From Yay to Boo: The Evolution of Microsoft's Get Windows 10 Prompt

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 29 Jul 2016

With Windows 10, Microsoft took a novel approach to getting people to adopt its new operating system: it offered it for free. And to make upgrading to Windows 10 as easy as possible, Microsoft came up with the Get Windows 10 (GWX) app.

Delivered via the KB3035583 update, GWX was meant to offer a seamless way of upgrading to Windows 10. If you did, it marked the end of the story. If you didn’t, you would eventually find out just how pushy Microsoft can get.



GWX: Windows 10 is coming.
Me: Yey! I hope it’s as good as Windows 7.


Before the launch of Windows 10, Microsoft invited Windows users to reserve a copy of the new operating system, which would be released on July 29, 2015. At that time, lots of people (myself included) were excited about Windows 10.

But being a cautious type of person, I decided not to reserve Windows 10. After all, Microsoft did say it would offer it for free, for a whole year. I had a year to decide if I wanted this new OS or not. No hurry.




GWX: Windows 10 is here.
Me: Okay, okay, I got it!

Windows 10 started rolling out to the masses on July 29. I didn’t get it as soon as it launched, I waited to see if there were any annoyances to worry about. And there were plenty: privacy issues, not being able to manage Windows updates, a flashy new Start Menu that few liked, and more.




GWX: Hey, upgrade to Windows 10.
Me: No.
GWX: Would you at least download it?




GWX: Are you sure you don’t want Windows 10?
Me: Not now, go away!
Microsoft: Ha-ha, tricked you.
Me: You almost had me.


By messing with KB3035583, Microsoft showed that it won’t let you just say no to Windows 10. Even though people hid the update, it showed up again and again in Windows Update. So people learned to stay away.

It was a dirty trick, but not as dirty as changing what the X button does. Microsoft set it up so that clicking the X button wouldn’t dismiss the prompt. Instead, it would confirm that you want to upgrade to Windows 10 and you agree with the upgrade schedule.



GWX: Did you just unlock your PC?
Me: Yeah.
GWX: Here’s a full-screen notification.
Me: You annoying little…


KB3035583 and its GWX app wasn’t enough. So Microsoft rolled out another update: KB3173040, which introduced a full-screen prompt to upgrade to Windows 10. Unlock your PC and you’d get a full-screen notification about upgrading to Windows 10.




GWX: You can decline the upgrade now.
Me: Does this mean you’ll go away?
GWX: Nope.


Remember how Microsoft changed what the X button does? Well, it eventually undid this annoying change and introduced a new GWX prompt that offered the option to decline the upgrade. Weirdly enough, Microsoft did all this after getting sued and having to pay $10,000.



GWX: It's July 29, 2016.
Me: So?
GWX: You have only a few hours left to upgrade. Hurry!
Me:







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