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Microsoft Exec Admits They 'Went Too Far' With Aggressive Windows 10 Updates (softpedia.com) 254

It's no secret that Microsoft has been aggressively pushing Windows 10 to users. Over the past year and a half, we have seen users complain about Windows 10 automatically getting downloaded to their computer, and in some cases, getting installed on its own as well. The automatic download irked many users who were on limited or slow data plans, or didn't want to spend gigabytes of data on Windows 10. A company executive has admitted for the first time that they may have went overboard with Windows 10 updates. From a report on Softpedia: Chris Capossela, Chief Marketing Officer at Microsoft, said in the latest edition of the Windows Weekly that this was the moment when the company indeed went too far, pointing out that the two weeks between the moment when users started complaining about the unexpected behavior and the one when a patch was released were "very painful." "We know we want people to be running Windows 10 from a security perspective, but finding the right balance where you're not stepping over the line of being too aggressive is something we tried and for a lot of the year I think we got it right, but there was one particular moment in particular where, you know, the red X in the dialog box which typically means you cancel didn't mean cancel," he said. "And within a couple of hours of that hitting the world, with the listening systems we have we knew that we had gone too far and then, of course, it takes some time to roll out the update that changes that behavior. And those two weeks were pretty painful and clearly a lowlight for us. We learned a lot from it obviously."
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Microsoft Exec Admits They 'Went Too Far' With Aggressive Windows 10 Updates

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  • by Nidi62 ( 1525137 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @10:25AM (#53543335)

    And within a couple of hours of that hitting the world, with the listening systems we have we knew that we had gone too far

    Did those "listening systems" include computers with freshly installed without permission Windows 10 sending home recordings of their owners going "What the hell is this shit? I didn't agree to this!"?

    • by ITRambo ( 1467509 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @10:54AM (#53543539)
      That's a really great question. What tipped them off in just a couple of hours after months of customer moaning.
    • by Kjella ( 173770 )

      Did those "listening systems" include computers with freshly installed without permission Windows 10 sending home recordings of their owners going "What the hell is this shit? I didn't agree to this!"?

      Probably? With everything else Win10 does I'd be very surprised if they don't report back that users did a rollback to the OS they had before. If it's immediately as you're asked to agree to the Win10 EULA it's a pretty strong sign the customer just went WTF what is this, I don't want it.

    • by Dogtanian ( 588974 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @11:09AM (#53543643) Homepage
      The whole "we knew we'd gone too far with that specific incident" mea culpa is bullshit anyway, designed to frame things as if that was solely why people remembered being pissed off at MS- and having apologised for that alone, everyone would think "oh, it wasn't that big, they messed up once but now it's okay and aren't MS mostly great really?"

      In reality, they'd been aggressively pushing Windows 10 for months on end by that point (from late 2015 until the "offer" ended in mid-2016) repeatedly trying to override users' explicit wishes against that, to the extent of using techniques that even bland, MOR IT publications were comparing to malware.

      Now they're trying to minimise peoples' memories of the incident to the maliciously-designed "close button" semantics? Not even close. That was merely the peak of the obnoxiousness. They repeatedly and consistently maintained this behaviour for several months- they knew exactly what they were doing.

      And they know exactly what they're doing with this self-serving, PR-approved "apology" that doesn't begin to cover what actually happened.
    • And within a couple of hours of that hitting the world, with the listening systems we have we knew that we had gone too far

      Did those "listening systems" include computers with freshly installed without permission Windows 10 sending home recordings of their owners going "What the hell is this shit? I didn't agree to this!"?

      Dear Cortana, I didn't want to upgrade to Windows 10. Please take me back to Windows 7 and then leave

  • Yeah ok (Score:5, Insightful)

    by geek ( 5680 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @10:25AM (#53543341)

    Better to ask for forgiveness than permission I guess

    • Re:Yeah ok (Score:5, Informative)

      by ITRambo ( 1467509 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @10:57AM (#53543565)
      They are not forgiven. I've given our customers that paid to have us roll Windows 10 back, or to fix program errors caused by Windows 10 the information on how to get their money back. Just contact Microsoft and start the process. As far as I know, none did so. Most people really do put up with more shit than they should.
      • Re:Yeah ok (Score:5, Interesting)

        by west ( 39918 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @11:37AM (#53543789)

        As someone who knows three people who were Windows-10'd against their will, telling them to waste x hundred hours of time trying to get compensation for the dozen hours (or $200) it took for them or someone else to undo the damage seems a little... counterproductive.

