El Reg reports
Jesse Worley said he'd received a cheque for $650 from Microsoft--seen by The Register--which he told us he'd received after threatening the giant with court action over an unwanted Windows 10 upgrade.
Tech consultant Worley sought payment from the vendor for the 10 hours it took to rebuild his grandfather's custom-build PC, re-installing Windows 7 to resemble Windows XP, in order to banish Windows 10.
[...] "Had Microsoft not gone out of their way to be deceptive, my grandfather pretty clearly wouldn't have been updated to Windows 10", he said.
"They interrupted the basic functions of their own software--the X button--in an attempt to fool people into updating, so any affirmative consent he or anyone else may have given for the update can't be considered valid during that period."
[...] Worley had built the PC 10 years ago when his grandfather was first diagnosed with Alzheimer's. The build was designed to resemble Windows XP, which his relative had used while at work and was therefore familiar with.
[...] Worley was seeking $650 for the 10 hours he'd had to spend rebuilding the PC. He had tried a rollback but that failed, and he was forced to rebuild the installation with a boot drive, as the system lacked a CD.
[...] Worley has now encouraged other customers to take action through the small claims system if they, too, got Windows 10 without wanting it.
Previous: Upset with Automated Windows 10 Upgrade, Californian Takes Microsoft to Court... and Wins
Related Stories
Two Soylentils wrote in with news of a modern-day battle of David vs Goliath — a user who had had enough with an automated upgrade to Windows 10, took Microsoft to court, and won.
Woman Wins Lawsuit Over Unwanted Windows 10 Installation
A California woman has won $10,000 in compensation from Microsoft after Windows 10 automatically tried and failed to install on her Windows 7 computer.
The automatic install of Windows 10 failed, leaving her with a unstable and often unresponsive computer used to run her travel agency from an office in Sausalito, California.
Teri Goldstein reportedly said: "I had never heard of Windows 10. Nobody ever asked me if I wanted to update."
After attempting to fix the problem with Microsoft's support, Goldstein sued the company for a new computer and loss of earnings, winning $10,000. Microsoft dropped its appeal to avoid further legal expenses, leaving Microsoft footing the bill.
[...] In March, users started complaining that Windows 10 automatically started to install on their computers without their permission, leading some to hilarious interruptions to weather forecasts and pro-gaming sessions alike.
The forceful rollout has angered users, but has also boosted Windows 10 numbers, crossing 270 million users by the end of March 2016, running on 17.43% of the worlds' computers - second only to Windows 7 - according to data from Netmarketshare.
Whether the lawsuit and $10,000 judgment will spawn further suits over failed or forced Windows 10 installs remains to be seen. Goldstein has shown it's possible, which could open the floodgates.
Windows $10k has a certain ring to it.
[Continues...]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 28 2016, @10:02AM
Impeding the progress of an all-American corporation. What next? Socialised medicine?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Pslytely Psycho on Wednesday September 28 2016, @10:09AM
" What next? Socialised medicine?"
We can only hope......
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Thursday September 29 2016, @11:15AM
A forced upgrade of a sort, technically.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Wednesday September 28 2016, @10:14AM
This really needs to go viral. Here in the UK we have seen an entire industry pop up to support claims against banks for mis-selling PPI. Banks have handed out billions in cash to millions of customers, and all sorts of businesses (both legit and shady) have popped up to support them. While I hate spam, it would warm my heart to receive a spam call that starts with "Did your PC install Windows 10 without your permission? You could be entitled to compensation."
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 28 2016, @10:21AM
You're entitled to shut the fuck up, ambulance chasing scum. Oh no am I libeling you, motherfucker?
(Score: 4, Informative) by TheLink on Wednesday September 28 2016, @10:58AM
Actually if you or I did a similar thing wouldn't we be breaking computer crime laws in some countries?
Or is it now legal everywhere to install/"upgrade" people's computers just because they clicked OK by mistake or even "X" on a dialog box instead of cancel? ( http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/229040-microsofts-latest-trick-clicking-x-to-dismiss-windows-10-upgrade-doesnt-stop-upgrade-process [extremetech.com] ).
