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Even In Remotest Africa, Windows 10 Nagware Ruins Your Day (theregister.co.uk)
Iain Thomson, writing for The Register: When you're stuck in the middle of the Central African Republic (CAR) trying to protect the wildlife from armed poachers and the Lord's Resistance Army, then life's pretty tough. And now Microsoft has made it tougher with Windows 10 upgrades. The Chinko Project manages roughly 17,600 square kilometres (6,795 square miles) of rainforest and savannah in the east of the CAR, near the border with South Sudan. Money is tight, and so is internet bandwidth. So the staff was more than a little displeased when one of the donated laptops the team uses began upgrading to Windows 10 automatically, pulling in gigabytes of data over a radio link. And it's not just bandwidth bills they have to worry about. "If a forced upgrade happened and crashed our PCs while in the middle of coordinating rangers under fire from armed militarized poachers, blood could literally be on Microsoft's hands," said one member of the team.This is not a one-off case. We're reading about similar incidents everyday. Automatic updates, accidental automatic update, and the humongous data that these updates eat are ruining user experience for many. These are real issues. It's been roughly a year since Windows 10 has been officially available to consumers, and Microsoft is yet to address the issue.
Come on.
Why won't somebody donate some consulting help for the people using inappropriate operating systems in life-critical conditions?
We keep hearing about this... it's clear that Microsoft doesn't care. I don't understand why people are so shocked by that concept.
--Hired Net Grunt
and a patient is dead as a result, then this issue will get noticed. Not until then.
malware
malwer/
nounComputing
noun: malware; plural noun: malwares
software that is intended to damage or disable computers and computer systems.
I have a Lenovo laptop with Windows 7 Professional on it. Sometime in the last nine months, Windows has forgotten how to talk with much of the hardware in the laptop. This includes the finger reader and all networking devices. I called both Microsoft and Lenovo, and both refused to help.
So I never see the nags!
The hardware works fine, as proven by the copy of Fedora 20 I have running on the thing -- when I need to network, I just boot into Linux and have at it. RJ-45 port. Wifi. All happy. (I haven't tried installing the finger reading software yet, because I don't have much use for it.
When I need to copy software across, USB sticks and Blu-Ray drive work just swell. That's how I keep the DVD/BR reader up to date on the laptop that runs in the Windows side.
So, no problem. That doesn't help the folks in hospitals or out in the field...
"If a forced upgrade happened and crashed our PCs while in the middle of coordinating rangers under fire from armed militarized poachers, blood could literally be on Microsoft's hands," said one member of the team.
Sorry, it's your fault, pal. Didn't you know that Windows was an ancient American word meaning "I can't configure Ubuntu"?
Ezekiel 23:20
They're using Windows for something that lives depend on in a very direct and immediate way? Obvious user error.
They're probably not the only ones, mind you. But having a lot of people doing stupid stuff doesn't change the fact that it's stupid. At best it might elevate its status to standardised stupidity.
Now can we PLEASE stop seeing the same goddamned story posted every goddamned day?
I'm guessing this concept is way too difficult for people like you, but you don't HAVE to read these stories and you don't HAVE to comment on them
Or maybe you can get a refund from Slashdot for all the money that you've paid to them
I got sent from Southern US to Nâ(TM)Djamena Chad to put a Norton Rescue disk in a 486SX to remove a virus infected Word 2.0 document. I got stung by scorpions as i slept and spent the next few days with anaphylaxis and rapid heartbeat. So I am finally here to say FUCK YOU PC ANYWHERE!!
Thanks I feel so much better. Been holding that in for 20 years.
I don't reckon I'd ever have bet my customers' lives on Microsoft software.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Set the connection as a metered connection. Windows Update will not pull updates over the connection.