        However, when we passed a Microsoft store advertising the Windows 10 upgrade, I did have to stop my wife (one of the victims) from barging in there and giving the staff a piece of her mind.

        • by arth1 ( 260657 )

          However, when we passed a Microsoft store advertising the Windows 10 upgrade, I did have to stop my wife (one of the victims) from barging in there and giving the staff a piece of her mind.

          Why? Give the Microsoft staff grief. It's their job to funnel it upwards.

          • But they're not the ones who made the decision. More often then not, they are grunts who have to support whatever decisions management made. And a lot of people who go in are people who did not buy anything at their store, but need something serviced.
        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Hundreds of hours? Don't you have small claims court where you live?

          In the UK, all you do is send an invoice with a deadline. They ignore it, you send another with a note that court is next. They ignore it, you pay 30 quid for the court. Chances are they pay up at this point, but if not you just take a couple of hours off work and tell the judge what happened, and win.

    • Hey, if EAFP [python.org] worked for Guido van Rossum and his Python Software Foundation, it can work for Microsoft.

      • by hodet ( 620484 )

        If they would have implemented like Guido then no problem. But their try and except methods were identical.

        try:
                install_windows10()
        except FuckThatError:
              carry_on_with_win7()

    • I only use Windows (7, updates disabled) in a VM anymore. And rarely at that.
  • Translation (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Excelcia ( 906188 ) <slashdot@excelcia.ca> on Friday December 23, 2016 @10:25AM (#53543343) Homepage Journal

    We know we want people to be running Windows 10 from a security perspective

    Translation: We want everyone to be running Windows 10 from a we-now-control-every-aspect-of-your-(our)-computer perspective. We can't actually force updates on other versions, but we'll do our level best to force the version on you that we can do that with. We regret the negative publicity that the lengths we went to to make this happen caused.

    • Yup, and the version that includes publicity and the Windows Store.
      Obviously, the exec made a mistake: When he said "security" he actually meant "more money for us"
  • by oh_my_080980980 ( 773867 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @10:26AM (#53543345)
    This is not about pushing out a security update that cripples a system. This about Microsoft forcing people to use a new operating system which they did not agree to by circumventing standard UI behavior. Don't do it again or you will face more lawsuits.
    • The power of a software proprietor won't be deterred by a few lawsuits or fines. You read it in Microsoft's response, their "listening systems" tell them things, things their users can't help but divulge as long as they are running Microsoft's software. This is what proprietors do because they control the software their users run and their users (no matter how long they've run the software, no matter how well they keep up with what configuration options are available) are no match for source code kept hidde

  • by Jahoda ( 2715225 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @10:28AM (#53543369)
    "And those two weeks were pretty painful and clearly a lowlight for us. We learned a lot from it obviously."

    Yeah, if only you guys had had some kind of organizational history to draw upon that could have provided some insight into the effects of releasing monolithic patches touching all parts of the operating system, without testing, and without machine owner approval.
  • ROFL (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    "We know we want people to be running Windows 10 from a security perspective"

    Correction: "We know we want people to be running Windows 10 from a data collection perspective"

    This guy doesn't regret pushing the updates -- what he regrets is causing a tidal wave of tech support issues.

    • Not quite (Score:5, Insightful)

      by bagofbeans ( 567926 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @11:29AM (#53543743)

      No, he meant what he said by "...want people to be running Windows 10 from a security perspective".

      But although he implied that he meant "from the end user's computer security perspective", actually he means "from a Microsoft's future financial security perspective".

      Which does include data harvesting, as you point out. But also Win10 is the path to the OS on a subscription model.

  • Apple admitting that they overcharge for memory upgrades?
    • They have memory upgrades? I'd like to upgrade the storage on my iPad from 16GB to 64GB. Where can I get that done?
  • by OzPeter ( 195038 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @10:30AM (#53543387)

    I am running El Capitan on my Macbook pro, yet sitting in the Applications folder is a 4.78 GB installer for macOS Sierra that I never authorized to download.

