Microsoft Removes the 'X' From Windows 10 Update Leaving No Way Out (theregister.co.uk) 664
simpz writes: The Register reports that Microsoft has changed the Windows 10 update dialog and no longer shows the "X" close button. They say once agreed to there is no obvious back-out method and it is now out of step with Microsoft's own documentation on this. They have a screenshot of this. As noted above, the latest move is out of step with Microsoft's Knowledge Base documentation, which says you can re-schedule your upgrade.
alt-f4 (Score:5, Informative)
Try Alt-f4. Works on many apps and usually forgotten by most devs.
Re: (Score:3)
Ransome-ware (Score:5, Insightful)
It seems like a thin line between what MS is doing and what ransom wear does. Both force you to comply with some demand or lose access to your computer.
Re:Ransome-ware (Score:5, Informative)
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Download a bootloader and disable automatic updates in services, as well as the windows installer, activating that only when you want to install an app.
Then install GWX Control panel as an extra measure of removing yourself from the collective.
Also find your scheduled tasks folder and delete everything there. There's hooks in that folder that will start certain upgrade paths for you.
Be sure to have a good Antivirus, and be ready to never receive another update unless you download it and apply it manually.
Re:Ransome-ware (Score:4, Funny)
OSX: Spend 25 USD to upgrade the OS
Windows: Spend 30 USD to NOT upgrade the OS
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Sure, but if it's not working, cheaper isn't much good.
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Good God , this is slashdot and we're still burning USBs to CD?!?!
I don't even know what "burning a USB to CD" means.
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Re:Ransome-ware (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes but at least with ransom ware you can usually pay them and get your computer back to where it was before.
Re:Ransome-ware (Score:4, Interesting)
It is even a thinner line between what M$ is doing and what conspiracy theorists could make of M$'s seemingly desperate bid to force as many users as possible onto Windows 10, where M$ has total control and can change anything they want at each and every compulsory upgrade. Shut down all windows computers during a specific planetary event, silence all political talk on issues that M$'s board approves but the majority rejects, shut down computers during critical election moments, silence all protest et al. This stuff is getting seriously out of hand and pretty wacked, it is getting very hard to understand what M$ is doing and why governments are accepting it, this is getting to be pretty wacked stuff, insane behaviour by a corporation. It already has to be accepted that prying into everything small and medium business is doing and what the employees of major businesses are doing, gives them a powerful ability to collude with the banksters in a massive insider trading scheme to generate billions, that is what you do with the data they are analysing and the very reason why it should be banned outright.
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Shut down all windows computers during a specific planetary event, silence all political talk on issues that M$'s board approves but the majority rejects, shut down computers during critical election moments, silence all protest et al. This stuff is getting seriously out of hand and pretty wacked, it is getting very hard to understand what M$ is doing and why governments are accepting it, this is getting to be pretty wacked stuff, insane behaviour by a corporation.
Except they aren't doing any of those things, you made all that up, mainly because doing so would make absolutely no sense whatsoever nor would it have any impact. Microsoft may have a majority on desktop computing (interspliced with OSX, ChromeOS and other Linux distros) but they don't have even close to a controlling stake in personal computing which includes phones and tablets. How many people do you think are doing their "political talk" - or any social networking for that matter - from their Windows PC
Re:Ransome-ware (Score:5, Funny)
I thought ransom wear was a burlap sack?
Re:alt-f4 (Score:4, Insightful)
False. Refuse all the optional updates, accept all the critical updates. You can easily configure windows update to do this.
I have been running windows 7 like this, and never once seen a peep about windows 10 (except on the MS website, of course).
Re:alt-f4 (Score:5, Informative)
False. Refuse all the optional updates, accept all the critical updates. You can easily configure windows update to do this.
THIS. I have Windows 7 with GWX Control Panel [ultimateoutsider.com] (reviewed here [thurrott.com]) installed,
and under Control Panel --> Windows Update --> Change settings, I am set to "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them",
and (most important) "Recommended updates" is UN-checked.
There is also a tool Never 10 [grc.com] (Peter Thurrott writes about it here [thurrott.com]). But always make sure you make the changes above to Windows Update.