If bandwidth was so precious, then why were updates enabled at all?
not because Linux makes such as great desktop but because microsoft has become such incompetent assholes and windows has become such a pain the ass to bother with
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
The pushy upgrade was a stupid idea for more than one reason, and this was well known before Microsoft did it. There's the old saw "don't fix it if it ain't broke". Some hardware would quit working. The upgrades were most cavalierly programmed to happen without regard to the customer's needs, able to take a computer out of service for hours, and that could be just when the owner had scheduled some important work. And of course for those with limited, expensive bandwidth, it's damned rude of Microsoft to pig out on such a precious resource without asking. That's stooping to the level of online advertisers, who deserve to be blocked because they just can't lay off the obnoxious loud, flashing animated video advertising that eats gobs of bandwidth and CPU time. Not that Microsoft was ever much above that level.
Speaking from my experience as a system administrator, doing a major upgrade on production systems for the heck of it was a major no-no. We only upgraded if we had to, for some crucial new functionality, and we'd spend at least a week preparing for it with tests on identical equipment if available, dry runs, and the like. We'd document how long it was going to take, and if too long we might set up a temporary system. We were not going to risk taking down the website of our company. Uptime is critically important. Stunts like this pushy, opt out upgrade assure that Windows will stay permanently banned from the server room.
That Microsoft apparently can't grasp any of this or just doesn't care shows, again, how stupid their leadership is. Meh, they've been unbelievably stupid for 15 years now. Getting in bed with the MAFIAA of all people, and deferring to those idiots on technical matters around DRM, wow, just wow. MS doesn't deserve to be regarded as a tech company, not while they're willing to defer to tech morons on the areas they're supposed to be the experts on.
Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
Manually check for updates, manually download and install them. Use an update server if you have more than one machine.
"If a forced upgrade happened and crashed our PCs while in the middle of coordinating rangers under fire from armed militarized poachers
The problem is you're using a PC laptop, which isn't designed for critical applications like that. Anything serious you do on a PC needs redundant systems, especially a laptop you're dragging out in the field. The OS is probably the least of concerns, because the laptops are going to get fucked up and you need to plan on it happening. That's YOUR FAULT if you bring cheap gear to a fight with no redundancy.
It's even sillier to say consumer grade software is not being reliable enough to bring to a firefight. It is so NOT built for that purpose, and NO cheap desktop OS is!
Anyone who doesn't want Windows 10 could simply disable the "Windows Update" service, and simply wait for the Windows 10 free update period to expire. This tactic is well known for anyone who was bothered by the dialog boxes asking you to restart your computer every 10 minutes, or for power users that don't want 30+ documents to close overnight.
Meanwhile, still waiting for the Windows 10 update to appear on Windows Vista.
Next headline:
"Man goes on windows 10 update-induced killing spree. Microsoft literally has blood on their hands this time"
"...rangers under fire from armed militarized poachers, blood could literally be on Microsoft's hands,"
Guns don't kill people, Microsoft kills people.
I'm guessing this concept is way too difficult for people like you, but you don't HAVE to read these stories and you don't HAVE to comment on them
Or maybe you can get a refund from Slashdot for all the money that you've paid to them
Sure. One doesn't have to visit a website. But how will they know what I find offensive without any comment or reply?
Just like with Microsoft!
I think these stories need to be kept in the public's eye. But the only thing that could possibly change is people's behavior, and that's not so likely, no matter how outrageous the provocations become.
What is absolutely not going to happen is Microsoft bettering their behavior. They don't care, they don't have to care, and they're not going to care. Ever.
Is it stupid to assume that an operating system that has been designed for end users will not go out of its way to harm those users?
I know I can disable these things on Windows 10 through some mechanism or another, but I'm sick and tired of having to fix things that are broken on purpose. The proper solution is to only use Windows when you truly need it for some task or another.
Which reminds me I need to boot up my Windows 10 VM and run Windows update on that thing, so that it is in good shape the next time I need to do some coding in Visual Studio. I don't mind doing manual updates when I have time for it, like on weekends.
General, General! We need air support asap! Sorry lieutenant we are in the middle of a critical update here... So make sure you own that computer before betting your life on it... Not saying that MS is right, they aren't but at the same time this look similar as when a GPS tell you to drive outside of the road...
thank you M$ for revenge on those 419 scammers
not microsoft. network providers are just letting microsoft push all these bits back and forth across their networks for free!
