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Microsoft Will Now Pester Windows 7 Users To Upgrade To Windows 10 With Pop-ups (betanews.com)
Mark Wilson writes: Anyone who is still using Windows 7 doesn't have much longer until the operating system is no longer supported by Microsoft. Come January 14, 2020 only those enterprise customers who are willing to pay for Extended Security Updates will receive any kind of support. Microsoft has already done a lot to encourage Windows 7 diehards to make the move to Windows 10, and now it is stepping things up a gear. Throughout 2019, the company will show pop-up notifications in Windows 7 about making the switch to the latest version of Windows.
Because I turned off updates years ago.
Maybe not in America, but pretty sure this will be considered illegal in the E.U.
"His name was James Damore."
Release another good windows.
Worked wonders with windows XP.
Has Windows Media Center, with CableCard support, been added back to Win10? No? Then eff off.
Or just use this and shit down bill gates mouth
>In a blog post, Microsoft's corporate vice president, Matt Barlow, explains that the end of support for Windows 7 means there will be no more updates issued to most people, and this is why it is important to upgrade to "the most secure Windows ever".
Perhaps if people switch to Windows 10, all their files and documents won't get deleted after the odd small update. /s
So, at least some of us try to train folks not to click on popups that they don't understand or expect, as often that enables permissions for malware.
Now, MS is going to make an eminently spoofable popup as part of their release?
What could possibly go wrong?
Check your premises.
I'm a Mac user since 1987 and a PC user as well since about 1998. Also a Unix user since 1993 (Linux from about 1997).
For decades Mac was miles ahead of Windows in usability, ease-of-use, and "just working". Sadly, this is no longer the case and now I will have to upgrade to Win10 kicking and screaming. Windows 7 is a quite nice system. I know how to use it by now and it doesn't have any terrible problems.
I don't want to go to Win 10 and deal with the telemetry and the ads and so on (or have to waste my time learning to defeat them). I wish I could go all in with MacOS but for the last 5 years or so it goes downhill with each release. It is bloated, getting slow, starting to crash, and always asking for my iCloud credentials.
It's frustrating. I don't really have a good solution at this point. Linux is out, because of specific software packages I use that do not support Linux. I use Linux at work but it isn't appropriate for my home use.
Oh well. Guess I'll learn to deal with Windows 10.
China still has 10% market share for Windows XP. There will still be substantial Windows 7 usage in the 2030s. Businesses wih critical workloads that can’t be rebooted all he time for “updates” means that 7 isn’t going anywhere.
Because they haven't gotten the hint over the last few years that I hate WinX, and didn't upgrade for a reason the last time they harassed me. Perhaps I don't want my OS to be an advertising platform for MS and instead want it to be a tool for my own use, sadly it is not so in their eyes.
...if I don't allow the update that makes it do this?
Hmmmmm.
Clearly, MS does not have the maturity to responsibly decide what to install and what not.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Runs on a virtual machine, most MSFT update services blocked at the router.
It only sees files on a special smb mount, and nothing else.
No chance for MSFT to corrupt my files
No change for MSFT to damage my hardware
Windows 7 actually runs great on simple VM hardware, it's very stable, I have not rebooted the VM in months. save-states help too!
Nothing is better with Windows 10. Want forced down your throat updates that break applications? Want spyware installed from the operating system level? No? Well you want another Operating System. Simple updates to Windows 7 (USB drivers?) would make it Microsoft's best OS ever.
I'm happy with Windows 7.
NOTHING in Windows 10 is an improvement. Do not need, did not ask for, do not want.
Just charge Windows 7 users an ongoing annual maintenance license and keep patching it. And otherwise leave us alone until our hardware dies in it's own good time.
w0ho shit out a new OS every couple of months and wipe their hands of it. Leaving end users to flail about desperately trying to figure out what to do.
You just described Windows 10. At least twice a year you get to experience the joy of getting fucked by a new mandatory update.
Also, "SJW freetards"? Really? No wonder you posted as an anonymous coward, you must be a real blast at parties.
This is where the party ends / I can't stand here listening / to you and your racist friend...
So it's time to say Goodbye to Windows...
