SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
Microsoft sparked fury when it aggressively pushed its Windows 10 operating system onto people's PCs – from unexpected downloads to surprise installations.
Now a consumer rights group has forced Redmond to promise it will never do it again, in Germany at least.
In 2015, Microsoft offered existing Windows 7 and 8 users a free upgrade to its new cloud-friendly OS, and rapidly become increasingly ambitious about getting it onto machines. After bundling the upgrade alongside its monthly security patches and resorting to tricky tactics, loads of users found they were downloading gigabytes of unwanted Redmond code.
This riled a lot of folks, but Germany – one of the few countries that takes consumer rights seriously – actually took action. The Consumer Center in Baden-Württemberg filed a cease-and-desist complaint against Redmond regarding the practice, and the software giant has unexpectedly caved and promised never to do it again.
"We would have wished for an earlier introduction, but the levy is a success for more consumer rights in the digital world," said Cornelia Tausch, CEO of the Center.
Source: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/23/microsoft_windows_10_updates_germany/
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 26 2017, @08:38PM
No. What I want is prison time for those in Microsoft who were responsible for tricking people into "updating" to Window 10. There were many people who did NOT want Windows 10 but somehow their computers got it and in some cases their PC stopped working properly (not compatible).
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3014238/windows/get-windows-10-prompt-adopts-malware-like-tactics-to-trick-you-into-upgrading.html [pcworld.com]
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3073457/windows/how-microsofts-nasty-new-windows-10-pop-up-tricks-you-into-upgrading.html [pcworld.com]
If Microsoft is allowed to do tricks with dialog boxes so that people click the wrong thing and software they don't want is installed then why can't malware/crapware people use similar tricks?
Would you go unpunished if you went about upgrading Windows 7 machines to Windows 10 without the owners real permission? e.g. tell them while they aren't paying attention "if you don't say No, you consent to letting me upgrade your PC to Windows 10".