Death Watch 2024, Continued -- Embracer Group will cease to exist, and XBox (!) is starting to spiral

About five months ago, Dan Olson AKA @foldablehuman AKA Folding Ideas, posted a two-and-a-half hour video about the meme stock movement with the catchy title, "This Is Financial Advice." I won't try to recap the entire thing (although you should definitely watch it if you haven't), but I do want to draw attention to the portion about Bed Bath and Beyond's desperate last-ditch attempt to stay afloat: a financing arrangement known as "death spiral financing."

Very quickly, the arrangement involves a company with more debt than they can repay, not enough revenue to meet operating expenses, and no fat remaining to trim from their operation. This company, BBBY, accepted a financing deal from a private equity firm, with the understanding that they would release shares to the market in order to raise the funds needed to repay them.

The simple fact of such a deal is enough to drive down share prices on its own, and a flood of new shares will also depress the share value, which means that the number of shares needed to repay their PE financiers keeps increasing, in an ever-increasing spiral of share dilution and devaluation that ultimately failed to repay all of their debts, let alone raise enough money to continue operating.

BBBY was forced to file for bankruptcy, was de-listed from NYSE and NASDAQ, and no longer exists. And this was the model that immediately came to mind when I learned of Embracer Group's latest galaxy-brained plan to save themselves from a very similar situation, using a very similar-sounding financing scheme.

Microsoft strikes again, flags anti-telemetry HOST file changes as malware

Microsoft does not have a great record when it comes to data collection. Starting with the release of Windows 10, when they insisted that they needed to collect essentially every possible kind of metadata from users in the name of maintaining the platform, only to later admit that at least half of that data collection wasn't necessary after all, Microsoft's built-in telemetry has been a pain point for privacy-conscious users for years.

Windows 10's telemetry system was a major contributor to the slow uptake of Windows 10, and Microsoft's later decision to add the same telemetry, retroactively, to Windows 8 and 7 as well was even harder to defend; neither older OS, after all, needed to be maintained in perpetuity the way Windows 10 did, and both were mature OSes and much more stable to begin with, so why did they need to harvest users' metadata? I'd still like to know; Microsoft never explained.

Naturally, Windows users generally, and Windows 7 users in particular, started looking for workarounds for Redmond's telemetry bullshit. Third party applications like Spybot's Anti-Beacon, or O&O ShutUp10, began to proliferate, turning off telemetry for users that cared enough to take steps to do so; meanwhile, Microsoft continued to ignore calls by data privacy advocates and activists to turn off the telemetry, or at least to allow all of their users to opt out.

Late last week, Microsoft finally responded. As reported by bleeping computer:

Since the end of July, Windows 10 users began reporting that Windows Defender had started detecting modified HOSTS files as a 'SettingsModifier:Win32/HostsFileHijack' threat.

When detected, if a user clicks on the 'See details' option, they will simply be shown that they are affected by a 'Settings Modifier' threat and has 'potentially unwanted behavior,' [...] it seems that Microsoft had recently updated their Microsoft Defender definitions to detect when their servers were added to the HOSTS file.

Users who utilize HOSTS files to block Windows 10 telemetry suddenly caused them to see the HOSTS file hijack detection.

I can attest to this not being restricted to Windows 10, or to Windows Defender; Microsft Security Essentials running on Windows 7 started exhibiting this same behaviour on my own system last Wednesday. Apparently, having already paid for the privilege of using Windows 7 or 8 is not enough; we're now expected to pay again, by allowing Microsoft to harvest our metadata, even though the operating systems themselves are either out-of-service, or approaching end-of-service.

So, what's a Windows 7 or 8 user to do? Well... personally, I switched to Linux.

Specifically, I switched to Pop!_OS, which seemed well-aligned with my game-centric use case. And while it's been a bit of a learning curve, I have to say that the experience of switching to Pop!_OS in 2020 was far less painful than my attempt to switch to Ubuntu in 2019. I won't say that it's been flawless, but it's been nearly flawless, and I won't be switching back.

Good job, Microsoft! You've finally manage to make using your products so unattractive that even a procrastinator like me has finally pulled the rip cord, and bailed on you. Sayonara, and good riddance!

If you're still on an older version of Windows, and wondering what to do next, I cannot recommend strongly enough that you make the shift to Linux. Don't accept an OS that acts like malware, or a giant corporate overlord who never listens to your concerns, and who does not care if you stay or go. Installing your new OS takes only minutes -- a far cry from my last Windows 7 install, which took hours, and even then needed me to install ethernet and graphics card drivers separately, along with hours' worth of updates, and OMG why didn't I do this years ago?

Time saved during OS installation leaves lots of time to acclimatize yourself to the new OS environment... which will still leave you lots of time to actually get back to using your PC. Seriously, I don't have a single regret, and I don't think you will, either. Give it a shot; you've got nothing to lose, except Microsoft's baggage.

More of what consumers don't want...

Oh, Microsoft. What are we supposed to do with you, when you do shit like this:

For over 30 years, we’ve thought of PCs primarily as Windows machines, which we owned and controlled. That’s about to change forever [...] Microsoft is getting ready to replace Windows 10 with the Microsoft Managed Desktop. This will be a “desktop-as-a-service” (DaaS) offering. Instead of owning Windows, you’ll “rent” it by the month.

DaaS for Windows isn’t new [but] Microsoft Managed Desktop is a new take. It avoids the latency problem of the older Windows DaaS offerings by keeping the bulk of the operating system on your PC [b]ut you’ll no longer be in charge of your Windows PC. Instead, it will be automatically provisioned and patched for you by Microsoft.

[...]

Windows patching was always chancy, but with Windows 10 you’re more likely to have trouble when you patch than you are to avoid problems. [...] So, with this track record, do you want to pay good money to let Microsoft maintain your desktops for you? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Nonetheless, DaaS Windows is coming. Microsoft has been getting away from the old-style desktop model for years now. Just look at Office. Microsoft would much rather have you rent Office via Office 365 than buy Microsoft Office and use it for years.

Do you remember the last time Microsoft tried to take users' desktops away, and how well badly that went? Or maybe you remember last week, when Microsoft said that they wanted to win back consumers?

Guess what consumers emphatically don't want? If you guessed that consumers really, really, really don't want to lease Windows from Microsoft in perpetuity, while Redmond remotely control everything about their desktops, then give yourself a no-prize, because you're exactly right.

Windows 8 flopped hard because Microsoft tried to take users' desktops away, and now, here they are, only 7 years later, plotting to do exactly the same thing all over again, all while lamenting that they can't figure out what consumers really want.

I tell you, Linux is looking better and better all the time...

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose...

Do you remember when Microsoft's vision for Windows 10 involved blocking normal program installation by default? When they had to make a big deal of the ability for users to enable "side loading," as if it was some sort of fucking gift that Microsoft were giving us out of the goodness of their hearts, rather than because Windows Store was a wasteland of shit that consumers wanted no part of?

