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."

Comments

benefit for attorney?

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:benefit for attorney?

[TwoUtes]

Because judges were attorneys before they were judges?

Re:benefit for attorney?

[SeattleLawGuy]

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).

No sympathy for Microsoft here

[Snotnose]

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

Re:suure

[Lordpidey]

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.

Re:Wow

[StormReaver]

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."

You don't want this to succed

[Sycraft-fu]

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.

Re:Wow

[dknj]

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

Re: suure

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Ya, and that will hold up... not

[Sycraft-fu]

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.

Re:Wow

[hairyfeet]

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.

Re:Wow

[UnknowingFool]

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.