I've given Slashdot plenty of ad revenue over the years. How do I go about getting my refund?
Microsoft never expected that this version of windows would be used for anything of any importance.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Yeah, and black unarmed people get killed by police all the time, could we PLEASE stop having stories about those too?
There is no issue.
There is nothing to address.
Windows 10 upgrade is doing what Microsoft wants it to do: maximizing the number of machines running Windows 10.
Think about it this way.
If you pay a vendor for something, then--at some level--that vendor will serve you.
If you do not pay a vendor for their product, then that vendor does not serve you. They may serve some other revenue stream, like advertising, or some kind of big-data analytics that they hope to sell, but they definitely do not serve you. If you are not paying for the product, then you are collateral damage, or prey, or fodder: something to be harvested and packaged for resale.
Somewhere in Microsoft is a VP who is in charge of the Windows 10 upgrade.
This VP has been told that his bonus, or stock options, or possibly his job is dependent on getting X million Windows 10 installs, or X million installs per month, or something. He doesn't care how many people are inconvenienced, or lose data, or have their machines bricked. He doesn't care how much bad PR Microsoft gets, or how much bad trade press, or how many outraged Slashdot comments there are. All he cares about is making his number. And this is going to continue until the CEO goes to this VP and changes his performance objectives.
Deal with it.
(Linux works for me. YMMV.)
Sure they have - they've stepped up the forced upgrade program, regardless of the bad press. It's almost like there's a gun to an executive's head, pressuring for upgrades to 10 at all costs.
Not meaning to troll, .. that I got away from M$ products SO many years ago.
but articles like this always leave me with a smile, not out of malice, but out of relief
Not even a twitch, only condolences to the poor bastards having their lives literally ruined by M$ Abortionware and the reasoning of the assholes at the M$ helm. From TFA, et al.
For the record:
% uname -a
FreeBSD Krypton42 10.2-RELEASE-p14 FreeBSD 10.2-RELEASE-p14 #0: Wed Mar 16 20:46:12 UTC 2016 root@amd64-builder.daemonology.net:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC amd64
"Suppose you were an idiot...and suppose you were a member of Congress...but I repeat myself." Mark Twain
If a forced upgrade happened and crashed our PCs while in the middle of coordinating rangers under fire from armed militarized poachers, blood could literally be on Microsoft's hands," said one member of the team.
No, you are responsible for all blood because you picked the wrong platform, wrong OS for operation of a system on which human life depends on. YOU and nobody else are responsible to design a system resistant to outages to ensure safe operation of your staff. Microsfot shares absolutely no responsability in that. You are an idiot.
Achille Talon
Hop!
The dream was that there was a class action suit filed against Microsoft for the class that owned one or more computers that MS said qualified to be upgraded to Windows 10. The suit asked for $1,000 for each computer that the Windows 10 update nagging software appeared. The total cost to MS would be in the neighborhood of at least $100 billion if not more. In addition, MS would be required to send out techs to fix all computers damaged by the update, retrieve lost data or replace it if possible and/or replace broken computers with one of equivalent quality. All this fixing would probably cost more than the original $100 billion. MS countered by positing this would bankrupt the company. The supreme court said, "So what? Do it anyway." Too bad this was just a dream.
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
Personally I come to slashdot for my daily dose of completely warranted Microsoft bashing.
I'm simply amazed that nobody has sued Microsoft over this crap. Americans seems to sue each other at the drop of a hat. And yet Microsoft are clearly behaving likae any other malware manufacturer.
Come on America, step up to the plate ad sue the bastards !
I'm waiting to see the same thing happen on The International Space Station. Perhaps then someone would say that enough is enough and sue the hell out of Microsoft.
No, we won't quit.
Not until you quit reading, posting in, and voting up stories and articles you "claim" tomorrow want to read.
Make your actions match your words for us to believe what you say, and maybe then we will stop submitting them
No, the advertisers gave slashdot ad revenue, you gave the advertisers your time (sorry, non-refundable). Now remember your place consumer.
