Plus ça change...Microsoft proves, once again, that they refuse to learn from past mistakes

I had to shake my head at this report from betanews:

Windows 7 may be an aging operating system, but there are still plenty of individuals and organizations using it. With the end of support date of January 14 fast-approaching, Microsoft is getting twitchy and is eager for everyone to upgrade to Windows 10.

Having already started to notify Windows 7 hangers on that support is due to come to an end, the company is now ready to get a little more aggressive. If you haven't moved on from Windows 7, soon you will see full-screen notifications warning you that "your Windows 7 PC is out of support".

The messages are due to be displayed from the day after support ends. So when January 15 rolls around, anyone who has doggedly stuck with Windows 7 will find that they not only have no support and no security updates, but also that they are pestered by an invasive message delivered by a program called EOSnotify.exe.

[...]

The good news is that it will be possible to dismiss the message and opt to never see it again.

Where do I even start with this shit?

Reminder: Windows 7 really is the new XP

Back during the darkest days of Microsoft's GWX campaign, when they'd abandoned all pretense of believing in the quality of the product and offering Windows users a free upgrade, and instead started switching users' systems to Windows 10 no matter how many times they'd refused previously, it was already becoming clear that Microsoft had done lasting harm to their own brand, and to the relationship of trust and goodwill that they'd previously enjoyed with users of Windows 7.

I wasn't alone in referring to Microsoft's GWX fiasco as "upgrade-gate," or to point out the consequences with which Microsoft would have to deal for the next several years; pieces like this one, from Makeof.com, were pretty easily found at the time:

Steve Jobs famously said “people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” Microsoft must think this is true for Windows 10. And so its developers keep finding new ways to trick Windows 7 and 8 users into upgrading because surely they will like Windows 10 once the see it. Or they’ll just surrender.

Personally, I do like Windows 10, but I also appreciate the reasons of those who oppose the upgrade. And I think what Microsoft has been doing is deeply disturbing and unethical. Microsoft acts as if its goal for 1 billion Windows 10 users supersedes the company’s responsibility for its existing Windows customers.

This reckless battle has unintended consequences, which not only hurt Microsoft’s customers, but also its business.

From loss of trust in the Windows; to users simply turning off Windows Update to avoid the hated GWX payloads; to actual monetary costs in the form of lost time, bandwidth, and productivity; reasons abounded why Microsoft's overly-aggressive GWX push was a bad idea. And while the worst of these for Microsoft, "Home Users Will Abandon Windows," hasn't yet come to pass, there's still no sign that consumers have forgiven Microsoft for the liberties, excesses, and borderline (or actual) abuses of GWX.

Microsoft's GWX push was of a piece with Terry Myerson's Windows-centric strategy, which Microsoft has since abandoned. Two years after GWX's failure, Myerson is no longer at Microsoft; his Windows and Devices Group no longer exists, its various teams having been redistributed across other business units which, according to Microsoft, are actually the future of the company. And Windows 10 is still not as popular as Windows 7... depending on who you ask, of course.

The fallout from GWX still hasn't stopped falling, either. Every month, Microsoft delivers updates for Windows 7, and every month, the description of those updates includes the same disclaimer: "does not include windows 10 upgrade functionality." That's still necessary, more than two years after GWX; that is truly epic levels of fail.

But it actually gets worse for Microsoft.

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.

The value of low expectations

It just hit me: it's now been an entire week since Microsoft last screwed up in any major way. Mazel tov!

Online articles are still have plenty of bad to offer, of course; the #upgradegate narrative of Redmond's GWX tactics is still echoing across sites that are only now catching up to a story that's been unfolding for months, mainly because the Associated Press has started reporting on criticism of Microsoft, rather than simply reprinting Redmond's press releases. Teri Goldstein’s $10,000 win is still being mentioned as if it had happened yesterday, rather than having first been reported weeks ago. The stink of what Microsoft has done will continue to linger in Windows 10's wake for a long time to come.

Still, on balance, it looks like Microsoft may have done just enough to weather the storm. With #upgradegate stories being replaced with hype for the upcoming Anniversary Update's features, Redmond may have managed to manage their backlash, for now. I await the end-of-July market share numbers with some ineterest, though; it'll be interesting to see if Windows 7 posts a third straight monthly market share increase, or if Linux can repeat last month's growth, even while Windows 10 manages to squeeze out another percentage point from Windows 8 and XP users.

In the meantime, though, I think I can finally move on to other things.

An offer you can refuse

OK, I'll admit it: I was just tickled by the title of this PC World piece:

The clock is ticking, folks. If you want to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, you only have until July 29, 2016 to do so. And most people should! Windows 10 is the best Windows yet, chock full of handy new features, sleek under-the-hood improvements, and headache-killing extras.

But it’s not for everybody. There are some very real, very valid reasons not to upgrade to Windows 10.

If you’re on the fence about whether to accept or reject Microsoft’s freebie, read on for some concrete justifications for staying put.

Their list of reasons?

1. No Windows Media Center or DVD support
2. No desktop gadgets or widgets
3. No OneDrive placeholders
4. No control over Windows Updates
5. Privacy concerns
6. Ads and more ads
7. Microsoft's aggressive upgrade tactics
8. Software compatibility
9. Hardware compatibility
10. Ain't broke, don't fix it

I'm not using OneDrive for anything, or any desktop gadgets or widgets, but I find it easy to agree with all the rest of these. In fact, the last one (highlighted in bold), were all included in the list that I posted in June, although I think I'd combined the advertising and privacy issues into a single bullet point.

Unintended consequences of #upgradegate

From makeuseof.com:

Personally, I do like Windows 10, but I also appreciate the reasons of those who oppose the upgrade. And I think what Microsoft has been doing is deeply disturbing and unethical. Microsoft acts as if its goal for 1 billion Windows 10 users supersedes the company’s responsibility for its existing Windows customers.

