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?

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.

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.

Windows 10 can still be had for free, weeks after they claimed to have closed the last free-WX loophole

BTW, I've just decided to start abbreviating Windows 10 to "WX," which is both shorter and consistent with GWX branding already used by Microsoft. For brevity and consistency, I'll also be using "W#" for earlier versions (i.e. W7, W8, W8.1), and simply adding the appropriate suffixes for other flavours of WX when needed for clarity (WX-Home, WX-Pro, WX-Core, WX-S, etc.).

It took Microsoft until two full weeks after their Dec. 31st deadline, and change, to finally close the Assistive Technologies loophole, which allowed users to upgrade to WX for free if they were willing to say that they used any kind of Assistive Technology... up to, and including, hot keys. You might thing that the end of the last of the Microsoft's officially free WX offerings would mean the end of stories about how you can still get WX for free.

Well, you would be wrong. Check out the "most relevant" result that Google News returns for "Windows 10."

Yes, that's Forbes, with yet another piece on how WX can still be had for free, now two weeks after the last free WX window was allegedly closed.

Windows 10 was free for a year after launch for anyone who had an older version of Windows. For those who missed this transition period it was possible to get an upgrade right up until the end of 2017, a loophole Microsoft has now closed - although it wasn't much of a loophole, as the company knew all about it.

However there are other ways to upgrade to Windows 10 that don't involve getting the upgrade assistant from the official site.

Yes, apparently this has always worked... meaning that this also isn't much of a loophole, since Microsoft clearly also knows all about it, i.e. working as intended.

It's unclear as to why this works, but if you have a product code for an old version of Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 you should be able to enter this into a copy of Windows 10 and get an activation. You will be given access to the version of Windows 10 that matches the original product key. So Windows 8 Pro will get Windows 10 Pro, while Windows 8 Home will get, you guessed it, Windows 10 Home.

Hmmm.... so it's possible to upgrade from W7-Pro to WX-Pro? It's a shame the GWX app didn't work the same way; I might have been tempted to switch.

Right about now, you might be wondering why Microsoft would still have a WX upgrade left open that's large enough for an auto-truck to drive through? Well, Microsoft themselves are pretty quiet on the issue, but Forbes' Ian Morris has some ideas:

As I pointed out in my article about the closing of the accessibility loophole, I don't think Microsoft really cares about end users getting free upgrades. It makes more money from OEM sales of Windows 10 on new laptops and revenue from corporate users than the slender pickings of home users. Indeed, Microsoft makes more money - and more margin - on selling cloud offerings these days.

Windows isn't a cash cow when it comes to home users, so I suspect there's a lot of give built into the system.

Which makes a lot of sense, actually. It's just a shame that Microsoft are being so disingenuous about it all. I mean, they could easily partner with PC-OEMs to promote new PC sales ("Get the most out of Windows 10 with the latest AMD/Ryzen hardware!"), while also continuing to let tech-savvier users upgrade for free if they still want to... and without the fucking hard sell, this time. Because, honestly, the hard sell of the GWX campaign was a big part of the continued appeal of W7, which culminated in Microsoft simply switching over users who didn't take active steps to avoid the unwanted "upgrade," even after they'd repeatedly refused Microsoft's malware-laden Home version of WX.

Hell, Microsoft even have a better product to give away than they did a few years ago, with more features and (crucially) better privacy protections, and even better privacy tools due to be added to the platform in a couple of months. And if I can also use my W7 Professional license to upgrade to WX-Pro, rather than the gimped Home version, to gain even more features and even better privacy tools... when, that becomes one hell of a sales pitch, doesn't it?

So, what's the problem?

Still alive...

Months after announcing that they would tighten requirements on the Assistive Technologies upgrade path for Windows 10 on Dec. 31st, effectively closing the free upgrade path for people who didn't use a very limited set of accessibility devices, it appears that Microsoft has now missed that deadline. Yes, the morally challenged among you who still want to upgrade to Windows 10 for free can still do so, a situation about which Microsoft apparently give zero fucks, as reported by TechRadar:

Microsoft’s offer to upgrade Windows 7 or Windows 8 to Windows 10 for free for users who need assistive technologies was supposed to run out at the end of 2017, but according to reports the method is still valid right now.

The assistive technologies upgrade page is indeed still live, and allows you to download the Windows 10 upgrade executable, despite the page stating that the offer expires on December 31, 2017.

According to Ghacks, and other sources including readers who tipped MS Power User, you can fire up that file and still upgrade, so you haven’t missed the boat yet.

The caveat is that you may run into an error message during the upgrade process, but this is easily fixed as discussed by Ghacks (essentially, you have to copy a specific DLL file across).

[...]

It seems that the other route of upgrading to Windows 10 – using an existing Windows 7/8.1 product key to activate the installation of the new OS – also still works as we’ve headed into 2018.

Ultimately, Microsoft probably isn’t too fussed about closing these loopholes because pumping up the numbers of Windows 10 users is obviously not a bad thing for the company.

