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Class Action Lawsuit Launched Over Forced Windows 10 Upgrades (courthousenews.com)

Slashdot reader AmiMoJo quotes The Register: Three people in Illinois have filed a lawsuit against Microsoft, claiming that its Windows 10 update destroyed their data and damaged their computers. The complaint, filed in Chicago's U.S. District Court on Thursday, charges that Microsoft Windows 10 [installer] is a defective product, and that its maker failed to provide adequate warning about the potential risks posed by Windows 10 installation -- specifically system stability and data loss... The attorneys representing the trio are seeking to have the case certified as a class action that includes every person in the U.S. who upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7 and suffered data loss or damage to software or hardware within 30 days of installation. They claim there are hundreds or thousands of affected individuals.
Microsoft responded that they'd offered free customer service and other support options for "the upgrade experience," adding "We believe the plaintiffs' claims are without merit." But the complaint argues Windows 10's installer "does not check the condition of the PC and whether or not the hard drive can withstand the stress of the Windows 10 installation," according to Courthouse News, which adds that the lead plaintiff "says her hard drive failed after Windows 10 installed without her express approval, and she had to buy a new computer."

184 of 347 comments (clear)

  1. Awesome! by the_Bionic_lemming · · Score: 3

    Maybe this will allow people to decide updates again.

    --
    _ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
    1. Re:Awesome! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Or switch away from MS products

    2. Re:Awesome! by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      More likely Microsoft will add a line to the EULA allowing them to automatically upgrade.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    3. Re:Awesome! by Sperbels · · Score: 1

      Surely they already did that before the Windows 10 release. Unfortunately we'll never know because nobody has actually read it all the way through.

    4. Re:Awesome! by sargon666777 · · Score: 2

      Already there... 6. Updates. The softwareperiodically checks for system and app updates, and downloads and installs them for you. You may obtain updates only from Microsoft or authorized sources, and Microsoft may need to update your system to provide you with those updates. By accepting this agreement, you agree to receive these types of automatic updates without any additional notice. I also left the missing space for your entertainment which is also there... Link - https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...

      --
      Am I lying when I tell you that im telling the truth? Or am I telling the truth when I say that Im lying?
  2. Go get 'em! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Microsoft deserves this and much more for their draconian tactics and forcing consumers to upgrade or update without consent or ability to refuse.

    1. Re:Go get 'em! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Right, it's my 92 year old grandmother's fault she didn't fire up the task manager and kill the process.

    2. Re:Go get 'em! by sabbede · · Score: 1

      Two wrongs don't make a right, and this suit is absurdly wrong.

  3. benefit for attorney? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This case sounds like a case something where the consumer would get a $10 coupon to the Microsoft marketplace and the attorneys would earn $3 million.

    1. Re:benefit for attorney? by Mitreya · · Score: 3, Interesting

      consumer would get a $10 coupon to the Microsoft marketplace and the attorneys would earn $3 million.

      I understand why attorneys do it, but why do the judges approve the "Here's a $10 coupon that costs us nothing and requires you to buy something for $50 from us (in which case we'll earn $30 on this transaction)" settlement?

    2. Re:benefit for attorney? by TwoUtes · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because judges were attorneys before they were judges?

    3. Re:benefit for attorney? by SeattleLawGuy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Judges are better about coupon settlements today because of how absurd it used to get. The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 made some useful changes. It certainly still isn't perfect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      Class actions are useful because they are fundamentally the only way companies get forced to behave in the interest of large groups of consumers who would never bother to sue individually. There are definitely drawbacks in that they rarely substantially help those past consumers, but sometimes they do drive change within a company and drive better practices within a company--either directly as part of a settlement agreement, or just because of the risk of a class action lawsuit. It's not a perfect system, notably because of the high costs of the lawsuits, but it's probably better than not having it. (To determine that for sure you would obviously need to analyze a great deal of data about distributed harms and lawsuit and settlement costs).

      --
      Real lawyers write in C++
    4. Re:benefit for attorney? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      The purpose of a class action is not to make every class member fully whole. It's to punish the company who harmed the class members (assuming they're found liable), while streamlining the process and not bogging down the courts with thousands of individual cases. The initial representatives of the class, who assume much greater risk/expense/effort than you do by filling out a postcard, will get a larger portion of the settlement. Their attorneys, who do all of the work and front their own time and expenses, get paid nicely for their efforts. As a side effect, you and the other eligible class members get more than you would each have received if someone else hadn't done all the work.

      The point isn't to buy everyone a new computer or OS, it's to fuck over Microsoft for fucking over their customers.

    5. Re:benefit for attorney? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Sounds like as an individual you would be better off just using small claims court or whatever your local equivalent is, rather than joining the class action. Then you can get your specific loss covered, which is likely to be more than a $10 coupon.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    6. Re:benefit for attorney? by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      Sounds like as an individual you would be better off just using small claims court or whatever your local equivalent is, rather than joining the class action. Then you can get your specific loss covered, which is likely to be more than a $10 coupon.

      Yes, you COULD do that, and every class action has an option to opt-out so you can do exactly that..

      The reason most people don't is because instead of a $10 coupon, you get a cheque for $20. This... after filing a small claims court fee of $40 or more, taking a day off work, parking, etc. In the end, it's just not worth pursuing. Better to get that $10 coupon for doing nothing than be in the hole for $200+ in time and fees just to get back what actual harm happened.

  4. ALL upgraded installs are crufty/fragged to hell by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The fact that they FORCED the installs on people with their machiavellian interface without a clear "No thanks" button, and would in fact automatically install without user input, those are just evidence of the contempt that M$ has for their users when they want you to do something that you maybe don't want to do.

    It was deceptive by intention. They modified it, and it was STILL deceptive.

    You had to click the tiny grey "x" to close the window rather than choose "install now" or "later on, when I'm not paying attention."

    Grayware tactics!

  5. Wow by jargonburn · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Windows 10 update destroyed their data

    I haven't seen a Windows upgrade (note: UPGRADE) destroy data in a meaningful way in.....I don't even know how long.

    and damaged their computers

    That's a neat trick, unless they mean their IDEA of their computer rather than the physical hardware. Windows is shitty, not malicious.

    data loss or damage to software or hardware within 30 days of installation

    Wait. So, are they claiming it was the forced upgrade that caused it, or.....?

    her hard drive failed after Windows 10 installed

    Sorry, unrelated. Though, if she could show otherwise, I would actually be shocked beyond belief.

    she had to buy a new computer.

    Yes, in the same way that I would have to buy a new car if my starter gave out.

    I'm torn between hoping she succeeds (as I consider Microsoft a bad actor in the whole upgrade situation) and hoping she gets laughed out of court so hard she ends up with skid-marks that spell out "LOL".

    1. Re:Wow by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 3, Informative

      I haven't seen a Windows upgrade (note: UPGRADE) destroy data in a meaningful way in.....I don't even know how long.

      As someone who has worked closely with NTFS, I can tell you that it's not far fetched to think that someone's NTFS partition could have been corrupted. There are no backups of the file index (unless they changed it since Win7), so if your file was fragmented and the index is lost then any file that is fragmented will be unrecoverable with the publically available automated tools. However, I can also tell you that losing the filenames and directory structure of all your data can be just as devastating as losing the files themselves.

      That's a neat trick, unless they mean their IDEA of their computer rather than the physical hardware. Windows is shitty, not malicious.

      If this were 20 years ago, you would be 100% right. Unfortunately, UEFI has made it entirely possible for a ill-tested operating system installer to brick your system.

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    2. Re:Wow by StormReaver · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I haven't seen a Windows upgrade (note: UPGRADE) destroy data in a meaningful way in.....I don't even know how long.

      The Windows 7 -> Windows 10 upgrade made one of my customer's computers unable to do anything but an infinite reboot cycle. At that point, though, he finally gave it and paid me to install Kubuntu on his computer. Before that, he was very much opposed to replacing Windows with Linux. Now he says his computer works better than it ever has.

      And now tech support, as always happens with my Windows to Linux migrations, has changed from, "I was doing [something innocuous], and suddenly [fill in malicious Windows behavior]" to, "Can you come in periodically for routine maintenance? No, everything's fine. We just like knowing you're still available, and we'll pay you for your time."

    3. Re:Wow by El+Cubano · · Score: 3, Insightful

      she had to buy a new computer.

      Yes, in the same way that I would have to buy a new car if my starter gave out.

      If the repair of the starter represented 50-200% of the value of the car then, yes, you would probably feel like you needed to get a new car.

    4. Re:Wow by dknj · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I hate to burst your bubble, but I wonder if I may be part of this class action. I had a laptop that was Windows 7 for the longest time. It decided to upgrade itself to Windows 10. Cool. For about a month then my laptop refused to boot windows again. I can boot to a usb stick but not to any other partition on the HD. It is very possible that EFI went corrupt after an upgrade. I tried to recover the system and ended up losing all my data. Also, I could not reinstall Windows 7 or 10 ever again. My laptop is effectively bricked.

