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Microsoft Auto-Scheduling Windows 10 Updates (tomshardware.com)
Pikoro quotes this report from Tom's Hardware: Windows 10 has been with us for a little over eight months now, which means there are only about four months remaining to get a free upgrade from an older Windows operating system. As the clock counts down, Microsoft has begun to auto-schedule PCs to upgrade to Windows 10 with or without consent from end users.
Now, as we near the end of the free upgrade period, Microsoft's malware-like upgrade system is becoming even more intrusive by autoscheduling upgrades to Windows 10. I noticed that the Windows 10 upgrade reminder pop-up on a Windows 7 PC was no longer asking me to upgrade; instead, it's now informing me that it has already scheduled an update for May 17.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Marine Corps has discovered half their computers unexpectedly can't remotely upgrade to Windows 10, slowing their transition to what they expect to be a much more secure operating system.
Now, as we near the end of the free upgrade period, Microsoft's malware-like upgrade system is becoming even more intrusive by autoscheduling upgrades to Windows 10. I noticed that the Windows 10 upgrade reminder pop-up on a Windows 7 PC was no longer asking me to upgrade; instead, it's now informing me that it has already scheduled an update for May 17.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Marine Corps has discovered half their computers unexpectedly can't remotely upgrade to Windows 10, slowing their transition to what they expect to be a much more secure operating system.
...
"...Microsoft's malware-like upgrade system..."
This isn't "malware-like", this IS malware.
Win 10 takes control of your PC from you, collects all sorts of data on you and from you and sends it back to who god where. You cannot stop it and it can "upgrade" or alter itself at will whenever it wants without your permission (and sometimes explicitly against your permission).
If that isn't "malware", I don't know the meaning of the word.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Can you imagine if this attitude was taken by any other company?
"Keurig agents have been sneaking into people's houses and replacing their Keurig coffeemakers with the new, fancy Keurig 10.0. However, the Keurig 10.0 is incompatible with all old 3rd party k-cups. To avoid being 'upgraded', you should leave a sign saying 'do not steal and replace' by your coffeemaker, but the Keurig agents will remove the sign sometimes so you need to make sure to keep replacing the sign if it disappears overnight. Reports have also surfaced of the Keurig agents occasionally ignoring the sign altogether, so some people recommend having someone in the house stay awake by the Keurig at all times to decline the upgrade."
"Tesla owners are facing a forced upgrade to the Tesla Model FU, which now runs on diesel. Tesla officials say that, to decline the upgrade, simply park your car facing towards Redmond when the upgrade agents come by to check. The upgrade agents can come by to check at any time, including when you're in the middle of driving."
I could go on, but do you get my point? People should not be required to be actively vigilant about keeping their equipment from suddenly having massive (and potentially ruinous) changes forced on them.
That won't fix the "my programming experience on Windows is shitty" problem, though.
Ezekiel 23:20
Also, it's worth pointing out, since the summary failed to do so, that all they've really done here appears to be classifying Windows 10 as a recommended update. That will mean anyone whose system is set to auto-install recommended updates will indeed get it. However, you can still cancel (or reschedule, if you prefer) when you get the prompt, and in any case if you don't have Windows Update set to auto-install things then this doesn't seem to make any difference to you.
In other words, the people who are going to get stung by this are the ones who have auto-updates on anyway. Since that's one of the major reasons not to move to Windows 10 if you're not happy to accept whatever Microsoft decides you should have, the people who feel that way probably won't have auto-install turned on for earlier Windows versions anyway and should be OK here.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
Let me guess...
Windows Home edition, everything on "automatic", and no ongoing maintenance was being done to keep it current outside of business hours.
It shouldn't matter.
Microsoft, and in turn most IT professionals, have spent the better part of 20 years encouraging everyone to keep Windows Update turned on. This is how you keep your system secure, guard against exploits and vulnerabilities, and receive bug fixes. It's generally a good thing. Never in all that time did enabling automatic updates, even "everything," run the risk of installing an entirely new fucking operating system without the user asking for it. There's no reason why a machine running any version of Windows, set to automatically install all categories of updates, should ever install an entirely new fucking operating system without the user asking for it. It's behavior that is entirely unexpected and contrary to how Windows Update has worked since its inception.
Microsoft has really gone beyond the pale with this one, as now people are routinely disabling Windows Update, refusing any update that prompts to install, etc. as they're afraid of a Windows 10 installation that they do not want sneaking in. This entire disaster of a product launch has moved security backwards.
"BSD: Free as in speech. Linux: Free as in beer. Windows 10: Free as in herpes." --Man On Pink Corner in #52607549.