At this point, I would add only that I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!

Of course the loophole is still open. Of course Microsoft are taking their own sweet time about closing it, now two and a half years after Windows 10 was released, and counting. By some projections, Windows 10 adoption may not surpass Windows 7 until November, even with this free upgrade path, and Windows 7 may well retain at least a 39% user share when its extended support window finally closes in 2020. With those numbers staring them in the face, the only thing which is at all surprising about Microsoft's indifference to "abuse" of the Assistive Technologies loophole, is that anyone is at all surprised by it.

If Microsoft want my advice (which they don't, but I'm going to give it anyway), not only should they continue to allow free Windows 10 upgrades indefinitely for all users, but they should allow free upgrades to Windows 10 Professional for users who have Professional licences of Windows 7 and 8/8.1 tight up until Windows 8.1's end-of-life date in 2023. No more cute games and sly winks; just do it, already. MS should either admit that they're still giving it away, or close the loopholes, in exactly the way they said they would, and clearly have no intention of doing. Because there's really no excuse for not having tightened up this policy loophole after a year and and a half of watching people abuse it; at this point, we have to assume that continued abuse is the desired result.

Of course, all of this assumes that there are Windows 7 and 8.1 users who (a) want to "upgrade" to Windows 10, and (b) haven't already done so, neither of which appears to be the case. I expect to keep reading about this on Windows-friendly tech blogs and media sites for months to come, though, which is something of a disappointment; I really was hoping that the high-pressure Windows 10 sales pitch would finally be over, but apparently, that glorious day (may it soon come) is still months away.

Le sigh.

UPDATED JAN. 4th:

It looks like Microsoft have finally, officially, extended the deadline on the loophole to their loophole, as reported by Winbuzzer:

We’ve been advising assistive technology users to grab a free Windows 10 for several months. It was due to end on December 31, but the new year came and the offer remained. A new update to the webpage reveals that Microsoft has extended the offer to January 16, 2018.

“If you use assistive technologies, you can upgrade to Windows 10 at no cost as Microsoft continues our efforts to improve the Windows 10 experience for people who use these technologies. Please take advantage of this offer before it expires on January 16, 2018,” says the webpage.

You can upgrade from versions of Windows 7 and 8.1, avoiding the regular $120. The only requirement is the use of some form of accessibility tech, but Microsoft doesn’t check. As a result, anyone with the earlier OSes can upgrade for free.

Winbuzzer end their piece with this knee-slapper:

It seems unlikely that the company will extend the deadline again, so make you take advantage of it.  

Really? Because, from where I'm sitting, Microsoft have done nothing but extend the deadline on their free Windows 10 giveaway, every chance they've had. Why would anyone believe that they really, really, double-pinkie-swear mean it, this time?

Le sigh.

Microsoft to end free Windows 10 upgrades, a year and a half after ending free Windows 10 upgrades

With the closure of the "assistive technologies" loophole, Microsoft's Get Windows 10 (GWX) campaign finally limps to a close. Does that mean we'll stop hearing about it now?

From Windows Latest:

On July 29, 2016, Microsoft ended the free Windows 10 upgrade offer for the owners of Windows 7 and 8.1 machines. The company, however, left a loophole, that allows any user to upgrade to Windows 10 for free despite the original offer is over. As we reported, the Windows 10 free upgrade offer was still available even after the release of the Fall Creators Update.

Microsoft is now finally going to end the offer later this year. Once the offer ends, the official loophole will be closed and the users won’t be able to upgrade their Windows 7 or 8.1 machines to Windows 10 operating system for free.

[...]

Microsoft never restricted the upgrade offer to specific assistive technologies and even no verifications where being made, basically offering the Windows 10 upgrade for completely free to any users.

I sometimes wonder if tech journalists will ever wake up to reality, here. People who haven't "upgraded" to Windows 10 are not still on Windows 7 or 8.1 because they're procrastinating, or because they just haven't got around to it yet. The procrastinators were all switched to Windows 10, by Microsoft, in some cases after having refused the "upgrade" repeatedly. Anyone still using an older Windows version had to take active steps to stay there; they're dug in now, and don't want to switch.

The lure of free Windows 10 has not been enough to lure Windows 7 users away from their OS for over two years now. The fear of WannaCry or other malware has failed to scare Windows 7 users into the safe, warm arms of Windows 10 for over six months. The Windows 10 deal started rotten, and has been a moving target ever since, and Windows 7 and 8.1 users simply decided to opt out; they're not going to change until the have to, and many won't change even then.

Yes, Windows 7 is the new XP; it really has already happened. Keeping this "assistive technologies" loophole open as long as they did wasn't just pointless on Microsoft's part, it was insulting. Now that it's finally ending, I say good riddance.

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.