      I honestly would be saying the same thing that you did IF I hadn't experienced the same issue that lady who had to buy a new one did. Because I am an expert, I know I can install a new OS. But the fact that I cannot reinstall Windows (first reboot puts the system into a hung state) is telling. I also had to buy a new laptop because I need Microsoft products to do my job. It's not like I had time to send it in for warranty repair and twiddle my thumbs while they send me a new laptop. Plus that laptop was an i7-2600k. It wasn't a slouch, I still played CS:GO and BF4 on it up until it decided to not turn on again -- I didn't want a new laptop, I NEEDED it.. So it's entirely plausible and now I am going to resurrect that machine and maybe consider joining in on this adventure.

      -dk

    5. Re:Wow by whoever57 · · Score: 1

      Yes, in the same way that I would have to buy a new car if my starter gave out.

      Having had the starter fail twice in a vehicle that I owned, your analogy is interesting.

      My starter failed the same way both times. The first time I replaced the starter, I bought a replacement for the starter. No internal parts were available. The second time, I was more aware and I bought some copper pieces (cost: a few cents) via eBay, took the solenoid apart and replaced the copper connectors.

      Now, the simple fact is that a repair shop will never do the repair that I did: they will replace the starter and return it so that a specialist can rebuild it. It's simply not economically viable for a retail shop to repair the starter, because, when time is accounted for, the cost of a repair is greater and the starter may fail in some other way, requiring a second repair.

      This is little different to replacing the hard drive on a computer. The original computer was probably an old one so there was an added benefit of the upgrade in the replacement. The replacement probably wasn't an expensive gaming PC: it was probably priced close to the cheapest one available.

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    6. Re:Wow by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

      I haven't seen a Windows upgrade (note: UPGRADE) destroy data in a meaningful way in.....I don't even know how long.

      The Windows 7 -> Windows 10 upgrade made one of my customer's computers unable to do anything but an infinite reboot cycle.

      So in other words, no data was destroyed? Any other Windows 7 or later OS (possibly earlier as well) would still be able to read and write data to the drive and any Linux distribution would be able to at least read it.

    7. Re:Wow by Bite+The+Pillow · · Score: 1

      Correlation and causation are science. Law is about tying actual loss to an action. Sometimes there are experts, but they are opinions based on reputation or experience, not scientists.

      Your reply is irrelevant, and displays ignorance and idealism. Sure it would be great if things worked that way. Start a revolution and begin your own country, then you can tell us how it should work.

    8. Re:Wow by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

      Perhaps they mean like what the Win 10 upgrade did to my Compaq laptop: Bricked it in such a way that it was impossible the even boot from the Windows disk, wipe the drive and start over.

      I pulled the drive and copied my files off, but not everybody knows how or has the equipment to do that.

      --
      If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    9. Re:Wow by n329619 · · Score: 1

      In case you didn't know, hard drives do have a life span "depend" on the operation of the hard drive (read, write, etc.)

      As we should all know (this is slashdot right?), the Windows 10 upgrade is an installation with a lot of data. It is technical hardware possible that a hard drive was reaching its end of life span with limited operation capacity remaining. So it is possible to break a hard drive during the Windows 10 upgrade just like any other read and write operation on the hard drive. There might have been some signs of hard drives about to fail, but it is unlikely the users know the differences.

      Then again, it is more common that the Windows 10 upgrade results in windows unable to boot rather than breaking the hard drive,which the users still see them as 'it's broken'.

    10. Re:Wow by freeze128 · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, UEFI has made it entirely possible for a ill-tested operating system installer to brick your system.

      If it can be unbricked, it isn't bricked.

      Certainly UEFI has provisions for entirely replacing your existing (in this case, failing) hard drive with a brand new blank one and allow you to install an OS on your computer. If not, please point me to the Commodore 64 aisle.

    11. Re:Wow by HiThere · · Score: 1

      There is a case where an "undefined language condition" caused a C++ program to destroy a computer. (Well, such was reported in, I believe, "Effective Modern C++", though without sufficient data to track down the actual case.)

      Given that, there's nothing unreasonable in saying your computer was destroyed by an MSWindows "upgrade". I don't know that it's true, but it isn't intrinsically unreasonable. More likely, the system could consume so much disk space that a complete version couldn't be written to disk, resulting in an unbootable system. In that case a geek could retrieve any data that wasn't overwritten by the installer. Now whether the user data *would* be overwritten by the installer I can't say. I expect you could probably recover any non-encrypted data by mounting the disk in another computer...but if the partition were encrypted (does mswindows do that?) then it might well be irrecoverable. Or if it were a RAID setup. (Again my ignorance of MSWindows is showing.)

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    12. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, UEFI has made it entirely possible for a ill-tested operating system installer to brick your system.

      If it can be unbricked, it isn't bricked.

      Certainly UEFI has provisions for entirely replacing your existing (in this case, failing) hard drive with a brand new blank one and allow you to install an OS on your computer. If not, please point me to the Commodore 64 aisle.

      "No, we did not kill your car when we changed your oil. All you have to do is buy and install a new engine."

    13. Re:Wow by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I'm trying my best to migrate to Linux at the moment. Some stuff like installing Mint went very smoothly. Other, really basic stuff is just broken.

      - The mouse wheel is horribly broken in Linux. There is no standard way to adjust its sensitivity and every app interprets wheel movement differently, so some (like the terminal) scroll fast and others (like Chrome/Firefox) scroll incredibly slowly. There is no fix for this.

      - Initial updates installed quickly, but it asked me if I wanted to overwrite some Gnome config file I had apparently changed. I could google it, but as a normal user that would stump me.

      - Japanese input was difficult to get working, mainly because the only documentation I could find was for an older version of IBus, but when it did eventually work it worked better than Windows. Unfortunately, it was much too hard for a normal user to set up and took a good half hour of googling/fiddling.

      I'm still setting stuff up but it's stuff like this that prevents me recommending Linux to less technical friends. Come on, the mouse wheel thing is almost unbelievable, it's basic usability and the kind of thing that gives Linux desktops a bad rep.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    14. Re:Wow by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I'm surprised that no manufacturer/retailer has sued Microsoft for all the warranty support they had to do related to failed upgrades.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    15. Re:Wow by hairyfeet · · Score: 4, Interesting

      1.- Wow...I can tell you haven't had much experience with NTFS, have you? Protip...it really isn't hard to corrupt the MFT and index on NTFS, especially if you don't do a SFC before doing major operations...wanna guess what Windows 10 did NOT do before upgrading?

      2.- Damaged their computers? I can assure you that is a YES because if you computer is rendered unusable, as were many PCs that were caught in the endless reboot bug? Then it might as well be bricked for all Joe and Sally Average are gonna be able to do about it. Oh and lets not forget MSFT forced driver upgrades and both AMD and Nvidia have had driver releases in the past year that could damage hardware, if MSFT forced those drivers on to her system? yeah it could cook hardware.

      3.- Damaged her hard drive? See #1. MSFT frankly made the most piss poor upgrade compatibility checker I have EVAR seen with Win 10, in fact I had several systems at the shop where their upgrade checker said "Oh sure its totally compatible!" only to find MSFT's idea of "compatible" meant no graphics, no sound, and no networking. If she had damaged sectors on her drive Windows 10 wouldn't bother to even run SFC or even check SMART before slamming the drive so yeah it could easily kill it.

      4.- Having to replace her PC? Well there is the fact MSFT hasn't forced OEMs to provide discs since WinXP which means she had no media to install from even if she had the skill to do a HDD replacement (most wouldn't have a clue how to) and if the only repair shop in her area was something like Geek Squad? Well the cost of a HDD replacement and OS install would probably cost her more than the system was worth, if hers is anything like the local GS she'd be looking at over $200.

      So I'm sorry but everything listed checks, and moreover I can back up her claims as I too had several systems lose files because of Win 10 not bothering to do any checks before upgrading (oh and in the case of 2 boxes never even asking me before they started upgrading as they were 2 of them affected by MSFT changing the red X from meaning no to meaning yes) and lucky for me they were just shop boxes and didn't have any files I gave a shit about but with their shitty upgrade installer? I could have easily lost crucial documents or pictures so I really do not doubt she got screwed by Win 10, its Vista levels of bad.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    16. Re:Wow by Waccoon · · Score: 1

      Well, I've had to deal with multiple situations where an upgrade or repair created a new user and made the previous user account invisible. Windows doesn't just create a new account, it actually changes access permissions of the old user account folder so it can't be accessed even by the administrator account. To the layman, the "Documents and Settings" or "Home" folders just disappear without a trace. It can take some screwing around with filesystem permissions (via a Windows PE boot disk) to get access to the old user folder and recover the data.

      No, the data isn't destroyed, but even a seasoned tech many not understand exactly how to recover the data since Windows really does try its hardest to lock everyone, even the admin account, out of those folders. It's probably the same reason why if I create a file on my desktop and immediately try to delete it, Windows throws a UAC prompt and won't let me delete my own file. Wait 5 minutes, and then you can. Windows does some stupid and even downright creepy things when it comes to file permissions and locking you out of your own data.

      Fuck Windows. Nothing is as simple as it seems, no matter what the documentation or "/?" says.

    17. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Surely being experts we are naturally sceptical of fantastical claims, and it is up to you to prove these allegations?

      That's not a question, dumb ass. And you misspelled skeptical, dumb ass. Stop trying to be a smart ass when you're clearly a dumb ass, dumb ass.