I like Kubuntu (18.10) and use it in dual boot.
So I guess it will soon be my only operating system.
At least I will gain some free space after removing Windows from my harddrive...
so many ways to stop the Borg machine from Redmond:
http://blog.ultimateoutsider.com/2015/08/using-gwx-stopper-to-permanently-remove.html
One more pissed off moment and I'm all Linux. Fuck MS.
Just my $0.02
Microsoft doesn't respect your time, space, or money. Fuck 'em.
The community needs to send a letter to MS:
... the thing is a drm ridden piece of spying garbage. The fucking "service agreement" gives them absolute authority to invade your computer. A giant wtf. Anyone with any clue of the great evil of windows 10 wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole.
To think it only took the stupid and ignorant masses getting internet to allow corporations to steal software and force drm on the planet and the entire world bent over and forked over their money. A Fucking dystopia brought to by the average citizien moron who can't make rational purchasing decisions.
Imbecile detected.
What is LTS?
And all new versions of Ubuntu just work, even when you upgrade every 6 months. I have my Kubuntu 18.10 since 12.04 LTS - upgraded every half year.
I just rebooted a Windows 10 machine after over a year of being off. Before it would even let me log in it screwed around for over three hours doing god knows what. I figure transmitting my entire database to MSFT or the NSA.
It sucks. That's why I use Win 7 on my desktop, mostly for playing games. And I'm sure as hell not going to pay for a copy of Win 10.
I bought it.
I own it.
I drive it as I like, traffic laws permitting.
How can the factory decide where it will drive?
MacOS need better hardware NOT super thin hardware.
Also an real pro system with PCI-E slots not just pci-e X4 TB.
Most of us left are downloading security only updates at best and carefully monitoring what W7 is doing. After GWX everyone is super wary of this behavior. Businesses are going to have their own update servers and/or pay the extension.
The only way 7 is going to obsolete is vendors dropping support in their software. After that we move to windows 8.1 for 4 more years. That leaves at least 5 years for microsoft to unscrew itself or equivalent software to finally release on linux. For the common man, phones and tablets are going to take over.
Really? The last time I tried upgrading a version of Ubuntu, it totally hosed my laptop. The install got so screwed up that couldn't even boot into the GUI after the upgrade.
We have software that doesn't work on Windows 10, works great in Windows 7, and as I just discovered works on ReactOS. Anyone else in this situation may want to take a look at https://www.reactos.org/
I do not belong to the church of the lowercase 'i'
CentOS isn't much better. I've given up trying to upgrade servers across major versions at this point, and just tell my employers that various services are never coming back.
Many of my complaints about Windows 10 are absent in the enterprise branch and long-term servicing branch of Windows 10. The problem is that the cost of obtaining legal copies of those branches for personal use is ridiculously high. So I continue to use Windows 7 Ultimate, even if it means sticking with my aging PC and having to resort to tricks to keep the updates coming (remember the point-of-sales trick for XP?).
If people could install Windows 10 and have it look and act somewhat similar to Windows 7 without having to resort to exotic editions, registry hacks, or third-party tools, I think a lot of people would finally jump ship, even if they had to pay extra for those features. I sure would.
I say this as someone who just this week had to roll their own installation DVD in order to install Windows 7 on a new NVMe SSD. So I am set for a while longer.
In Soviet Russia, Windows 7 upgrades you!
Didn't expect that, hey, comrade?
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Look, if you're going to use Windows, then upgrade. Windows 10 is nearly 4 years old. If you don't like the direction Windows is taking, pick a different OS. But the incessant whining—especially when it isn't going to change a thing—is pretty annoying, especially for those of us who use Windows only rarely.
My understanding: Microsoft is an EXTREMELY poorly-managed company. I think much more attention should be given to that.
Microsoft trash talks Windows 10 LTSC -- again (Dec. 5, 2018)
Microsoft scrambles to limit PR damage over abusive AI bot Tay. (Nov. 30, 2017)
Guess what country sued Microsoft over abusive user data collection! -- Brazil (Apr. 28, 2018) Bad adjective: "beloved" Windows 10.