Another unforced error

Back during the dark days of GWX, when Microsoft were upgrading people to Windows 10 whether they wanted to switch or not, the fig leaves that they tried cover themselves with, were (a) that Windows 10 would run on basically any PC that could run any version of Windows from XP onward, and (b) that consumers, having switched, would never have to worry about their operating system ever again, because Windows 10 would be supported by Microsoft until the end of time. That was the "deal" -- switch once, and never worry about it again, ever.

You'll never guess what's happened now. Go ahead, try to guess. And if you guessed that Darth Microsoft has altered the deal, again, then give yourself a no-prize, because that's exactly what they've just done for some of those customers.

From The Independent:

A number of PCs have unexpectedly been blocked from receiving future Windows 10 updates.

Unless Microsoft addresses the incompatibility issue, the computers will be obsolete in early 2018.

That would be hugely disappointing for users, who would be forced to purchase new devices.

The issue affects computers built around Intel's Atom Clover Trail processors, reports ZDNet.

The chips feature in entry-level PCs that came out in 2012 or later.

These computers shipped with Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, and Microsoft made Windows 10 available to them as a free update.

Windows 10 is both newer and much easier to use than Windows 8 and 8.1, so upgrading would have been a no-brainer.

Unfortunately, these computers have now been found to be unable to install the Windows 10 Creators Update. 

Psych! Not only did these folks upgrade to Windows 10 only to have the rug pulled out from under them, but now they need all new PCs! Or, maybe, just to wipe their hard drives and reinstall the earlier version of Windows that their "Atom" PCs originally came with. Either way, though, it's a significant loss of time and/or money.

But don't worry -- it gets worse!

To make matters worse, if the owners of these machines had opted to stick with Windows 8 or 8.1 instead of upgrading to Windows 10, they’d continue to receive support through to 1 October 2023, according to Ars Technica.

Oops!

When I first saw this story being reported this morning, I was thinking that it might not get a lot of traction; after all, how many Atom Z2760, Z2520, Z2560 and/or Z2580 PCs were ever sold? Apparently, though, I was wrong, and the fact that there are Windows 10 users whose OS version will stop receiving security updates a full five years before they would have, if they'd just stuck to Windows 8, is grabbing the attention that it deserves.

Por ejemplo, WCCFTech:

Microsoft Brutally Ends Windows 10 Support Early for Some Intel Systems

The biggest selling point of Windows 10, apart from the fact that it was offered for free, was the promise of regular and free future updates. Under the new Windows as a Service (WaaS) model, Microsoft said users will continue to receive security and feature updates for their devices. There will no longer be those annoying notifications telling you that your Windows version is outdated because you will be able to upgrade to the newer versions as soon as they are made available.

What many Windows 10 adopters missed was a small note that this promise of continued support is only valid for the “supported lifetime of the device.” ZDNet now reports that the end of support for some Windows 10 devices has already arrived, just two years after the release of Windows 10.

It cannot be stressed enough, at this point, that this latest black eye for Microsoft did not have to happen. It was only their own greed that saw them pressuring Intel Atom PC owners to adopt Windows 10 when their systems really weren't compatible; and the only reason that Microsoft are cutting support for those same users now is that keeping Windows up-to-date on such underpowered systems has clearly been judged to cost more than it's worth.

Expecting consumers who bought budget PCs five years ago to be willing to buy new PCs now, just to run Windows 10, is just hubris. Microsoft richly deserves the PR black eye that they're taking over this latest unforced error.

UPDATE:

As reported in The Verge, Microsoft have confirmed that Windows 10 builds from Creators Update onwards will not be available for "Clover Trail" Atom systems, but that proud owners of those systems will be able to get security updates for the Anniversary Update until 2023:

“They require additional hardware support to provide the best possible experience when updating to the latest Windows 10 feature update, the Windows 10 Creators Update,” explains a Microsoft spokesperson. “However, these systems are no longer supported by Intel (End of Interactive Support), and without the necessary driver support, they may be incapable of moving to the Windows 10 Creators Update without a potential performance impact.”

Microsoft says it will be offering the older Windows 10 Anniversary Update to Intel Clover Trail devices instead, and the company “will provide security updates to these specific devices running the Windows 10 Anniversary Update until January of 2023.” This date aligns with the original Windows 8.1 extended support period, which means that these older devices will still be supported with security updates but no new Windows 10 features.

Well, at least those affected aren't being told to buy new PCs anymore.

To be clear, this was the absolute minimum that Microsoft owed to Atom PC owners, after fucking them over. I don't expect that this will be the end of the matter, though, given that Microsoft are already fighting multiple class-action lawsuits over their overly-aggressive Get Windows 10 campaign, and now have to admit that the "optional" offer that users couldn't refuse also included promises that MS not only haven't kept, but had no intention of keeping. If nothing else, businesses that were looking at switching to Windows 10 will now have to reassess their hardware, and ask how much of it will still be supported with the latest Windows 10 builds in five years' time; if the cost of switching to Windows 10 has to include the cost of replacing all their PCs sooner than previously planned, you can expect more businesses to delay switching for as long as possible.