They didn't stay backed down for long, though. It was only six months later that they were announcing Windows 10 S, a gimped version of the OS which didn't even allow the option of turning side-loading on unless you paid to upgrade from WX S to WX Pro. They ended up making upgrades free for the rest of 2017, because the Windows (later Microsoft) Store was still a wasteland of shit that consumers wanted no part of. Oh, and WX S was also unusably bad, because there were no apps for fucking thing.

Well, it turns out Microsoft still isn't done trying to force Windows users onto their horrible, horrible digital storefront for fucking everything, because they're trying yet again to do exactly that. Just, you know, not with people who've already switched over. No, it's only new WX users who'll get fucked.

From Tech Republic:

Windows 10: Get ready for more PCs that only run Microsoft Store apps by default

Microsoft is planning to update all versions of Windows 10 to incorporate S Mode, which will limit the machine to only installing apps from the Microsoft Store, according to a leaked roadmap.

Because of course they are. This has always been the plan.

With the Fall Creators Update less than three weeks away, over a quarter of Windows 10 customers don't have Spring's CU yet.

I'd already blogged about Microsoft's claims about the Creators Update's reliability, but Wayne Williams at betanews has a pretty good take, too.

The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is set to begin its rollout in a matter of weeks, yet over a quarter (27.5 percent) of Windows 10 users still haven’t received the Creators Update.

According to the latest figures from AdDuplex, while the Creators Update found its way on to another 7.5 percent of computers this month to give it a 72.5 percent share, it’s still well short of the 91.2 percent that the Anniversary Update reached before the Creators Update was released. AdDuplex warns that as a result of slow rollouts like this, fragmentation will only increase in the future.

[...]

A week ago, Microsoft proudly announced that the Creators Update is much more reliable than the Anniversary Update, with a "39 percent total reduction in operating system and driver stability issues" and the number of support calls diminishing "significantly." But as I pointed out at the time, a large portion of that improvement can be attributed to the fact that many Windows 10 users simply don't have it.

And this is the point where I remind you that the Fall Creators Update, a.k.a. version 1709, is launching a full month late. With over a full month of extra time in which they were rolling out the Creators Update, they're still nowhere near where they should be, or need to be. 

Can someone remind me again why Windows-As-A-Service was supposed to be such a great way to receive Microsoft Windows from the Gods of OS? Because I don't see it.

Microsoft pinkie-swears, promises never to repeat one of the worse excess of their GWX campaign

Remember when Microsoft started automatically downloading gigabytes of Windows 10 "upgrade" to the PCs of people who'd repeatedly declined their free upgrade offer, putting lives in danger in the process? Well, they've now finally promised not to do that again.

From MSPoweruser:

Back in 2015 when Microsoft has pushed out the Windows 10 upgrade to Windows 7 and Windows 8 users, part of the process was pre-downloading between 6-8 GB of installation files, which famously nearly bankrupted a nature conservation service in Africa and which was blamed for causing issues to the PCs of many Windows users.

It appears German Windows users were similarly unimpressed by the move and complained to their local consumer protection council (Verbraucherschutz). After 18 months and many legal manoeuvres by Microsoft, they finally agreed to a cease and desist and promised:

Microsoft will not download install files for new operating systems to a user system’s hard disk without a user’s consent.

While it may be a case of closing the barn door long after the horse has bolted Cornelia Tausch, CEO of the Consumer Center in Baden-Württemberg noted: “We assume that Microsoft and other software manufacturers will pay more attention to the procedure which is not negligible.”

While my hat is off to the Germans for not letting this simply die, I'm not convinced that they actually accomplished much of anything, here. After all, Microsoft haven't yet apologized for essentially forcing users to upgrade by removing all other options from their GWX app, and with those class action lawsuits still be working their way through the court system, admissions of wrongdoing from MS won't be forthcoming anytime soon.

Today's statement is still a long way from the blanket apology that Microsoft should be issuing, though, and doesn't begin to cover all their other shittiness of the past two years, so I'm not filing this under "better late than never," the way Baden-Württemberg seems to be willing to do. No, I'm filing this under "much too little, and far too late," because it really is both of those things. It took Microsoft eighteen months to agree that they should stop putting lives in danger with a GWX campaign that officially ended over eleven months ago, and they still haven't actually apologized for forcing those downloads through.

Placed in that context, today's token, belated, and grudging concession to reality looks every bit as meaningless as it is. Today's statement does represent the first time that Microsoft has officially admitted that what they did was actually wrong, specifically because it was done without users' consent, rather than merely making their PR department's job harder, but that's all it does.

Microsoft gutting Windows 10's Pro version to make their Advanced User version

Remember that "advanced user" version of Windows 10, that was first rumoured back in June and finally confirmed earlier this month? The one that people were calling a cynical cash grab, because it just didn't include enough extra functionality to justify its separate SKU, or its higher price point? Well, it would appear that Microsoft heard those criticisms, and took them to heart, because they're now cutting functionality from Windows 10's less-expensive Pro version in order to create a clearer distinction between Pro and Pro for Workstations.

It looks like Brad Sams at Petri.com was the first to report on this revoltin' development:

Tell me if you have heard this one before, Microsoft is cutting features from Windows 10 Pro to push you towards a higher-priced version of Windows 10. As of August 17th, Microsoft has quietly updated the list of features that are being removed or deprecated in the Fall Creators update and this will impact Pro users.

On August 17th, Microsoft added to its technical document that details what features will be removed or deprecated with the Fall Creators Update to include that the creation of ReFS drives is no longer supported in Windows 10 Pro. To get this feature, you must be on Enterprise or Windows 10 Pro Advanced Workstations; both SKUs are more expensive than Pro.

[...]

Using this type of feature is for advanced users and likely won’t impact too many users of Pro but it’s the fact that Microsoft has no problems cutting features from this SKU that is more alarming. Microsoft has already trimmed down Pro to force more users to Enterprise in the past and with this removal, they are once again trying to force users into higher priced iterations of the OS.

[...]

The question becomes how much further is Microsoft going to cut back on Pro to force users to the Enterprise SKU? It is well-known that Microsoft wants every business to be running Enterprise iteration of Windows 10 but that some have managed to use Windows 10 Pro to save a few dollars. With cuts like this and the few that were made last year, Microsoft is slowly tightening down on premium grade business features in its lower priced OS.

This, my friends, truly is some bullshit. Not that Darth Microsoft altering the deal is anything new, but even for them, this is a whole new level.

Remember, Microsoft has been pushing Windows 10 Pro from the very beginning, and many fairly advanced users have already paid for the older, now-lesser, "semi-Pro" version, in some cases because it included ReFS. While I'm sure those users' existing installations and and already-formatted volumes will be unaffected, the fact that Microsoft is now demanding extra from them in order to continue using a feature that they already fucking paid for is beyond the pale... and yet, it's also totally Microsoft.

(Oh, about those existing installations? How would you rate the odds of an advanced user wanting to do a clean install of the OS every once in a while? My guess is those are some damned good odds. ♫Bye-bye♫, existing installation...)