    • by ColdWetDog ( 752185 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @11:13AM (#53543669) Homepage

      Sure you authorized it. When you clicked on those 10 page EULAs sometime in the past, you most certainly allowed Apple to do what they did.

      It's all your fault.

    • by JackieBrown ( 987087 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @11:40AM (#53543805)

      Cool story bro..
      You should submit a slashdot article about that.

      • Only Apple doesn't force updates unless you select that option. The same with iOS.

        I've even made Flash updates manual only.

        Amazing. You'd think asking users to update was standard behavior.

    • by sootman ( 158191 )

      My iPhone with iOS 9.x.y has the installer for 10.x.y taking up 1.2 GB on my 16GB device. If I delete it, it'll just re-download it next time there's another update. My device is perpetually low on room and it'll do things like delete downloaded game files to make room when it downloads, so I just leave it sitting there, taking up 10% of the entire usable space on my phone.

      Not that I'm bitter about it or anything...

      • That's one of the only reasons that I upgraded to an iPhone 7 w/ 128GB - so that I'm not always on the brink of running out of storage. All I want now is the same on my iPad, but there are no deals beyond a 32GB.
  • by Gription ( 1006467 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @10:31AM (#53543393)
    The problem is contained in his statement: "We know we want people to be running Windows 10 from a security perspective..."

    To be successful a company should NEVER let 'what they want' get in the way of 'what the customer wants'. It is pretty simple but when a company gets way too powerful in their position this sort of crap happens.
    • by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 23, 2016 @11:36AM (#53543783)

      The core of the problem is capitalism. Microsoft needs to maintain a certain level of sales to keep their profit margins. Since an operating system is really something that does NOT need to be replaced every year (let's face it, there's no reason windows XP needed to be replaced--or at least not with an equally buggy pile of shit code), the only solution is planned obsolescence. By refusing to properly address security issues in the core of the operating system, Microsoft has only to stop supporting the older releases to scare everyone into updating. It is the danger of a combined overreaching IP system, that extends copyright way too far, and abusive monopoly powers.

      If Windows XP was out of copyright, you can bet that an entire industry would spring up right now to patch and maintain it, and it would be extremely profitable. This is yet another great example of where reduced copyright terms would drive innovation.

    • How so? Apple the most valuable company in the world does exactly that.

      You just need to be courageous.

  • by Luthair ( 847766 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @10:33AM (#53543421)
    The dialog was always misleading. The presence in the system tray was always annoying to users.
  • by Salgak1 ( 20136 ) <salgak AT speakeasy DOT net> on Friday December 23, 2016 @10:40AM (#53543449) Homepage

    Even if all the major bugs get worked out of Win10 (say, SP2-3 or so), I really don't expect Win10 to EVER lose the taint that Microsoft's deployment of it, in the eyes of all too many of its' customers.

    I mean, you KNOW it's bad, when your non-techie wife asks about Linux, after an uncommanded Win10 install (and rollback) left her gaming--and-graphics box messed up until I could restore it from the image file I had made a month prior. . .

    • Or how about the glitch that broke dhcp. 99.9% of users don't know how to manually set an IP address. Or which ones would work.

    • Don't you get that there won't ever again be a service pack? Now it's just an endless stream of never-ending down-your-throat install-without-asking updates? Get used to it. Or install Linux, I for one did.
  • by hcs_$reboot ( 1536101 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @10:42AM (#53543463)
    These actions are first sanctioned at the highest level. Then, long after it's been executed, and harm done, mere apologies are issued.
  • No They Didn't (Score:3, Interesting)

    by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) * on Friday December 23, 2016 @10:42AM (#53543465) Homepage Journal

    They got close to a billion users to upgrade and have their computing environment be monetized with marginal cost to the company and they acted too quickly for the FTC or whomever to do anything about it.

    They did this just right. If you're Microsoft, of course.

    The 2% of people who switched to Mac and and 0.5% of people who switched to FLOSS desktops are totally acceptable costs.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      > They got close to a billion users to upgrade

      No they did not. Originally, Microsoft predicted a billion devices by mid-2018, but they have extended the time for that number to be reached. That number was not just PCs but also included phones and IoT. Phones have now died off completely and IoT is not going Microsoft's way.

