One Year in, Six of the Worst Windows 10 Gaffes

In the past year, Microsoft has done more to disenfranchise and alienate many of its Windows users, than anyone ever thought possible. The 'reminders' which gave way to installed nagware; the 'upgrade offer' which started off sounding like a privilege but quickly become a nuisance to users such as myself who wanted to keep Windows 7. The fact that users like ourselves remained proactive - hell, vigilant - during the GWX campaign to keep our current OS intact, speaks volumes for Microsoft's agenda vis-a-vis the concept of consumer choice.

The way MS handled the entire thing was just badly executed. Resorting to under-handed and even blatantly deceptive tactics to apparently trick users into upgrading. Why on earth would a long-standing, established and reputable business like Microsoft resort to the tricks of the cyber criminal? To meet their 1bn active devices target? It beggars belief that such a company like Microsoft would willingly tarnish their professional reputation and quite frankly, piss off so many customers by employing such shady and unethical measures for their own ends.

July 29th has come and gone, but the fallout is still up in the air. Not only the legal issues they'll face, but Microsoft have created a rift in terms of consumer trust which will be very difficult to mend.


Wipe your tapes with lightning.

The way MS handled the entire thing was just badly executed. Resorting to under-handed and even blatantly deceptive tactics to apparently trick users into upgrading. Why on earth would a long-standing, established and reputable business like Microsoft resort to the tricks of the cyber criminal? To meet their 1bn active devices target? It beggars belief that such a company like Microsoft would willingly tarnish their professional reputation and quite frankly, piss off so many customers by employing such shady and unethical measures for their own ends.

July 29th has come and gone, but the fallout is still up in the air. Not only the legal issues they'll face, but Microsoft have created a rift in terms of consumer trust which will be very difficult to mend. - Coldheart2236

It amazes me as well that Microsoft was willing to sacrifice their brand and reputation like they did.

And for what reason? Like you said, to meet their 1 billion device goal, which ultimately they had to back away from.

And at what cost? Windows 10 may now have a 21 percent market share (https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0). But the market share of Windows 7 is more than double that, and most of those PC owners do not trust Microsoft as a direct result of their adoption of malware tactics. Personally, I still have automatic updates turned off and still have GWX Control Panel installed.

The way MS handled the entire thing was just badly executed. Resorting to under-handed and even blatantly deceptive tactics to apparently trick users into upgrading. Why on earth would a long-standing, established and reputable business like Microsoft resort to the tricks of the cyber criminal? To meet their 1bn active devices target? It beggars belief that such a company like Microsoft would willingly tarnish their professional reputation and quite frankly, piss off so many customers by employing such shady and unethical measures for their own ends.

well they probably know they got a monopoly on the Desktop/Laptop market as there is no real competition to their Windows OS which basically forces people to stick with them whether they like it or not even though they can choose to stick with some slightly older Windows OS's.

sure, you got Linux variations and those work for some people (i got Lubuntu v16.04.1 installed on my old AMD Athlon 1.2ghz CPU with 1GB of RAM computer from 2001 which i just clean installed from scratch recently. it's fairly slow but considering how outdated the hardware is, it's still useable enough (as it's not painfully slow when loading basic websites etc) when you really need it like if my main computer goes down to order more parts to fix it etc) but the vast majority stick to Windows as it's just what comes on their computers and pretty much everything supports it etc since it's the standard. it's the most user friendly OS to as things tend to just work.

with that said... some people just don't like ANY change and while i don't like any big changes either (i.e. Windows 8 was a great example of a drastic change to the interface which turned everyone against it), Windows 10 got it right unlike Windows 8. so Windows 10 is a good upgrade over Windows 7, especially if you can get it for free like i and many others did.

but like i say there seems to be a general pattern with Microsoft and there operating systems with wide opinion and that is...

Windows 98 = good
Windows ME = bad
Windows XP = good
Windows Vista = bad
Windows 7 = good
Windows 8 = bad
Windows 10 = good (outside of the complains about the forced upgrade thing but opinions about the OS itself have been largely positive assuming your hardware is compatible)

so as you can see it's been a consistent cycle from good to bad to good to bad and so on since computers became mainstream (which i would say is roughly 1998-2000 or so) which is about 16-18 years ago now.

p.s. while Windows 2000 was good and it came before Windows XP (i.e. 2000 vs 2001) i did not count that simply because it was not marketed towards the average person even though it could be used by the average person. it was the first stable OS i used from Microsoft even though Windows XP was basically the first stable OS marketed towards the average person which is basically 15 years ago. but Windows 2000 was great being able to leave your computer running for a long time without having to reboot it fairly often unlike the old days of Windows ME and older.

side note: i used Windows v3.11 and Windows 95 to (which came before Windows 98) but i left those off the list since Windows 98 was the beginning of mainstream computer popularity even though i would say Windows 95 was the beginning of how computers basically are today with their overall interface etc.

July 29th has come and gone

apparently people can still get Windows 10 for free legitimately to from articles i have read recently. we just don't know for how long this will last since they officially said July 29th.