When updates announce themselves, accept only those updates for Windows listed "critical" and "security", as well as Windows Defender updates. That's it.
So far, no problems on any of my systems. MS is being pretty shitty about all this, but they haven't yet stooped to calling 10 a critical/security update. However, anyone not savvy enough to take the above steps (e.g., parents) might be in for some trouble. So, spread the word, or suffer endless calls from suffering masses.
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Re:alt-f4 (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe - except that Microsoft already take it as "OK" if you close the window.
ALT+F4 sends the WM_CLOSE message to a window, where the default message handler cleans up and closes the window. Reassigning that to call the same method that the OK or Save buttons do would be against conventions, convoluted, dastardly, and require malicious intent.
So.... yeah. It probably launches the Windows 10 update installer immediately.
Re:alt-f4 (Score:4, Informative)
Except it's not easy to disable the updates. I've had to disable it 3 or 4 times at a minimum because they keep re-enabling it.
I go through the updates one by one making sure something isn't sneaking through, which is incredibly annoying to have to do. I've resorted to leaving my Windows 7 computer off until August.
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If you do this after your OS starts changing, you're likely to end up with an unbootable system.
Unbelievable. (Score:5, Insightful)
The power of inertia is incredible. I can't imagine putting up with a vendor that treats their customers this way.
Re:Unbelievable. (Score:5, Funny)
It's been working for Oracle for years!
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a fix (Score:5, Informative)
https://www.grc.com/never10.htm
Hahahahaha FANTASTIC (Score:5, Insightful)
Technically this is an improvement- it is no longer a dark pattern, there's no more trick. Obviously the sane thing to do is to simply stop forcing this OS change on the users, but each Windows 10 user must generate so much ad revenue that it is worth trying to stomp out each and every one.
Anyway, whatever. Install Linux, that's your only long term fix. You can turn off updates in Windows 7 or 8, or you can get some binary that tries to fight Microsoft on this, or you can do some doodlefuck in the registry. The point is, you're fighting the OS distributor, who is no longer trustworthy. Install Linux, or you must like this shit.
Shill prediction: At some point in the near future, the "free upgrade" goes away. At this point, however, they'll still offer it for free for users of assistive technology: ( https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.c... [microsoft.com] ). That's nice of them, but that *probably* means that pretty much anyone will still be able to get it for free, by turning this on. So the shill prediction is: that this becomes a "cool trick" that gets posted on forums and stuff, at some people looking to "pull one over" on Microsoft.
Windows 10 uses you. You're the revenue source, because they sell ads. Of course they are willing to let you be a revenue source at no cost to them!
Baby steps (Score:3)
each Windows 10 user must generate so much ad revenue that it is worth trying to stomp out each and every one
they could learn from the masters... On the new Kindle there's ads on the screensaver/lock screen. If you don't want to see ads, you have to pay Amazon $20 on top of the $125 or more for the device.
Now THAT is innovation. Ad-supported paid devices.
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Windows 10 uses you. You're the revenue source, because they sell ads. Of course they are willing to let you be a revenue source at no cost to them!
You were the revenue source before as well, except that you handed them money. There's no such thing as a free lunch, that's why the upgrade to Windows 10 costs nothing. Google has well and truly proven this model for many years and the vast majority of people love it, it doesn't cost you anything except having the occassional advert presented. Microsoft has jumped on the software model that Google proved out, that people prefer ads to upfront monetary charges. Microsoft is late to the game in that regard s
Re:Hahahahaha FANTASTIC (Score:5, Insightful)
Installing Windows 10 is not a fix for having Microsoft forcibly update your system. Once you have Windows 10, every update acts like this and cannot be rejected.
Where "long term" is less than two years" (Score:2)
Windows 8.1 was released less than two years ago. If you switch to Windows 10 today, you're pretty much signing up for the same crap later, being forced to Windows 365 in 2018.
I use CentOS on most of my machines. Each version of CentOS has a ten-year life (longer if you choose to handle your own security updates). For me, a "long term" operating system is ten years. Maybe you consider a year and a half until you have to switch operating systems to be "long term".