Microsoft is doing what they can to control the damage, but make no mistake: the damage is already done.

What to do when you hate Windows 10

I'm seeing more and more stories like this one lately, from PC World:

I usually start this column with “so and so needed something done to their PC,” but if I were to include the names of all the people who have written me about how unhappy they are with their Windows 10 “upgrade” the file would be so large the server that hosts this page would need a new hard drive. I’ve been inundated with unhappy Windows 10 users for the past two months, and my heart goes out to these folks. A lot of them were upgraded unsuspectingly, and Microsoft deserves a ton of scorn for its malware-like Windows 10 upgrade tactics. That said, now that you have Windows 10 on your PC and you’re not happy, here’s what you can do about it.

Their list of things you can do pretty short: 1) keep it but make changes, 2) nuke it and install a different OS, and 3) restore from factory OS partition (for PCs from Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc.). #4 on their list is literally something you can't do:

4. Isn’t there an easier way to go back to my old OS?

Not anymore, there isn’t. There was a period during the “free upgrade” era when Microsoft allowed people to try Windows 10 for 31 days and go back if they were unhappy, but that window has closed. So for now you’re stuck with it.

Profoundly unhelpful. It took only two comments for one of their readers to chime in with some (potentially) more useful advice:

max999
"Microsoft deserves a ton of scorn for its malware-like Windows 10 upgrade tactics"

You left out:
5. Look into joining the huge lawsuit coming against Microsoft for these forced upgrades to Windows 10.

This isn't an outlier, of course. The headlines have been slowly but surely filling up with variations on this theme for a while now.

Businesses aren't upgrading to Windows 10

From Techno Buffalo:

Windows 10 might be a nice upgrade for most PC users — especially when it was free — but many just aren’t interested in it. Businesses especially are avoiding Microsoft’s latest operating system, according to new data.

Softchoice, which has obtained data from the TechCheck IT asset management service that is supplied to 169 firms in the U.S. running over 400,000 Windows machines, has found that only 0.75 percent of businesses are currently running Windows 10.

That’s right — not even a full percentage of businesses are running Windows 10 more than a year after its release.

Windows 7 is still used by 91 percent of enterprise customers, according to Softchoice, and that percentage continues to grow. It’s actually up 18 percent since the same time last year. Windows 8 is currently being used by 4 percent of businesses.

And TechRadar Pro:

Windows 10 certainly hasn't been without its controversies, and we've heard somewhat conflicting reports about how well it's gone down in terms of business adoption – although a new piece of research is claiming that Microsoft's newest operating system is not proving popular with American companies.

This news comes from Softchoice, which took data from its TechCheck IT asset management service pertaining to 169 firms in the US running over 400,000 Windows machines – finding that only 0.75% of these were using Windows 10. Yep, not even a full percentage point…

So what version of Windows are businesses running? You won't be surprised to learn that the overwhelming majority of organisations are still using Windows 7 – in fact 91% of the business PCs involved in this study.

And perhaps most interestingly, that's actually a big increase compared to the same period which was evaluated last year – the figure is up 18% on 2015.

[...]

Even Windows 8 is outdoing Microsoft's latest OS according to this data, as it has captured 4% of the market. Mind you, worryingly, that's still less than Windows XP which is on 5% of machines despite being woefully out of date in terms of security and support.

Windows XP's perplexing persistence is a long-standing issue that the free Windows 10 giveaway probably wasn't going to solve, since those would all be older machines that couldn't run the new OS without issues anyway, but the fact that Windows 10 is lagging 3 percentage points behind the massively unpopular Windows 8 should be giving Satya Nadella nightmares. The fact that Windows 10 Pro lost features like Policies, in a clear bid to push businesses to the more expensive Enterprise versions, is probably not helping, and migrating an entire business to a new OS is a huge and time-consuming endeavor at the best of times, but that can't be the entire story. So, what is going on here?

The EFF investigated Microsoft's GWX tactics after all... and were not not amused

I'd stopped thinking that the Change.org petition of a couple of months back would ever come to anything, but the Electronic Frontier Foundation was apparently just taking their time:

Microsoft had an ambitious goal with the launch of Windows 10: a billion devices running the software by the end of 2018. In its quest to reach that goal, the company aggressively pushed Windows 10 on its users and went so far as to offer free upgrades for a whole year. However, the company’s strategy for user adoption has trampled on essential aspects of modern computing: user choice and privacy. We think that’s wrong.

You don’t need to search long to come across stories of people who are horrified and amazed at just how far Microsoft has gone in order to increase Windows 10’s install base. Sure, there is some misinformation and hyperbole, but there are also some real concerns that current and future users of Windows 10 should be aware of. As the company is currently rolling out its “Anniversary Update” to Windows 10, we think it’s an appropriate time to focus on and examine the company’s strategy behind deploying Windows 10.

