How Microsoft Lost In Court Over Windows 10 Upgrades (digitaltrends.com)

In June a California woman successfully sued Microsoft for $10,000 over forced Windows 10 upgrades, and she's now written a 58-page ebook about her battle (which she's selling for $9.99). But an anonymous Slashdot reader shares another inspiring story about a Texas IT worker and Linux geek who got Microsoft to pay him $650 for all the time that he lost. "Worley built a Windows 7 machine for his grandfather, who has Alzheimer's Disease, [customized] to look like Windows XP, an operating system his grandfather still remembered well..." writes Digital Trends. "But thanks to Microsoft's persistent Windows 10 upgrade program, Worley's grandfather unknowingly initiated the Win 10 upgrade by clicking the 'X' to close an upgrade window." After Worley filed a legal "Notice of Dispute," Microsoft quickly agreed to his demand for $650, which he donated to a non-profit focusing on Alzheimer's patients.

But according to the article, that's just the beginning, since Worley now "hopes people impacted by the forced Windows 10 upgrade will write a complaint to Microsoft demanding a settlement for their wasted time and money in repairing the device," and on his web page suggests that if people don't need the money, they should give it to charities fighting Alzheimer's. "If Microsoft isn't going to wake up and realize that lobbing intentionally-tricky updates at people who don't need and can't use them actively damages not only the lives of the Alzheimer's sufferer, but those of their whole family, then let's cure the disease on Microsoft's dime so their tactics and those of companies that will follow their reckless example aren't as damaging."
Worley suggests each Notice of Dispute should demand at least $50 per hour from Microsoft, adding "If recent history holds steady they might just write you a check!"

Comments

Too bad we can't own software anymore.

[jellomizer]

Now this is actually a tricky concept. The GNU People think software should be owned by anyone with. While most companies who make their money writing software wants controls on what is happening so they can support and make money off it.
Then you get to the problem where these systems are all hooked up to a network and are communicating with other systems. Where we need to be sure that we get constant updates to these systems otherwise we will be part of a problem of creating more insecure networks and makes it easier for malware and hacks to become really common.

You could use the same argument that is used for Vaccines, that you should be forced to update as to help keep the overall network secure and operational. However unlike vaccines, there are good reasons to not upgrading. Mostly due to backwards compatibility issues that occur, and for the case of going from Windows 7 to Windows 10 switching to an interface that is dramatically different and not necessarily optimized for your work.

If we were to own our software again... We will need to be responsible for any problems that we may cause to the outside public. And most people are just not savvy enough to do this.