Just so. Except when cars were new inventions, drivers *did* have to know how to do basic non-driving things like fixing flats, repairing failed parts and, indeed, fixing the engine. When photography was invented, camera-bugs had to know about chemistry and optics, exposure and light values, etc. And when computing was new, people had to know how to troubleshoot them and work on the commandline.
As e e cummings said, "progress is a comfortable disease."
If so, you get what you deserve - MISERY.
Change to Linux Mint. You won't look back but you will get work done.
Microsoft Windows ate my data more than once - sometimes right after completely recovering from a 'incident'.
I installed Linux Mint. Use Firefox to browse the web, Aptana Studio to develop web pages,
mythtv as my dvr, thunderbird for email, gimp to replace photoshop, kicad for schematic capture
and pcb layout, audacity as a full fledged audio recording studio and I'm developing a open source
accounting and point of sale system written in php, sql, javascript using the apache embedded
web server. In a year I've never lost one single file and I continue good backup hygiene.
I've never been more productive in my entire life and Linux Mint is literally changing my life for the better.
I'm guessing this concept is way too difficult for people like you, but you don't HAVE to read these stories and you don't HAVE to comment on them
But if you don't, the story will install itself permanently.
Ezekiel 23:20
Where the hell is the class action lawsuit or anti-trust suit?
These incidents need to be kept in mind until legal action is spawned.
Where are all the hero Lawyers??
~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
Why aren't Africans producing computer chips? Or aeroplanes? Or bicycles? Or anything?
Cut them some slack, it's a very challenging programming problem. I'm sure they have their top people working on it.
Okay, we get it: Windows 10 updates are annoying and pushy, most users are too stupid to avoid them, and Microsoft doesn't give a crap how the users feel. Now can we PLEASE stop seeing the same goddamned story posted every goddamned day?
You're looking at it all wrong. The way Slashdot is battering us daily with "Windows 10 Upgrade Horror Stories" is exactly like the way the Get Windows 10 nagware update screens batter the Windows 7 owners. This is just a sympathy posting.
As a matter of fact, there's been so much battering of Windows 7 users that they've opened a shelter for them over on Second Street. When you walk in the door a counselor meets you to help you get over the abuse. But it turns out it's the Shuttleworth Shelter, and the counselors install Ubuntu and systemd on the poor peoples' machines! Oh, the irony!!
John
.... is warranted or even recommended for use in fields where lives *literally* depend on the software operating correctly.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Y'know what? Tough. We warned all of you about this shit when Windows XP required mandatory online activation.
So many of you claimed you'd boycott it but in the end you bent over and let them fuck you.
Again and again, every time Microsoft did something shitty you just whined about it for a while then caved in because you wanted the New Shiny! and bent over to let them fuck you.
I don't care any more; You don't like it? Stop giving them fucking money!
Use an older version of Windows, support ReactOS, Use Linux (Don't use MacOSX - They are just as bad, they're just cleverer about it) - Anything that doesn't involve supporting them!
But I guess this will fall on deaf ears as every other post I've made on the subject has. I'll try again when they're pushing implants in order to access your data in The Cloud from any machine and see how you're all still bending over to let them fuck you.
I do agree with your point about skipping stories you aren't interested in. I also agree that Slashdot *should* heavily cover this story so other companies don't get the idea they should follow MS's example.
That said, Slashdot is most certainly *not* free. It is ad-supported. For that reason he does actually have a right to bitch.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Windows 10 update is how they defeat the aliens in the new Independence Day.
And kindly tell the clerk that you are too stupid to own a computer and that you also refuse to learn about the computer. Since it can't read your mind, you would like to wait until a newer model comes out that does read your mind. Computers were not meant for everybody. Just like skateboards aren't meant for everybody.
If you need control over what you doing, and it literally is life and death, then simply use something designed for the purpose, such as a Linux server. Windows 7/8/10 isn't designed for anything much beyond gaming and Microsoft Office.
oh, the class action lawsuit or anti-trust suits are buried under MS massive amout of money, Lobbyist, and paid for politicians. Plus the fact that any politician dumb enough to take a stand against MS will probably end up with a disease of the same name while stocking the shelves at walmart during the nights they previously used to sleep/party and nail $2000.00 a night hookers.