The EFF goes on to take Microsoft to task for disregarding user choice:

Time after time, with each update, Microsoft chose to employ questionable tactics to cause users to download a piece of software that many didn’t want. What users actually wanted didn’t seem to matter. In an extreme case, members of a wildlife conservation group in the African jungle felt that the automatic download of Windows 10 on a limited bandwidth connection could have endangered their lives if a forced upgrade had begun during a mission.

And also for disregarding users' privacy:

The trouble with Windows 10 doesn’t end with forcing users to download the operating system. By default, Windows 10 sends an unprecedented amount of usage data back to Microsoft, and the company claims most of it is to “personalize” the software by feeding it to the OS assistant called Cortana. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of data sent back: location data, text input, voice input, touch input, webpages you visit, and telemetry data regarding your general usage of your computer, including which programs you run and for how long.

While we understand that many users find features like Cortana useful, and that such features would be difficult (though not necessarily impossible) to implement in a way that doesn’t send data back to the cloud, the fact remains that many users would much prefer to opt out of these features in exchange for maintaining their privacy.

And while users can opt-out of some of these settings, it is not a guarantee that your computer will stop talking to Microsoft’s servers. A significant issue is the telemetry data the company receives. While Microsoft insists that it aggregates and anonymizes this data, it hasn’t explained just how it does so. Microsoft also won’t say how long this data is retained, instead providing only general timeframes. Worse yet, unless you’re an enterprise user, no matter what, you have to share at least some of this telemetry data with Microsoft and there’s no way to opt-out of it.

So far, so good, and pretty much in line with every criticism I've seen of Microsoft's behaviour, both during the GWX campaign and continuing with the Anniversary Update -- and, presumably, beyond.

The EFF doesn't stop with criticism, though -- they also have to recommendations for Microsoft, as to how they can repair some of the damage:

Microsoft should come clean with its user community. The company needs to acknowledge its missteps and offer real, meaningful opt-outs to the users who want them, preferably in a single unified screen. It also needs to be straightforward in separating security updates from operating system upgrades going forward, and not try to bypass user choice and privacy expectations.

Otherwise it will face backlash in the form of individual lawsuits, state attorney general investigations, and government investigations.

We at EFF have heard from many users who have asked us to take action, and we urge Microsoft to listen to these concerns and incorporate this feedback into the next release of its operating system. Otherwise, Microsoft may find that it has inadvertently discovered just how far it can push its users before they abandon a once-trusted company for a better, more privacy-protective solution.

Did I mention that Linux's market share has been rising slowly but steadily since April? I think some of those users have already decided to abandon Redmond's ship. It just remains to be seen how much their arrogance costs them -- both in terms of regulatory action and lawsuits, and also in negative publicity. So far, only WinBeta have picked up this story, at least that I've seen; it'll be interesting to see if anyone else still thinks that this is worth reporting.

UPDATE:
It appears that this story definitely does have some legs, with coverage on Trusted Reviews, Telepresence Options, ZDNet, Redmond Magazine, Windows IT Pro, MS Power User, techradar, and Digital Trends. Yes. the GWX PR damage continues. Good job Microsoft. Well done, you.

The end is nigh...

If you haven't switched to Windows 10 yet, you're almost out of time, and Microsoft will finally stop asking.

From ZDNet:

Microsoft's year-long offer to Windows 7 and 8.X PC and tablet users to get Windows 10 as a free update ends today, July 29, as Microsoft reconfirmed it would back in May this year.

What else ends today? Microsoft's aggressive campaign to get those users to update to Windows 10 via its "Get Windows 10" app and prompts.

I've been working to track down some more specifics as to what will happen after today, regarding GWX and automatic installs of the Windows 10 November Update (1511). Microsoft has been very (I'd say, overly) pushy about trying to get users to take the free update -- so pushy that there are two more suits against the company over this that are seeking class-action status, as reported by The Seattle Times.

Here are some of my questions and Microsoft answers (provided via a spokesperson) about the end of the GWX campaign.

[...]

Q: Will MS still be marking Windows 10 as a recommended update on July 30 to those with Auto Updates turned on? Or will this no longer be the case?

A: The free upgrade offer ends at 11:59 p.m. UTC-10 on July 29, 2016. As such, it will no longer be available as a recommended update through Windows Update. (MJF note: This is the first time Microsoft officials have said this. I've been asking for the past couple of months and they declined to comment.)

Q: Microsoft officials said it will take a while for all the Get Windows 10 prompts to stop showing up. If people running Win 7/8.X see the GWX prompt starting July 30 and click on it, what happens? Will they go to a site suggesting they buy the update?

A: On July 29th the notifications will end. The Get Windows 10 (GWX) application will advise that the free upgrade offer has ended. In time, we will remove the application.

Thank God.

The floodgates are definitely open

We all knew that Microsoft's GWX lawsuit woes weren't going to end with one travel agent in Sausalito. It really was just a matter of time until the class action floodgates opened; the question was not if? but when? and the answer, apparently, is now.

