Logically, if Windows Update can re-add bloatware apps that you'd deliberately removed, then it has to be able to remove apps that you'd deliberately added, too; it's exactly the same problem that Amazon's Kindles have run into before, with users losing access to books that they'd already paid for, if Amazon decides to de-list the book from their available ebook catalogue.
Makes sense, right? A horrible sort of sense, in which the things you "buy" aren't so much bought as rented, and can be denied to you at any time, but sense nonetheless. This is the entire point of Software as a Service (SaaS). The idea is that you'll never buy software again; instead, you'll pay for licences to use the software, for so long as the company that you paid for that licence deign to continue allowing you the access for which you've paid.
Remember when Microsoft had "side-loading" disabled by default in Windows 10? Remember how virulent the reaction was to that, and how quickly Microsoft backtracked, even though they've mostly ignored user feedback about every other aspect of Windows 10? This was why that happened.
SaaS is not without advantages, and Steam has proven pretty conclusively that consumers will happily embrace SaaS if it's presented and managed properly, but SaaS also comes with a lot of downside, and Windows users insisted so loudly on retaining alternatives to SaaS (aka the Windows Store) that Microsoft ended up giving it to them.
So, given all of that, why exactly is Jack Lloyd of The American Genius so gobsmacked to discover that your Win10/UWP apps can be removed from your system without your prior consent by Microsoft's fiat?
Given the widespread nature of Windows 10, it’s easy to see why so many consumers have it installed across their devices. If, however, you are one of the six or seven people who haven’t yet downloaded Windows 10, perhaps you should hold off—a recent development has shown that the pesky OS will remove and reconfigure your programs and files without authorization.
[...]
Common issues so far have ranged anywhere from resetting quick actions to defaults, to changing the actual location of custom files. Windows 10 has also been accused of removing various programs and drivers—none of which are essential, of course, but most of which are user-installed and thereby user-preferred.
Although the aforementioned resets and migrations are admittedly no more than a mild irritant in the long run, some Windows 10 alterations are more detrimental. If you use AVG—also known as the “I swear I’ll buy the full program next time” simulator — Windows 10 is liable to decide that the popular antivirus program’s services aren’t good enough for you.
Obviously, having your antivirus program deleted without warning comes with a bounty of potentially harmful side effects, and while Windows 10 does replace AVG with its own preferred suite, the resulting compatibility shift may still create holes in your defense.
[...]
As a computer owner, you should be able to depend on your PC performing basic maintenance and updates autonomously without having to worry about extraneous or unauthorized system overhauls. When operating systems take too much initiative, it can feel like an invasion; as such, Windows 10 makes for an uneasy partner in the PC world.
I can agree with Jack Lloyd that Windows' betrayal of user trust is easily its worst offense, and worse than any of its myriad technical issues, but none of this is news. Critics of Windows 10 have been pointing out all of these issues for well over a year now.
Welcome to the party, Jack! I guess it's better you arrive late than never, but a lot of people who switched to Windows 10 on the strength of breathless hype from tech bloggers just like you are probably thinking that they'd have loved for your "come to Jesus" moment to have happened a long time ago.
(By the way, some of those resets and migrations were a lot more than a mild irritant. Just saying.)
(By the way, some of those resets and migrations were a lot more than a mild irritant. Just saying.)
Yes, users should be able to depend on their OS to peform basic maintenance and updated without having to worry about it rolling back their privacy settings to the factory defaults, or installing and uninstalling software on their systems without their knowledge or consent, or gathering a ton of their metadata and transmitting it somewhere in the cloud, with no ability for those users to opt out.
Hell, users should have been given a meaningful choice about whether or not to install the damn OS in the first place, but that didn't happen, either; the fact that so many users are still using Windows 7 and 8 speaks strongly to how many users went to a lot of trouble to avoid "upgrading."
Yes, the betrayal of their customers' trust is the worst sin that Microsoft committed during their heavy-handed GWX campaign, and one they still haven't repented of, confessed to, or atoned for; its stench will be lingering on everything that Microsoft do for a long, long time. It takes a long time to build a relationship of trust, and very little time to undermine it completely; rebuilding such a relationship, though, is a lot harder than building it in the first place.
Microsoft have recently announced that a future update will turn off their ability to reinstalled removed bloatware via Windows Update; perhaps that same update will address the issue of Update removing software from your system that you'd chosen to install. Of course, the problem with turning it off via Update is that they can always decide to turn it back on later, when the heat is off and they feel they can get away with it, because the functionality is built into the OS.