Windows 10 is running well for me now as i had a slight issue on and off, and even quite recently, that would break the function of when you right click the start icon and try to load up anything listed higher than 'search' would simply do nothing (even though i could load those things other ways but it's faster doing it from there) but apparently someone found the issue here... http://goo.gl/eyk4AG and i had that QuickSFV installed to which was the culprit in my case as after i removed that everything functions on that menu as expected. i wished i would have known about that a while ago as that issue seemed to come and go as it was working on the newest 10586.xxx build but after the 14393.10 anniversary update (which was released Aug 2nd 2016) it started acting up again until i stumbled into that website (but like i was saying it's a bit in and out since i was using it on Dec 1st 2015 to date). i am just surprised how someone found that it was a simple program installed that breaks the menu like that as i did not even think something like that could happen. but with that said... i doubt that will be a issue for most people since they are not likely to have QuickSFV installed.


p.s. personally... i would say it's wise to take advantage of the Windows 10 upgrade (like upgrade so Windows 10 is activated on your computer and downgrade back to Windows 7 etc if you want) if your on Windows 7/8 as even if you don't care for Windows 10 now it's probably going to pay off down the road unless your not using your current computer past Jan 2020 which is the end of Windows 7 support and won't be wise to keep on using Windows 7 much beyond that date. i would imagine there is plenty of people who have a decent computer in the last handful or years or so (maybe even in the current decade to) who will still be using those for general use beyond 2020. so i don't think it's wise to not take advantage of the FREE offer as it's not like Windows 10 sucks like Windows 8 did as Windows 10, outside of some glitches here and there for some people, is better than Windows 7 etc. but i think one of the best arguments in Windows 7's favor is that everything just works and it's a polished OS since it's been out for many years now which is an advantage over Windows 10 currently but eventually Windows 10 will eclipse it overall as like i was saying unless you happen to have some issues with Win 10 it's generally better than Windows 7 because of the little things and is a bit more up to date with modern stuff and if you play games on your computer Windows 10 is a good idea simply because of DirectX 12 (here is a little article on it... http://goo.gl/YFc0oG) which Windows 7 does not have. i used to play games a lot but i have not really played anything new in years now (since about 2012) as when i do play one it's something i already played before in the past and my current computer can still play those fine but if i was to play any of the more recent games i would have to upgrade my CPU/GPU which would likely run me at least $200+ off the top of my head but likely quite a bit beyond that even if i go with more of a entry level thing as if i had a i5 instead of a i3 CPU back when i got it in May 2012 i would have nothing to worry about but it seems modern games are requiring a quad core CPU where as not too long ago they did not. if it was not for that i could probably get a cheap-ish video card to run modern games half way decently as my current GPU is just too slow for new games as it's a Radeon 5670 512MB but it was decent enough back in 2010 when i got it to play Mafia II as it sips power as it does not even require it's own power as it gets it's power from the motherboard. but i imagine today they probably have similar enough cards, that are powered from motherboard, that are still noticeably faster than it (i have not looked into it but i imagine the more modern cards take up more space inside the computer case then that one does). it seems GPU's advance fairly quickly... like they get more and more powerful on the high end stuff that drinks the juice (i.e. draws a lot of power) or even the more semi-lower end cards are much more power efficient but still can run games at decent frame rates if you don't run the graphics setting too high.

okay, i am starting to babble a bit so i think ill stop here ;) (if your reading, congrats on the novel)


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My Top 100-ish Movies of All-Time! = http://goo.gl/EYFYdz
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but like i say there seems to be a general pattern with Microsoft and there operating systems with wide opinion and that is...

Windows 98 = good
Windows ME = bad
Windows XP = good
Windows Vista = bad
Windows 7 = good
Windows 8 = bad
Windows 10 = good (outside of the complains about the forced upgrade thing but opinions about the OS itself have been largely positive assuming your hardware is compatible)
I would actually look at it from this perspective:

• Windows 95 - Fantastic
• Windows 98/SE - Internet Explorer integrated crap that nobody wanted
• Windows 2000 - Perfect, but not for your ordinary user
• Windows ME - Junk, but introduced System Restore
• Windows XP - Finally, a way to receive upgrades without having to buy the stupid PLUS! versions at your local store
• Windows Vista - System resources hog, but introduced 32-bit and 64-bit versions depending on memory
• Windows 7 - Fixed what was wrong with Vista and then some
• Windows 8/8.1 - It was like running a tablet on your main PC, MS stupidly removed the start button originally, but was later added back in 8.1
• Windows 10 - Bit of a toss-up, seems like a combination of both 7 & 8/8.1

Of course, I didn't include Windows 1.0, 2.0, 3.1, and 3.11. Different times.

i used Windows v3.11 and Windows 95 to (which came before Windows 98) but i left those off the list since Windows 98 was the beginning of mainstream computer popularity even though i would say Windows 95 was the beginning of how computers basically are today with their overall interface etc.
LOL, I thought I was on top of the world using 3.11 with an external 28.8k modem!

if you play games on your computer Windows 10 is a good idea simply because of DirectX 12
Yeah, that posed a problem. I had contemplated switching to Linux Mint but, my video games are on Steam/Valve. I'm fairly certain that it would not have supported any modern-day video games, hence the reason for upgrading to Windows 10.