    18. Re:Wow by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      The Windows 7 -> Windows 10 upgrade made one of my customer's computers unable to do anything but an infinite reboot cycle.

      Being in an infinite reboot loop is not the same as destroying data, and recovery tools exist to get out of that loop and even roll back the update.

    19. Re:Wow by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      That's a neat trick, unless they mean their IDEA of their computer rather than the physical hardware.

      If it rendered the computer unusable, then that's the same thing from the user's point of view, who then has to spend money to have someone fix their computer — money they may not have.

      Windows is shitty, not malicious.

      Uh, no. It's spyware which cannot be disabled. That's not the same as eating your data, but it is malicious.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    20. Re:Wow by wildstoo · · Score: 1

      How on earth did this garbage comment get +5?!

      I had a laptop that was Windows 7 for the longest time.

      How long, exactly? Long enough to be out of warranty?

      It decided to upgrade itself to Windows 10. Cool. For about a month then my laptop refused to boot windows again.

      Correlation does not imply causation. Your HDD failed. That is why you could boot from USB but not install to HDD. It would have failed no matter what OS you were running.

      Because I am an expert, I know I can install a new OS.

      New definition of expert: someone who cannot diagnose a simple hardware failure. You don't mention any attempt to install any OS except Windows. If you had, you would almost certainly have found that any OS would have failed to boot from your HDD.

      I tried to recover the system and ended up losing all my data.

      "Expert."

      But the fact that I cannot reinstall Windows (first reboot puts the system into a hung state) is telling.

      "Expert."

      It's not like I had time to send it in for warranty repair and twiddle my thumbs while they send me a new laptop.

      Wait... so after purchasing a new laptop, which would of course mean you could send this one for a warranty repair, you didn't bother?

      So it's entirely plausible and now I am going to resurrect that machine and maybe consider joining in on this adventure.

      Oh, please do! Let us all know how you get on.

    21. Re:Wow by sabbede · · Score: 1
      Consumer grade gear can run full out for more than long enough to perform an upgrade. If it was marginal, then it was already marginal and no one piece of software can be blamed for the inevitable failure.

      And what you saw was the user's settings being destroyed by the upgrade, not their data. I'd count that in the OP's favor.

    22. Re:Wow by StormReaver · · Score: 1

      It decided to upgrade itself to Windows 10....

      In my last post, I neglected to mention that Windows upgraded itself, despite me having explicitly turned off all automatic updates.
      So yeah, Microsoft needs to be sued.

      For billions, not mere millions.

      If all Microsoft is going to have it pay is a mere few dozen million dollars, then the lawsuit might as well stop now. If the point of a class action lawsuit is to change a company's behavior, then nothing short of 20 billion dollars in damages will suffice in the case of Microsoft. 50 billion would be fair.

    23. Re:Wow by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      Scrollwheels used to work fine. Then some idiots at Canonical and GNOME decided to redesign the scrollbar, on the grounds we don't need it any more because we have scrollwheels, despite the fact that, actually, no, quite often we don't, and in the course of effing up the scrollbar they managed to eff up the mousewheel at the same time.

      I still don't know why they didn't just revert to how things were. They fixed a problem that doesn't exist, and appear to be too stubborn to admit they made a mistake.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    24. Re: Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Loss of registry renders a StarTeam repository corrupted.

    25. Re:Wow by Fly+Swatter · · Score: 3, Informative

      You can replace your HDD but that won't help because UEFI bootloaders are stored on your motherboard in flash memory.

      Secure boot signatures maybe, but the bootloaders are in the EFI disk partition, at least for me:

      /dev/sdb2 923648 1128447 204800 100M EFI System

      If the bios does not allow initializing a new blank disk, then that is between you and your vendor.

    26. Re:Wow by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I think the problem is the lack of a standard API for mouse wheels. It seems to have been bodged on as extra mouse buttons, and then again later in libinput as a specific wheel input, but for some reason Mint Cinnamon ignores both and does its own thing.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    27. Re:Wow by halivar · · Score: 1

      That's not a question, dumb ass. And you misspelled skeptical, dumb ass. Stop trying to be a smart ass when you're clearly a dumb ass, dumb ass.

      That's the British spelling. You know they invented the language, right?

    28. Re:Wow by omnichad · · Score: 1

      Well maybe Geek Squad destroyed their data - which wouldn't have happened without the forced upgrade.

    29. Re:Wow by omnichad · · Score: 1

      It is very possible that EFI went corrupt after an upgrade. I tried to recover the system and ended up losing all my data. Also, I could not reinstall Windows 7 or 10 ever again. My laptop is effectively bricked.

      Did you not have a small enough hard drive that you could re-partition your drive as MBR instead of GPT and use legacy boot instead of EFI?

    30. Re: Wow by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

      They might have invented it, but we made it into a language worth knowing ;-)

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    31. Re:Wow by UnknowingFool · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I haven't seen a Windows upgrade (note: UPGRADE) destroy data in a meaningful way in.....I don't even know how long.

      Because YOU haven't seen one does not mean it did not happen ever.

      That's a neat trick, unless they mean their IDEA of their computer rather than the physical hardware. Windows is shitty, not malicious.

      Well the summary already told you that the HD was destroyed. It's possible an update does that. Some Windows 10 update horror stories have had the machine on a continuous reboot loop. That would trash a weak HD pretty quick. So yes physical hardware can be damaged.

      Wait. So, are they claiming it was the forced upgrade that caused it, or.....?

      Er what?

      Sorry, unrelated. Though, if she could show otherwise, I would actually be shocked beyond belief.

      Hello, continuous reboot?

      Yes, in the same way that I would have to buy a new car if my starter gave out.

      This relies on the premise that replacing your starter is not more than the cost of the car. Your analogy is not great as there are cars on the road today that replacing the starter is more than the car. Now in computers it is more likely because how valueless older computers are compared to new ones. It may not be worth it to the user to repair an old computer as opposed to replacing it.

      I'm torn between hoping she succeeds (as I consider Microsoft a bad actor in the whole upgrade situation) and hoping she gets laughed out of court so hard she ends up with skid-marks that spell out "LOL".

      I would say you learn about the exact details of the situation otherwise people will be laughing at you for not knowing them.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    32. Re:Wow by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      And maybe your post depressed me, and then I forgot to put on my jacket when I went outside and I was shivering which caused me not to pay attention while walking and I twisted my ankle causing me to have to go to the doctor. What do you think my chances are of suing you for my medical expenses?

    33. Re:Wow by omnichad · · Score: 1

      A lot better than your chance of winning.

    34. Re:Wow by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      - The mouse wheel is horribly broken in Linux.

      Are you using GNOME? That's your problem right there. GNOME is almost single-handedly ruining desktop Linux. Try KDE instead, or any DE really except GNOME.

    35. Re:Wow by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Seconded. This is really the first time I've heard of anyone complaining about mouse wheel problems, and I've never had a problem with it on KDE. I can easily adjust the sensitivity too.

    36. Re:Wow by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Precisely :)

    37. Re:Wow by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Grandpa, about 10 years ago or so there were some stories about how the software vendor in question negotiated with all the major hardware vendors to standardize this interface.

      So the whole, "oh that's between you and your vendor" this is a load of horseshit. No, it is not between you and any different party. All the decisions related to this were taken as a group, and they're all involved and all responsible. And yes, the BIOS might have known failure states that suck rocks. On purpose, because of other cases where the feature helped. If you want to use those features, or avoid them, either way, the details matter.

    38. Re:Wow by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      I dunno, I'm using xfce and my mouse works exactly the same as it did in the 1990s. Wheel and all.

      The only difference is that in the 1990s we had to do some extra tricks just so the browser could see the mouse wheel! But then it worked consistently.

      Different apps behave differently because you have choices. If you care about the GUI bits you can just use all the apps from the same desktop system, and they'll all act the same. If you want to make a different specific choice for each type of app, there will be small differences. That is expected as part of having more choices. Not everybody responds in a positive psychological way to choice. If choices are stifling you, maybe try an apple computer? You get *nix under the hood, but there is always a crowd to safely follow!

    39. Re:Wow by cwsumner · · Score: 1

      "If Engineers built buildings the way (Microsoft) Programmers write programs, the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization!"

  6. adequate warning? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    Jeeze! It says Windows 10 right there on the box. Isn't that adequate enough?

    Okay, I'm kidding. Windows 10 is a fine product.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  7. good bet that the judge had the same experience by turkeydance · · Score: 2

    and everyone else associated with this suit.

    1. Re:good bet that the judge had the same experience by dknj · · Score: 2

      and everyone else associated with this suit.

      gonna be a hard time finding an impartial jury.

    2. Re:good bet that the judge had the same experience by HiThere · · Score: 2

      Linux and Mac users?

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    3. Re:good bet that the judge had the same experience by WallyL · · Score: 1

      Yeah, do those groups sound impartial to you? Think about it.

      (And, I am in one of those camps.)

  8. Wouldn't they have to show damages? by rsilvergun · · Score: 1, Interesting

    The Win 10 uninstall was pretty painless. This smacks of a bunch of lawyers ready to get a nice big payout anyway. It's exactly the sort of thing a class action shouldn't be granted for.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Wouldn't they have to show damages? by buss_error · · Score: 1

      Hm. I'm interested to know the metrics behind "was pretty painless".