Cutting features from a product service package that people have been buying since 2015 in order to sell those same people another, more expensive package containing exactly the same shit, is just.... well, shit, and every customer that Microsoft is screwing over this way should receive a full refund, from Microsoft, no questions asked. In fact, Microsoft should do away with the low-rent "semi-Pro" (and yes, I'm going to call it that for the rest of time, now) licence entirely, and just upgrade Home users to the (now reduced) Pro functionality for free... especially since they're doing exactly that free version upgrade for people who actually buy systems with Windows 10 S installed.

Expect yet another cluster of class action to emerge from the market in response to Microsoft's latest anti-consumer fuckery. Seriously, who in Redmond thought that this was good idea?

Can I call "backsies" on that?

A couple of days ago, I was praising Microsoft for patching Windows XP to protect users of that old OS against the WannaCry ransomware that was spreading like wildfire through organizations like the NHS. I even said that it was better that they did it late, than that they not do it at all, and praised them for not exploiting the situation to shake down WinXP users for more money, or to push them to switch to Windows 10, either of which would have been more in keeping with their pattern of behaviour over the last couple of years.

Today, however, I'm taking all of that back. Because it turns out that Microsoft had the XP WannaCry patch ready to go months ago, held it back while they shook down their customers for more money, and only finally released it for free once the unpatched vulnerability started taking down hospitals.

From Tech Times:

Microsoft, which called out the NSA and other government agencies for their role in the creation and launch of WannaCry, may itself have been part of why the ransomware was able to cause so much chaos.
As the world attempts to recover from the damage caused by WannaCry, a new report claims that Microsoft could have helped prevent its spread, but decided not to do so.

According to a report by the Financial Times, Microsoft held back a free update that would have patched up the vulnerability that WannaCry used to compromise computers running on the old Windows XP operating system.

The report claims that Microsoft delayed the rollout of the patch because it initially wanted payments of up to $1,000 per Windows XP computer for "custom" support.

Microsoft has struggled to push users and corporations to upgrade from older versions of the Windows operating system to the latest and secure Windows 10, even if the company had already stopped the support for versions such as Windows XP. The significant number of users who have not yet upgraded to Windows 10 were highly vulnerable to WannaCry when it started its worldwide rampage last week.

Microsoft still continues to provide support for governments and organizations, but in exchange for hefty payments. While the company offers special deals for the first year, the high costs have forced entities such as the National Health Service of the United Kingdom to discontinue receiving support.

The National Health Service turned out to be one of the biggest victims of WannaCry, as it spread across 150 countries and infecting about 200,000 computers.

That is so much bullshit, in one tidy package. The fact that Microsoft had the sheer gall to be complaining about spy agencies' stockpiling of these vulnerabilities, when they themselves were using the same vulnerabilities to shake the UK's hospital system down for an amount of cash that they damn well knew the NHS didn't have to spend, is reprehensible. Microsoft's blatant greed, and their wilful disregard for the consequences to innocent bystanders when their broken shit took down the UK's hospital system, all feels like something that should be actionable. If there isn't already a law against this, there should be.

Good job, Microsoft! You've managed to take the one halfway-decent thing you've done in the last two years, and turn it into bullshit. Of all the egregiously anti-consumer shit you've pulled in the last two years, this is literally the worst. Fuck you all.

And fuck the tech writers, too, who keep trying to blame the victims for having been victims here. And, yes, that includes Tech Times, who end their article with this chestnut:

However, the victims of WannaCry may also blame themselves for remaining unprotected against the ransomware attack. Many users and corporations could have prevented having their systems locked by the ransomware by upgrading their operating systems and installing the necessary updates, instead of subscribing to the theory of "if it's not broke, don't fix it."

According to Microsoft, it prefers for users and enterprise customers to upgrade to Windows 10 instead of having to pay for support for older versions of the operating system. It can be argued that Microsoft should have released the patch to fix the vulnerability that WannaCry exploited in Windows XP, but perhaps it would have been better off if customers were not on Windows XP in the first place.

There are reasons why the publicly-funded NHS hasn't replaced all of its fully-functional Windows XP machines with expensive new PCs, you dicks, and the hospital-specific software they're running may not even be compatible with newer versions of Windows. The fact that you'd even think to blame the victims for this, after it's been revealed that Microsoft actually tried to cash in on WannaCry by extorting money from the UK hospital system, is beyond the pale. 

The NHS's patients (also victims of WannaCry) are not at fault, here, and the NHS certainly doesn't bear any weight of culpability comparable to that of the actors who exploited this vulnerability for financial gain. That burden falls entirely on two sets of shoulders: those of the black hats who shipped this ransomware in the first place, and those of Microsoft, who tried to exploit the occasion to squeeze some extra money out of the UK's fucking hospital system. Fuck anyone who says otherwise, and fuck Microsoft, too.

Fuck.

This is why I'd like to see Cortana become an optional thing.

From PC Gamer:

Windows 10's search is a constant source of frustration

Small, unsolved issues with finding files and settings menus persist while Cortana hogs the spotlight.

Two years and two major updates later, Windows 10 is mostly the OS I want it to be. It's fast, stable, and the recent Creators Update included a lot of small changes we liked. But search—a feature I use every day—still annoys the hell out of me. The Windows 10 Creators Update did nothing to improve Windows 10's basic file system search results, which will on occasion omit program results for no obvious reason, bury its own menus, and default to searching the internet with a browser I don't use instead of surfacing one of my own files. These failings are a daily reminder that Microsoft's search priorities and my search priorities are not identical.

[...] When I want to set up a task to complete, I use Asana. When I want to send an email, I use Gmail in my browser. I think the real problem is less being old fashioned, and more that I already have specialized tools or preferences for doing the kinds of tasks Cortana can handle, and I don't solve most of those problem with Microsoft services.

When I hit the Windows key and start typing, there's one thing I want Microsoft's help with: getting to my files as quickly as possible. Windows 10 has some problems with that.

This, in a nutshell, is why half of PC users, and over half of Windows users, are still using Windows 7.  

Microsoft wants to be in control of every aspect of your PC use, from your choice of OS, to updating your OS, to buying the software, to accessing your own damn data. They want to be Apple, serving apps to a captive marketplace with them taking a cut of every single program installation; and they want to be Google, replacing your browser of choice with their own, and using Bing for fucking everything, even though nobody uses Bing outside of Microsoft's employees; and they want to be Amazon, skimming a little more off the top by storing your data on their cloud-based OneDrive service, and selling you extra storage space when your OneDrive is full, in spite of the fact that your Terabyte-sized hard drive almost certainly isn't. 

And, you know what? I understand that. I understand why Microsoft would love to leverage their dominance on desktop and laptop PCs into market share dominance of the cloud-based businesses that they hadn't cared about until companies like Google, and Apple, and Amazon all started challenging (or surpassing) their market cap. I get it. I really, really do Get It. I just don't care.

Here's the thing: Microsoft having missed the boat on web search, or mobile computing, or cloud-based server and storage services? Those are Microsoft's problems. They're not our problems, and I personally don't give a flying fuck about any of them. Microsoft keep trying to make their problems into our problems, and I hate that. Seriously, there are very few things that will piss me off faster, almost none of which are things that I come across on regular basis. 

