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Hey Microsoft, Stop Installing Apps On My PC Without Asking (howtogeek.com)
Chris Hoffman, writing for How To Geek: I'm getting sick of Windows 10's auto-installing apps. Apps like Facebook are now showing up out of nowhere, and even displaying notifications begging for me to use them. I didn't install the Facebook app, I didn't give it permission to show notifications, and I've never even used it. So why is it bugging me? Windows 10 has always been a little annoying about these apps, but it wasn't always this bad. Microsoft went from "we pinned a few tiles, but the apps aren't installed until you click them" to "the apps are now automatically installed on your PC" to "the automatically installed apps are now sending you notifications." It's ridiculous.
I'm sure its there, in the EULA we don't read.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
It UNINSTALLS programs without asking. About 3 months ago an update rolled out that Win10 said Quickbooks "Conflicted" with. So, without user interaction or ANY way short of pulling the plug to stop it, it Uninstalled Quickbooks from the users PC. Then did it to 3 more... Win10 Between the Spying "Metrics" it collects, and the Forced Auto-installs, and now it appears forced Installs, is by far the most "In your way" OS that Microsoft has ever produced. A STARK contrast to Even the Annoyances of Win7 and Win8.1.
Stop installing Facebook on my phone without me agreeing with that.
But you know what? You can uninstall Facebook app from Windows. Hell, you can uninstall Windows altogether from your PC and still have a usable PC. But I can't uninstall Facebook from my Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) and I sure as hell can't uninstall Android from it.
So who's the greater evil?
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
How do you mean? "Your Computer"?!? You misunderstand, if you run Windows 10 it isn't your computer. It's a machine you may be allowed to use, perhaps, and only the way Microsoft likes it.
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
They don't - the guy who wrote this article has no idea what he's talking about.
I suspect what happened is they installed facebook via the windows store on another PC and the default behavior is to sync/install apps (kinda like Android/iOS). And since store apps use oAuth 2 which Windows 10 supports - it can chain the authentication.
A lot of people aren't paying for it. Loads of gamer types who build their own PC are using unactivated Windows 10, something they would have had to use hacks to be able to do with XP.
So MS have loosened up the rules on paying for the OS but at the same time monetized app auto installs. Consider. If you buy a PC it comes with a load of crapware preinstalled - Norton Internet Security, Anti virus and so on. Most of those are trials - after a month or so they prompt you for a credit card to get a subscription. Now some percentage of PC users will dumbly hand over their credit card, and some percentage will work out they can uninstall it and use Windows Defender instead.
So each machine with trial software on it will generate a certain amount of revenue for the software vendor. Which means the software vendor can pay PC vendors to install trial software.
People have argued that the price of the trial ware knocked off a significant percentage of the cost of a Windows licence in volume. The problem from MS's perspective is that all the cash went to the vendor and WIndows got poor reputation for performance because things like Norton Internet Security absolutely killed performance.
Now with WIndows 10 and push installs MS have a chance to get in on the act. Some software vendor can do a deal where they pay MS to push install their software.
PC vendors probably won't get to install Windows for free though - there's no reason for MS to allow that and it would kill their revenue. However people building their own machines will probably get to use unactivated windows for free. Possibly MS will segregate things so that unactivated windows will get software pushed while corporate machines where the company pays a per seat license will not. I.e. 'free' windows can be monetized in a way that doesn't require the users pay a fee.
Or maybe they'll sell Microsoft Insecticide
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
If you are referring to Windows I'll just point out that Windows NT is the newest among common consumer operating systems.
Mac OS - evolved from Nextstep - 1988 release.
Linux - 1991 release.
Windows NT - 1993 release.
Indeed. When the observable behaviour of your legitimate software is becoming indistinguishable from the observable behaviour of malware, at some point you have to look in the mirror and say maybe you're the problem.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
This type of thing is exactly why Microsoft did everything possible to get people to move to Win10. They intended to monetize it in other ways that would give them a steadier/larger stream of income going forward.
As operating systems get more stable there are fewer reasons for the consumer to upgrade while Microsoft still has the task of keeping up security updates, etc. Eventually this would lead to declining revenues and the inability to support future development, not to mention allow Linux to make inroads. By restructuring to a walled garden where they're in control of your system they can monetize the hell out of you, EULA away your privacy rights, and be laughing well into the future.
If Linux development can ever get it's head out of it's ass and focus on how to make it easier for users to recover from problems without resetting everything they'd probably have a shot at taking away a big chunk of users who don't want to deal with MS' new direction.
Yes. Not only is the behavior of Microsoftware just as unacceptable as the more typical malware, but it also teaches ordinary users to just click through and accept malware because it acts just like Microsoftware does. Microsoft is training users that malware behavior is normal.