      The current number of Windows 10 active machines is claimed to be around 450 million. The number of new PCs and laptops sold with Windows 10 already installed since release accounts fo

  • Dear Microsoft (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 23, 2016 @10:43AM (#53543469)

    Fuck off you liars.

  • Still too far (Score:5, Interesting)

    by sanosuke001 ( 640243 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @10:44AM (#53543477)
    They still go too far. I have no problem the default behavior being that updates are applied automatically but what goes too far is that 1. this isn't disable-able, 2. their "Active Hours" can't be longer than 12 hours so I can assume my machine won't reboot for only 12 hours out of the day (morning OR night but can't have both), and 3. I should be able to decide what my machine does if I so choose; not Microsoft.

    I really like Windows 10 aside from their automatic updates, data collection, and ads in my start menu. They all get disabled in the end but it's kind of a pain in the ass because Microsoft doesn't want me to do so. At least they can't stop my router from denying access to network services ^_^
    • Re:Still too far (Score:5, Informative)

      by michaelredux ( 627547 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @11:23AM (#53543705)

      YES, Microsoft is still going "too far". Any "feature" that can't be turned off is not a feature, it's a bug, and forced updates and forced reboots are worse than that, because Microsoft is deliberately not allowing me to have control over my own PC. I've used every version of Windows since version 3.11, but the forced reboots in Windows 10 infuriate me so much that I have already moved several of my machines over to Linux, and plan to migrate all of them away from Windows over the next year. For me, forced reboots have were the last straw that broke the camel's back. Moving forward, I'm moving to Linux.

      • I've already done so with my work machine. Unfortunately, at home I like playing games for which Linux still can't compete against Windows. They've got me by the short-and-curlies there but any machine that isn't used for gaming I've switched to *nix.
        • Gaming is also the only thing tying me to Windows.
          I find PC gaming much better than console gaming but this whole thing makes me want to buy a PS4.
    • by Zakabog ( 603757 )

      All of those options can be disabled, have you even tried? Disable the Windows update service, disable suggestions on your start menu, and disable the data collection options...

      I did most of that within the first 5 minutes of installing Windows 10. Windows update I didn't realize would run automatically until one day my computer wouldn't boot (my boot HDD had been dying, I just didn't realize since I never rebooted the machine and all of my apps are on the other drives.) Once I got the computer back up I fo

  • It is easier to ask forgiveness (even with a half-assed apology like this), than permission.
  • by JoeyRox ( 2711699 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @10:45AM (#53543483)
    To get itself installed then maybe the software is lacking in merit.
  • by __aaclcg7560 ( 824291 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @10:47AM (#53543495)
    When I cloned my HDD to an SSD on a USB adapter, Win10 marked the SSD as a "portable OS" in the registry and that later prevented the anniversary update from installing on a USB drive (never mind that the SSD booted from SATA). I actually had to open regedit.exe to edit the "portable OS" key from "1" to "0" for the anniversary update to install properly.
    • by AC5398 ( 651967 )

      How did you find out the fix, and how long did it take you to find the fix?

      • How did you find out the fix, and how long did it take you to find the fix?

        I spent several months looking for a solution. Windows 10 identified my SSD as a USB device, which didn't make sense as it booted from SATA. When I remembered that I cloned the HDD to SSD via a USB adapter, I figured it was a registry setting and searched for USB-related registry settings. One of the KB articles for "Windows to Go" is posted below.

        https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2778881 [microsoft.com]

  • I think Microsoft hasn't gone far enough with shoving Win10 onto all their users. I mean, there are still people willing to put up with Microsoft, so their job isn't done yet. Their "Switch to Linux" program has done plenty to piss some people off but they haven't pissed off all of their users enough that they are willing to jump ship. ;)

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • ...there are more than two options when you try to turn off your computer. 1) Upgrade and Restart or 2) Upgrade and Shutdown
  • by hibiki_r ( 649814 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @10:57AM (#53543563)

    Just yesterday, My gaming machine, the only windows install left in the house, came in with an ominous warning as I was playing a game: It said it had downloaded an update, and that it would restart in 20 minutes, whether I wanted it or not. No installing at night, or tomorrow, or anything. Imagine if instead of playing a game, I was giving a talk.