      I've heard some fairly bad horror stores from folks that run > 3,000 windows desktops. I'm not a windows guy so I don't know if the horror was self inflicted, caused by their admins not doing something right, or if the blame can be laid at Microsoft.

      I will say that a OS that takes specific, non-trivial processes to not automatically and preemptively molest the install base is likely something I wound not give approval to.

      I said in another thread about firefox and Java that we've come to the point where we have to take defensive measures against the very people we trust to make software tools. I feel that's asinine to be forced to come to that pass.

      --
      Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
    2. Re:Wouldn't they have to show damages? by dwywit · · Score: 1

      One of my customers had to fork out for installation media because the Win 10 upgrade hosed the recovery partition - well, not hosed, because I could see it with gparted on another machine, but the customer's machine failed to access it, and none of the available tools would convince the bios that there was indeed, a recovery partition.

      I'd call that damage. Win 10 had no business doing anything beyond looking at other partitions on the drive.

      --
      They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
    3. Re: Wouldn't they have to show damages? by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

      How do you uninstall when the computer won't boot? Did you even think for one second before you posted that.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  9. Re:suure by rakslice · · Score: 3, Interesting

    At the very least, whatever sketchy consultant or low rent big box store nerd herd operation sold this lady a new computer instead of a replacement hard drive would be wise to get their legal contingency fund sorted out before it becomes established in a court of law that that was a mistake...

  10. A bad hard drive isn't MS's fault by hawguy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "does not check the condition of the PC and whether or not the hard drive can withstand the stress of the Windows 10 installation," according to Courthouse News, which adds that the lead plaintiff "says her hard drive failed after Windows 10 installed without her express approval,

    If your hard drive dies during an OS install, it was on its way out and would have soon died anyway.

    1. Re:A bad hard drive isn't MS's fault by hawguy · · Score: 1

      Strange logic. If you aren't in the middle of an OS install, your sick HD will throw errors and give you a chance to back up your data.

      That hasn't been my experience -- typically when the hard drive starts throwing errors, you're lucky to get anything off it at all, let alone a good backup of your data. Though that's why we have backups... and for those that don't think they need backups, that's why we have data recovery firms.

    2. Re:A bad hard drive isn't MS's fault by Khyber · · Score: 1

      No, not necessarily. It could be the computer would have been just fine taking the new OS install, however the computer was likely blocked up with dust and such, so the old spinning rust drive got overheated while doing all those file writes and died.

      Seen it happen. Even SSDs aren't immune to heat damage, and the airflow in systems that have them tend to be even poorer.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    3. Re:A bad hard drive isn't MS's fault by Desler · · Score: 1

      Or it will simply fail such that you won't have that luxury.

    4. Re:A bad hard drive isn't MS's fault by hawguy · · Score: 1

      When I say "throw errors", I include such things as random bluescreens and corrupted files, which would prompt me to immediately back up whatever I can. You're not going to notice those early warning signs when a full-blown OS install is in progress, especially if the install keeps crashing and rebooting until the HD is destroyed.

      If you wait until you see corrupted files to make your backup, how do you have any confidence in your backup? How do you know you haven't just saved corrupted copies of all of your files?

    5. Re:A bad hard drive isn't MS's fault by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      True, but also irrelevant from a legal perspective. The court will likely view it as the hard drive had a finite lifespan, and the heavy strain of installing Windows 10 used up whatever it had remaining and denied the owner the opportunity to spot the failure early and save what data she could.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    6. Re:A bad hard drive isn't MS's fault by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      You've obviously never dealt with a Windows 10 reboot loop, I can tell you it makes ANY drive get seriously HOT.

      I of course couldn't tell you exactly what was going on (since the OS is boned its not like you are gonna get any logs) but from the way it was grinding I'd say Windows 10 seriously shotguns its files all over the place during the upgrade so when it goes to access it the drive has to do a shitload of seeking.

      So if she went to bed and Windows decided to do the upgrade in the middle of the night and got caught in the reboot loop, especially if its one of those thin laptops without great cooling or even worse was in its carrying bag because she wasn't expecting MSFT to upgrade her system? Yeah I could easily see her getting up to find a fried HDD no matter the age or quality of the drive.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    7. Re:A bad hard drive isn't MS's fault by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      How is what you wrote in any way "No, not necessarily". Your scenario is pretty much a practical example of the GP's general statement.

    8. Re:A bad hard drive isn't MS's fault by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      True, but also irrelevant from a legal perspective

      Actually it's very relevant. Installing an OS isn't a major workload for a HDD. If this is what pushed it over the edge, then maybe not installing it would have bought the computer a couple of days or a week of extra run time. To get to this state it would have been throwing SMART errors out the wahzoo.

      It's like suing the government because your car which hadn't had a service in years and had 500000km on the clock was only driven on flat land and just so happened to die while being driven on a hill, and the government shouldn't put in hills because it may strain a car.

    9. Re:A bad hard drive isn't MS's fault by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I can tell you it makes ANY drive get seriously HOT.

      If you're drive is getting hot from moving back and forth along the platter you should fix your hardware. That's before mentioning the wide scale study Google did that showed disk failure was not correlated to drive temperature within the rated operating conditions. If you managed to exceed those by reading data from the drive, fix your hardware.

    10. Re:A bad hard drive isn't MS's fault by hawguy · · Score: 1

      You're just being argumentative. I have had a situation where I found a corrupted file (an extremely large video file), and subsequently backed up all but 5 files on my PC successfully. Blue screens are more obvious signs of a potential filesystem problem,

      Making a larger point, most regulars on this site have very little love for Microsoft. Yet on this story, there are dozens of comments about how the updates aren't that bad, that they can't possibly harm data, etc etc. It's disgusting to see so many shills trying to muddy the waters of this discussion, including you. Perhaps you should spend your time programming a non-shitty OS instead of astroturfing here.

      Yes, I'm arguing with your contention that you can safely wait for signs that your hard drive is failing before you make a back up -- I've had this same argument many times with friends and family that wanted me to magically retrieve some important file from their dead hard drive... yet none of them wanted to pay the $500+ that a data recovery service wanted to attempt a (non-guaranteed) recovery. The time to make a backup is now, not when you think your hard drive is failing.

      It's disgusting to see so many shills trying to muddy the waters of this discussion, including you.

      No need to make this into a partisan "You're either with us or against us" issue -- I never argued that the forced (or deceptive) upgrade was a good thing, I was just pointing out that if your hard drive fails during an operating system upgrade, it was due to fail soon anyway.

      Perhaps you should spend your time programming a non-shitty OS instead of astroturfing here.

      This is one of the worst things to come out of the current political environment - it's becoming nearly impossible to have any sort of polite discourse with anyone that disagrees with you because the conversation soon degrades into namecalling, proclamations of "This is fake news!", or partisan "If you don't agree with me, then you're my enemy".

    11. Re: A bad hard drive isn't MS's fault by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      And result in no damage to hardware due to proper thermal throttling on a hardware level.

      Your comment is completely irrelevant to the topic at hand.

    12. Re:A bad hard drive isn't MS's fault by Khyber · · Score: 1

      Seems like your logic circuits are busted, sir. Try again when you have had to deal with multiple hard drive failures due to heat as CTO/CIO of one of California's oldest non-profits. (As of 1933.).

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    13. Re:A bad hard drive isn't MS's fault by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Exactly. If you don't trust Microsoft to upgrade their own software properly and without data loss (and after this, you really shouldn't), then maybe you should look for a new OS vendor.

    14. Re:A bad hard drive isn't MS's fault by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      And it's MS's fault for your bad maintenance and poor hardware design?

      https://yourlogicalfallacyis.c...

    15. Re: A bad hard drive isn't MS's fault by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      Answering yourself? How fucking sad. There is only one thing to say to someone that talks to themselves..

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  11. Re:suure by rakslice · · Score: 2

    (and said lady's law firm starts looking for their next class action target)

  12. Re:Maybe this will be modded 'troll' but... by hyades1 · · Score: 2

    Proof, please. Where has there been a fatal accident involving a self-driving car, and people "looked the other way"?

    --
    I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
  13. Re:suure by hawguy · · Score: 1, Insightful

    hard drives breaks; needs to buy whole new computer...

    The kind of people that don't recognize (or stop) an operating system upgrade are the same kind of people that need to pay Geek Squad to replace their hard drive and reinstall the OS and applications -- at a price that's likely close to the price of buying a new low-end computer.

  14. lolwut?!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    whether or not the hard drive can withstand the stress of the Windows 10 installation,

    Sounds like something a computer illiterate would say. If copying files to a hard drive is "too stressful" than it was already dying.

    1. Re:lolwut?!! by HiThere · · Score: 1

      To me it sounds like there wasn't enough spare space, and you ended up with an incomplete install that was unbootable *because* it was incomplete.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  15. No sympathy for Microsoft here by Snotnose · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why did I upgrade from Win8.1 to Win10? I was doing something and clicked a window, but the window changed from "do you want to do this thing you want to do" to "do you want to upgrade to Win10". It was my only computer, I couldn't google to see the ramifications of aborting the "upgrade", so I let it "upgrade"

    Chillen, don't run win10. It may be the most secure, for various definitions of secure (e.g. telemetry), but it sure as shit ain't the most stable. Worst of all, M$ will decide when your machine reboots. They don't need for you to say "um, yep, this is a good time to reboot", nor "um, no, give me time to save my files and shutdown". Nope, you will close your laptop, go to bed, and wake up to a rebooted system.