Correction: two and a half years (Score:2)
Correction: two and half years. Not what _I_ consider "long term" for switching OS.
Re:Linux distros aren't much better, unfortunately (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Hahahahaha FANTASTIC (Score:4, Informative)
If it is only gaming that keeps you on Windows, you might be in luck. Valve have been pushing Linux as supported platform quite heavily. There are over a thousand titles as we speak.
http://store.steampowered.com/browse/linux/ [steampowered.com]
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Over a thousand... out of nine thousand or so, that's still not nearly what I would call equitable.
Re:Hahahahaha FANTASTIC (Score:4, Informative)
To name a few, Fallout, Skyrim, Civ 4 (because I don't like Civ 5), Deus Ex, and Witcher. I'd list more, but Steam doesn't let me search my library by tag so I have to check each one individually. It's not that any particular title is keeping me on Windows, it's that almost every new PC game is available for windows.
All Your Base Are Belong to Us (Score:5, Funny)
Reject the EULA (Score:5, Interesting)
Just reject the license upon reboot. Previous version restored!
Re:Reject the EULA (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Reject the EULA (Score:5, Informative)
It works, but there can be negative side effects... great example being the TPM.
If you've a TPM in use under 8.1 (at least), after upgrading to 10 it will be tweaked in such a way that it will only work in 10, even after a reset/reinstall of the OS to a lower version.
Worse, because of the changes, the 8.1 UI is unable to clear the TPM so you can re-take ownership of it. Even PS TPM Cmdlets fail you... only a non obvious WMI call can get you back to normal.
Source: I hit this on my personal SP3 after I ran screaming from 10 on it (though run it elsewhere in my home happily).
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Re:Reject the EULA (Score:5, Insightful)
So you just waste a bunch of gigs of bandwidth (not everyone has unlimited) and time for the install and restore. Then you repeat this when it tries the update again. Plus the chance that the restore might not work properly. I'm not saying that it won't work but that it does have some negatives.
Re:Reject the EULA (Score:5, Funny)
Free as in beer, free as speech, or free as in herpes?
What is there to say that has not been said? (Score:4, Insightful)
This fixes a UI failure (Score:5, Insightful)
The close button (red X) didn't work as users expected. It was a user interface failure, and Microsoft solved the problem. Now the dialog box correctly tells users, as MS intends, that their options are to upgrade now or schedule a time for upgrade. No more users getting surprised and outraged when closing the dialog box results in an unexpected Windows 10 upgrade.
Whether or not you are a fan of MS's upgrade approach, this is a solution to the UI problem. We can still be outraged about forced upgrades, but this isn't a terrible fix.
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Whether or not you are a fan of MS's upgrade approach, this is a solution to the UI problem.
No, it is not a fix. The only two options are now and also later. There is not a no option.
Re:This fixes a UI failure (Score:5, Insightful)
Whatever dude, I'm a long term .NET developer, and run Win10 on most of my machines. But two I do not want to upgrade. I'm getting fucked with constantly with this shit and for the first time wondering if I really want to bet my future on Microsoft. Currently without them, I can't pay my bills, but wondering if I need to make the big jump.
I'm extremely fluent with Linux, having supported it in professional environments for big companies in my previous career. But a bit worried about all the new systemd shit as well, that's gonna make my experience a bit degraded. And no way in hell I'm going back to Systems Architecture/Engineering. But there's really not much from a programmer's point of view in Linux. It's either fucking java or some crappy interpreted language. Was looking happily at Mono, but now that Microsoft's bought Xamarin it's pretty much a dead end.
Microsoft is really coming off as an Oracle-level asshole corp at this point. They need to stop. Really not liking the shitty direction the Satya Nadella era is bringing to them. I think he'll get ran out of town pretty soon, he demonstrates he has no respect for anyone using Microsoft products.
Re:This fixes a UI failure (Score:5, Interesting)
The issue here is that MS is acting like they are confused over what the user wants.
They want to assert that the user has given permission, and that this is the end of the story. Users assert that they have said NO to the installer many times, and have even turned on the friendly registry flags to tell MS that they dont want the upgrade.
MS has ignored these, and done upgrades anyway, getting more and more forceful and obstinate.