From the Seattle Times:

Microsoft is facing two lawsuits seeking class-action status related to the company’s campaign to get people to use Windows 10.

Three Florida men sued Microsoft in U.S. District Court in Florida on Friday, saying Microsoft’s Windows 10 update prompts violated laws governing unsolicited electronic advertisements, as well as Federal Trade Commission prohibitions on deceptive and unfair practices.

Microsoft was also sued last month in district court in Haifa, Israel. That suit, which is also seeking class-action status, alleges Windows 10 installed on Windows users’ computers without their consent. That, the suit alleges, violates Israeli computer law.

Microsoft responded with the normal boilerplate legal-speak (“we believe the plaintiffs’ claims are without merit and we are confident we’ll be successful in court”) that corporations use whenever anyone sues them, and the Times piece goes on state their position:

The company said updates to Windows 10 are a choice, not a requirement, and that Microsoft offers free customer support for those who run into trouble. People who update to Windows 10 can roll back to their prior system for 31 days afterward, Microsoft says.

Of course... because that worked so well for them, the last time they tried it.

Really, really bad timing

With a last-minute onslaught of PR-department fueled "last chance to upgrade for free" stories flooding the 'net, coverage of CNIL's stark warnings to Microsoft about the seriously deficient privacy package that comes with Windows 10 have been somewhat drowned out in the news cycle, so it's heartening to see that some are determined to link the two stories into the single narrative that they should be. Por ejemplo, Gordon Kelly at Forbes:

July is a huge month for Microsoft because it marks the end of free Windows 10 upgrades. But it also coincides with serious new warnings issued about the operating system…

The warnings come directly from France’s National Data Protection Commission (CNIL) which has accused Microsoft of using Windows 10 for “collecting excessive data and tracking browsing by users without their consent”.

The CNIL also claims Microsoft collects “irrelevant or excessive data”, does not have “satisfactory measures to ensure the security and confidentiality of user data”, does not abide by the European Union’s ‘Safe Habour’ rules because it stores user data outside their home country without consent and damns the company for the lack of user consent Windows 10 provides as it enables so many data tracking features by default.

[...]

The timing of the investigation couldn’t be worse for Microsoft as free Windows 10 upgrades will end on July 29th and a late surge of upgraders has been expected. Whether the findings of the CNIL will hinder this globally remains to be seen, but it certainly won’t be comforting to users still sitting on the fence.

The news also overshadows the impending launch of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, which is packed with useful upgrades, and is also timed to tempt users to migrate from Windows 7 and Windows 8 before the deadline.

The big question is now whether the actions of the French authority will trigger similar declarations from other countries. Something that would prove a public relations nightmare for Windows 10 around the world.

(Emphasis added, of course.)

It's good to see a masthead with some significant giving space to some due diligence on the intersection of these narrative threads: #upgradegate and its fallout; the desperate last push of Microsoft's GWX campaign; and the imminent Anniversary Update which is meant to dangle extra carrots in front of reticent Windows 7 hold-outs. At first blush, these may seem like unrelated stories, but they're very definitely related. Some good work by Kelly, here, to connect the dots, especially in this last week of GWX, when Microsoft would clearly love for the prevailing story to by about just really anything else.

To upgrade, or not to upgrade... that is the question...

I've been pretty adamant over the last few months about not upgrading to Windows 10, for a number of reasons. Everything from Windows 10's privacy problems, including the fact that the Home version gives you no control over an update cycle that can (and will) reset some of your privacy settings; to the more-than-a-little skeevy practice of putting ads on lock screens and start menus; to the not-so-subtly anti-competitive nature of the Universal Windows Platform; to the fact that many of my peripheral drivers simply won't work with the new OS; all combined with the fact that Windows 7 is still working pretty well for me, thanks very much, and should continue to work for me until 2020... Well, suffice to say that there are lots of reasons to simply stand pat.

The biggest reason, however, at least for me, has been the simple fact of Microsoft's arrogant disregard for their customers: our trust, our good will, our right to have our decisions respected, have all been treated like so much trash by Redmond over the last few months, and I was simply loathe to add another installation to their count. I had no intention of contributing to their success metrics, and zero desire to reward their bad behaviour with anything that might be construed as any measure of approval, tacit or otherwise.

Now, however, the state of play has changed.

Microsoft's troubles begin in earnest

I figured that this would happen sooner or later, and it seems that today's the day.

From CBC News:

Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system collects "excessive" data on users, violates privacy laws in "numerous" ways and must be fixed within three months, France's national data privacy watchdog announced Wednesday.

The findings could herald decisions expected in the coming months in Canada and other European countries over an operating system that has raised a rash of privacy concerns about how it tracks users.

France's Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (National Commission for Information Technology and Civil Liberties, or CNIL in French) says in a notice posted online today that it has warned Microsoft about the breaches and the software giant could be penalized if it doesn't "cease the excessive collection of users' data and browsing history without their consent."