And Microsoft just keep doing this, shoving all things Windows 10 under users' noses at every opportunity, over and over again as if we haven't been refusing Windows 10, by which I mean actively avoiding the fucking thing, for nearly two years now. We can't ignore their shit, and we can't forget their shit, because they won't let us.

Seriously, Microsoft, how can we ever start to miss you, if you never fucking leave us alone?

Microsoft re-issues "zombie" patch KB3150513... for the tenth time!

I love InfoWorld's tagline for this article:

It won't die! Microsoft is pushing its 10th refresh of the hated 'upgrade enabling' patch to every version of Windows

That's right, it's baaaack!

Microsoft has issued the KB 3150513 patch 10 times in the past year. Each time it appears without notification or warning: There’s no entry on the Windows Update list or Windows 10 Update list, but it pushed out the Automatic Update chute nonetheless.

It's being pushed onto Windows 7, 8, 8.1, Windows 10 1511, and now 1607 systems. You don’t want it.

[...] I discussed this topic last month, and as best I can tell, nothing has changed. As AskWoody Lounger abbodi86 summarized:

Both KB 2952664 and KB 3150513 are only needed for upgrading to Windows 10; they have nothing useful for current Windows 7 users (well, except providing Microsoft with Appraiser statistics)

If you want to upgrade your current system to Windows 10 Creators Update, you might want to consider installing the patch. If you don’t, there are better ways to waste your time.

Don’t bother hiding it. History has shown that it’ll only appear again. Ignore it and maybe it’ll go away.

They just won't take an effing hint, will they?

Here's the thing; people that haven't switched yet aren't just procrastinating. It's not like we don't know that Windows 10 is available, or that we can still upgrade for free if we want to, or that Microsoft would really, really like us to switch. We've chosen to stay with our existing operating systems; in fact, given how hard Microsoft were pushing Windows 10 during the latter part of the official GWX campaign, most of us had to take active steps to avoid being switched in spite of our clearly and repeatedly expressed preference on the matter.

We don't want Windows 10. We don't care that you're still giving it away; we already know, for a fact, that the shit ain't really free. And every time you "helpfully" re-add an update that we've already refused multiple times to our Update queues, disregarding our clearly and repeatedly expressed choices in the process, it just makes us even less likely to switch... ever. It further erodes the little trust and goodwill that we might still be harbouring; after all, how do you trust somebody, or feel good about somebody, when they clearly refuse to respect anything that you tell them?

Look, I get it. Microsoft's strategic plans don't work unless they can push Windows 10 adoption to a tipping point, a share of the market large enough that the adoption rate inspires others to also adopt their new OS, and inspires developers to develop natively for the Universal Windows Platform as a result. Microsoft need that, badly. I get it. I just don't give a shit.

Allow me to turn the data collection off completely, allow me to turn Cortana off completely, allow me to (simply & easily) turn the advertising off completely, and for fuck's sake, stop pushing me. Start showing some respect, and maybe, maybe, we can talk. Short of that, though, Microsoft are out of luck... until 2020 at the very least, unless my current PC literally melts down in the meantime, something which shows no sign of being anywhere near happening.

In the meantime, I'm leaving Never10 installed, and if you're wanting Microsoft's "helpful" upgrading app to stop pestering you to change operating systems, then so should you.

Microsoft's OneDrive app runs like @$$ on Windows OS rivals.

Have I mentioned yet, that I kinda love The Reg's tech writers? Because I do.

From The Reg's Iain Thomson:

Ever since Satya Nadella took over the reins at Microsoft, the Windows giant has been talking up how much it loves Linux – but it appears this hasn't trickled down to its OneDrive team.

Plenty of Linux users are up in arms about the performance of the OneDrive web app. They say that when accessing Microsoft's cloudy storage system in a browser on a non-Windows system – such as on Linux or ChromeOS – the service grinds to a barely usable crawl. But when they use a Windows machine on the same internet connection, speedy access resumes.

Crucially, when they change their browser's user-agent string – a snippet of text the browser sends to websites describing itself – to Internet Explorer or Edge, magically their OneDrive access speeds up to normal on their non-Windows PCs.

In other words, Microsoft's OneDrive web app slows down seemingly deliberately when it appears you're using Linux or some other Windows rival. This has been going on for months, and complaints flared up again this week after netizens decided enough is enough.

"Microsoft has been pulling this stuff for the last 30 years and won't stop any time soon," huffed one penguinista on Tuesday. "If you commit to using their products, expect to be jerked around if you try to do anything other than live in their expensive walled garden."

We asked Microsoft for comment, but the software giant didn't want to talk about it. If we're being charitable to Redmond, we'd say this is a case of Hanlon's Razor: never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

Yeah, once again, I don't think that Hanlon's Razor applies: Microsoft does this shit so often, and so consistently, that it can't simply be incompetence. Don't get me wrong, a company that large almost certainly employs at least a few idiots, but for this idiocy to keep happening in every aspect of their business, it has to intentional, and it has to be systemic. Once is an accident, and twice is a coincidence, but we're well past the point of this being one or two isolated incidents; this is a well-established Microsoft pattern.

It is cool to know what that malice/stupidity saying is called, though: Hanlon's Razor. Thanks, Iain!

Now, full disclosure: I don't use OneDrive, so this issue isn't affecting me. My objection here is not a personal one. This is a matter of principle. Microsoft have been working very hard to give the impression that they're big on Linux, and gaining some decent PR in the process, but it's bullshit. When Forbes opined that "Microsoft has decided that the operating system is no longer an important battleground, and that it’s more important to gain market share in cloud (Azure and Office 365) than it is to put energy into battling Linux for application market share," they were mistaken. Microsoft is all about forcing users onto Windows 10, right now, to establish the walled garden ecosystem on which they're clearly relying heavily for their future.

Microsoft really have bet the farm on this strategy. They really don't have a plan B. And their mounting desperation is becoming increasingly obvious, too. This is systemic; they really are doing this, and they really don't care how much damage they do to their own brand and reputation in the process, but they really haven't left themselves any other options. They need the ad revenue. They need their cut of Windows 10 Store sales. They've given too much away, at this point, and don't have any way to walk that back. At least, not one that Satya Nadella can see, or one that he'll sign off on.

GG, Satya Nadella. GG.

Windows 10 is invading your privacy in ways that nobody suspected

I had a very busy day, yesterday. That's my story, and I'm standing by it, to excuse the fact that I missed this, when it happened.

From Express.co.uk:

Windows 10 users are expecting the big Creators Update, which is expected to have a release date of April 11.

However, ahead of the big update users of the Microsoft OS may want to have a closer look at their settings - as what they are typing is being TRACKED.

Ever since Windows 10 was first launched in 2015, the software automatically enables a secret keyboard logger.

Microsoft says the feature tracks "your typing and handwriting info to improve typing and writing services".

See? It's yet another "helpful" Windows 10 feature, and not spying on you without your knowledge or consent at all. Honest! 