So, force them to do something clearly malwarelike:
When you first set up your new Win7 deployment, proactively create a folder named GWX under %systemroot%.
Good. Now, set an ACL on it. (you can do this from the command line on versions of windows that neuter the GUI, "because end users dont need that.") Put an express DENY (no, not just uncheck allow, like you were trained to. no, outright deny. we really mean it.) on write, read, and execute, with propogation to child objects enabled, and do this for TrustedInstaller and System users, as well as the administrators group, and the builtin admin user. Only allow redaction of the change from your own, personal administration account that needs your password to be used.
Turn on automatic updates.
Watch as the GWX "update" fails to install, each and every time microsoft tries to install it.
Give MS the finger, and laugh.
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Better still, just create an empty file called GWX under systemroot. Windows can't have directories and files with the same name. Protect it in the manner you describe.
Re:This fixes a UI failure (Score:4, Informative)
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What? I'm not defending their behavior. I just said that MS is taking away user choice, and I think that's bad. I also think that as long as they're taking away user choice, it's better that they do it without misleading people into thinking they're being offered an opt-out. But I certainly believe that they should be offering users a clear and simple way to opt out of the upgrade.
I think that Microsoft is being manipulative, abusive, and dishonest with their users. And if I'm supposed to be an MS shill, th
How is this legal? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:How is this legal? (Score:4, Insightful)
If you think this all stops July 29th, you're delving into some twisted fantasies far stranger than pr0n.
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Until Microsoft says that it is important that people upgrade to Windows 10.
Poe's law for scummy software? (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously, this could all be parody, and at this point, no one would be able to tell.
It's kind of like recent decades of of the political process: Take normal political lying, intersperse it with assurances that "Oh, now we're going to make EVERYTHING better - government is not the solution WE ARE... when we're government, that is."... then they get in, and it's like 10x more cynical rules being passed.
That said, pessimism is misleading too. PLENTY of scummy businessmen have dreamt of pushing these same models, but were rejected soundly by smaller customer bases - it just takes longer for Microsoft to fall the same way IBM and other scummy folks did.
Also, for politics, if you look at the ages of yellow journalism in ages past, the populace was truly more deeply ignorant in the past, and the politics even more cynical, with death as a much more common side effect of that cynicism - things are genuinely better, which actually makes it relatively shocking to see some small degree of backsliding towards a less classically liberal path. Despite the 'overton window' of recent decades and news, we're actually amazingly liberal in terms of actual policies, with no real show of that stopping.
But yeah - this crap with windows quadrupling down on their spyware-like 'upgrade' practices is in the same vein - an amazing throwback to scummy ideas I'd thought the 'marketplace of ideas' rejected to soundly everyone should still remember not to use them.
I guess we have to keep relearning those things.
Ryan Fenton
Re: (Score:3)
Voting machine: "When do you want to schedule a vote for Donald Trump? 1) Choose a time, 2) Vote for Trump now, or 3) Skip."
User: "3) Skip."
Voting machine: "Your scheduled vote for Donald Trump has not been changed and will take effect shortly."
User: "Hey!"
(calls the manufacturer)
User: "Your voting machine is rigged! The skip button doesn't actually skip the vote.
Manufacturer: "Our sincere apologies; we'll get it fixed immediately."
(A short time
The New Pop-Up: (Score:5, Funny)
Menu of Choices:
1. Upgrade to Windows 10
2. Upgrade to Windows 9 + 1
3. Get Windows 10 for Free!
4. Install the latest Windows version from Microsoft
5. Restart your computer, and then have it automatically install Windows 10
6. Let Microsoft decide for you
7. Ten, Windows, upgrade to. -Yoda
8. Just do it, dammit, it probably won't kill you
9. Go to 1.
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The next pop-up will be:
Would you like to upgrade now or now?
My mother (Score:2, Interesting)
My mother just blew through her data cap on her Verizon hotspot yesterday. I could't figure out how she could have used 6.5 GB in one day, then I realized Microsoft had downloaded Windows 10 to her machine. She really needs to learn a new UI at this point in her life, she's 85 and half blind. Now she also gets to pay data overages from her $500 a month of social security that she's living on. Actually, I will be paying it, and will also have to drive and hour and half to go un-fuck her machine. These p
Pull the plug (Score:2)
If you find yourself in this inescapable forced upgrade:
Pull the plug, then don't turn your computer back on until Microsoft has gone out of business.
