Microsoft Undoes Its Most Despicable 'Get Windows 10' Trick (After Lawsuit Cost it $10K)

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 29 Jun 2016

One month before the free upgrade expires, Microsoft has finally decided to stop trying to shove Windows 10 down our throats. Not because it’s the decent thing to do, or because Microsoft finally listened to all the complaints. Far from it! It’s because it got sued.

A botched Windows 10 update landed Microsoft in hot water when the user decided to sue. After appealing the decision, Microsoft decided to drop the appeal and pay a compensation of $10,000 to avoid further litigation.

Even though Windows 10 is offered as a free upgrade, meaning people shouldn’t need any persuasion to go get it, Microsoft has been incredibly pushy with the operating system. At this point, I don’t even care if it’s a good OS or not. The fact that Microsoft is forcing it on everyone, makes me resent it.

To upgrade to Windows 10, you have to install the "Get Windows 10" (GWX) app via the KB3035583 update. Microsoft did a lot of despicable things to get people to install this update, such as:
  • The description didn’t specify what the update does. It just said that "it enables additional capabilities for Windows Update notifications in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 SP1."
  • The update was upgraded from "recommended" to "important" so it would reach more people. And more to the point, all the people who unchecked the option to get recommended updates.
  • After Microsoft re-released the update, it once again showed up in Windows Update, even though the user had previously hidden it.
The bottom line is this: if you set Windows Update to automatically download and install updates, Microsoft found a way to sneak GWX onto it. And that’s where the "fun" began. GWX automatically ran at startup, constantly pestered you to upgrade, and refused to go away unless you did something about it.

But the most despicable thing that Microsoft did is that it changed what the X button does. You know, the button you click to close windows or applications and to dismiss unwanted prompts, like the prompt to schedule your Windows 10 upgrade. Microsoft thought it a good idea to set it up so that clicking X means you accept the upgrade. What the f…



Public outcry wasn’t enough to get Microsoft to reconsider this bizarre behavior. The company acknowledged the issue, but refused to change what the X button does. What it did instead is it added another notification that provided customers with "an additional opportunity for cancelling the upgrade."

While public outcry failed to persuade Microsoft, Teri Goldstein from Seattle did! A botched Windows 10 update crippled her computer and rendered it useless for days. When Microsoft customer service was unable to fix her problem, she decided to sue. Goldstein asked the court for compensation for lost wages and the cost of a new computer. She won and was awarded a $10,000 judgment.

Microsoft's initial reaction was to appeal the lawsuit. But then it decided to drop the appeal, pay the $10K and avoid further litigation.

Losing the lawsuit has prodded Microsoft to change their free Windows 10 upgrade policy. Microsoft announced that it will introduce a new upgrade prompt that makes it easier to decline the upgrade offer (see below). Furthermore, if you click the X button to close the prompt, it will actually close it.



"We started our journey with Windows 10 with a clear goal to move people from needing Windows to choosing Windows to loving Windows," said in a statement Terry Myerson, Executive Vice President of Windows and Devices.

"Towards this goal, this week we'll launch a new upgrade experience for millions of PCs around the world. The new experience has clearer options to upgrade now, choose a time, or decline the free offer. If the red-x is selected on this new dialog, it will dismiss the dialog box and we will notify the device again in a few days."

The offer to upgrade to Windows 10 for free will end on July 29. Until then, Microsoft will continue to ask Windows users to upgrade to Windows 10, "the most secure version of Windows."

In related Microsoft cock-ups... sorry, news

On July 29, Windows 10 will celebrate its 1st anniversary. Microsoft already announced that it plans to celebrate by releasing a major update called Windows 10 Anniversary Update. What Microsoft didn’t say was when the update in question would be released, just that it would be rolled out in the summer of 2016.

We assumed that would be on July 29, but it turns out we were wrong. Microsoft’s News Center accidentally revealed that the Anniversary Update will be released out on August 2.



The Microsoft News Center published and then removed an article that had no content, just a title that said "Microsoft announces Windows 10 anniversary update available Aug. 2."

UPDATE: Microsoft has officially confirmed that Windows 10 Anniversary Update will be released on August 2, 2016. And the News Center article is back online, complete with content this time.



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