Apparently the present worsening management began with Ballmer-osis: Microsoft Is Filled With Abusive Managers And Overworked Employees, Says Tell-All Book (May 23, 2012)
But Microsoft was always abusive, apparently: 'Crush Them': An Oral History of the Lawsuit That Upended Silicon Valley. (May 18, 2018)
Bill Gates still runs Microsoft: Two years ago, during a Jan. 17, 2017 discussion with Charlie Rose, Bill Gates said he spends "15 percent" of his time managing Microsoft. I interpreted that to mean that Gates is still extremely involved and very influential. Did Gates want the mess that is Windows 10?
From the transcript at that Charlie Rose web page:
08:42
"Bill Gates: I'm there about 15 percent of the time. And I get to work just on the R and D part, brainstorming with people, thinking, OK, how are we going to take this artificial intelligence and make it understand, help you use your time better. It's a very exciting time in software. There's five companies that are, you know, in a really strong position. Microsoft is leading in some really cool stuff so --"
It seems obvious that Bill Gates still has a huge amount of overall influence on the management of Microsoft, even if he mostly focuses on other subjects.
Lately, Windows users are not allowed to know what Windows updates actually do. In the past, for example, users were pushed to Windows 10, without giving their permission. So, now Windows 7 customers will be paying for updates that may be abusive.
Some of the many stories about Windows 10 indicate deliberate abuse of customers:
Windows 10 is possibly the worst spyware ever made. "Buried in the service agreement is permission to poke through everything on your PC." (Aug. 4, 2015)
Microsoft's Intolerable Windows 10 Aggression (May 27, 2016)
Microsoft is infesting Windows 10 with annoying ads (March 17, 2017)
Microsoft, stop sabotaging Windows 10. (March 21, 2017)
...why would I want to upgrade to Windows 10 with pop-ups?
Unrelated to story, but tried to install Office for Mac yesterday night.
I have msdn dev licenses. Downloaded and installed iso of the latest stuff (Office 2019). I try to start it up and instead of asking me for the key it demands that I login to their shit site for activation. I said fuck it and downloaded older version (2016 IIRC). Same fucking activation bullshit. OK, at this point I realize that I'm fucked, I logged in through their trash online activation system, entered my valid msdn license key in their office.com/getoffice website. But when I try to activate from the mac program by logging in with same microsoft user it tells me "error, fuck you" basically.
At that point I downloaded even older version of office for mac (2011) and installed. At least that had old style activation where it asks me to enter key. It still failed (I now believe Microsoft activation servers were down that night) but at least it gave me an option to activate over phone. I did that and had it up and running in 5 minutes (the over phone activation takes a bit of time).
I'm perfectly fine with Office 2011. It can read and write documents that I need, no fancy ribbon bullshit. Of course their updater service was down so I had to install updates by downloading manually from Microsoft site. Product is end of life.
Fuck you microsoft.
I still use Windows XP and Windows 7 on my virtual machines. The only reason I'm using Windows 7 is not because XP is eol but because some garbage software stopped supporting XP. Do I care that it's vulnerable? No. I just restore VM from snapshot and em ready to go. I don't run mission critical stuff on Windows.
Btw XP can still receive updates with a bit of registry hacks that convert it to embedded XP. But it's largely useless now because most software stopped supporting it unfortunately.
Will they ever learn that nagware will just get people to turn off updates?
Lawyers must be foaming at the mouth with excitement. Why haven't we seen any big lawsuits about the forced loss of privacy and no options to buy a private non-spyware version?
The virus update code is not copyrighted, whilst Windows OS is, so it's not the same already. Apart from that, why the fcuk do you care?
Suddenly you will find yourself on a Windows 10 machine.
The claim it is licensed (not leased) is also bollocks. Your copy doesn't fall under copyright control since the use of the product is installing it, therefore not covered by copyright controls on copying.
It's more secure than 7 but without the bullshit of 10. It doesn't deserve the hate it gets and is actually quite decent.
I tried upgrading my mother's PC to Windows 10.
It could only operate the display in hideously eye-hurting unreadable "not the right resolution for the LCD monitor" mode, because Microsoft did not support the on-motherboard graphics and there was no driver update. So I rolled it back to 7.