I'm sure lots of adware or malware people would be very interested. e.g. they can now legally install bitcoin mining software on many more people's computers - click OK or "X"(close) to get the "upgrade". Instead of clicking "here" and doing other steps to actually cancel it.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday September 28 2016, @04:12PM
When I saw it was from the disreputable Register I googled. The only thing I found that didn't reference the Register article was one that looked to be a Microsoft site [windows10update.com] but possibly is a phishing site.
What it reported matched the summary, but I'd like to see a real news outlet like the BBC or NYT's coverage before I swallow the story whole. At any rate, if it is true, note that the computer in question was a special rig that had been set up to look like Windows 98 so an Alzheimer's patient could play Minesweeper.
I put W10 on this laptop and took it off right away; it was butt-ugly, slow, and removed MS Office, which is essential to me.
At any rate, rolling it back to W7 returned the machine nearly exactly as it was before. It didn't even remove the Linux partition (I wouldn't have minded, I hate what they did to KDE and am shopping around for another distro) and restored MS Office. The computer was unusable for a day while it rolled itself back, but starting the process took maybe five minutes.
The bottom line is, there are very few who could successfully sue Microsoft for it, only people with special setups like his guy's. Hell, if it would have taken ten hours of my work to get that shitty W10 off I might have sued, too.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 28 2016, @05:37PM
I'd like to see a real news outlet like the BBC or NYT's coverage
Don't hold your breath waiting for that.
Both of those are notorious M$ shills.
set up to look like Windows 98
You claim to be a writer but your reading isn't so good.
It was set up to look like eXPee.
there are very few who could successfully sue Microsoft for it
More poor reading skills in evidence.
Find " X " in the article.
M$'s methods were deceptive--even criminal.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Funny) by PizzaRollPlinkett on Wednesday September 28 2016, @11:06AM
I have Win10 on a $550 Asus laptop. If I could get this $650, I would make a cool $100 profit. I need to figure out who to threaten, and order some more laptops from Newegg.
(E-mail me if you want a pizza roll!)
(Score: 2) by zocalo on Wednesday September 28 2016, @12:12PM
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 2) by ilPapa on Wednesday September 28 2016, @12:58PM
What is his grandpa doing on that computer that it took him 10 hours to wipe it and re-install Windows 7?
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 28 2016, @01:31PM
install windows updates of course, that shit takes ages even with a 300mbit connection and a good SSD.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday September 28 2016, @01:50PM
Yesterday an employee, actually a contractor now as he is 85 and "retired" was getting ready to go home for the day with his shiny new windows 10 laptop. He had to wait over an hour because updates decided to run and was afraid his battery wouldn't last. Total waste of time. Windows 10 is a joke.
(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Wednesday September 28 2016, @03:24PM
The laptop didn't have a sleep, suspend or hibernate mode? Run that crap later. If shutting down causes it to want to run updates then don't actually shut it down.
If the corporate image doesn't handle closing the lid properly, that is probably not a good sign of a quality image for that model of laptop... XP seemed to get the whole sleep/suspend/hibernate thing figured out, provided the BIOS was also set appropriately.
Maybe my luck has been better, but sleep and hibernate only (anecdotally) seem to cause issues on modern hardware if the hardware is not a typical laptop or desktop -- meaning there is a RAID array in there or has a lot of RAM paired with a tiny SSD or something.
Of course, security policies may prevent use of hibernation, too, but that wouldn't exclude the sleep/suspend state in most cases.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday September 28 2016, @04:12PM
It's his personal laptop. He is an older guy an is accustomed to shutting down when finished.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 28 2016, @04:25PM
Few notes. First is that Windows Update in 10 will try to set an RTC alarm to wake the computer to install updates, unless you turn that off in a few places. Second is that you can shutdown Windows without installing updates, although most have been disabled following the Anniversary Update (using alt-f4, the login screen, or holding shift), but mapping the power button trigger to shutdown in ACPI still seems to work.
(Score: 1) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Wednesday September 28 2016, @09:05PM
My brother's machine does not wake up properly.
