And I have no idea how it happened.
[a general comment, not directly related to lewisham's problem.]
Reinstalling Windows is a sledgehammer here. Looking up his error code, all he needed to do was reregister the library. If he's not an advanced user and so doesn't feel comfortable using the CLI, then it's not surprising a tool would be used. But reinstalling Windows to resolve this is like rebooting your computer because you want to turn caps lock off.
No one should have to know what "reregister the library" even means.
The GP's statement did not say that the system was faulty, just that he was experiencing errors and he reinstalled. On enquiry, they weren't system errors, but errors around the installation of a program, for which he sledgehammered the result. You don't need the "Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable" to run Windows, or a great many things on windows. It wasn't the operating system blue-screening.
No one should have to know what "reregister the library" even means.
We're in 2011, no-one should have to know what 'engine oil change' means either, but someone still has to know how to do it.
Well, this guy's computer threw errors when he tried to install an app. "Unusable", no, just shitty. I would call that broken, but as you demonstrate, Windows apologists have always had lower standards.
> We're in 2011, no-one should have to know what 'engine oil change' means either, but someone still has to know how to do it.
That wouldn't be a very good argument if there was only one carmaker that made a car that required oil changes, while every other carmaker in the world had been selling perfectly functional no-oil-change-required cars since the 1990's.
The corrupted registry is just indicative of a problem which really should not happen.
a) If a corrupted registry key is stopping something happening, then why doesn't it take any action to try and resolve it? b) If an error code has a documented fix online, why was I not taken to it, or, even better, the fix placed in the distributable? c) Why should I have to remember random error codes at all? Why doesn't it give me an error message I can understand and at least try and take some action on?
What I find a bit odd about this whole thread is that you seem to take issue with the idea that one of Microsoft's own libraries not working means the OS is otherwise fine. Why not take the view that it's a library that's not distributed with the main install, but is a part of Windows? The Visual C++ libraries are used all the time. I feel like if we were talking about Ubuntu, where the packages are always separated, we wouldn't be drawing this invisible line between what is and isn't the OS.
That said, I agree that Mac OS X is not getting better. It needs to change. Everything since about 10.3 to today has been fairly incremental, and OS X is showing its age (ever wonder why Apple never changed to OS XI? It's because they're all the same...).
It's also showing that it doesn't have any real push at Cupertino to get better. No-one is driving OS X. Hardware is being driven by Johny Ive, software was arguably being pushed by Jobs, but it's clear that he was only interested in iOS for years. I'd note that iOS is going the same way as Mac OS X: stagnating in the face of competition that is doing more interesting things (amazingly, that competition is Microsoft!).
I feel like Apple is a company that rests on its laurels until the market practically forces it to change. The change that's coming for Mac OS X is that it will go away altogether. I think Steve hated it, and was waiting for the time when they could sell you iOS only. The only reason they keep Mac OS X around is for developers, and Apple aren't exactly known for making them happy.
Microsoft's dual-paradigm Windows 8 shows it's not that crazy. I think Mac OS X has an expiry date of about 5 years from now.