</sarcasm>

While one should hesitate to ascribe to malice that which can adequately explained by incompetence, Microsoft's track record on  privacy matters in general over the last two years leaves very little option but to assume that this is intentional. Remember, also, that this is part of an OS which comes with a built-in telemetry "feature" which is also uploading data about your system, and what you're doing on it, to a remote site for Microsoft to share with other parties that they refuse to identify. They'd been reticent about talking in detail about what metadata they were gathering, too; I guess we now know why.

Have I mentioned recently how glad I am, to have avoided all of this nonsense?

There is some good news, however. People have already figured out how to turn this new bit of bullshit off.

Also from Express.co.uk:

To turn it off, head to the Privacy area in Windows Settings, then the General menu.

There, you’ll find a number of privacy options which can be changed, altered and enabled.

Microsoft’s key logging can be turned off by deselecting the option that reads, “Send Microsoft info about how I write to help us improve typing and writing in the future”.

Great! Assuming that Microsoft don't also revert to resetting your privacy (and other) settings via Windows Update, which is behaviour that we've also seen before in Windows 10.

Seriously, why is this even a thing? Who thinks to drill down into their Windows settings to check for a "keylogger" setting? Even for Microsoft, this is some next-level crap.

People, Windows 10 is malware. If you haven't  switched to Windows 10 yet, I urge you not to. If you've already switched, and can roll back to (or reinstall) Windows 7 or 8, then you should. If you're feeling more adventurous, Linux beckons. Please, please, please, do anything other than reward Microsoft for this awful behaviour. Vote with your feet, by leaving; vote with your wallets, by keeping them closed; send the only message that Microsoft care about, and will listen to, when it comes to your privacy, and your rights as a consumer.

Windows 7 & 8 now blocking older AMD processors, too, not just Ryzen.

Are we really surprised?

From InfoWorld:

I reported earlier this morning that we're seeing "Unsupported hardware" and "Windows could not search for new updates" messages from people who are running Windows 7 and 8.1 on Intel Kaby Lake and AMD Rizen-based computers. It's part of Microsoft's long-threatened ban on Win7 and 8.1 updates for newer seventh-generation processors.

Now there's a report of similar blockages on an older AMD A6-8570 processor. It isn't clear if there's a bug in the detection logic, or if Microsoft's going to block Win7 and 8.1 updates on some older sixth-generation processors.

The report comes from poster The Heretic on [H]ardForum:

Well it isn't just the Ryzen that's going to get whacked. I came into work this AM to look at one of the system's I'd re-imaged with Win7 Pro and started downloading updates to it as I left yesterday. I was greeted with Microsoft's gotcha.

The screen he posts clearly says the block took place on an AMD Pro A6-8570 system.

[...]

AMD's product page for the AMD Pro A6-8570 clearly states that this is an older, sixth-generation chip.

I know that one should always hesitate to ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence, but when you consider just how much anti-consumer bullshit Microsoft has pulled in their efforts to force Windows 7 & 8 users to switch to Windows 10, I honestly think that we can just assume that this is deliberate on Microsoft's part. AMD really did a deal with the devil, when they agreed to let Microsoft lock their silicon to the products of Microsoft's choosing, and they should really be rethinking that decision, if they're not already.

Darth Microsoft alters the deal again

A while back, AMD and Intel made waves when they both annouced that their latest CPU chipsets (Zen and Kaby Lake, respectively) would only receive driver support for Windows 10. At the time, the speculation was that this "official" Win10 exclusivity wouldn't actually matter much, since both chipsets would probably run just fine on Windows 7 or 8.1, anway, and nobody was apparently willing to give much credence to the idea that AMD and Intel would just write off a huge chunk of their potential customer base by actively preventing users of older Windows versions from using their new chips.

People who were thinking that way, however, apparently didn't reckon with Microsoft, or with the amount of anti-consumer bullshit that Microsoft would be willing to build into its products. Because they're now actively blocking users of Windows 7 and 8.1 from using older versions of Windows on new Ryzen and Kaby Lake machines.

From PCGamesN:

It’s only frickin’ March. I find it hard to believe we haven’t even had three months of 2017 yet we’ve already seen entirely new CPU platforms from both AMD and Intel as well as a new ‘fastest graphics card ever.’ But as they announced over a year ago, Microsoft aren’t supporting the latest CPU platforms on their last-gen operating systems, suggesting anyone who wants to keep their PCs all nice and OCD updated should immediately upgrade to Windows 10.

Now that wouldn’t be a massive issue, as older operating systems were obviously not built with the intricacies of whole new chipset and CPU platforms in mind and it’s arguably more important for Microsoft to focus on ensuring good support for them with their most current OS.

All well and good. Except for the fact that reportedly AMD’s Ryzen chips seem to actually perform better on Windows 7 compared with Windows 10.

[...]

Yeah, that’s a mite awkward. But it’s okay ‘cos AMD says everything is fine, move along, nothing to see here. Windows 10 definitely isn’t having any scheduler issues with the Ryzen CCX architecture and any performance differences between the two operating systems “can be more likely attributed to software architecture differences between these OSes.”

Tom's Hardware gives more detail:

Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users with new processors who try to scan or download updates via the Windows Update tool are greeted with one of two messages. The first is straightforward: "Unsupported Hardware [...] Your PC uses a processor that isn’t supported on this version of Windows and you won’t receive updates." The second message isn't quite as clear:

Windows could not search for new updatesAn error occurred while checking for new updates for your computer.Error(s) found:Code 80240037 Windows Update encountered an unknown error.

So the company published a support article to explain that the way its new support policy was implemented means that "Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 devices that have a seventh generation or a later generation processor may no longer be able to scan or download updates through Windows Update or Microsoft Update." The company (naturally) advised users affected by this problem to upgrade from their current operating system to Windows 10.

If you planned to upgrade to Kaby Lake, AMD's Ryzen, or another new processor, then you'll also finally have to move to Windows 10. This might have been implied by Microsoft's previous statements--it has repeatedly said that Windows 10 would be the only operating system to support the new processors--but now it's clear that some people didn't get the message (hence the support article) and that "will require the latest Windows platform at that time for support" really means "you won't even be able to search for updates if you buy a new CPU without moving to Windows 10."

At this point, I just want to emphasize that this new behaviour isn't being added to Windows 10. It's being added to Windows 7 and 8, products whose users bought and paid for the software, and who never agreed to only run the OS on hardware that was approved by Microsoft.

The deal was always simple -- you owned your PC, and could install any hardware in your PC that you liked, as long as you understood that your installed hardware might not all play nicely together, either with your other hardware or with Windows itself. Once again, however, Microsoft have altered the deal, and Windows 7 and 8 users can now only run hardware that Microsoft approves in advance.

Here's a thought: if they can do this with your CPU and motherboard, then what's stopping them from doing this with your GPU, too? Want a better graphics card? Better switch to Windows 10! Any kind of hardware that Windows 7/8 can detect, which is all of it, can now cause you to simply be blocked from future updates of your supposedly-supported-until-2020 operating system, purely by Microsoft's fiat.

