Microsoft Steps Back from the Cliff on Windows 10 Upgrades

[Brink]

After months of mounting criticism, and just one month from the end of the free Windows 10 upgrade, Microsoft has finally seen the light: It will stop deliberately confusing and deceiving customers with the Windows 10 upgrade offer.

“We started our journey with Windows 10 with a clear goal to move people from needing Windows to choosing Windows to loving Windows,” Microsoft executive vice president Terry Myerson explains in a prepared statement.. “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. We continue to recommend all of our customers upgrade to Windows 10 before the free upgrade offer expires on July 29. Thousands of engineers have been working on making Windows 10 the most secure version of Windows, helping to protect people from viruses, phishing, identity theft and more. We’d like our customers to upgrade and improve their experience with Windows and Microsoft.”

So this is good news, obviously. But you’ll have to excuse me for being a bit underwhelmed by this change, given the late timing and, sadly, Microsoft’s history of behavior so far. As you must know, I’ve been extremely vocal about the firm’s ongoing deceptive Windows 10 upgrade practices. Practices which reached an incredible and inexcusable apex in May when Microsoft silently changed the Windows 10 upgrade advertisement to trigger the upgrade if the user closed the window...

Read more: Microsoft Steps Back from the Cliff on Windows 10 Upgrades - Thurrott.com

 

[essenbe]

As it should have been all along.

 

[shadow2201]

Kinda sad it took them this long to figure it out.

 

[ThrashZone]

Not surprising after this happened
Woman sues Microsoft over her forced Windows 10 upgrade and wins

 

[lehnerus2000]

Belatedly

Not surprising after this happened
Woman sues Microsoft over her forced Windows 10 upgrade and wins

It's a pity MS didn't do the "right thing" from the very start.


W10 is going to have tainted reputation for many years now, as a result of all of the dubious decisions and contradictory statements that MS made.

Just like with the "W8 Series", MS fought "tooth and nail" against the wishes of the end user (and the free advice provided by testers).

Worse, they used a range of dodgy tactics to trick users into doing what MS wanted, as opposed to what the user may have wanted.

 

[ThrashZone]

Yep just getting 8.1 from the store recently was annoying too
Micro.... was kind enough to change my update setting in win-8 to include all of the win-10 upgrade updates too
If I had not wanted all of that stuff it would been a tad annoying :mad2:

 

[Brds7t7]

Seriously with one month left? Now they make it sound like they're doing people a favour?
Should have done this 11 months ago!

 

[Layback Bear]

I'm thinking because of this

Woman sues Microsoft over her forced Windows 10 upgrade and wins

Microsoft is trying to stay out of a Class Action Lawsuit.

**After stabbing the public in the back and then treating their wounds with a band aid does not make a good company.**

Microsoft has throwed away the trust that many had for decades about the company called Microsoft.

 

[Brds7t7]

Agreed LB!
There is no way MS has just done this out of the goodness of their hearts.

If they had added a "Remind me in x months" or "decline this offer" option from day one, then they wouldn't have annoyed so many people the way they have.

Too little, too late!

 

[ThrashZone]

If anything the door is wide open for a class action now
A case is already ruled on

I'm waiting to see the lawyers commercials to start showing up on t.v.

 

[Brds7t7]

Only one man for the job...

Better Call Saul! :roflmao:

 

[FerchogtX]

Only one man for the job...

Better Call Saul! :roflmao:

Well... M$ could say that would be a "l-awful" time of the year if that happens XD

 

[essenbe]

I'm in no way trying to defend what Microsoft has done. It was wrong. Period, end of story. However, some posters here talk about Microsoft as though you think they are some mom and pop operation that just wakes up one morning and decides they want to do something and does it with no forethought. There are a bunch of pretty smart people there who know exactly what they are doing. Like any very large business, nothing is done without a lot of conferences and meetings where every decision is cussed and discussed. They knew and expected everything that has happened was going to happen and factored that into their decision. That does not mean they didn't make a mistake, but it means they knew exactly what to expect and what they wanted to accomplish from it. No matter what the repercussions were. I also don't believe the court decision had anything to do with the decision to stop forcing the updates. $10,000 is chump change to Microsoft. They also do not make decisions that fast. Whatever their reason for doing it in the first place and whatever reason they had for stopping it, was planned well in advance. I think it was a very bad decision they made to begin with, but I also think nothing that has happened because of it was a surprise to them. They do nothing on a whim.

