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Microsoft's Windows 10 Upgrade Screen Interrupts Meteorologist's Live Forecast (hothardware.com)

Posted by msmash on from the hey,-upgrade-already! dept.

Reader MojoKid writes: If you're a Windows 7 or Windows 8 user who hasn't yet upgraded to Windows 10, you've probably been bombarded at some point by Microsoft to upgrade, and not always at the most convenient times. Such was also the case with one meteorologist who saw a Windows 10 upgrade prompt show up during a very inopportune time -- right in the middle of a live forecast. Metinka Slater, a meteorologist with Des Moines CBS affiliate KCCI 8, was going about her business, giving viewers a rundown of the 12-hour rainfall totals in the area when a nagging Windows 10 upgrade screen popped up, just like it has for thousands of everyday Windows users. But rather than get flustered or give into Microsoft's demands, Slater laughed off the annoyance. "Ahh, Microsoft recommends upgrading to Windows 10. What should I do?" Slater joked. "Don't you love when that pops up?"From the looks of it, either the concerned computer is running Windows 98, or is using classic theme.

13 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. Here's a good idea by Nidi62 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The TV station should send an invoice to Microsoft to bill them for the advertising time.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    1. Re:Here's a good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      > This is the TV station's fault for not deploying their computers correctly.

      Captain Perfection Has Spoken.

      I say it's Microsoft's fault for being so annoyingly intrusive and persistent.

    2. Re:Here's a good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Sorry but I have to say stfu with all this MS defending. If Microsoft wasn't trying to shove Win10 down everyone's throat via that deceptive dialog, none of this would be an issue. Enterprise or home edition, doesn't matter. Full stop.

      Now if it had something to do with security or other non-marketing issue then yeah, slam their IT dep't. But this is solely under the purview of marketing.

      TL;DR: Don't embarrass yourself by defending Microsoft's stupid marketing fuckup.

    3. Re:Here's a good idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's the user's fault when their software is working against them?

      Microsoft apologists always blame the user for Microsoft's low quality software. When Microsoft produce a trainwreck of a UI apologists blame users for not being able to learn how to use it. When Microsoft produce an operating system that collects your data and users object, apologists say it's the user being stupid and that data collection is fine. When Microsoft intentionally breaks Windows 7 in a variety of ways it's the user's fault for using ancient software.

      Software you buy should be working for your benefit, not Microsoft's benefit. They shouldn't be hijacking your computer to try and force you to upgrade to Windows 10. They shouldn't be redesiging their UI to try and sell things through the Windows Store so they can take 30% of the proceeds. They shouldn't be treating your as a source of information to be harvested.

      it's not the user's fault when Microsoft's software produces failures like this, it's Microsoft's fault.

    4. Re:Here's a good idea by chispito · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why mod this down? He's right.

      If a Linux system message popped up during a live broadcast, people (here) would assume that the machine was misconfigured for their use case. There is a wealth of information on the Internet about how to deal with these messages, and if you don't have proper IT support to configure systems in your broadcast tool chain, you are clearly doing it wrong.

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    5. Re:Here's a good idea by mysidia · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is the TV station's fault for not deploying their computers correctly. This issue has been known for months and months now and a fix has been around for quite a while.

      Not an initial deployment issue.

      A surprising unwanted behavior introduced in a patch, that the administrator would not have noticed, unless they were reading many online articles about it.

      If anybody's fault it's Microsoft's for not having provided the option Years ago, so they could opt-out of Nag Screens and Auto OS upgrades at the time of initial deployment, not AFTER deployment, with a new Opt-Out being required for Novel unwanted behavior.

      However, I would just say it's an understandable accident that anybody could make. It's nobody's "Fault" other than Microsoft management/marketing deciding to introduce the Novel behavior with a NEW Opt-Out option, instead of one that could have been selected Along with the option to turn on Automatic Updates.... back in 2012, 2013, or 2014.

    6. Re:Here's a good idea by Karlt1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why should any business have to go through this to disable spam that came with the OS?

    7. Re:Here's a good idea by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Because's Microsoft didn't try to pull this upgrade ad shit with Windows XP, WIndows 7, or Windows 8 -- it wasn't until Windows 10 that they started spamming everyone.

      The blames lies with both parties:

      * Microsoft for spamming ads
      * Anyone dumb enough to use Windows 10

    8. Re:Here's a good idea by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The fact that it lacks a "Don't remind me again" checkbox places it into the category known as "dark patterns."

      Put simply, if Windows 10 is really that great, why does Microsoft have to borrow tactics from Ukrainian malware authors to shove it down our throats?

  2. Missed opportunity by mrchaotica · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If only the meteorologist had said "and this is a perfect example of why Microsoft is shit and should never be used for anything important," it would have been great.

    --

    "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  3. Updates are just as bad by DidgetMaster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    After installing Windows 10, you get updates pushed to you on a regular basis. During a demo, I needed to reboot. The update facility decided that would be a perfect time to spend about 10 minutes updating my machine. It did not give me a choice to postpone it to a more convenient time.

    1. Re:Updates are just as bad by KiloByte · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If the tech -- and the software company you patronize -- are so incompetent to not know how to do updates without inconveniencing the users, that's not the user's fault.

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
  4. Re:Classic theme by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When XP came along, everything was all bubbly and cartoonish looking. Two or three minutes of that and no thanks, I turned on Classic.

    When 7 came along, it had Aero and everything was trying to be translucent and glassy and OSX-y. I disabled that in favor of Classic.

    When 8 came along, Metro was introduced and suddenly everything was somehow even more flat/square/boring than Classic View. It's like the entire experience was designed for touch screens or people who hadn't ever used a mouse before. I disabled Metro in favor of Classic.

    If you want to call me stuck in the 90's, that's fine. But Classic view is by far the most productive and functional interface in Windows, for me.