That, my friends, is bullshit. It shouldn't be at all surprising, of course, at least to anyone who's been watching Microsoft's behaviour over the last couple of years, but it's still bullshit. That point should not be in question.

The only real question is, "Will it work?"

So far, benchmark comparisons between Intel's new Kaby Lake processors and their older Skylake ships have shown almost identical performance between the two. Some heavily hyper-threaded applications showed significant gains, so if you're a professional videographer or YouTuber who renders hours of video as a business, Kaby Lake might be worth your while, but for all other applications, including games, you may as well stick with the PC you're already using, unless it's older than SkyLake.

AMD's Ryzen benchmarks, by comparison, have been such a hot mess that AMD had to issue disclaimers, asserting that their chips ran just fine with Windows 10, really, and weren't running unusually hot, either, regardless of what your PC's onboard temperature sensors were saying. And while Ryzen benchmarks for some heavily-hyperthreaded applications looked great, most of the benchmarks that gamers and other PC power enthusiasts really care about showed no better performance than Intel's.

This is what the end of Moore's Law looks like. PC performance seems to have plateaued, with brand-new PCs quite simply not being much of an upgrade over chipsets that are years old.

If your PC is pre-dates the Obama administration, and you're needing to upgrade because everything runs terribly, and you're wanting to stay with Windows 7 or 8.1, then you have a tough choice to make. You can buy last-gen tech and get an inexpensive system that will work perfectly well for at least a few years, but which may need replacing again in a few years' time... or you can switch to Windows 10, which you've been avoiding for a number of excellent reasons, in order to get more future-proofing, and just hope and pray that Microsoft eventually pull their heads out of their collective asses. Good luck with that.

If, however, you bought a decently powerful PC relatively recently, then you're probably good. You can stick with what's working, rather than spending money on a new PC that you don't actually need, that won't perform much better than what you're already running, and that you'll have to switch to Windows 10 to use, even though everything about Microsoft's Windows 10 strategy turns you completely off.

"Will it work?" The answer depends on how many Windows 7 and 8.1 users are genuinely happy with their machines, and the extent to which they're determined to avoid Windows 10's bullshit. Given that (a) PC sales have been trending downwards for eight years, while Android has overtaken Windows as the most-used OS on Earth thanks to its utter dominance on mobile devices, and (b) Windows 7 users, in particular have shown no desire whatsoever to switch to Windows 10, I somehow doubt that this will drive Windows 10 adoption. It could, and probably will, hurt sales of Ryzen and Kaby Lake, which makes AMD's and Intel's collusion in this scheme all the more baffling, but I don't see this actually benefitting Microsoft much at all.

So, will it work? I don't think so. In fact, I'm going to stand behind my earlier prediction, and say that Windows 10's market share will continue to tick backwards next month, both in general and among Steam users, while sales of new PCs continue to decline as Microsoft's latest anti-consumer step further depresses demand for new silicon.

Place your bets!

Windows 10 isn't an operating system, it's an advertising platform

The hits keep coming, this time from Mark Wilson at betanews:

Microsoft is disgustingly sneaky: Windows 10 isn't an operating system, it's an advertising platform

Don't believe what Microsoft tells you -- Windows 10 is not an operating system. Oh, sure, it has many features that make it look like an operating system, but in reality it is nothing more than a vehicle for advertisements. Since the launch of Windows 10, there have been numerous complaints about ads in various forms. They appear in the Start menu, in the taskbar, in the Action Center, in Explorer, in the Ink Workspace, on the Lock Screen, in the Share tool, in the Windows Store and even in File Explorer.

Microsoft has lost its grip on what is acceptable, and even goes as far as pretending that these ads serve users more than the company -- "these are suggestions", "this is a promoted app", "we thought you'd like to know that Edge uses less battery than Chrome", "playable ads let you try out apps without installing". But if we're honest, the company is doing nothing more than abusing its position, using Windows 10 to promote its own tools and services, or those with which it has marketing arrangements. Does Microsoft think we're stupid?

When Windows 10 first hit computers without a price tag, questions were asked about what the hidden cost might be. We've talked about the various telemetry, privacy-invading and tracking features that are to be found, and this is certainly part of the price one pays for a free operating system ... sorry, ad platform.

But as more and more ads have gradually crept into Windows 10, the implications of using Windows 10 become ever clearer. Microsoft has boasted about the millions and millions of computers that now have Windows 10 installed. These are not just additions to the user-base, they are consumers ready to be advertised at. It is a captive audience staring at screens all around the world -- perfect for pummelling with ads as there's nowhere to hide!

Microsoft is not only incredibly aggressive with its advertising, it is also disgustingly sneaky. Many of the various forms of advertising that can be found in Windows 10 can be disabled, but don't expect this to be easy, particularly if you're not completely au fait with the world of technology. [...] Seriously... who would think that in order to hide the OneDrive ads, you'd need to flick a toggle labeled Show sync provider notifications?

[...]

It might feel as though we're going over old ground here, and we are. Microsoft just keeps letting us (and you) down, time and time and time again.

It's time for things to change, but will Microsoft listen?

Yes, Microsoft is now even losing betanews. So... Will they listen? Will they change?

My guess is: no. Not until they're forced to, anyway. But it's interesting that even outlets like betanews are now mentioning Microsoft's past history of losing antitrust lawsuits when talking about Windows 10.

I still don't think Microsoft are likely to face any antitrust action while Trump is POTUS, but if there's enough public outcry, who knows? Trump likes to present himself as a populist, watches his poll numbers obsessively, and might like nothing better than to score some cheap consumer-advocate cred by taking a swipe at a target as large and obvious as Microsoft have made of themselves.

Beware of the camel's nose...

Microsoft's Windows 10 advertising bullshit continues to generate bad PR for the Redmond firm... today, from Michael Allison at MSPoweruser:

There was an old Arabian fable of a camel, a man, and tent. In this tale, the camel asks the man for permission to stick its nose into his tent – after all – it’s cold outside in the desert and it would be unreasonable to claim that the nose would cause sufficient discomfort to the man. After this request was acquiesced to, further requests followed. “Oh can I just stick my shoulder in?”, “How about my hump”, “At this stage, you wouldn’t begrudge me my tail?”. Each request was small and unobtrusive, but at the end of it, the camel had control of the tent and the man did not.

That’s how I feel about Microsoft’s loading of Windows 10 with ads. The firm initially loaded its Windows PCs with Candy Crush and the users didn’t mind. [...] Then Microsoft enabled Windows 10 Spotlight on PCs by default and started showing ads on it, and I defended that last year, arguing that “Microsoft’s recommendations were completely harmless and not as irritating as the words “ads” would imply.” [...] Microsoft went on to trigger several OS-wide pop-ups to dissuade users from using Google’s Chrome and Mozilla’s FireFox. [...] Now the Windows 10 File Explorer is now telling me about just how wonderful OneDrive is if I just pony up £8.99 a month.

If I’m permitted to mix my metaphors, Houston, the camel is in the tent. [...]  Microsoft’s adware is getting out of hand, and its past time Redmond began paying more attention to the wishes of its users.