The agency alleges Microsoft is violating France's data privacy law by:

• Using Windows 10 to track all the programs users install on their system and the amount of time they spend using each one.
• Allowing users to set a relatively weak, four-digit PIN code to access online services, including online payment history, without capping the number of incorrect PIN attempts before someone is locked out of the account.
• Targeting users with Microsoft and third-party advertising based on their browsing history, without prior user consent.
• Tracking and targeting users with browser cookies without informing them or implementing an opt-out.
• Transmitting personal information back to the United States, where Microsoft is headquartered, under the auspices of the EU-U.S. "safe harbour" agreement, despite a decision last October by the European Court of Justice ruling the agreement invalid.

Prompted by media reports and letters from several French political parties, France's data privacy agency began looking into Windows 10 shortly after the operating system launched in July 2015.

The agency is considered one of the toughest in Europe and has already gone after Google over the European Union's "right to be forgotten" rule.

Other European national privacy watchdogs are also looking at Windows 10, as is the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

The story is blowing up online, with coverage on Bloomberg, The Register, WinBeta, and ZDNet, to name a few. Naturally, WinBeta has given the most space to Microsoft's response:

“Earlier today Microsoft received a notice from the French data protection authority, the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés or CNIL, raising concerns about certain aspects of Windows 10. The notice gives Microsoft three months to address the issues.

"We built strong privacy protections into Windows 10, and we welcome feedback as we continually work to enhance those protections. We will work closely with the CNIL over the next few months to understand the agency’s concerns fully and to work toward solutions that it will find acceptable.

“The CNIL noted that the Safe Harbor framework is no longer valid for transferring data from European Union to the United States. We fully understand the importance of establishing a sound legal framework for trans-Atlantic data transfers, and that is why Microsoft has been very supportive of the efforts on both side of the Atlantic that led to last week’s adoption of the Privacy Shield.

“As the European Commission observed, Microsoft’s January 2016 Privacy Statement states that the company adheres to the principles of the Safe Harbor Framework. Microsoft has in fact continued to live up to all of its commitments under the Safe Harbor Framework, even as the European and U.S. representatives worked toward the new Privacy Shield.

"As we state in our privacy statement, in addition to the Safe Harbor Framework we rely on a variety of legal mechanisms as the basis for transferring data from Europe, including standard contractual clauses, a data transfer mechanism established by the European Commission and approved by European data protection authorities, to cover data flows from the European Union to the United States.

“Microsoft will release an updated privacy statement next month, and that will say Microsoft intends to adopt the Privacy Shield. We are working now toward meeting the requirements of the Privacy Shield.”

In short, Microsoft is committed to preserving the privacy and security of its customer’s data and has built Windows 10 around protecting that data, and will be working with the CNIL to address their concerns. An updated privacy statement will be coming from Microsoft in August, confirming Microsoft’s intention to adopt the European Commission’s Privacy Shield for which the company has already expressed support.

A couple of things here:

The elephant in the room

Microsoft's missed billion-install Windows 10 target continues to reverberate, but I've noticed a subtle shift in today's coverage. Friday's stories were pretty much just reporting on the event itself, and repeating Microsoft's statements explaining the shortfall, but today's commentary seems to be a little more skeptical.

Por ejemplo, take this piece, from ChannelBiz:

Back in April 2015, when Windows 10 was initially released, Microsoft was already facing a dramatic decline in sales of its Lumia devices.

In Microsoft’s financial year 2015, which ran from July 2014 to June 2015, Microsoft sold just shy of 37 million units, a 57 percent drop from the previous year. To compare, Microsoft has sold just 2.3 million units in the first quarter of 2016. But Windows 10 was launched in Microsoft’s third quarter of 2015, so the company knew full well that it shouldn’t account Windows Phone sales for much in its one billion devices predictions.

That leaves us with the elephant in the room – desktops.

As we speak, the desktop market is continuing on its unrecoverable decline. Worldwide PC shipments totalled 64.8 million units in the first quarter of 2016, a 9.6 percent decline from the first quarter of 2015, according to Gartner.

This was the sixth consecutive quarter of PC shipment declines, and the first time since 2007 that shipment volume fell below 65 million units.

Not good news. The first 12 months of Microsoft’s Windows 10 journey always relied upon the free upgrade for existing desktop and laptop users. This accounts for much of Microsoft’s much-applauded 350 million device install base.

Or this piece, from the Inquirer: 

Microsoft has blamed the shortfall on failings in its phone business, but the mobile platform has never had a particularly strong user base and was unlikely to generate a huge part of the total figure.

It is also likely that installations on laptops and other desktop machines have perhaps not been as high as hoped, especially given some of the negative backlash after Microsoft's attempts to enforce the Windows 10 update on all users.

The free update to Windows 10 will expire in a few weeks, which will undoubtedly slow the uptake even more, and is not why the folks at Redmond have had to admit defeat in their goal of one billion devices on Windows 10 by 2018.