    This is the kind of shit that makes people not use windows for work.

  • by StandardCell ( 589682 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @10:57AM (#53543571)
    Dear Chris,

    This Christmas, would you please send me and all of us Windows 10 users the gift of NOT AUTOMATICALLY RESTARTING MY FUCKING COMPUTER WHEN YOU UPDATE BECAUSE I WALKED AWAY FROM IT FOR TWO MINUTES AFTER "WORKING HOURS"? I have lost my open browser tabs and other work so many times now that you are destroying the user experience of millions of people, including me. And no, work hours for people like myself who consult are completely random and I'm not about to change them manually every time I need to change my hours or they extend beyond a limit you assume is mine.

    Best Regards,
    StandardCell
    • by El Cubano ( 631386 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @11:15AM (#53543679)

      I am a developer, but I work almost exclusively in Linux. I do have to test on Windows, but it is not my primary environment by any stretch.

      That said, I am really curious how developers handle this sort of thing with the automatic reboots and forced updates. To me, the biggest thing is that as a developer I feel like configuration control is a big thing. If I decide to update my development or build systems, I have to make absolutely certain that I know what versions of libraries (including core OS components) I am using before and after the upgrade so that if something mysteriously breaks, I can figure out the origin of the breakage and revert the update/change. On Linux this is nearly trivial. It sounds like that is now impossible with Windows 10. I don't know how a developer would be able to work under those conditions without losing his or her mind.

      Also, what do people in safety critical fields do? I mean if you are one of those fields using Windows (which I understand from colleagues that there are an alarming number of such fields, like industrial process control, satellite operations, aerospace/aviation, etc.), do you just throw up your hands and give up to being stuck on some outdated platform?

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by tepples ( 727027 )

        Organizations that need detailed configuration control can shell out for Windows 10 Enterprise.

        • Yeah, but how does that work for a solo freelance developer, or a small shop with just a few programmers? I am fairly certain that large enterprises represent a minority of the number of total organizations and developer population.
          • by tepples ( 727027 )

            Small businesses can use Windows 10 Pro, which supports the slower-moving "Current Branch for Business" release track. Or small businesses can develop on and for X11/Linux.

            If distributing software designed for Windows to the public is a requirement, how does this "solo freelance developer" obtain an EV code signing certificate in the first place? You need one to ship drivers on Windows, or to ship applications on Windows without running a risk of SmartScreen blocking execution of your application because it

      • It's very simple. I reboot my PC at the end of my day after updates are installed and it tells me it needs a reboot. The machine complains for two days before automatically rebooting, I'm not sure why people complain they aren't given any notice. The change is that it's limited to two days now, rather than allowing the machine to run for months on end without a reboot.

        The only time I'm affecting in the middle of the day is if I need to install something, and it complains that it can't perform the install

  • by Anonymous Coward

    it looked and worked the same as Windows 7. No weird splash pop-ups. No Cortana, no bin of broken-dependency plugins which somehow cause the whole system to be unstable. After months of fighting with Windows 10 (common refrain in my house "Oh my gawd, why is this taking so LONG!"), and some of my forum-sourced tweaks at trying to speed things up (to just even a reasonable speed, I had given up hoping it would be as fast and reliable as Ubuntu), the thing was so broken I had to re-install ... Windows 7.

    It

  • Last week Windows Weekly left us with a cliffhanger tease about a special surprise guest.

    Well... guess I know who that is now.

    Actually, I kid, I don't really care. I just thought it was funny that WW (not an often cited podcast) would be featured on /.

  • I'll say (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Bryan Ischo ( 893 ) * on Friday December 23, 2016 @11:09AM (#53543641) Homepage

    I actually consider Windows 10 to be completely flawed due to its forced and frequent update scheme.

    I often only boot up my Windows PC every week or two. Invariably, there will be updates to process. What this means is that just about every boot takes multiple minutes to complete.

    I consider an operating system that takes many minutes to start up in the year 2016 when using a fast SSD drive, to be fundamentally flawed.

    Additionally, there have been times when I have left a long-running boot up and had the operating system force-reboot my system for updates while I was in the middle of actively using it.