Could not trouble-shoot it because the commands require administrative access, and the instructions for getting that no longer work (because they removed the "All programs" menu item (required for right-clicking))
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 28 2016, @10:59PM
Highlight the program in question, in your case the command prompt, and press ctrl+shift+enter.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 28 2016, @06:26PM
Amen.
In fact, don't do things The Windoze Way at all.
German Basketball Team Relegated to Lower Division Due to Untimely Windows Updates [soylentnews.org]
The easy way to accomplish this is to install Linux, which BY DEFAULT **separates** the download part from the install part of updates|upgrades.
.
...and the response below from LoRdTAW "It's his personal laptop" brings me back to my old question: [soylentnews.org]
What tasks are these people are doing that -requires- Windoze?
(mcgrew mentioned Minesweeper.) [alternativeto.net]
...and I'm remembering The Folgers Test [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [slashdot.org] some guys did where they showed folks a system running Linux + KDE and the folks thought it was just a nicer version of Windoze.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 28 2016, @09:13PM
I deploy new site equipment often. We are still deploying mostly Windows 7 computers, because of cost issues with Windows 10 Enterprise licenses (also management feels burned by the anniversary update breaking some GP behavior on our small Win10 Pro test group).
A fresh Windows 7 install, with a disk only updated to SP1 (or, horrors, an older image) can take more than 8 hours to update. You can mitigate this a bit by slipstreaming the image to be more updated but it's not a perfect solution; I use an image that includes IE11 which skips me dealing with that specific problem, and a few others, though.
I've never sat there the entire time and checked exactly how long it takes - I usually get distracted at around 6 hours and come back around 12. It won't always succeed. Once it has done a full check for updates though subsequent checks will go faster.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday September 28 2016, @05:25PM
RTFA, n00b. It was an Alzheimer's patient with a customized W7 machine set up to look, act, and work like a W98 box, so the old guy could still play minesweeper. It was his son who threatened MS. Most W7 users wouldn't have to spend 10 hours to restore it to how it was, although your computer is completely unusable for a day while it rolls back; I tried W10, hated it, and rolled it back. It took all day, but little effort on my part.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Thursday September 29 2016, @10:49AM
Most W7 users wouldn't have to spend 10 hours to restore it to how it was, although your computer is completely unusable for a day while it rolls back; I tried W10, hated it, and rolled it back. It took all day, but little effort on my part.
10 hours is about "a day". If I spent a day with a client rolling back windows 10 or installing windows 7 (well I wouldn't know how to to be honest) I'd bill them for the 10 hours, and $65 an hour sounds very reasonable - far less than I'd charge for work I like doing.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday September 29 2016, @04:33PM
I wasn't on it for ten hours, my part took maybe five minutes and it churned away doing its thing.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 29 2016, @04:39PM
Somebody should email the guy about that story on the ultrasound alzheimers treatment, and with any luck it will hit clinical trials in time for the man's grandfather to recieve treatment so that he can have a few more good years!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Warm_Fusion on Wednesday September 28 2016, @01:13PM
The Win 10 Anniversary Edition installed yesterday for me. When I was looking for how to switch Cortana off (an option they've removed in the Anniversary Edition), I noticed that all the spying features have been re-enabled. So keywords I type on my keyboard were back to being reported to Microsoft again.
Seriously, Win 10 feels like a stalker to me. I'm installing Linux when I'm off work next week.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 28 2016, @02:33PM
Which distro?
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Thursday September 29 2016, @10:46AM
Whichever he says will be wrong according to people here. Any problems he gets - if he reports them here - will elicit an answer of "you should use $OTHER_DISTRO", and probably turn into a systemd flamewar.
I suggest he buys a mac.
(Score: 4, Informative) by turgid on Wednesday September 28 2016, @03:53PM
Don't install Ubuntu, then.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 28 2016, @06:43PM
That has been gone since April. [google.com]
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 30 2016, @07:50AM
The fact Canonical decided to pull this stunt lands them squarely on the shitlist with Sony et al.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 28 2016, @07:02PM
The second half of "Never give up." is ALWAYS "Never surrender." (as was suggested in the dept. line of the original submission).
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]