I'd say it's about a year and nine months past time for Microsoft to begin paying more attention to the wishes of its users, but let's not split hairs. The important thing is that even people who, by their own admission, previously defended this bullshit, have now stopped defending Microsoft's indefensible bullshit.

Everybody has had enough, including people who used to serve as their apologists:

It is too hard to defend Microsoft on this one, and I’m not going to. It is getting frustrating to set up your Windows PC with Windows 10 Pro and having to unpin Candy Crush and Minecraft straight out of the box, then deal with the other ads as well. A PC OS should stay out of your way, not try to sell you stuff. At this point, one wonders if Microsoft even needs the Windows Store, when the whole OS seems to be a bazaar.

Oh, and for those who are still saying that Microsoft isn't doing anything that Apple hasn't already done, with the iOS/MacOS App Store? Allison's got a little history lesson for those folks, too:

It wasn’t so long ago that Apple was critiqued for pre-loading iPhones and Macs with U2’s Album and had to apologize in return. Now Microsoft preloads Windows PCs with Candy Crush of all things and “stickies” it as well as Twitter to the top of your account so it is always the first thing you see in your Store library. Next, Microsoft suggests apps and games for Windows users in the Start Menu’s App list. Then, the firm begins to prompt Windows users to use (the terrible, terrible) ad-ridden by default Edge rather than Chrome. Then we get ads in the action center telling you what you use, and now ads in File Explorer pushing you towards paying for OneDrive. Taken together, Microsoft now has ads in every major area of the Windows interface with the exception of the desktop itself.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again and again until Microsoft change course: Windows 10 is malware, because it behaves exactly like malware: software used to [...] gather sensitive information, gain access to private computer systems, or display unwanted advertising. The only reason people aren't calling it malware is because it's been published by Microsoft. That's bullshit: if your OS behaves like malware, then your OS is malware, by definition.

Of course, Trump is the U.S. President now, and his Commerce and Justice departments are unlikely to do much of anything at all, so Microsoft are probably safe from further legal entanglements in the U.S., at least at the federal level. I guess that leaves us hoping that France, or the EU, will act.

Microsoft Sells Out On Windows 10 Users

Apparently, I'm not the only person who's fed up with Microsoft's non-stop shilling.

From Knoxville's Daily Sun:

Windows 10 has been ramping up its “promoted apps,” or more commonly known as those pesky adverts, since May last year. Currently, the adverts are seen on the lock screen promoting game apps while some even disguise itself as tutorials/guides.

If you’re one that doesn’t want to change from Chrome, Microsoft hasn’t given up on you yet. Take a look at this screenshot obtained from Extreme Tech.

Windows is acquiring a new technique entirely. This time, there’s no way to disable it without affecting potentially useful updates for your cloud storage. Look at the image below to see how Microsoft is pushing the Office 365 now.

That is basically an advert built-in to file storage. To make things worse, the Reddit user had already paid for Office 365. You could always opt to turn “sync provider notification” off but this would jeopardize notification for your cloud storage.

Well, this just looks like Microsoft is selling out on Windows 10 users.

Not an especially well-written piece (sorry, Staff Reporter, unless you're a content-generating AI bot, in which case you don't have any feelings), but I'd say that "selling out" is pretty apt description of what Microsoft's been doing for the last couple of years.

I mean, I get it: Google has a better business plan for the 21st century, and Microsoft really want a piece of that action, in spite of being really late to the party. So, they're trying to leverage their one asset, the ubiquity of Windows, to force their way into the mobile OS market, and to have their own walled-garden storefront, and to have their own web search service, and to monetize everything they sell with advertising. I can see why they'd want to be Google.... and Apple, too, since they're also trying to force their way into the consumer electronics market, having already failed at that a few times now.

But Google didn't become Google by force. They became Google by building a better mouse-trap, by building a customer base who use their products because they prefer their products, and who haven't continually tried to change the relationship with those customers, practically overnight. Not that Google haven't mis-stepped, but they didn't double and triple down on those errors by forcing the issue still further: Google+ didn't become a thing, so Google stopped trying to be Facebook, and let it go.

Microsoft won't let it go. Nobody is using the Windows Store? No problem: they'll just push tiles for "promoted" apps directly to your desktop, to be "discovered" (and maybe accidentally installed/purchased) by users. Nobody is switching from Chrome to Edge, or from Google to Bing? No problem: they'll just push the ads that they would be serving via Edge/Bing directly to the OS itself, via the File Explorer. And why not? Windows 10 was built for this, specifically, in the same way that Windows 8 was built for this, specifically.

The answer is, "Because users won't stand for it, that's why not." I'm expecting Windows 10 to shed even more market share over this month. Look for their EU regulatory issues to not go away, either.

Darth Microsoft alters the deal again, adds even more ads to Windows 10

Consider this, from WinBuzzer:

Microsoft’s Windows 10 policies are once again angering customers. This time, the company’s decision to advertise on the platform has led to complaints. Microsoft is using Windows 10 to actively promote several subscriptions for its services, including Office 365 and OneDrive. Users have taken to social media and revealed disgust at the action.

It seems the ad notifications are set to default in Windows 10 builds. Microsoft is promoting a new Office 365 and OneDrive bundle. I don’t particularly want to repeat the offer here, because then Microsoft is getting even more (free) advertising.

[...]

Needless to say, Microsoft is getting some heat for this decision. Redditors have been calling the company out on this tactic and pointing out that even those with existing Office 365 subs are seeing the advertisement. 

Or this, from betanews:

Oh joy -- playable ads arrive in Windows 10

Playable ads -- that is ads that mimic an app and let you interact with it -- aren’t new. I see them from time to time on my iPhone, and never interact with any of them. Because, why would you? However, Microsoft says that playable ads are not only better than regular ads, they are more profitable.

And now they are arriving on Windows 10. The Playable Ads preview goes live in the Windows Dev Center today, allowing developers to offer their own interactive adverts.

And then remember that Windows 10 is losing market share right now, and ask yourself if you're surprised?

I own an Android phone, and my phone will occasionally let me know if there's an update available for the OS itself, but it doesn't spam me with advertising for any other apps, whether Google's own or otherwise. Google is an advertising company, who make all of their money by selling advertising, but even their Android OS isn't pushing adverts in your face all the fucking time, by the OS itself or otherwise, and seriously I doubt that iOS works any differently.

So, why does Microsoft think that baking advertising and push media "features" into Windows 10 is a good idea?

If someone opens up the Windows 10 Store, then by all means, you can push "recommended" apps to the top of their front page, and charge developers an advertising fee for the higher-profile product placement. That's fair game -- it is, after all, a store, that they're taking time out to visit. But when someone's just working in the OS itself? No, you don't get to push playable fucking ads in front of them as they're working, or add extra tiles to their desktops for your other software that they haven't installed and aren't interested in. Or, worse yet, already fucking own.

Seriously, can't Microsoft even make this "feature" smart enough to detect when someone already owns a piece of software, and not serve them additional ads for it? And should we be attributing that to malice, or to incompetence, or both? Are they really this desperate? Or do they really not care?