This reckless battle has unintended consequences, which not only hurt Microsoft’s customers, but also its business.

At this point, the article lays out the five consequences in question:

1. Lost trust in Windows

2. Users completely disabling Windows updates

3. Lost time, money, and bandwidth

4. Home users abandoning Windows entirely

5. Undermining consumers' faith in consumer protections

Get Windows 7's Start menu in Windows 10

So, you've switched to Windows 10. You didn't want to, and you didn't ask to, in fact you were pretty sure you'd said no, but Microsoft's malware approach to updates, and a new love of deceptive, anti-consumer practices, have found you staring a narrow row of tiles and and a double row of ads where your Start menu used to be, cursing the name of Satya Nadella.

Having vented your frustration.... what do you next?

We now live in a world where a burgeoning market exists for third-party software that rolls back Microsoft's horrible decisions. Want to stop your OS from spying on you? There are apps for that. Want to avoid having your OS "upgraded" against your will in the first place? There are apps for that, too.

(BTW, if you haven't "upgraded" and don't want to, you should be clicking some of those links, right about now.)

Or maybe you just want a "classic" Start menu. This sort of thing used to be an option in Windows, but not in Windows 10 -- no, you'll get tiles and like it. (And ads... you don't still believe that Windows 10 is free, do you?) Well, fear not, Windows user... there's an app for that, too.

From PC World:

Not everyone likes the new Windows 10 Start menu. The good news is you can replace it with something more traditional.

You can get a very close facsimile of earlier Windows Start menus with Classic Shell. The program is free, but the website encourages donations—a nice gesture if you appreciate the product.

So, there you have it: options. Seriously, though... it's a lot simpler to install Never10, before the unwanted "upgrade" happens to you.

Microsoft’s GWX update (KB 3035583) now reappears, even if you'd previously hidden it

I should have known better than to get my hopes up.

From InfoWorld, via Slashdot:

It's back! Microsoft’s Get Windows 10 app, KB 3035583, reappears

The nagware upgrader’s fourteenth version in fourteen months arrives with no fanfare

Once again, Microsoft has unleashed the GWX Kraken, with no explanation and no description. The latest KB 3035583 appears as a “Recommended” optional patch for Windows 7 and 8.1. Those with Automatic Update turned on and “Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates” checked -- the default settings -- will see the patch as a checked, optional update, and it will be installed the next time Automatic Update runs. If you previously hid KB 3035583, it’s now unhidden.

I’m sure there are a dozen people on earth who still have Auto Updates turned on, “Recommended updates” checked, and who haven’t yet accepted Microsoft’s kind invitation for a free copy of Windows 10. This one’s for them.

[...]

Microsoft describes the now-notorious method for dismissing the upgrade, hidden in a tiny link on the “Windows 10 is a Recommended Update for this PC” dialog, in its explanatory post KB 3095675. I was quite surprised to find that, as of early Thursday morning, the “Windows 10 upgrade: How-to information on scheduling and notifications” post has not been changed. It’s still at Version 12, dated May 18.

Lesson learned: from now on, I'll just assume that Microsoft are beyond redemption.

If you're wanting to avoid having your system upgrade automatically to Windows 10, check now to see if your system is about to auto-install update KB3035583 -- you should also check your installed updates, to see if KB3035583 has been installed already, and uninstall if it has. Unless you're wanting to switch to Windows 10, of course, in which case you're golden, because Microsoft apparently can't wait to switch your PC over.

(Seriously, Microsoft... 14 versions in 14 months?! That's just desperate.)

I won't be switching, and to guard against this kind of chicanery, I also have GRC|Never10 running on my PC; you might want to check that out, if you're also wanting to be in control of what Microsoft installs on your computer (and when).

Microsoft now straight up trolling on Windows 10 updates.

Seriously, WTF?

Microsoft has faced criticism for changing the pop-up box encouraging Windows users to upgrade to Windows 10.

 

Clicking the red cross on the right hand corner of the pop-up box now activates the upgrade instead of closing the box. And this has caused confusion as typically clicking a red cross closes a pop-up notification.

So, just to recap, your options when told that it's time to upgrade are now:

1. "Upgrade now," which starts the upgrade right away; 
2. "OK," which schedules the upgrade for later; and 
3. closing the window... which now also schedules the upgrade for later. 

Microsoft is still claiming that "Customers can choose to accept or decline the Windows 10 upgrade," which seems rather disingenuous since the pop-up box doesn't have a single option on it anywhere which leads to that result.

The change occurred because the update is now labelled "recommended" and many people have their PCs configured to accept recommended updates for security reasons. This means dismissing the box does not dismiss the update.

Brad Chacos, senior editor at the PC World website, described it as a "nasty trick".

Yeah, no shit, Brad. But that's today's Microsoft for you: hard at work, losing friends and alienating customers.

By the way, if you're still auto-installing Windows updates whenever Microsoft tells you to, it's long past time to stop. You might also want to look into GRC|Never10, to stop Windows from upgrading anyway, even against your wishes, because Microsoft clearly cannot be trusted to respect your wishes. And if you aren't already running Spybot's Anti-Beacon, then you should consider doing that, too (those of you who have been upgraded to Windows 10, whether or not you actually chose to upgrade, can run O&O ShutUp10 instead).

And, seriously, people... Linux. If you are tech savvy at all, you should be at least looking into running a dual-boot Linux set-up. I know that I am, and will be actually setting it up in about a month, as my summer vacation project, with a goal of completely "defenestrating" when Microsoft sunset Windows 7 ahead of schedule. Because that's obviously their next move.