Their day was already ruined when they chose to operate a military-style operation at the hands of an OS primarily designed for video games and Facebook.
If they "didn't know better" then they were ill-prepared.
Sadly, yes, the U.S. Military had a fair amount of windows in their operations, but they can afford the Microsoft tax to get customizations that others can't.
"blood could literally be on Microsoft's hands"
Nope, you failed to read the EULA you agreed to and it SPECIFICALLY STATES you can not use Windows especially windows HOME for use where lives hang in the balance or in military operation.
This automatic upgrade is only happening to HOME EDITION. Not professional. So Blood is not on anyone's hands except the cheap bastards that refuse to buy the proper OS version and LICENSE for the operating system they are using. Yes the US government has their own EULA that they agreed to for use of windows. And it certainly is not the home edition, nor does it call home for updates.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
https://cia.gov/cgi-bin/comment_form.cgi
Also ask them why they rejected the Holy Spirit.
dabbbft.
Even In Remotest Africa, Windows Ruins Your Day
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Should have gone to the Elon Musk Shelter instead. There's so much with all the battery that's happening he wouldn't even need to build that factory anymore.
The way Slashdot is battering us daily with "Windows 10 Upgrade Horror Stories" is exactly like the way the Get Windows 10 nagware update screens batter the Windows 7 owners.
Speak for yourself. I like these regular updates on the slow motion train wreck that is Windows.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Then again, when enough people bitched, the Start menu returned, and the hidden "charms" gimmick was binned.
Can you please move back to San Francisco and stop shitting up PCs with your hipster bullshit?
This is typical presumptuous behavior from Redmond: MSFT knows better than its customers, so it will make the decisions for you, whether you like it or not. The loons at Redmond may argue that Win 10 is better for you, Win 10 is more secure, Win 10 has better performance, or what ever reason they may come up with. But deep down, it's the same mentality: customers are dumb, and incapable of making good decisions, so they will decide for you. This behavior dated back for decades, remember the annoying paper clip guy?
Is it stupid to assume that an operating system that has been designed for end users will not go out of its way to harm those users?
Windows 10 wasn't designed for end users. It was designed to meet Microsofts needs and business plan. Any semblance it has to be a product *for* users is purely accidental.
I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
I think even if Microsoft did not want such a thing to happen, it can not stop such things. It is incompetent to that level. But, as they say sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Damn my Japanese... I can't stop laughing...
Microsoft is fucking evil.
This tearjerking little story is actually in Microsoft's interest.
The message here is that Microsoft can do whatever they want and we are all helpless.
This is the pattern of narrative we are subjected to again and again and again. "We are helpless".
We are NOT. Militarize. Get angry. Let the rage fly. If enough people do this simultaneously there cannot be consequences from any authority because they need us all to work. Once the "powers the be" start listening we can demand referendums and codify economic justice.
Okay, my mistake. Here I thought people would rather read stories that are new and interesting, rather than re-hash the same old anti-Microsoft circlejerk every day, but the crowd has spoken. Handjobs for everyone!
I think these stories need to be kept in the public's eye. But the only thing that could possibly change is people's behavior, and that's not so likely, no matter how outrageous the provocations become.
Is that why the stories about the murder-suicide over apparent stolen code has already dropped off everyone's radar in the media because one person wasn't the "right kind of person" to paint the narrative with?
Om, nomnomnom...
I have a Lenovo laptop with Windows 7 Professional on it. Sometime in the last nine months, Windows has forgotten how to talk with much of the hardware in the laptop. This includes the finger reader and all networking devices. I called both Microsoft and Lenovo, and both refused to help.
Do you have "extended support" for your Windows 7? You probably don't hence the reason why Lenovo and Microsoft refused to help. Check here to get more information.
Like it or not if you want support for Microsoft Windows you either get extended support or move to Windows 10. If you do want Windows 10 then get the ISO from here rather than upgrade although make sure you do backup your important data. It is very easy to install although before you do I do suggest looking at the following video . The presenter was a Microsoft employee for 15 years and is not against Windows 10 but what he does not like is how Microsoft Windows 10 phones home by default, he then goes on and explains how to tighten your privacy.