She's gone over to the iFruit side now, she is happily using her iPad while sitting in her easy chair, and has no interest in the PC any more, so it'll probably remain at 7 forever.
If someone hasn't updated to Windows 10 by now, they will never upgrade. Hell, even I have a few Windows 7 holdbacks I have no intention of upgrading, ever.
Just stop. There is absolutely no point in turning Windows 7 into nagware.
The laptop I'm using right now is running Windows 7, but is unsupported by Windows 10 as NVidia don't provide a driver for the GeForce Go 7400 GPU it contains.
In addition, HP, the "makers" of this machine, have chosen to hide the links to all the drivers they host, so I'm boned if I need to reinstall... unless I can remember all the SP numbers for the audio drivers, etc and pull them direct from their site.
Over the years, it's had an SSD to replace the old HDD, a new WiFi card to get 5GHz and "n" (and a patched BIOS to circumvent the stupid "whitelist"), and the RAM is maxed out
Do I now want to spend a chunk of money on a new laptop when this one works, and does everything I need it to do, just because MS and/or HP have decided it's time I did, to support their bottom line?
No, especially as everything "affordable" nowadays appears to have cheap-and-nasty calculator keys, not a *real* keyboard.
Get off my lawn.
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Time to stop updating again unless Tronscript incorporates the removal of the offending update. Piss off already M$.
and I agree with this - although the new mini is a welcome step in the right direction, the pro desktop is missing.
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
If you buy something, you should own it, not the reverse.
Blame Red Hat for that, not CentOS...
...but I give it no more than a day before the information is out on how to disable them, which update to remove or which registry key to alter.
Palaces, barricades, threats, meet promises
"MacOS need better hardware NOT super thin hardware."
Many Mac users that love the MacOS are having Hackintosh systems built that bring the MacOS to its true potential. You may want to look into building/having a Hackintosh built for you.
I remember back then they were like: "Do it now or lose your chance to upgrade!"
Now it's just: "DO IT NOW"
How about a decent, usable, PCI-compliant point of sale system?
I don't respond to AC's.
Oh yeah. And there's that bit about Microsoft, er I mean the Overlords actually being the devil.
Have gnu, will travel.
They did the same when XP was at the end of their service date.
that is not the point also end users don't really want to deal with having to redo Hackintosh stuff for each mac os update.
Apple is missing the market. People will buy $1,499 apple desktop with stuff that non apple price is $1000-$1100. they may even sell a few $1899 gamer systems.
Also missing is the $2500+ workstation systems.
Good chance that after buying a retail Windows 10 licence to upgrade your windows 7 system, Microsoft will still refuse support or even install security updates because your CPU is few years old.
As a company we where forced to buy Windows 7 retail licences because OEM was no longer allowed if we assemble our own machines and volume licences are only upgrades from OEM, so not possible either. And these are Autocad workstations, this hardware, including the CPU, was the most current thing on the market when we installed Windows 7.
Windows 10 is not an acceptable alternative. I don't accept it. I reject it out of hand. Come back when you have something suitable for me to upgrade to. An operating system to allow me to run my applications unmolested, without any of your idiotic unwanted UI innovations, your Windows malware store, or your telemetry. No forced updates, no Windows Live ID (or whatever the hell you call it now) needed to use our machines. Just a very boring traditional Windows experience with modern security and APIs, WIMP, a Start Menu that actually looks like one, and some basic very slightly updated amenities from Windows XP/7, you know, like an Explorer that doesn't look like ass, a decent media player (with DVD support), an image viewer, etc, and not those horrid abominations you provided in Windows 10. Microsoft may have moved on to Windows as a (shitty) Service. I didn't.
And what I wish we could go back to establishing with these companies in a very solid way, whether with computers, phones, tablets, whatever: this is MY hardware. I do not co-own it with Microsoft, Samsung, Google, the damn mobile phone carrier or anybody else. It is mine! Period, end of discussion! And what I say runs on my hardware is what I run, consequences be damned. If I don't want to upgrade versions I should have an unimpeachable enshrined right to be asked and to say no on any physical piece of equipment that I own. But people have just started accepting garbage cosmetic version upgrades with obnoxious and/or disastrous UI and experience changes pushed without their consent, mostly on their damn phones, and that's a problem.