Somewhere, in a darkened office... (Score:5, Funny)
There lies the domain of the MS Marketing director, who having submitted to the mandatory prefrontal lobotomy (a corporate requirement for the position), sits within the pallid cool glow of his curved LED monitor, simply cannot fathom what is making the users angry.
"It costs too much!" he mocks. "Make it free like OSX!"
So we do-- We make it a free update! We put it on Windows update, so it is convenient. Our telemetry tells us that most of our users dont subscribe to MSDN news sources, so we make it super easy to inform them about the update with the GWX app...
But there is no pleasing them!
First, they say that using windows update to spread awareness is a misuse of the critical update delivery pipeline-- So, we deploy additional telemetry software to verify the claim, and help synergize with development for the new programming apis we will use going forward, and now they complain we are spying on them!
So, we install those telemetry updates in updates more specific to that development harmonization, and they freak out even more!
Corporate wants to know why these users arent on board with windows 10, despite the free upgrade, and wont get off my back! What am I supposed to tell them, since those users keep uninstalling the telemetry suite that would let us know more about the issue!
Now, to top it all off, they complain about the functionality of the close button widget.
Ok, so we change the behavior-- they are still mad.
Ok, so we REMOVE the widget-- Even angrier!!
What is it that these people want!!?
(at this point, an intern enters the dread specter of marketing's office with a thick slab of useless paper copy to make his daily delivery, since despite email being a thing for over a decade, there are those in corporate that still insist on old fashioned interoffice memos. In a quivering, mewling tone reminiscient of a prepubescent youth, the freckled mouse of a man hazards a conjecture to his corporate master, knowing the perils of doing so.)
Perhaps they just dont want the update, and dont want to be told about it anymore?
At this, the dread specter of marketing erupts into a ballmer-esque frenzy, toppling his chair, and spraying thick droplets of foaming spittle as he rages--
DONT WANT THE UPDATE!? DONT WANT IT!?
he shrieks, grabbing the thick slab of papers from the poor interns hands, then throwing them in the air.
FIRST THEY COMPLAIN ABOUT HAVING TO PAY EVERY 3 YEARS, THEN WHEN WE RESTRUCTURE FOR THE NEW ADVERT MODEL, THEY DONT WANT THE UPDATE!?
Cowering on the floor, desperately trying to recover and recollate the precious memos that justify his position in the company, the intern timidly responds.
Perhaps they wanted us to respect their choice of when to do the update?
FUCK-EM! the prince of darkness snarls, returning to his desk and grabbing the back of his chair in a livid clawing motion. WE HAVE A SCHEDULE TO MEET, AND WE ARE BENDING OVER BACKWARDS FOR THESE INGRATES!
Does that mean that we will proceed with the forced updates sir?
The room fills with a thick, suffocating silence for a good seconds, as the knuckles on the back of the chair turn white with rage-clenching, followed by unnatural relaxation. In a now buttery smooth, and altogether inhumanly relaxed tone, the dread specter of marketing smiles deeply..
Of course we will. We owe it to them, after all.
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Being bombastic is part of the humor, oh dull one.
M$ going going going (Score:3)
For those of us in the "Family IT support" role (Score:2, Interesting)
This is an F'ing nightmare for me. I provide computer support for my extended family, many of which are up in years and are finally happy with their computer and the programs they use. Things have been good for 3+ years or so and stable, as I purchased all their computers for them with pre-installed Windows 7 Home Premium. Now I get called about this "popup" on their screen that they don't know what to do with. Initially I told them to just close the window, then later (I missed the change) one of the c
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I understand what you're saying and why you're saying it. But I will offer a counter-example. Whether or not it's valid for your situation, I of course can't say.