If you have a powerful PC you can easily install Windows 10 in a virtual machine and the ISO is great for doing this. I actually have Fedora 23 on my Desktop (latest Skylake core i7 with 16GB DDR4 memory) and used my six and a half-year-old laptop's (has Fedora 23 on it) Windows 7 product key. I also used KVM as my virtual machine which surprisingly is actually certified to install Microsoft Windows. You can use VirtualBox if you wish but I am not overly impressed with Oracle at the moment.
If you have watched the video and you can even search for "windows 10 privacy concerns" in your preferred search engine (Google gets 1.8 million hits) you will know that Windows 10 phones home by default. You can turn off many of the so-called privacy features but you will either have to fiddle with the registry (Oh joy!) or get some third party (if you trust them) software to lock down Win10 but it has been known for a Microsoft update to turn some features back on again (for our own good of course :-)) so you need to be vigilant.
Basically, if you don't like Windows 10 then you better get to like it because soon it will be the only game in town (Windows 8.1 mainstream support expires 8th Jan 2018) or switch to an alternative OS such as one of the many Linux distributions, BSD or even a Mac if you have the money. If you have a work PC then the problem is not your problem.
There ain't no such thing as proprietary standards only proprietary formats. Standards are by definition open.
https://www.grc.com/never10.html
You're welcome
my folks have a satellite connection and previously on windows 7 they were under 5gb per month. now they've had a windows 10 machine for about 6 months now, and ever since they've had it, they've been just under 10gb a month. one machine, both times, nothing new, no extra equipment or anything. and i used to say that the g in google was for government, but it looks like we have a new sneaky snake in town.
If anything is at stake: Ditch Windows. And no, OSX is not better. Better stay away from The Dane, whatever disguise they come in.
They're only after your wallet, stupid.
Now that Microsoft has broken its own defacto operating system UI guidelines (equally promoted 'OK', 'Cancel' options; 'X' means 'Cancel'; setting to permanently dismiss warnings/ avoid message loops), how is this not the basis of a class action here?
Where are lawyers when we really need them?
Microsoft has done many things that were monopolistic, illegal, patent infringing, etc. They get sued, eventually they loose typically but by the time they have to stop and/or pay up it is 5 to 15 years down the road and the path they took let them take an entire market, eliminate a competitor etc. DR-DOS, RealPlayer, Internet Explorer and many other examples that anyone can google. Even if the EU, US or whatever comes down on them they will profit from this and hold or increase their market share... At least that is what has always happened.
s/©//g
There's something amiss here. I had four computers, win 7/8, with the little icon ready to upgrade. I said no. The icon sat there for eight months. It never tried to do anything on its own.
But I use these machines for business. That means I've spent more than a few minutes properly configuring them to act like business machines -- in a reliable, determined-by-me kind of way. They take orders from me, and they do as I instruct.
Of course I turned off automatic updates. Of course when I don't want them to download on their own, I disable the internet access. and, of course, they were the pro OS versions.
There are so many ways to configure windows to ensure that it only ever does exactly what you ask. Hey, they had a year of warning for this. They could have simply blocked the update at the windows firewall level. Or at the windows check-for-internet-access level. Or, and here's a thought, at the radio link level!
What idiot set up a radio link internet connection in the middle of the jungle, and didn't restrict access like any business network manager? Next up, researcher in the middle of the jungle watches porn, suddenly surrounded my monkeys.
Here's what actually happened (my guess). Someone tried to save time, money, effort, and knowledge. They got a free computer that someone said they could borrow. They got a random radio connection that someone said they could piggy back. They configured nothing. They checked nothing. And, having spent zero dollars on a primary tool, it failed them.
Well, you know what, the twenty year-old swiss army knife that I stole from my sister when we were ten, didn't fit the number two robbertson screw that I was using to build my $15'000 deck in the back yard this weekend. What a piece of crap.
This will never happen, ever. Whatever fancy feature you think you needed in windows you really don't