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Microsoft's Get Windows 10 App, KB 3035583, Reappears (infoworld.com)

An anonymous reader shares an InfoWorld article: 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. In late March 2015, Microsoft released the first version of KB 3035583. Described as "Update enables additional capabilities for Windows Update notifications in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 SP1," the patch immediately raised eyebrows. In April of last year, a German researcher named Gerard Himmelein, writing at heise.de, figured out that Microsoft was sneaking a Windows 10 upgrader onto Win7 and 8.1 machines. Life for Win7 and 8.1 customers since then has degenerated into Win10 whack-a-mole.In some other news, Chinese news outlet Xinhua reports that plenty of users in China are unhappy about Microsoft's push to get them to mandatorily upgrade their Windows OS. "The company has abused its dominant market position and broken the market order for fair play," Xinhua quoted Zhao Zhanling, a legal adviser with the Internet Society of China, as saying.

8 of 328 comments (clear)

  1. M$ Sales at it's finest... by MobSwatter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I couldn't possibly think of a better way to sell Linux.

    1. Re:M$ Sales at it's finest... by silanea · · Score: 5, Funny

      [...] A week later she's telling me how Windows 10 is just as good or perhaps even a bit better and easier to use than Windows 8 and she's glad she upgraded.

      Well, going from 8 to 10 is indeed an upgrade. Going from 7 to 10 is better than going from 7 to 8. Better as in "being deported to Siberia instead of Auschwitz" better.

      --
      Rudolf Hess edited Mein Kampf. He was the very first grammar nazi.
  2. Re:-1 Repetitive by LichtSpektren · · Score: 5, Informative

    Jesus Christ, we get it. Microsoft recommends people upgrade their operating system to the newest one. Big fucking deal, let it go. Reading Slashdot means like I'm continually kept updated on whenever Microsoft recommends people to upgrade. I don't need to be in on the loop about it.

    You didn't read the article. It's not Microsoft "recommending people" upgrade to to Win10. What they've done is actively circumvent the people that explicitly chose to deny the Windows 7/8.1 update KB 3035583 that installs GWX ("Get Windows 10"), which is the malware that silently downloads Windows 10 and tries to install it without the user's permission.

  3. It's Nadella and his arrogance by bazmail · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He publicly said there will be one billion devices running Win 10 within one year of its release, and by hook or by crook he'll do it.

  4. Even on domain computers now by Phusion · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've been fighting off this upgrade on my network at work for months now. I deployed a GPO with a template MS provides to stop the forced upgrade of Win7 machines to Win10, but I still see that damned little icon on my user's system tray. I don't condone, but understand their strategy for pushing out Win10 to home users, they don't want another Windows XP, where a popular but mostly out of date OS keeps a small, bug significant chunk of the market long after support ends. What I don't understand is forcing this update on domain joined machines that are obviously part of a business network and the upgrade should be left up to the sysadmin (me). I know there's little love for MS on this site, but they have gotten worse and those of us working in enterprise/domaine environments shouldn't have to employ registry hacks and GPO templates to keep our client machines from forcefully being upgraded to the latest OS.

    --
    640k ought to be enough for anyone.
  5. Aand so it came to be ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... that of all the companies in the world, it was Microsoft itself who finally launched Year Of The Linux Desktop.

  6. Re:-1 Repetitive by LichtSpektren · · Score: 5, Funny

    So you can run Windows 7 in a VM?

    Running Windows in a VM is like lowering the toilet lid without flushing. The shit might be contained, but it still stinks.