My wife is not particularly computer literate and has a habit of clicking on anything and everything. So some little while ago I moved her to Linux Mint. I made sure she had her bookmarks and browser settings ... and that was just about it. She has no idea that there is Linux and there is Windows and that they are different. She has simple needs, a
Re:For those of us in the "Family IT support" role (Score:5, Funny)
Septuagenarian Grandmother: "Friends have been suggesting I get an iPad".
"nerd" offspring: "Go right ahead. But I don't use any Apple products so don't come crying to me for support."
Father: "Grandma's dead."
"nerd" offspring: "Did she leave me anything?"
Father: "Her old will left you quite a bit, but she changed it soon after she got her iPad."
"nerd" offspring: "So, what did she leave me?"
Father: "Her iPad. and a note that says 'learn some fucking Apple products, you snotty little shit.'"
Simple Permanent Fix (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Simple Permanent Fix (Score:5, Interesting)
Parallels is a pain in the ass. Every time Mac OS updates you have to update to a new version of Parallels. And those updates cost (typically). I believe they have sorted out most of their driver problems now, but it used to be that installing Parallels would cause nothing but problems for me.
Bring in VirtualBox. I also do embedded development (Linux host) and VirtualBox saves me when I need a Windows app. The GPU drivers suck but this is typically not a big deal when doing embedded development. Overall, I actually prefer it. If it cost the same as Parallels I would still use VirtualBox.
Class Action Suit Anyone? (Score:2)
No, that's not the operating system bought.
Uhm, No. (Score:2)
No, you are rationalizing a decision to do something to someone.
The non-decision to click next to everything, which is where the "install recomended updates automatically" option pops up during first product activation, is an automatic one TO USE THE COMPUTER. It does not mean "rape me!"
Even if it did mean what you try so hard to say it means, the user may well decide that yes, they want updates to the OS they have installed-- not to install a new OS, especially since the OS they currently have has 4 more y
where there is a will (Score:3)
CTRL+ALT+DEL
Then from the task manager kill the GWX process.
Then change the windows update manager to never check, and then hide the windows 10 update.
Alternately there a several 3rd party apps that will take full control of the update process allowing you to dictate when, how, and what kind of updates you want and get.
You can always set your system to not get anything but critical updates, but someday M$ will decide that getting Win10 is critical, to either them or you.
No One is Asking the Right Question (Score:3, Interesting)
Obviously the answer is revenue. There are lots of savings to be had. It's much cheaper to maintain one OS rather them multiple versions of the OS. (BTW, expect big layoffs at MS real soon now. Anyone who mostly works on OS code that is not tied to 10 should have their resume all polished up. Blood will flow in Redmond.)
But that part is not enough to explain the ridiculous methods that are being used. When the only way to insure that 10 is not installed on your computer is to never attach it to the internet, there is something else going on. And it must be revenue driven.
The likely answer is that Microsoft is planning on going to a de facto subscription model. Users will have to pay every year to keep their copy of the OS working. Same for Office, Excel, etc. Individual users will end up paying the full purchase cost every year for each piece of software, or maybe half the full price. Of course there will be "bundled" discounts like the phone companies offer, but that won't do much for your elderly relatives. And there will be student rates, but the vast majority will be paying through the nose.
Microsoft lost the revenue war to Apple.They missed out on the iPhone and iWatch. They were late to the cloud as well. Android has driven all the nails into the coffin for the phone/tablet market, which is where the growth will be.Their only play is to fully exploit their monopolist power and embrace extortionist capitalism.
The EU will scream like a stuck pig, but MS already has a strategy in place to deal with them. It will be delay by a series of holding actions, and then eventually have data centers in Europe to satisfy privacy conditions. They might even agree to pay more taxes, which will be less painful given the profits they rake in.
The big growth will be in China, Russia and India, where MS will help the government track everyone. They will do for these countries what the NSA has done to the US. Every computer will be a full time spy. Local data centers with 100% access to the contents of all computers. It is possible that the US will take advantage of this as well. Not that anyone will ever hear about it.
Re:fuck me (Score:5, Interesting)
Alllllll these workarounds. Man, wouldn't it be great if your OS wasn't overtly hostile?
Re: (Score:3)
It's like wack-a-mole. Except that moles are cute. Even the moles on my back are cuter than Windows 10.