 

[ThrashZone]

Only one man for the job...

Better Call Saul! :roflmao:

 

[Layback Bear]

I do agree Steve.
Microsoft looked at all the angles and dangles, all the good and bad and made a decision.
I think their decision was wrong but then again who am I.
Ten thousand dollars to Microsoft is nothing but the precedents could be costly.
No matter what the courts and lawyers do Microsoft has given up a lager portion of their customers faith that they have had for years.

I'm still hoping that when all is done we the customers end up with a W-10 that we want or need.
I still believe that all Microsoft has to do is fix W-10 and me and a billion plus other customers will just buy W-10 and learn how to use and enjoy W-10.
I don't believe that is asking to much.

A good example is the Apple I-phone.
It's not cheep. People line up around the block to get the first ones out because it is the phone they want and are willing to stand in line and pay to get it.
I'm not one who is going to wait in line for anything but I'm willing to pay for a product and or service that I want or need. If Microsoft makes it I will buy it if it meets my wants and or needs and I have the money.
It's a very old concept.
Make products your customer want and price it correctly and they will buy it. No need for trickery of any kind.

Layback Bear
Jack

 

[Painter]

I'm in no way trying to defend what Microsoft has done. It was wrong. Period, end of story. However, some posters here talk about Microsoft as though you think they are some mom and pop operation that just wakes up one morning and decides they want to do something and does it with no forethought. There are a bunch of pretty smart people there who know exactly what they are doing. Like any very large business, nothing is done without a lot of conferences and meetings where every decision is cussed and discussed. They knew and expected everything that has happened was going to happen and factored that into their decision. That does not mean they didn't make a mistake, but it means they knew exactly what to expect and what they wanted to accomplish from it. No matter what the repercussions were. I also don't believe the court decision had anything to do with the decision to stop forcing the updates. $10,000 is chump change to Microsoft. They also do not make decisions that fast. Whatever their reason for doing it in the first place and whatever reason they had for stopping it, was planned well in advance. I think it was a very bad decision they made to begin with, but I also think nothing that has happened because of it was a surprise to them. They do nothing on a whim.

That is the reality of it. When a new product is to be promoted, it is Marketing that gets to set the strategy and tactics. It really does come down to a series of meetings and discussions, reviews, adjustments and then a final blueprint. For MS, they obviously had to keep in mind the company's new business strategy and figure out how not to repeat past mistakes. Once a blueprint has been accepted by management, marketing teams go to work on the details and a roll out plan is created. These plans have objectives (the short term stuff), like the free one year offer. Tactics change if they under or over estimate needs and wants, misread the market or miss the mark, but not the strategy - and this is what we have seen with MS.

What goes on behind the scenes is not chaotic. To MS, the disconnect with its aggressive behavior is just a speed bump. It slowed them down a bit.

 

[ThrashZone]

Must of had a sympathetic judge or jury
Wonder how much was actual damage apposed to punitive.. ?

 

[essenbe]

Must of had a sympathetic judge or jury
Wonder how much was actual damage apposed to punitive.. ?

One of the things they asked for was a new computer which is BS. I think we all know that a bad upgrade won't damage hardware. And they said they never heard of Windows 10. That's kind of hard to believe. It's been all over the internet, on our local news a few times, plus all of the GWX pop ups? Give me a break. Just with all the pop ups, not ever hearing of it is pretty impossible. That doesn't make what Microsoft did right, but there are legitimate grounds to sue them on. Why make stuff up?

 

[ThrashZone]

Me don't know

I keep reading people saying software can't hurt hardware but I don't know about that
Fast start in 10 did sleep a older hdd for me so I'd call an hdd hardware and an os feature effected the firmware so much so it was a lost cause to fix it.

 

[essenbe]

I'll never believe it.