    That is 100% unacceptable. Even if by design, I consider it to be intrinsically flawed as an operating system.

    These issues are so onerous to me that they lead me to hate Windows 10 with a white-hot passion. The only reason I am using it is because I have to for my VR PC ...

    • Agree totally here, I have a laptop I use infrequently (every few weeks), and it seems to have to deal with this as well. This part of it really sucks. For my PC that runs it every day, it's been great though.

  • by moosehooey ( 953907 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @11:13AM (#53543665)

    Up the ass. With a big stick. With lots of thorns.

  • "...We learned a lot from it obviously."

    They learned nothing from it. They don't give a fuck about their users, and they've proved it so many times that I've lost count.

    "but there was one particular moment in particular where, you know, the red X in the dialog box which typically means you cancel didn't mean cancel,"

    Bullshit. There had to be dozens and dozens of people involved in the decision to implement that UI-breaking "feature", if not a hundred or more.

    The fact that all of them signed off on it tells

    • > They learned nothing from it. They don't give a fuck about their users, and they've proved it so many times that I've lost count.

      They probably learned they could alienate their users THAT much without much trouble. This is amazing to me. I would not have bet a lot on their "success" down that path... It's almost like people think it _has_ to be thay way and there is nothing to do against, no matter how much it sucks.

      Ok, cofee pause, my win10 laptop reboots for a security update...

  • In the Trump Era you don't admit to mistakes.

  • Yesterday my neighbour came in and said his computer is not working - I discovered later it was win10, looked like it had the dhcp bug covered in /. and some update had restored the default screen. It was slow even on a brand new two month old hp shop bought laptop with installed help (trash)

    I run linux so i had an enjoyable hour looking through win 10, eventually it connected and synced his email via the wndows crapware.

    I genuinely felt sorry for them that MS and there partners had screwed up the most idi

  • Microsoft screws its customers in different ways on a regular basis. Said customers keep coming back for more. Why apologize? If anything, Microsoft should up the ante and find out how much crap its customers are willing to put up with. For example, if I were Microsoft I would not only force them to upgrade, but I would also charge them for the privilege. Why not? If those suckers go for it...
  • "NEVER ask for permission. Ask for foregivness, AFTER you've accomplished what you wanted."
  • by QuietLagoon ( 813062 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @11:57AM (#53543917)
    Is It Really Better to Beg for Forgiveness than to Ask for Permission?

    .
    imo, Microsoft knew exactly what they were doing all along with the forced march to Windows 10, up to and including execs blogging about how sorry they are.

  • I just reset two Lenovo laptops for my work (they were the bosses kids old laptops), and I actually wouldn't mind loading W10 on them, and now it's no longer coming up as an option...d'oh.

  • You wrecked so many people's world. Guess who had to fix it. Shit in your own nest this time Microsoft. Don't expect us to be as easy as you are being on yourself. You screwed up bad.
  • by SIGBUS ( 8236 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @12:27PM (#53544169) Homepage

    "Yes means no and no means yes. Do you want me to hit you?"

  • I upgraded to LINUX years ago... it was the perfect solution. Everyone should try it !! :D

  • by jenningsthecat ( 1525947 ) on Friday December 23, 2016 @01:50PM (#53544767)

    The only 'obvious' thing here is that you shouldn't lie to, trick, and deceive your customers. Why you had to 'learn' this is not obvious at all; in fact, it would be a total fucking mystery if not for the fact that Microsoft has demonstrably corrupt and psychopathic leadership. This 'we learned our lesson' shit just doesn't fly - all you've learned is that you need to be less heavy-handed if you want to continue to screw people over without suffering a massive backlash from your customers and getting bitch-slapped in the tech press.

  • A Windows 10 update removed ALL of the graphics drivers for my son's GTX-1080. This despite trying to block them as much as possible.

    Fortunately it was a small matter for the tech-savvy kid to reinstall them, and if not, I could have managed, but imaging if we had been clueless consumers spending significant cash on a gaming PC, that Microsoft now "broke".

    I think the next time it happens I will send them a bill for our time: I consult at $350 an he at $175 an hour.

Children begin by loving their parents. After a time they judge them. Rarely, if ever, do they forgive them. - Oscar Wilde

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