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Probably because majority of simple folks don't have any choice in the matter: They are locked in. Windows is all they know.
They don't care. And why would they? It runs their programs and they have their web browser, that's what an OS is for. You could say (and I already did in the comments somewhere) that they should use Linux but what does that really get them in terms of things they care about? Nothing really. Same thing with iOS, you can argue it is even more overtly hostile in not allowing you to change default programs or install alternative browsers and applications don't work if you don't upgrade the OS but again the maj
Re:fuck me (Score:4, Insightful)
I absolutely agree with you. For an average user it does not matter what is the OS they run, just that it does not get in the way. And that is perfectly fine!
But here is my point: Why be hostile? What is the benefit of the forced upgrade? Why not just allow the user to press "Cancel"? Let them update when they are ready! if they don't: That is fine, just don't support them. If they come to complain: Just tell them the steps to upgrade.
From my past experience supporting such users, they get absolutely horrified of situations they can't back out of or can't abort. Anything unfamiliar on the screen sends them into a state of panic. And here you have the very worst example.
This is a perfect showcase of an OS getting in the way of the user. He/she could be in the middle of their daily email reading when all of a sudden a system dialogue comes up demanding they right there and NOW make a decision about their underlying system. No, you can't close it and come back to it later. At most you can do is schedule a time, but schedule something you don't even understand or indeed want! Your Windows 7 IE is showing your emails fine! Why (As you eloquently put it) do I need to care about the OS?!
Can you imagine what panic this user will go through if they say OK to the update?! All of the sudden your system is rebooting and installation screens are asking you questions and that only thing you know is that it deals with something you know nothing about!
Re: fuck me (Score:2)
The nerds already set the group policy with NeverTen or with AD. It's the muggles who are all getting upgraded whether they want to or not.
Re:get over it (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Like any upgrade/downgrade, you should be able to accept or reject it.
You accepted it. You chose to keep "install recommended updates automatically", and that's what is happening.
If you want to reject it, don't let Microsoft install things automatically, or to determine what is "recommended" for you.
I have a lot of Windows 7 systems that will not suffer from this nonsense because they don't install anything without my review and permission. Once I accept the update, however, I expect that it will take place -- because I've approved it.
And simply closing the notice that a
Re:get over it (Score:5, Insightful)
"She obviously wanted it! If she didnt, why was she showing leg under that slutty red and black dress, and wearing whore makup at night like that!"
Because that's what the "You did agree! You had had suggested updates turned on!" really amounts to.
Re: (Score:3)
NO.
BOTH are AUTOMATIC decisions, done from wrote repitition.
The woman puts on her makeup, as she always has.
The computer user clicks next on everything as they always have.
The insistance that either is a conscious, willfull choice to have something done to them is sick. Get over yourself.
Re: (Score:3)
The insistance that either is a conscious, willfull choice to have something done to them is sick. Get over yourself.
The decision to select "install recommended updates automatically" is a causal action for having updates installed automatically. Putting makeup on is not a causal action for rape.
To believe otherwise is delusional and sick. To try to equate the two is sad. You need to get over yourself.
Re:get over it (Score:4, Informative)
it is insanity in this day and age to have to support multiple substantially different versions of an operating system for general population. its unjustifiably expensive and unsustainable.
Then Microsoft should not have sold WIndows 7 and 8 with support windows that extend to 2020 (Win 7) and 2023 (Win 8). Consumers purchased these products with the promise of support as per Microsoft's published Windows lifecycle [microsoft.com]. If Microsoft didn't plan to do this, and price their product accordingly, that is very much their problem.
Re: (Score:2)
Individuals only got support for Windows 7 until 1/13/2015. They aren't included in the 2020 support plan, and Microsoft is under no obligation to support home users for Windows 7 anymore.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
"Microsoft will offer Mainstream Support for either a minimum of 5 years from the date of a product’s general availability, or for 2 years after the successor product (N+1) is released, whichever is longer. Extended Support is not offered for Consumer software and Multimedia products with the exception of Windows Desktop Operating system which follows the Business, Developer, and Desktop Operating System Software Products policy as outlined above." -- https://support.microsoft.com/... [microsoft.com]
There is an excep
Re:get over it (Score:5, Informative)
Individuals only got support for Windows 7 until 1/13/2015. They aren't included in the 2020 support plan, and Microsoft is under no obligation to support home users for Windows 7 anymore.