    FUCK THAT SHIT

    1. Re:No sympathy for Microsoft here by viperidaenz · · Score: 1
    2. Re:No sympathy for Microsoft here by GerryHattrick · · Score: 1

      On the Win10 I've seen, shutdown defaults to a semi-hibernated state you have to reject by unticking 'Turn on fast start up'. I heard the default makes complications if you want to read the HDD after a fail, so I untick that on all Win10 machines I see. Right or wrong?

    3. Re:No sympathy for Microsoft here by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      They don't need for you to say "um, yep, this is a good time to reboot", nor "um, no, give me time to save my files and shutdown".

      Sure they do. A window pops up and asks you if you want to reboot now or later.

      Nope, you will close your laptop, go to bed, and wake up to a rebooted system.

      Wait, so overnight when no one uses a computer and no software is running indicating that there's a block on the system is not a good time to reboot? On top of that there are unsaved files in this state?

      I think this is covered by KB3000001 - User to stupid to use a computer.

    4. Re:No sympathy for Microsoft here by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 2

      Yesterday, I got such a message. However, on another occasion, I didn't and it rebooted while I was using the damn thing. It probably showed the message when I was away from the machine and it disappeared before I got back, and it WAS outside the "active hours" of 8-5, but it's my home box! I'm on that outside of 8-5!

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
    5. Re:No sympathy for Microsoft here by omnichad · · Score: 1

      2) Shutdown means shutdown, not hibernate.

      Except you're wrong. It unloads the user profile but then hibernates the rest of the RAM to disk - because it was determined to be faster to load one big RAM image than to load individual drivers one-by-one from an HDD.

  16. Re:Maybe this will be modded 'troll' but... by Aaron+B+Lingwood · · Score: 2

    We allow self driving cars on the road that may kill people and look the other way every time there is an accident, yet nail Microsoft to the wall for making a bad software design choice.

    People aren't being forced to immediately forego their use of a more traditional motor vehicle in favour of an under-tested self-driving alternative.

    --
    [Rent This Space]
  17. Re:suure by Lordpidey · · Score: 4, Interesting

    For people who don't know how to reinstall an OS, it's a daunting task. Especially on laptops, where you need to worry about drivers. Because of that, many users are limited to asking for help from a tech support company, such as geek squad or similar... and that can cost a couple hundred dollars. Almost the price of a new computer.

    --
    Some people encrypt by using rot-13 twice. I prefer the more secure method of using rot-1 a total of twenty six times.
  18. Re:Maybe this will be modded 'troll' but... by fluffernutter · · Score: 1, Insightful

    They're being forced to use the same streets as them though.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  19. Re:Found the APPS! by jenningsthecat · · Score: 1, Funny

    ONLY luddites can luddite luddites, so this APP lawsuit against ludditey Ludditedows 10 will be destroyed by Ludditeald Trump, who will Make Luddites Ludditey Again!

    Luddites!

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
  20. I'm pissed too by Notabadguy · · Score: 1

    Windows 10 keeps forcing driver updates, which keeps fucking up my graphics drivers, and the only way that I've been able to find to bypass this is a registry hack to tell Windows Updater that my PC is on wifi while on ethernet, then to tell it the wifi connection is metered and to disallow updates on a metered connection.

    The problem is that I don't want updates disabled, I want to APPROVE updates - and Windows 10 is a cunt about taking away choice.

    I haven't done the registry hack yet because I shouldn't fucking have to hack my computer to make Microsoft stop breaking it.

    1. Re:I'm pissed too by bored · · Score: 1

      Yah, I have the same problem. The approved win10 wifi driver is buggy, It frequently goes into a state that can only be recovered by disabling the device via device manager, or rebooting. None of the windows 10 self repair/diagnosis options can recover it, instead frequently leaving me with a message to the affect that the problem is likely my wifi AP. Rolling back the driver to a win8 era option fixes it for the month or so it takes M$ to decide to "upgrade" it.

      The general consensus between a few sysadmin friends of mine is that win10 has a core wifi bug, because they claim it periodically has problem connecting across a wide range of devices/wifi adapters with similar sounding problems (aka the machine needs to be rebooted).

  21. Re:Maybe this will be modded 'troll' but... by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    Well, that problem goes both ways, doesn't it?

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  22. You don't want this to succed by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Even if you are a rampant MS hater, this would set a really bad precedent: That software companies could be liable for data loss caused by things only incidentally related to their software. Talk about a ripe field for bullshit lawsuits.

    Don't think OSS would be immune either. The argument of "but I didn't charge for it" doesn't eliminate liability. In fact, it would be something companies could use to try and bully OSS out of existence through bullshit lawsuits.

    1. Re:You don't want this to succed by ckatko · · Score: 2

      >Even if you are a rampant MS hater, this would set a really bad precedent: That software companies could be liable for data loss caused by things only incidentally related to their software.

      What world do you live in where they're NOT liable?

      If SQL server had a bug that deleted millions of dollars worth of banking data, they'd sure as hell get their asses sued. But when it's a customers data, it's okay?

    2. Re:You don't want this to succed by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1, Informative

      Don't think OSS would be immune either. The argument of "but I didn't charge for it" doesn't eliminate liability.

      Apparently you haven't read any open source licenses because they took care of liability a LOOONG time ago. Normally the text would be in caps but Slashdot didn't like the caps.

      GPL:

      in no event unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing will any copyright holder, or any other party who modifies and/or conveys the program as permitted above, be liable to you for damages, including any general, special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use the program (including but not limited to loss of data or data being rendered inaccurate or losses sustained by you or third parties or a failure of the program to operate with any other programs), even if such holder or other party has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

      MIT:

      the software is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement. in no event shall the authors or copyright holders be liable for any claim, damages or other liability, whether in an action of contract, tort or otherwise, arising from, out of or in connection with the software or the use or other dealings in the software.

      BSD:

      this software is provided by the copyright holders and contributors "as is" and any express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed. in no event shall the copyright owner or contributors be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, or consequential damages (including, but not limited to, procurement of substitute goods or services; loss of use, data, or profits; or business interruption) however caused and on any theory of liability, whether in contract, strict liability, or tort (including negligence or otherwise) arising in any way out of the use of this software, even if advised of the possibility of such damage.

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    3. Re:You don't want this to succed by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

      If a SQL Server database was lost because the hard drives happened to fail, how is Microsoft liable for the failure of some random manufactures hard drive?

    4. Re:You don't want this to succed by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Making a bad product is different than forcing an OS upgrade because the second one is intentional. Upgrading to another OS almost always carries some risk. If you force the upgrade, you are forcing that known risk onto consumers.

    5. Re:You don't want this to succed by freeze128 · · Score: 1

      Likewise, the Windows 10 update program says to "Back up your data". I think that's all that needs to be said.

    6. Re: You don't want this to succed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You are confusing potential and abstract bugs, with real design decision to force updates without an option out.

      (Breaking PC's, impacting heart surgeries, costing businesses time and money etc)

      Microsoft decided to move the call from customers to its own, and now ofc customers will be moving the bill too

    7. Re:You don't want this to succed by Alumoi · · Score: 1

      If SQL server had a bug that deleted millions of dollars worth of banking data, they'd sure as hell get their asses sued. But when it's a customers data, it's okay?

      It seems you have the wrong idea of what customer means to $big_companies. Individuals/small companies are just paying beta testers now. I think you'll find the limit at around $500,000 worth of purchase to qualify for the customer rank.

    8. Re:You don't want this to succed by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      It's not a software issue. It's more like malware - malicious intent or recklessness on the part of the author.

      Microsoft mislead customers with a malware upgrade app. First they made the "not now" and window close buttons simply schedule the upgrade for later, and then when people complained they just removed the close button. Any reasonable person would have known that forced updates at random times on hundreds of millions of computers was bound to go badly wrong for some significant proportion of them.

      You are right though, just because your malware is open source wouldn't exempt you from responsibility for your malicious actions.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    9. Re:You don't want this to succed by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      Leaving aside the fact it's rarely the case you can just sign away liability..

      The GPL only applies if you decide to accept its conditions. Just installing Ubuntu doesn't mean you've agreed to the GPL and, as such, Canonical has anything to point at if your Nuclear Reactor has a meltdown because a bug in Unity swapped the "Drop fuel rods/Raise fuel rods" buttons by accident.

      Sure, you might give up your right to sue if you subsequently redistribute Ubuntu to others. But even then... like I said, it's rare you can just sign away liability.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    10. Re:You don't want this to succed by houghi · · Score: 1

      The difference and this is essential, is that Windows10 was forced, while installing Linux or anything else won't be forced.
      There was no "no thanks, please never ask me again" option with the update.
      Bit like if you push down the gas pedal and have an accident or your car pushes down you gas pedal and has an accident.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    11. Re:You don't want this to succed by SuiteSisterMary · · Score: 1

      Heh, I remember getting a copy of Solaris, oh, 16 or 18 years ago, they were doing a giveaway sort of thing.