A good home use alternative to Microsoft stupidity and bullying:

http://zorinos.com/index.html

I'm currently using it in home but not yet on my office PCs. For just web browsing, emailing, and documents through Libre Office, previously Open Office, it is perfect. I also can run all of the Windows Office apps on it through Wine, and have some set up dual boot, Win 7 and XP.

I came across a fun statistic today. Not worth its own thread, but somewhat relevant to this one:

On the website www.tenforums.com (unofficial Windows 10 help), I saw the following user figures on their home page:Currently Active Users

There are currently 7921 users online. 115 members and 7806 guests

Most users ever online was 27,543, 29 Jul 2015 at 14:00.Gee, what was happening in the Windows 10 world on July 29th of last year? 

BTW, if you do a websearch for July 29, 2016 nothing about Windows 10 shows up on the first page. Instead there are all these sites about the end of the world. Supposedly on that day, the Earth's magnetic poles were supposed to flip and massive worldwide earthquakes were to follow. I'm glad Microsoft didn't have as much power as they thought (or maybe they upgraded enough systems to W10 that they cancelled Armageddon?).




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On IMDb, nobody knows you're a (I said nobody knows!).

I would actually look at it from this perspective:


Yeah, Windows 95 was good and all but i just started from Windows 98 since that's when computers went mainstream. so going from that point my whole good/bad/good/bad etc is basically accurate in terms of wide opinion amongst OS's intended for the average person.

LOL, I thought I was on top of the world using 3.11 with an external 28.8k modem!

a 28.8 was pretty great back in those days. you walked on water with that compared to what the modem i had with the computer.

hell, the modem with the first computer i had in 1995 (which had Windows v3.11 on it) would have made a 14.4 modem look pretty damn good. i think it was a 2400.

p.s. i think this is pretty much what it looked like... http://acsyakima.com/EbayPix/pb2400front.jpg (the one i had that looked like that (if not exactly like that) was in a Packard Bell computer).

side note: i used dial-up til the year 2000 which according to the guy who installed the Comcast stuff said i was one of the first people to get it installed. that was great as things loaded up MUCH faster. i think people of today forgot how bad dialup was as it's literally 5-6KB/s TOPS (for your standard 56k dialup modem) when many people today can easily exceed 1000KB/s or more pretty routinely which is literally like 200+ times faster than good dial-up.

even on my connection, which is is 410KB/s (give or take a little) (i am not on Comcast cable anymore but AT&T U-Verse DSL), that's still 82 times faster than dialup.

but with that said... back in those days websites, as you already know, where not as graphics heavy to keep load times more reasonable since dialup was more common then high speed. looking back on it... it's a wonder we made it through those days. lol

hell, even hard drives went up A LOT in storage space since then as i think that computer i had in 1995 came with a 4xxMB (1000MB = 1GB. 1000GB = 1TB) hard drive and now you can get 4TB(i.e. 4000GB) for not all that much $$$. hell, SD cards are WAYYY beyond 4xxMB capacity and have been for many years now.

even RAM chips where a arm and a leg back then for barely any RAM. i want to say, if i recall correctly, it was roughly $100+ for a 4MB chip back around 1995. needed it to run DooM better as the system in 1995 only came with 4MB of RAM and with that chip went to 8MB. now you can get A LOT more of it for barely any $$$. ;)

even your standard SD memory cards and the like from not all that long ago... those shot up a lot in storage space and prices have dropped a lot in not all that much time.

it's funny how fast technology movies/advances. just kinda cool to think back to the old days from time to time where as all of the younger people of today where born into the internet days and can't remember a world without it.

• Windows 8/8.1 - It was like running a tablet on your main PC, MS stupidly removed the start button originally, but was later added back in 8.1
• Windows 10 - Bit of a toss-up, seems like a combination of both 7 & 8/8.1

Yeah, but Windows 8 already had the bad rep by the time they tried to fix it with 8.1.

outside of Windows 8's interface issues it was not bad. but given that it still kept Windows 8 inline with the whole good/bad/good/bad trend they had consistently since Windows 98 to date(on the OS's aimed at the average user).

Windows 10 is definitely more inline with Windows 7 than Windows 8 in core functionality (assuming we go by Windows 8's initial interface which gave it the bad rep in the first place). but outside of that it does seem to be pretty much what you said but just further tweaked.

Yeah, that posed a problem. I had contemplated switching to Linux Mint but, my video games are on Steam/Valve. I'm fairly certain that it would not have supported any modern-day video games, hence the reason for upgrading to Windows 10.

Yep. if your playing many video games your stuck on Windows 10 (or Windows in general) whether we like it or not.

but without video games... while it might still be somewhat harder to leave Windows(given damn near all software is available for it), other OS's like Linux variations is more realistic to use in certain situations depending on what people do with their computers.

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My Top 100-ish Movies of All-Time! = http://goo.gl/EYFYdz
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