Microsoft's PR-fu has been pretty effective for most of #upgradegate, helping them to manage the simmering backlash, but it's looking more and more like the effectiveness of their GWX push was a big part of that -- with their GWX revealed as not only unpleasant, and demonstrably actionable, but also as failing to meet their install base targets, the tide of opinion seems to finally be turning against Redmond's heavy-handed tactics. Everything was permissible, it seems, as long as they were succeeding, but to pull so many underhanded tricks and then fall short may be a bridge too far.

I say "may" because, so far at least, their share price doesn't seem to be suffering much on this news; we'll have to see how well that holds, if the end-of-month market share numbers show little or no movement for Windows 10 (which is my prediction). For now, though, everyones' jobs appear to be safe enough in Redmond.

Confirmed: Windows 10 will not make "1 Billion by 2018" target

From ZDNet:

A little over a year ago, with much fanfare, Microsoft execs drew a line in the sand, predicting that Windows 10 would be installed on 1 billion devices by mid-2018.

But Microsoft officials conceded today, July 15, that they likely won't make that deadline.

My ZDNet colleague Ed Bott noted at the end of a blog post Friday that Microsoft officials still think they can hit the 1 billion Windows 10 market, but that "it's unlikely to happen by 2018 as originally projected".

I asked Microsoft for further clarification and received the following statement from a spokesperson: "Windows 10 is off to the hottest start in history with over 350m monthly active devices, with record customer satisfaction and engagement. We're pleased with our progress to date, but due to the focusing of our phone hardware business, it will take longer than FY18 for us to reach our goal of 1 billion monthly active devices. In the year ahead, we are excited about usage growth coming from commercial deployments and new devices -- and increasing customer delight with Windows."

This is when I'm supposed to talk about how I hate to say, "I told you so," but I'd be lying -- it's actually one of my favourite things. Also: called it.

Microsoft was apparently expecting Windows 10 to get a big bump from the sales of tablets and 2-in-1's (in spite of iPad Pro outselling Surface in that slice of the market) and from phones and other mobile devices (in spite of the fact that nobody wants a Windows phone). I've said all along that the only reason that made sense for pushing Windows 10 so aggressively on PC was if it was failing on other devices, and that's now confirmed, although Microsoft are apparently still hinting at "some kind of Surface Phone type device" launching in 2017.

I wonder if the long-term damage done to their relationship with PC customers, and the loss of trust and goodwill that comes with using deceptive and coercive tactics to push us into using an OS that's loaded with built-in adware and spyware, still looks like such a bright idea in Redmond?

Here's another prediction: July's OS market share numbers will show little to no movement for Windows 10. I think that today's admission that the 1B target is impossible is Microsoft getting out in front of that story before numbers become available, thus abandoning their previous strategy of pretending that they might still make their target. Put a pin in this one, folks, and place your bets.

No, Microsoft's legal troubles are not the result of a Google-led conspiracy

Here's to Windows Report, still lowering the journalistic bar by carrying water for Microsoft:

The tech giant recently lost a Windows 10 upgrade lawsuit and had to pay $10,000 in damages after its upgrade tricks caused a businesswoman to almost lose her business.

NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and his team are actively investigating a new Windows 10 forced upgrade case and are gathering evidence and user complaints against Microsoft’s unfair upgrade tactics. The lawmen have been helped by the Rockland County Times newspaper, which forwarded them a series of Windows 10 upgrade complaints.

NY state is not the only state actively investigating user accusations against Microsoft’s Windows 10 upgrade methods as other states are also beginning to actively pursue cases against Microsoft on their residents’ behalf.

This wave of lawsuits against Microsoft has even convinced some of the company’s fans to conclude that these events are being orchestrated by Microsoft’s competition. Google has never hidden its intention of stealing 80% of Microsoft’s business client pool, and many Windows users fear the search engine giant has recently raised the stakes.

You've got to be fucking kidding me.

Well, that was short-lived

So much for moving on...

From the Rockland County Times:

In the wake of this column’s charges of “FORCED” imposition by Microsoft of Windows 10 on the operating systems of the computers of many of their customers, Attorney-General Eric Schneiderman is actively pursuing the cases of affected Microsoft customers for their alleged damages caused by the company in FORCING or DECEIVING them into accepting this upgrade.

In a late Tuesday afternoon telephone call made to this writer by Rachel Casey of the New York State Attorney-General’s Bureau of Internet and Technology, which investigates cases of INTERNET FRAUD, the Rockland County Times was praised for its unique efforts to reach out to the affected Microsoft customers and enable them to e-mail their complaints to us which, in turn, would be forwarded in one group to her for consideration of their possible damages.

I had a feeling that Microsoft's legal troubles over #upgradegate were just beginning. It looks like this gift will keep on giving for a long time yet, as officials in various jurisdictions finally catch up to what's been going on for months.