As per Microsoft's lifecycle policy [microsoft.com], Extended Support applies to retail purchases, and entitles home users to security fixes until January 14, 2020 (Win 7) and January 10, 2023 (Win 8).
Re:get over it (Score:5, Insightful)
disclaimer: i don't exactly have a dog in the fight, i'm a mac/unix guy.
If you wake up one morning and find YOUR Mac has been upgraded from "El Capitan" to "Death Valley", and some of YOUR apps have completely changed appearance, other apps don't work right anymore, still others (like your favorite media app) are just plain gone and can't be recovered, and YOU have a whole new flat ugly touch-based color scheme on some but not all of your applications, YOUR menu bar has been replaced with a ribbon, some older hardware doesn't have drivers anymore, and a bunch of ads are now rolling through YOUR dock, and the EULA now says Apple reserves the right to send info about YOU back to headquarters whenever it feels like it, my guess is you won't just smile and be happy because Apple's business model is not "insane".
it is insanity in this day and age to have to support multiple substantially different versions of an operating system for general population. its unjustifiably expensive and unsustainable.
You got it backward. Since when does the market (i.e., consumers... us) have to bear the burden for Microsoft's "insanity"? Let's see how YOU feel about the "insanity" when it's YOUR computer that's changed overnight into a platform for promoting tablets and phones that nobody wants to buy [slashdot.org]. If YOUR dad calls YOU in the middle of the night because he can no longer figure out how to view pictures of his grandkids, are YOU gonna tell him to be silent and act like a man and accept his duty to make sacrifices wherever necessary to support our Dear Corporate Overlords? "Gee, I know it's hard, dad, but think about (Microsoft CEO) Nadella... you and mom are doing it for the good of Microsoft and Nadella."
"Gosh, son, you're right. I guess I don't need those old picture anyhow. Hail Nadella."
Re: (Score:3)
There's a big difference between discontinuing support with an offer for a free upgrade, and forcing a free upgrade on your users.
Re:Escape? (Score:4, Insightful)
there is always a choice. there is always a path to escape.
one of many.
http://cdimage.debian.org/debi... [debian.org]
Re:Escape? (Score:4, Funny)
Pull the plug.
Take out the battery.
Re: (Score:3)
You forgot smash with a hammer and burn the scraps.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Escape? (Score:5, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
I use Linux too for many reasons, but I also don't have to use various Windows-only software, except at work, where I do in fact suffer through using Windows. But at least at work, it's not my computer, and I really don't give a shit if the thing catches some malware or ransomware and ends up losing all my work: that's my employer's problem. As long as they pay me to show up every day, I'm happy. My personal data isn't on my work computer, it's safe on my Linux computer at home (and on backups, which my
Re:Escape? (Score:4, Funny)
How long ago was it, a couple of days, since they said they were going to change the behaviour of the "x" so it did not automatically accept the update? I guess they kept their promise, there no longer is an "x".
This brings to mind an old joke:
A couple of guys are flying in a hot air baloon, fall asleep, and are completely lost.
As they drift over a building, one of them shouts down "could you please tell us where we are?"
"You are in a balloon", the man shouts back.
The first man then said "I know where we are. We're in Redmond, Washington. While the answer was technically correct, it was completely useless, so we must be over Microsoft."
Re: (Score:2)
Except you waived the right to punitive and consequential damages when you agreed to the EULA for your current product. You MIGHT get your purchase price back for the current product, but that's about it.
Re: (Score:3)
What if the next EULA says that killing GWX.EXE and other related Microsoft service processes is against the agreement?
Re: (Score:3)
But then you get that systemd crap.
Re: (Score:3)
Yeah only cause Slackware hasn't been updated since 2012...lets install Windows 95 while were at it.
Slackware was last updated on the 15th of April 2016
Re:When Left without an option (Score:4, Funny)
cortaaaaanaaaaa