Microsoft gets petty with Windows 7 users

As of the end of December, 36.90% of all desktop and laptop users (not just Windows users, mind, but PC users in general) had spent three and a half years actively rejecting Windows 10. This isn't like OS version transitions of years past, where people on the old version might just be procrastinating; thanks to the egregious excesses of the GWX campaign, all of the people who didn't care enough to actively do something were switched to Windows 10 already. No, current-day Windows 7 users are the ones who did care, and who took steps to remain on their OS of choice.

Not only have Windows 7 users actively rejected Windows 10, but many of them appear to be actively rejecting Windows entirely, with MacOS and Ubuntu Linux gaining market share at Windows' expense for most of the last year: Windows gained user market share only in March and July of last year, losing market share in every other month of 2018 for a total loss of 2.31%,with MacOS gaining 1.63% and Linux gaining 0.66% over the same time period. Microsoft set out to change the paradigm of personal computing with Windows 10, and clearly succeeded, but not in the way they wanted; rather than making Windows 10 into the new paradigm, they seem to be ushering in an era in which Windows no longer dominates on the desktop.

And so Microsoft, being Microsoft, have responded to this slow-motion exodus by giving Windows 7 users yet another reason to dump Windows, without giving them any clear new reason to adopt Windows 10 in place. Because of course they have.

As reported by MSPowerUser:

Windows 7 is a dead man walking, with its date of execution already set on the 14th January 2020.

Microsoft would, of course, want those 700 million active Windows 7 users to move over to Windows 10 well before this, and it seems one way the company is trying to encourage these users is withdrawing services from users running the OS.

The latest development is Microsoft switching off the ability of Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center on Windows 7 to download metadata from their servers, according to a new 25th January support document.

[...]

The issue interestingly only affects WMP and WMC on Windows 7, and does not affect WMP running on Windows 8 or Windows 10 for example.

(From Microsoft's Support page article about the changes.)

Even for Microsoft, this is some extremely petty, short-sighted bullshit. Why would breaking aspects of Windows encourage W7 users to switch to a new version of Windows? These are users who Microsoft has already pissed off, remember, to such an extent that they've spent three and a half years rejecting every appeal from Redmond to try W10. Generally speaking, slowly breaking the component parts of a product that they're still using is not a good way of bringing angry customers around to your other product offerings.

And why Windows Media Player, of all fucking things? With VLC already available as an excellent (and free) cross-platform offering, W7 users don't actually need WMP at all. Much like Windows itself, remaining with WMP isn't the best available option; it's just the easiest one. With Microsoft doing everything they can to make remaining where they are seem less appealing, while doing nothing to make Microsoft's other options any more enticing, all this will do is drive users into the arms of Microsoft's competition. It's asinine... and very, very Microsoft.

OK, Microsoft, you win. I'll get off Windows 7... and onto Ubuntu. GG. Are you happy now?

For those who are interested, VLC Media Player can be downloaded here, Ubuntu for the desktop is available here, and a detailed guide to setting up an Ubuntu/Windows 7 in a dual-boot configuration (which I recommend) can be found here.

UPDATE:

Betanews has also picked up the story, and the picture they've chosen to accompany their piece is glorious:

Well played, Betanews. Well played...

They had some pretty trenchant things to say, too:

Let's be honest, folks, there's no good reason why Microsoft can't continue offering this metadata until Windows 7 support officially ends -- the cost of doing so won't affect the company's bottom line or precious stock price. To pull functionality while the OS is still supported just feels... wrong. Hell, Windows 8.1 will be supported until 2023 -- the smaller group of users shouldn't prematurely lose Windows Media Center functionality either. Sigh. Hopefully Microsoft reverses course and at the very least, offers metadata to all operating systems until the extended support period ends.

Of course, Microsoft have gone far too far down the monopolistic, anti-consumer path for any of the things to happen that Betanews is hoping for, here, but one has to agree with the sentiment.