Just this week, Microsoft were scoring PR points by announcing that Windows 10's Updates would be slightly less shitty to experience, but this advertising bullshit takes another major pain point of the OS and makes it even more painful. What a great way to send more customers fleeing back to Windows 7... which doesn't have any of this built-in advertising bullshit. GG, Microsoft. Well played.

The one piece of good news? Apparently, sufficiently technically-savvy users can turn some of this down, or off.

From Thurrott:

I’ve led the charge against Microsoft’s advertising efforts in Windows, noting back in 2012 that the software giant cheapened Windows 8 with ads. Despite my warnings about a slippery slope—Microsoft would only escalate its in-box advertising down the road, I cautioned—Windows 10, sadly, was even worse.

And now the Creators Update is coming, bringing with it yet another escalation of in-product advertising. Most notably, and most disturbingly, in File Explorer.

(Ad-like notifications for OneDrive do appear in File Explorer in the Anniversary Update, but people running the Creators Update are now seeing actual advertising.)

To be clear, File Explorer is the Windows 10 shell, a core part of the operating system. So like the mobile apps that first bore advertising back in Windows 8, yes, it is very much a “part of” Windows, or “in” Windows. It is Windows.

This is a sad state of affairs. Fortunately, you can turn off this terrible intrusion. Here’s how...

(Click through to Thurrott.com for the detailed step-by-step.)

#fuckyoumicrosoft

"Windows 10's Update is a terrible piece of software"

That's a quote from Alexsander Stukov, an software engineer who spends days running stress tests and cloning virtual machines, whose testimonial is just one of several from this piece by Sean Hollister @ c|net:

Maybe you're delivering a presentation to a huge audience. Maybe you're taking an online test. Maybe you just need to get some work done on a tight deadline.

Windows doesn't care.

Windows will take control of your computer, force-feed it updates, and flip the reset switch automatically -- and there's not a damn thing you can do about it, once it gets started.

If you haven't saved your work, it's gone. Your browser tabs are toast. And don't expect to use your computer again soon; depending on the speed of your drive and the size of the update, it could be anywhere from 10 minutes to well over an hour before your PC is ready for work.

As far as I'm concerned, it's the single worst thing about Windows. It's only gotten worse in Windows 10. And when I poked around Microsoft, the overarching message I received was that Microsoft has no interest in fixing it.

[...]

I know what you're thinking: "How many times do you have to get burned before you get a Mac?" Or maybe a Chromebook. Or even an iPad with a keyboard cover -- anything but a Windows machine that can just spontaneously restart while you're in the middle of mission-critical work.

That's pretty much the direction I've been leaning in recent months. And after hinting there might be a MacBook purchase in my immediate future, I asked a Microsoft spokesperson if the company was doing anything about forced updates.

Here's the statement I got:

Once a machine is upgraded to Windows 10, it will remain current through Windows Update for the supported lifetime of the device, with safety and security, productivity, and entertainment value over time. This is what we mean when we talk about delivering Windows as a service, and it is one of our core inspirations for Windows 10. We'll keep listening to our customers, improving the experience month after month. Windows 10 is an operating system that will run on a range of devices -- from Xbox to PCs, phones to tablets and tiny gadgets -- all of which are connected and kept up-to-date by Windows Update. Both enterprises and consumers benefit. The optimum way to ensure our customers are running the best Windows is to get them the latest updates for Windows 10. Delivering Windows 10 as a service means we can offer ongoing security updates, new features and capabilities - we'd like to make sure people can get access to the latest Windows 10 updates as soon as they are available.

In other words, Microsoft thinks it's super important that you get the updates. "Auto-restarts" are a feature, not a bug.

In fact, Microsoft has been actively getting rid of ways to keep users from disabling automatic updates: in Windows 10 Pro and above, you used to be able to do that from the Group Policy tool. As of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, though, that option is gone. (You can still schedule a restart, but it involves doing a lot of work to change the annoying "ready or not, here it comes" default.)

And while the next version of Windows will let you stave off updates for a 35-day period (if you paid extra for a Pro, Enterprise or Education-grade copy of Windows, which sounds like a moderate form of blackmail), my understanding is that even those versions won't let you cancel an update that's already been delayed and is now about to occur.

In other words: you'll be helplessly watching your computer turn itself off, just the same as usual.

[...]

I think it's time we send Microsoft a message that this isn't okay -- that the computers we bought and paid for with our hard-earned dollars are ours to use whenever we want, not just when Microsoft says so. I need a reliable PC, a computer that's ready for action whenever I need to report on a story, jot down notes from an interview, or liveblog a keynote. Share this story if you feel the same.

There's got to be a better way of handling these updates. Perhaps by automatically installing them when a PC and its owner are both asleep? That's what college freshman Alexandria Seabrook suggested, right after she told me how furious she was with her Windows machine. Or maybe Microsoft could take a page out of the Apple and Android playbooks and let users decide when to update.

I generally like Windows. But if I can't find a Windows PC that's always ready for work, my next computer will be a Mac.

Have a said recently, how glad I am to have dodged this particular bullet by staying with Windows 7? Because I am. Because this is some bullshit, and it's been a "feature" of Windows 10 from the get-go, meaning Home users (i.e. the "free" version) have always been hit first and worst by it, with no end in sight. The only way to get even a little relief is to cough up some cash.

"Fuck you, pay me." Paulie would be proud of Microsoft.

Microsoft have caught a bit of a break in the form of Apple's post-Jobs stumbling, which has seen them imitating the worst aspects of the Microsoft playbook while rolling out their latest iteration of MacOS, or MacBooks which lack most of the ports that people actually use, but MS shouldn't be feeling too comfortable, here. Faced with a business plan that feels like something from Goodfellas, and a product that users find frustrating, at minimum, to actually live with, a lot of current Windows users might still find themselves choosing Mac or Linux for their next PCs.

Microsoft's anti-competitive bullshittery not limited to Edge

From Softpedia:

Microsoft is working at full speed on getting the Windows 10 Creators Update ready for the public launch, but according to a new discussion on reddit, the company might have made a change that many users didn’t actually expect.

A post that went live this morning reveals that the uninstall option is no longer available for some apps that come pre-loaded with Windows 10 even though the same option was there before the latest Creators Update builds.

User jantari reveals that he can no longer uninstall many of the pre-loaded Microsoft apps with a right-click in the Start menu because the “Uninstall” option is no longer there, while in the Apps & Features section of the Settings app, the same “Uninstall” button is grayed out and cannot be clicked.

Other users who responded to this thread confirm that the uninstall option is gone and many of the apps that are part of build 15014 can no longer be removed.

It wasn't that long ago that Microsoft were making news by adding the ability to remove, and keep removed, these same pre-loaded apps (because Win10's Update kept reinstalling them), but it looks like they're backsliding. Because fuck you, and what you may or may not want installed on your PC; if you've installed Windows 10, then as far as Microsoft are concerned, it really isn't your PC anymore. Also, who wants to bet that pricier versions of the OS will include the ability to uninstall these pre-loaded apps?

Linux is looking more attractive all the time.