biggest TMS in the VPF era was AccessIT/Cinedigm's TCC, which ended up standardizing on Windows Server 2003 (and never updated the OS so after deployment, nothing changed, OS wise). Another big player in the VPF era was GDC. It was less restrictive but also seemed to start on Windows Server 2003 however, it allowed for the later Server OS and even desktop Windows 7 (they kept a running compatibility list).

TCC was placed in its own division called Hollywood Software and is now controlled by Comscore. They have evolved TCC into a new entity, "ACE" which uses a web browser as an interface rather than specific applications (TCC one could download an app from the TMS server and run it locally on the manager's computer rather than have to be sitting at the TMS server. How, since it is web server based, just point the url at the TMS computer. ACE can run on up to server 2019, however, they have also ported it to Linux too so you are not beholden to Microsoft and its whims. Furthermore, and this is the trend I'm seeing, one no longer has to host the actual TMS locally. They have a cloud based version of ACE where one just has to have the LMS portion (storage) locally and, again, just a web browser to control the TMS itself. So, one has completely removed the OS from the TMS requirements, if desired.

I come back to, on the earlier deployments of TMS systems likely used Windows for the ease of development and wider range of suitable systems. Conversely, all SMS servers (the ones at the screens themselves running the show) are all Linux based. However, they are supplying the hardware and are doing their own coding of the software and can use specific portions of Linux to make a secure server. They are entirely in charge of the user experience, for better or for worse.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I guess much of the choices are based on hardware support as most major PC vendors are pretty reluctant to support Linux and if they do so, often only on specific hardware and with very specific Linux distributions. Also, there is more Windows knowledge in the field than there is Linux knowledge and since many TMS systems are more like "applications" on top of the existing OS deployment, you still need system engineers that can support the operating system it's running on.

Playback servers always have been a much more "integrated solution", where both hardware and software were entirely supported by the supplier. You're also not supposed to install the Doremi/Dolby and GDC playout software onto anything other than the hardware supplied by them.

Yeah, some of the crap Microsoft pulls in the background with regard to updates is not cool at all. A few weeks ago I basically had to stop in the middle of a design project because my Windows installation had a ton of background activity running in relation to a fairly big update. It was making my computer unstable and choppy, which is not good when when doing things like manually drawing and adjusting Bezier vector paths. I had to let the computer restart and install this big update, which took what seemed like 10-15 minutes or more. When the process was finished I had a new weather widget thing on the lower right part of my task bar. Annoying.

Yeah, that update... The nice thing, for me it's was that it was consistently showing me the weather in New York... It's just another way of Microsoft to push down stuff down your throat you neither need nor wanted. As soon as you click that thing, a new popup will appear, disguised as "News".

Windows Ink regularly pisses me off. I have a Wacom tablet hooked up to my notebook PC at home. Most of the time I do not let the tablet's settings use Windows Ink. That's because if the feature is enabled and I select a text tool with the Wacom pen I'll get a stupid pop-up box wanting me to hand-write my text. That's despite the notebook having a keyboard. But the Windows Ink thing has to be enabled for pressure sensitivity to work in certain graphics applications. These days if I need to create any graphics with pressure sensitive effects, I'll use my iPad Pro and Apple Pencil to do that. Even with Windows Ink disabled nearly 100% of the time some random Windows update will turn it on again and sometimes even disable the Wacom software. The issue is pretty easy to fix, but it's still annoying when it happens.

This whole Windows Ink thing is driving me nuts, we have the same issues on our Cintiqs and Wacom tablets, but have since disabled it, because all the software we need pressure sensitiveness and "angle of attack" seems to work without it, for now... It's still enabled on my notebook though, as it's the only way to get the integrated pen to work consistently.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

That's a new one on me too. I set my default browser to Firefox and it has stayed there.

[Gordon McLeod]

All our TMS using cinedigital are on linux . The tech machine is linux using wine for any windows apps

[Dennis Benjamin]

So I guess you have a GDC SR-1000 and was attempting to use a web browser at start the show?

We have more than one browser on our machines. Addtionally, some of our theatre managers to use the old version of the GDC interface - by disabling the "WEB GUI" and using a VNC program to access it that way.

We also disconnect alot of our machines from the Internet in our projection booths. if you need Internet connectivity, you can go into the settings and tell it not to do updates during critical times of using the computer. We set all of our Windows 10 POS machines to update in the middle of the night so it doesn't disrupt business during the day.

[Martin McCaffery]

We installed a GDC SR-1000 in our single screen a month or so ago, and so we're still experimenting.
Even though it is marked as Beta, we are using the Multi-User setting. So far we've used it with Mac Safari & Firefox, Win 10 Chrome & Firefox, Chromebook Chrome, iPad chrome (maybe Safari here, too) all without any problems. Only Firefox and Chrome are recommended by GDC.
I realize this can be a security nightmare, but not worried about that at this moment. Right now it allows us to see what is going on from any computer and sales station.
Being WEB based it means that every computer is viewing it separately, and can't see if the other has made a change without refreshing. Still, if you have a WIN locked up computer, sign on with a different computer to get the show started.
I don't know if Frank has tried a Linux browser, but he should and let us know if it works.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Chrome and Firefox are two mainstream browsers both supported on major Linux distributions and there is little difference between their Linux and Windows incarnations.