      Anywho, I really enjoyed reading the release notes and user agreement; notes about increasing TCP windows to deal with satellite communication, stern warnings that the software was not to be used in nuclear power stations, missile guidance or other weapons systems, I think on submarines.....

      --
      Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
    12. Re:You don't want this to succed by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      Even if you are a rampant MS hater, this would set a really bad precedent: That software companies could be liable for data loss caused by things only incidentally related to their software. Talk about a ripe field for bullshit lawsuits.

      Well part of the problem that MS inflicted this upon themselves was the forced nature of Windows 10. Had the users accepted an upgrade willingly (which they claim they didn't), MS might have a defense. They didn't have a choice and an upgrade wrecked their system. In the law, damages are applicable if the plaintiffs can prove the cause and damages.

      Don't think OSS would be immune either. The argument of "but I didn't charge for it" doesn't eliminate liability. In fact, it would be something companies could use to try and bully OSS out of existence through bullshit lawsuits.

      Again, OSS doesn't force their software on you. Not even updates are forced. So your comparison is bad.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    13. Re:You don't want this to succed by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      The users would have to agree to something before they installed Windows 10. They claim they didn't agree to install Windows 10.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    14. Re:You don't want this to succed by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      That's a bad analogy. Brakes are a safety-critical item, so the standards are higher. Microsoft software clearly states in the EULA that it is not suitable for safety-critical systems, and also that they're not liable for any problems that may occur from use of the software, including data loss. You use their software at your own risk.

    15. Re:You don't want this to succed by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      When that pizza restaurant is infamous worldwide for this kind of customer service, and has been acting this way for many decades, then yes, it really is your fault.

    16. Re:You don't want this to succed by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      They agreed to a previous version of Windows, which had nearly the same EULA, and they agreed to automatic software upgrades, which gave them Win10.

    17. Re:You don't want this to succed by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      The previous version of Windows cannot extend their EULA to a new version as every EULA is explicit in which versions are covered

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  23. Re:Maybe this will be modded 'troll' but... by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

    Sure let's find out. Just not by exposing the public.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  24. Re: suure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I solder all my connections. Removable plugs are for people who don't make commitments.

  25. Re: suure by Glasswire · · Score: 2

    Are you aware that you simply unplug the old hard drive and plug in the new one? Soldering is unnecessary and not advisable.

    Many modern tablets and laptops have soldered down flash drives. How are you unplugging those again?

  26. Re:suure by hawguy · · Score: 1

    Yes pumpkinhead.. because Microsoft never voided good programming practice.. and was never deceitful about presenting an upgrade to Windows 10 to their users. Get back under your rock you useless troll. Obviously you are uniformed as to the lengths that MS went to increase the percentage of Windows 10 users.

    http://www.pcworld.com/article/3073457/windows/how-microsofts-nasty-new-windows-10-pop-up-tricks-you-into-upgrading.html

    Peace out you uniformed pisshead.

    Nothing in that article refutes my assertion that the people that are tricked into upgrading are the same kind of people that can't replace a hard drive on their own.

  27. Re: suure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Are you aware that involves knowing how to do it? First you have to buy the right kind of drive, then you have to open the case, then unplug the old drive from power, then unplug the old drive from the controller, then unscrew the drive/caddy, then remove the old drive and only then can you install the new drive. After that you still have to install the OS.

    Are you aware that most inverters are simple plug in modules? In fact it's easier and faster to replace than a hard drive. And it's still not worth my time. It costs me less to buy a whole new TV. The same is true for people who aren't computer geeks when their hard drive dies.

  28. M$'s defense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    M$'s first line of defense, the EULA specifically prevents class action lawsuits.

    That will be followed by: We asked you to make sure your data was backed up. We also have reminders as a default about setting up a backup schedule.

  29. Different class action lawsuit by craXORjack · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'd like to see a class action lawsuit addressing the Windows 10 keylogger. After seeing that article I went in on my system to make sure it was not enabled and found that it was. Yet I know for a fact that I declined every option during the windows 10 install that offered to gather information on the pretense of making my experience better. I read each one very carefully and surprised myself by turning all of it off. So how did a privacy option get flipped so that Microsoft was keylogging me? I'd like to see about 10 million users sue them for that very legit complaint.

    --
    Liberals call everyone Nazis yet they are the closest thing to it.
    1. Re:Different class action lawsuit by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I'd like to see a class action lawsuit addressing the Windows 10 keylogger.

      You'd like to see a class action against a feature that provides improvements to handwriting / text recognition through an automated learning system that takes inputs from your corrections and processes them in a central database? A privacy feature that is so carefully hidden that it is listed in an area of settings called "privacy"?

      I'd like to see less stupid people on Slashdot but we can't all get what we want.

    2. Re: Different class action lawsuit by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

      Well I can think of a way to make Slashdot have one less stupid user, but you said you want to be able to see it so the two are mutually exclusive.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  30. Ya, and that will hold up... not by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here's the deal: All proprietary software has that in there as well. Every piece of software has an EULA that says they are responsible for nothing. Have a look at the MS EULA if you wish, there's all kinds of shit that supposedly limits liability, requires arbitration, etc, etc https://www.microsoft.com/en-u....

    You can say it all you like, doesn't make it true. I can write an EULA saying "By using this software you agree I get to take your first born child," and yet if I tried, I'd still go to jail because just saying it in an EULA doesn't make it so. You can't disclaim all warranties, all damages, etc by law. For some info on it look up the Uniform Commercial Code.

    Ok well all that aside when it comes to an issue like this courts are not known for applying the law one way in one case, and a different way in another. They don't say "Oh we like this nice OSS" and give it one rule and "We don't like this mean commercial software" and give it another. Thus if courts find that software makers are liable for incidental data loss then it will apply to ALL software. OSS has no special get out clause. You don't get to have it both ways where OSS gets a magic liability shield just by putting something in a text document but commercial EULAs aren't worth the bits used to store them.

    In fact, OSS will be MORE vulnerable. Commercial companies have lawyers to help them wrangle out of things. They also can always go the real contract route, where you sign an actual contract up front with them before buying (you see this with some enterprise software) which can enforce more stringent terms. OSS that is just distributed on the web doesn't have all that.

    1. Re:Ya, and that will hold up... not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Software companies including MS, Apple, and everybody else, open or closed source, have used EULAs substantially similar to the above from day 1. Even before IBM PCs. You may pay for it, but the company that supplies it is under no obligation to make sure that it even works. Yes, that's perfectly legal and has held up in court many times in the US. So I don't see this suit going anywhere.

      If MS actually warrants that Windows will work as documented someplace, that's better than nearly anybody else. The fact that they then disclaim everything else including any consequence of failure to meet the warranty, and prohibit you from using any means to enforce the warranty other than arbitration that MS controls, kind of makes that warranty statement worthless.

      As a practical matter, W10 *was* a piece of garbage on release. It *did* break computers in the sense that it rendered otherwise working computers useless for the purpose for which they had originally been purchased, whether by hardware damage (that's a stretch), simply bollixing things to where the only practical way to restore it was to buy a new computer (too much time and cost to do it any other way unless you knew enough to DYI and prepared a rollback image before letting fly), generally requiring far too much time and effort to get right, and/or just being incompatible with a lot more application software than the incompatibility list knew about. Having done upgrades several times (3.1->98->XP->7->10), both with and without new hardware, I'd rate 7->W10 as by far the worst for hassle and incompatibilities. So ... did it break a computer for me? Yes. Did it waste an ungodly amount of time during the prevention period, during the upgrade, and since? Absolutely, yes. Did I know how to fix it? Yes, and in that I'm unlike the vast majority of computer users. So I'm probably not part of the class.

    2. Re:Ya, and that will hold up... not by ArylAkamov · · Score: 1

      First born? No. Souls? Sureeeee

      http://www.geek.com/games/game...

  31. Re: suure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    .. So nothing works anyway.

  32. Re: suure by rossz · · Score: 1

    So hard drives now come with the OS preinstalled with the correct drivers?

    --
    -- Will program for bandwidth
  33. Re:Maybe this will be modded 'troll' but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Ok, fine: you move to an island with only human drivers. I'll happily stay where I'm at with dramatically safer self-driving cars(complete with LIDAR and ultrasonic sensors that never blink or fuck with the radio instead of watching the road).

    My only condition to this agreement is that once nearly all of the occupants of Luddite Island have been killed by:
    -drunk drivers
    -teenagers
    -senior citizens
    -chronically sleep deprived workaholics
    -and people who choose not to wear their corrective lenses when driving

    that you don't expect tax-dollars to be dedicated to providing healthcare/social security disability for the paraplegics and quadriplegics who managed to survive your special brand of stupidity.

  34. Yes you do by Solandri · · Score: 1

    You're assuming the charge here for is a failed upgrade. The charge is for a failed forced upgrade. If Microsoft had informed users with a list of new features, what would happen in the upgrade process, and a disclaimer outlining the risks present in any upgrade, I think they would've been ok.

