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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."
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."
Maybe this will allow people to decide updates again.
_ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
Microsoft deserves this and much more for their draconian tactics and forcing consumers to upgrade or update without consent or ability to refuse.
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.
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".
and everyone else associated with this suit.
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...
"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.
(and said lady's law firm starts looking for their next class action target)
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.
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.
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
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]
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.
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.
I solder all my connections. Removable plugs are for people who don't make commitments.
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?
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.
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.
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.
"...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!
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.