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.

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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.

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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?