    But they didn't do that. They did nearly everything they could to force the Win 10 upgrade down people's throats, including misclassifying it as a security update, constantly pestering people who had already said they didn't want the upgrade, and breaking long-established UI paradigms like clicking the X to dismiss a dialog, to make it the same as clicking OK. Once you inadvertently authorized the upgrade, the computer would often upgrade on its own overnight without user intervention. No information, no disclaimers. If that's how you're going to treat your users, then you deserve to be fully liable for all the problems your shenanigans cause.

    OSS is fine because using it is completely voluntary. An OSS project might get into trouble if, say, Ubuntu forcibly upgraded pre-existing Ubuntu systems using sysv init to systemd. But no OSS project would be crazy enough to try that with pre-existing systems. The only reason Microsoft did it was because they knew software lock-in would prevent most users frustrated by their shenanigans from fleeing to a different OS.

  35. Re:suure by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

    Even moreso when you updated from Win8 to Win10 without Win10 media, and have lost your Win8 media. How do you update then?

  36. Mwahahaha! by meerling · · Score: 2

    "...and whether or not the hard drive can withstand the stress of the Windows 10 installation..."

    If the drive has sufficient free space, and has available drivers, the worst it can do is trash all the data on the hard drive.

    If you don't have those two requirements and for some unknown reason I've never heard of, it allows the install to go ahead anyway, the worst it's done is trash the data on the drive.
    (I've done both those situations, and windows will refuse to install. Sure, there may be a command switch to force it too, but that isn't the softwares fault you chose to shoot yourself in the foot.)

    Software doesn't destroy hardware. (Ok, there actually have been some very rare and very specific instances in history where that could be done, barring the use of robotics or explosives and the like, but those were fixed very rapidly after being discovered. So it's effectively a non-issue)

    If the hard drive failed, it's not the fault of the software, the hardware died. If it couldn't handle the stress of reading/writing a few gigs, it was already on deaths edge and in the process of committing computer suicide.

    HD dead and replaced the computer. That's like running out of gas and buying a new car!

    1. Re:Mwahahaha! by smallfries · · Score: 1

      Why does every OS installation warn you not to power-off during installation if the worst possible error can be fixed simply by reinstalling?

      --
      Slashdot: where don knuth is an idiot because he cant grasp the awesome power of php
    2. Re:Mwahahaha! by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      Sorry but bullshit. I had half a dozen boxes at the shop I had to do a wipe and reinstall on because they had Nvidia NForce boards and Windows 10 Upgrade Advisor happily claims it is compatible...if you consider no video drivers, no sound, and no networking "compatible"? Then I have some swampland in FLA you might be interested in.

      Oh BTW, if you try to do a rollback on a system with Nvidia NForce board? Welcome to endless reboot, it totally trashes the original OS. Luckily they were just boxes for sale and had nothing I gave a shit about on them but wasn't really thrilled about having to do OS reinstalls on what was perfectly working Win 7 boxes before MSFT got a hold of 'em.

      And yes software can damage hardware, or did you not hear that both AMD and Nvidia have had bad drivers come out within the past year and Windows 10 has the nasty habit of forcing driver updates? In case you missed it here is a report on the Nvidia driver and here is the one for AMD. Nvidia is claiming theirs doesn't do actual hardware damage but that isn't what the users are reporting and after Bumpgate we all know how well we can trust Nvidia to be honest about hardware issues.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  37. Re:Maybe this will be modded 'troll' but... by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

    But the self-drivers are safer than humans.

  38. Re:Maybe this will be modded 'troll' but... by hyades1 · · Score: 1

    So how about we leave the hyperbole for another occasion. Clearly, there have been no cases where a driverless car actually killed anybody, and certainly there is no evidence that people looked the other way when the cars failed to live up to promises. The fact that these cases are well documented would, in fact, tend to argue exactly the opposite.

    --
    I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
  39. Re:suure by William+Robinson · · Score: 1

    hard drives breaks; needs to buy whole new computer...

    That's nothing. While Windows was updating, my laptop imploded with mushroom cloud. I had to buy a new house!

  40. Re: suure by Z00L00K · · Score: 1

    If the computer even had a dvd drive.

    --
    If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
  41. Re:You don't want this to upgrade by shanen · · Score: 1

    What if you had the free choice to contribute to a fund to keep the older software upgraded against security vulnerabilities? Would you prefer that to letting companies like Microsoft decide when the new version supports their marketing plans and the old versions will no longer be supported?

    Then again, if I had my druthers, I might still be running Windows 95 or Windows 2000. My choice between those two would probably be based on the size of the relevant support projects...

    Windows 3.1 is a tad too retrograde for me, but I can't see a lot of crucial OS-level improvements since 95 came out. Or at least almost nothing that I would require to be a part of the OS. I'm convinced that Microsoft's trade-off of unneeded features for unneeded complexity and unneeded security vulnerabilities has been negative for a long time.

    --
    Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
  42. Re:Maybe this will be modded 'troll' but... by Alumoi · · Score: 1

    Calling an operating system new technology with risks totally unknow...
    Wow, just wow!

  43. Difference with other OS-providers? by joppeknol · · Score: 1
    I though about this, and I feel this sets a bad precedent.

    What is the difference between an upgrade from 7 to 10 and an upgrade from OSX10.10 to 10.11, or an upgrade from ubuntu. In all cases, it is supposedly better to do it in order to increase security, being supported etc.

    If you take this one step further, Am I allowed to launch a action suit against ubuntu if one the security-updates in one of their linux-libraries cause my computer to crash? The move from windows 7 to windows 10 might contain more changes, but it is essentially the same.

    You might say that windows 10 is a shitty upgrade or a shitty OS, but that's a reason to switch to another OS. Not to sue.

    1. Re:Difference with other OS-providers? by night_flyer · · Score: 1

      the difference was, it was a forced upgrade, many people "upgraded" cause they clicked the wrong thing on the nag screen that kept popping up

      --


      Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
      Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
    2. Re:Difference with other OS-providers? by omnichad · · Score: 1

      In all cases, it is supposedly better to do it in order to increase security, being supported etc.

      In Windows 7's case, it's still supported with security updates until 2020. A Windows 10 upgrade is not required in order to be eligible.

  44. Root causes by rcharbon · · Score: 1

    The root cause isn't auto-updating. The real problem is the shitty drivers. Disabling auto-update is just an inelegant hack.

  45. Re:suure by GuB-42 · · Score: 1

    hard drives breaks; needs to buy whole new computer...

    It used to be a ridiculous idea, not anymore.
    If you look at the new macbooks, the SSD is soldered to the motherboard and that's if you can access the motherboard at all.
    And even on laptops where you can actually change the hard drive, more and more often, it involves removing delicate clips and ribbon cables, sometimes glue.
    And to make things even harder, there is all that stuff with locked bootloaders so that you may not even be able to reinstall the system yourself on a new hard drive.

  46. Re: suure by Opportunist · · Score: 1, Troll

    Ah. I see you have no Thunderbolt card, no gaming mouse or keyboard, no soundcard that offers more than onboard quality, no flight stick/pedal system, no head tracking device, no VR system, ...

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  47. Re:suure by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    You get one, the FBI gets one and god knows who else does.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  48. Re:suure by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Download an install image ... how? The only machine in her household probably capable of doing this is not capable of anything at the moment when she'd have to download the image.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  49. Re:suure by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    And how do you like the US so far, Mr. Trump?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  50. Re:suure by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

    Friend of a friend got hit with an unwanted Windows 10 upgrade. Tried it for a while on the advice of Microsoft who said it was "better", but hated it. Lots of stuff didn't work. Asked my friend about reverting it because he didn't want to make things worse. By the time the friend gets there it's past the 1 month grace period and the old OS has been deleted.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  51. It's all about perspective by nehumanuscrede · · Score: 1

    Just to point out the obvious:

    The average non-Slashdot type will not know how to do much with their computer other than use it. Barely.

    When it ceases to do what they want, in their eyes, the computer is broke.

    Not, maybe a driver needs to be installed. Or the OS needs to be reloaded, or specific pieces of hardware need to be replaced.

    The damn thing is broken. Period. Fix it.

    They go to Best Buy armed with that information and tell the associate " My computer is broken " and are kindly steered towards the new computer section.

    Additionally, if the computer has some years on it, the " failure " is merely the final straw for folks to upgrade to a new one.

    Make sure to keep the perspective of your average user in mind before passing judgement on the whole thing.

    Besides, MS forcing updates has to stop. If this lawsuit didn't happen, another one will eventually when a forced patch borks everything up.

  52. Re: suure by kilodelta · · Score: 1

    At home there are two identical laptops. One took the Win10 upgrade no problem - the other refused to upgrade. So on Windows 7 it stays. The laptops will likely get replaced in the next years so I'm not going to sweat it.

  53. Re: suure by David_Hart · · Score: 1

    All extraneous crud I don't need since I have no lackluster Apple products, no gimmicky vr headsets, and no need for my computers to output more than onboard sound quality since the only sounds it makes are notifications anyway. Yup your right to point out that the latest and "greatest" peripherals of the day won't work so nicely bit your wrong to frame that fact as a game breaker. Troll Hardee please.