Some of us remember the jaw-dropping arrogance and hubris Micros~1 demonstrated with their Get Windows 10 (GWX) initiative:
So I guess my question to Micros~1 is: What in your brain-worm-infested minds do you imagine has induced us to change our opinions on this matter? You are every bit as incompetent and every bit as untrustworthy as you were five years ago, ten years ago, 20 years ago...
Windows exists in my house solely to play games. If you feel you can't handle that duty any longer without completely fscking over my machine, then I guess I'll have to learn to live with just NetHack.
TL;DR: The Answer Is No.
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
Sure glad I'm using Ubuntu. :-)
Linus is an SJW? Could you be any more obvious AstroTurf?
I thought most anyone not wanting 10 stopped updating windows 7 after the change from individual KBs to rollups.
A few more people will stop using IE, as the big blue E icon that they call "Internet" will now launch a fairly modern Edge browser.
Too late, I ditched Win7 for Linux Mint a while ago and I'm never going back.
I liked Win7- it was everything I needed and not much else. But the shaky updates and the constant push to upgrade upgrade upgrade upgrade were wearing on me.
The final straw was an 'update' that blasted me off the net and nothing I could do would fix it. I finally had to roll back to a save point, and that was that- no more updates.
So yeah, MS finally pissed me off enough to bail. Linux Mint is good, fairly well done and perfectly usable. Finding replacement programs took a little work, and transferring my data was a bit more, but it was worth it in the end.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
What was the last SLOW Mac that Apple made? Mac Mini G4 perhaps? or iMac with hard disk drive if storage is the bottleneck? if GP complains that MacOS runs like shit, and it really does run like shit then improving the hardware won't make it not run like shit.
Maxed out Mac Mini plugged on a 5Gbps or 10Gbps network might be your "workstation", if you don't need a GPU or the Intel GPU is enough. It seems unironically better than the trashcan Mac.
In 9 months. Should be fun to watch.
If you were to reinstall Windows 7 maybe the drivers would come in via Windows Update (except they won't, after January 14. 2020)
She lost. Get over it.
May I ask which ones? I ask because that was what I thought until the end of 2017, when out of sheer frustration with the idea of having to move to Windows 10 in the foreseeable future I just gave Linux a try. The plan was to resort to Wine and/or a Windows 7 VM for those Windows applications I really cannot do without yet. I wasn't too optimistic, I saw a less-than-fifty-percent chance for it working out well. But it did. A few weeks later, all machines in the household (the other inhabitant had been very sympathetic to the plan, too) had been converted to Linux as the only or primary OS, and we have never looked back. There's just one thing I've been asking myself once or twice – why did I wait that long?
Let's be real for a second. I have no doubts that there are software packages that people use that are not supported on Linux. Some may have viable alternatives, but some might not. And if there are alternatives - they may not be good enough or similar enough to make people want to switch. That is just life!
I am not in the camp that says Linux is better than Windows (or Mac) for everything. It's just not that simple. There is no need to be so completely polarized, where one thing has to be completely right, and one thing has to be completely wrong.
And full disclosure: I have been Linux only at home since 1999. My wife and kids run Win7. It all mostly works out fine. My wife uses Quicken to manage our budget. My kids play many games that are Windows-only. They could switch, but why? Win7 is fine. I run Linux because it fits my brain, and the way I do things. I run the media server on my machine, I have scripts that do all kinds of things, from downloading and chopping up podcasts to listen to on my commute, to photo editing, to general bash scripting. I use fetchmail to consolidate my email and alpine to read it for crying out loud! I use Windows at work, but I also run lots of open-source and Linuxy stuff (gitbash, msys64) to get some things done much more efficiently.
As in life, it doesn't have to be us vs. them all the time. Do what works for you, and if it gets to the point where it's not working, try something else.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Since we use CentOS as opposed to RHEL, I can only comment on my experiences with the OS I actually use.