    And no recent model printer? There is always something that you need to install a driver for that isn't accounted for out of the box in Linux. Linux has grown up a lot but it's still third class, or worse, after Windows and Mac when it comes to driver support

  54. Re:You don't want this to upgrade by omnichad · · Score: 1

    I can't see a lot of crucial OS-level improvements since 95 came out

    Really? You don't even want the NT kernel? Win95 was fast, but it was far from stable.

  55. Re: suure by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    That IS the game breaker. Literally so.

    Take a look around why people have PCs in their home today. Some will do some work, yes, but in the end, gaming is a huge issue. Most people at least use their PC partly as a gaming machine, and this means that they will use an OS that provides them with the ability to do both, work AND play.

    If you cannot provide this, people will switch back to Windows.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  56. Re: suure by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 1

    Lol I've upgraded at least 20 machines to win10, all of it went flawlessly and the OS actually reaps performance benefits on older machines

    Performance benefits.... like not being able to run smoothly on 2GB RAM? Or like pretending to shut down faster by turning off the monitor while the PC still chugs away? Or like pretending to start up faster by never really shutting down (sleep mode), and STILL taking longer to resume from sleep than a win7 computer takes to BOOT...?

    --
    "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
  57. Re: suure by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

    There is no fundamental difference between a laptop and a desktop except the form factor. Your claim is ridiculous.

    --
    Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  58. Re:Found the LUDDITES! by D00MSlayer · · Score: 1

    you're on an american site my curry friend. i don't know wtf a luddite is, nor do i give a flying fuck. do the needful and learn some fucking english before posting. i don't go to where you hang out and wipe my ass with toilet paper.

    Not only do you assume he's not American( Why does it even matter?), you say a line that I had heard all of the time from Microsoft overseas Reps when I did support for MS:

    do the needful

    I can't tell you how many time I've heard MS reps from the Philippines say that line. So much so that the US-based MS support sites turned it into an inside joke.

    Oh how the irony is just oozing out of your comments.

  59. Re:suure by Sir+Holo · · Score: 1

    (and said lady's law firm starts looking for their next class action target)

    In this case they should, from the looks of it.

  60. Re: suure by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

    Hmm, I just got a brand-new Brother color laser WiFi workgroup printer a few months ago. Works great in Linux. Brother even has drivers on their website for it.

    Maybe you should stop buying shitty printers.

  61. Re: suure by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

    I don't know anyone who plays video games on their PC. Maybe it's because I'm over 30, and don't hang out with single men who still live in their parents' basement.

  62. You know what's a better way to do that by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    laws. And Regulation. And Enforcement for both of those. Plus jail sentences for regulatory capture.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  63. Re: Maybe this will be modded 'troll' but... by hyades1 · · Score: 1

    Stop trying to troll. You aren't good enough at it. In fact, if they still taught logic, you'd fail before Grade 5 level.

    When your standard of literacy improves enough to write an answer in proper English, you might also provide a little something on "burden of proof".

    Now fuck off...there are adults here, and clearly you don't belong.

    --
    I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
  64. Lawyers: Making Microsoft Look Good by SoftwareArtist · · Score: 1

    This is just absurd. Have you ever heard of any installer for any product first doing a check to see if your drive can "withstand the stress" of the installation? What does that even mean? What would you look for?

    Now let's do some math. The average life of a computer is... maybe five years? So 60 months. And "data loss or damage to software or hardware" is a really vague category. People do lose data sometimes. Software suffers corruption. Hardware wears out. Often that's what leads someone to get a new computer. So probably about 2% of all computers will experience "data loss or damage to software or hardware" in any month, even without any OS upgrade.

    Now how many millions of computers in the US have been upgraded to Windows 10? Multiply that by 2% and you get tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, that just by chance happened to develop problems in the month after the upgrade. For reasons unrelated to the upgrade. The lawyers are looking at that number and seeing dollar signs.

    --
    "I'm too busy to research this and form an educated opinion, but I do have time to tell everyone my uninformed opinion."
  65. Re:You don't want this to upgrade by shanen · · Score: 1

    Reviewing my comment, I see that I mentioned Windows 2000, and I believe it included the NT kernel. If not, then perhaps I should have extended to XP?

    However, in terms of required OS-level functionality, I think that most of the later versions of Windows can only be described as bloatware. If the focus had been on optimizing and improving and properly securing a smaller OS as the hardware improved, I think we would be living in a quite different world. For two things, the OS itself would be really fast and much more secure.

    There was a time when I could figure out what processes were actually running on my computers and which ones I actually needed. Now the Task Manager shows me a vast list of stuff, most of which I'm not using, but various parts of it are tied together in complicated ways, while EVERY part might contain severe vulnerabilities.

    Actually, I'm certain that there are still plenty of severe vulnerabilities. At this point I think it's one of the few things I'm certain about regarding the latest and so-called greatest versions of anything from Microsoft.

    As regards the original topic of Windows 10 upgrades, the only reason I upgraded to Windows 10 was because Microsoft was holding the gun of unsecured Windows 7 at my head. Ditto XP, except that Microsoft didn't give me an upgrade path and two of those machines are now Linux boxen. (One of those machines even runs an ancient app that is still important to me, at least in terms of avoiding a painful rewrite and port.)

    --
    Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
  66. Re: suure by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Yes, it's less of an excuse than it used to be. Also in the news, Windows 7 is way more stable than Win 95 used to be.

    "Better" doesn't always mean that it's superior to "good". We still haven't arrived at the point where you can easily or at least with (for Joe Randomuser) manageable effort migrate your gaming experience to Linux. Mostly because gaming hardware support is still lackluster.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  67. Re: suure by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Odd. I don't know anyone who plays his computer games on anything but PCs. Maybe because I'm over 40 and don't hang out with people who enjoy wasting money on toys that can't be anything but toys.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  68. Re: suure by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Maybe you could inform us what hardware you're using so we can in the future buy stuff that actually works in Linux? It would certainly be much appreciated.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  69. Re: suure by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

    I'm over 40 too. I don't know anyone who plays computer games period, though I suspect some of the young single guys at work might. I never asked them. The only time I play any games at all is if I (rarely) get the urge to play a NES or DOS game from when I was a teenager, and those work great in emulators under Linux. All the other 30+ adults I know, and know well enough to know about what they do on their PCs, don't play games, and aren't in tech either. The only things they do with their PCs are web surfing, playing DVDs, light document editing, that's about it.

  70. Re: Maybe this will be modded 'troll' but... by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

    I really don't understand why people keep saying this. Sdcs are highly restricted in how they can drive. It doesn't even compare to what a human does, so there is really no way to know how much safer they are.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  71. Re: suure by toddestan · · Score: 1

    Except for the proprietary bullshit. It's pretty common that nVidia/AMD GPUs in laptops won't work with the standard driver from whoever made the GPU. You have to get some special version from whoever made the laptop. The fact that almost all laptops now use the built-in Intel GPU has made this less common now, but the same thing for the wireless, LAN, chipset, etc.

    Granted, this is a Windows thing. Generally Linux will recognize and run just fine on the hardware. Then again, you can often get the standard drivers to work in Windows by modifying the .inf files as the only thing actually changed in the Vendor/Device ID. But it's still bullshit I shouldn't have to deal with.

    Of course, it's entirely possible this is the case for the desktops from these same major manufacturers, but since my desktops are built from standard parts I don't have that problem.

  72. Re: suure by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Drop your geek card into the shredder provided on your way out. Thank you.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  73. Re: suure by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

    So working on low-level embedded programming and designing electronics as a hobby isn't enough to be "geek" enough for you, because I don't play stupid FPS video games?

    Wow, this site has really turned into a pile of shit.

  74. Re: suure by mattventura · · Score: 1

    Not necessarily true. What if none of the networking devices work out of the box? There's also often oddball hardware that requires a driver than Windows doesn't find automatically, or even hardware where Windows tries to install too new of a driver version (as the new version dropped support for that particular piece of HW).

  75. Big time loss by sglines · · Score: 1

    Microsoft is going to lose big time here. The forced conversion to Windows 10 crashed all 10 desktop systems and an expensive server.Dell refused to back us up on these systems. As a result, Dell and Microsoft have been banned from the building and we are now going through a very expensive conversion to Linux servers and Apple on the desktop. May you rot in hell Dell and Microsoft.

  76. Re: suure by david_thornley · · Score: 1

    Being a married man over 60 who lives in the house he jointly owns, I assure you that I use my Windows computer for video games. Maybe you should get out more.

    --
    "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  77. Re: Maybe this will be modded 'troll' but... by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

    They are safer, in that they are much less likely to be "at fault" and when every vehicle is "not at fault", there will be no more crashes. Though, the statistics are not kept, and since only the government can collect them, and they do so according to standards set by the Feds, it's something else we should blame on Trump. The NHTSA has not updated the crash questionnaires with self-driving questions. And the NHTSA reports to the President. So ask Trump to do his job, rather than golfing every day, and you'll have the proof you need.

  78. Re: Maybe this will be modded 'troll' but... by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

    This won't happen under capitalism. Self driving cars will remain too expensive for everyone to own, therefore they will need to drive with humans.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  79. Re: Maybe this will be modded 'troll' but... by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

    Then "capitalism", whatever that means to you, is broken.

  80. Re: Maybe this will be modded 'troll' but... by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

    No shit.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.