Microsoft finally admits that its malware-style Get Windows 10 upgrade campaign went too far

[Karlston]

 

Update: An earlier version of this story reported that Capossela was interviewed by Softpedia. While Softpedia was reported elsewhere as originating the story, the actual interview was done by Windows Weekly. ExtremeTech regrets the error.

 

From mid-2015 to 2016, Microsoft ran two simultaneous experiments. First, it made Windows 10 free and available to anyone running Windows 7 or Windows 8. Second, it began an aggressive campaign to push people to upgrade. First Windows 10 became a “Recommended” download instead of an optional one. As time passed, reports of people being ‘accidentally’ upgraded to the new OS increased, while Microsoft made various changes to the “Get Windows 10” app that emphasized the need to upgrade and downplayed the idea that customers had a choice. The issue came to a head when Microsoft issued a Get Windows 10 update that completely changed how the program worked. For the previous 10 months, declining an upgrade was as simple as clicking on the red X in the upper right-hand corner of the message box. After Microsoft’s update, clicking the red X did nothing. Users who thought they had dismissed the upgrade option woke up a few hours or days later to find their systems running an operating system they hadn’t intended to install. The people most likely to be affected by the problem were those who had spent 10 months actively avoiding Windows 10, which only added fuel to the fire.

 

This was the GWX.exe screen that got the company attacked for malware-like behavior.

 

 

An earlier version of the Get Windows 10 application. Clicking the X in this version was treated as notification that the user did not wish to upgrade.

 

Microsoft changed course within a month, but the company took a PR beating. Now, even Microsoft executives are agreeing that their update was more than a bridge too far. In an interview with Windows Weekly, Chris Capossela, Microsoft’s Chief Marketing Officer, called the weeks between Microsoft’s initial patch update and the eventual decision to reverse course on the malware-like installer “very painful.” He continues:

We know we want people to be running Windows 10 from a security perspective, but finding the right balance where you’re not stepping over the line of being too aggressive is something we tried and for a lot of the year I think we got it right, but there was one particular moment in particular where, you know, the red X in the dialog box which typically means you cancel didn’t mean cancel.

 

And within a couple of hours of that hitting the world, with the listening systems we have we knew that we had gone too far and then, of course, it takes some time to roll out the update that changes that behavior. And those two weeks were pretty painful and clearly a lowlight for us. We learned a lot from it obviously.

I think Capossela might be surprised at how many people viewed the previous iterations of Get Windows 10 as ‘going too far,’ but that’s beside the point. The larger question is why Microsoft ever thought it would be ok to switch how the application functioned after 10 months. Either Capossela is lying about Microsoft’s internal discussion of the topic or Microsoft doesn’t allow criticism of its decisions to percolate high enough in the company to inform its executive teams. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that changing how the “Do not install Windows 10 on my computer” process would inevitably result in a great many unwanted upgrades. The claim that it takes weeks to test an update to Windows Update is disingenuous as well. First, Microsoft could’ve fallen back to the old, previously-approved update and pulled the malware-style version of Windows 10 immediately. The company allowed the situation to go on for several weeks because it wanted to push as many people as possible on to Windows 10.

 

Second, there’s the idea that Microsoft “learned a lot from it.” Microsoft has been writing software literally longer than I’ve been alive. Throughout the past year, we’ve seen repeated problems with the Windows 10 patch cycle. When Redmond launched Windows 10, it initially planned to kill patch notes altogether until pushback from enterprise customers forced the company to change its plans. It beggars belief that Microsoft just realized that people actually find patch notes useful given that the company has decades of experience writing software for large enterprises. It’s all well and good for a corporation to promise that its learning from mistakes, but it’s awful hard to believe such promises when the mistakes in question violate basic principles of software design and customer service. It’s not hard to realize that changing how a program works without fully informing the end user will lead said users to be unhappy with your product.

 

Source: Microsoft finally admits that its malware-style Get Windows 10 upgrade campaign went too far (ExtremeTech)

 

Poster note: Changed Windows Weekly link at top of article to actually point to Windows Weekly. Original link was to a Carry Fisher heart attack story on Gizmodo

[WALLONN7]

As BNegão wrote:
"Excuse after the error is equal to medicine after the funeral"
 

[banned]

Can't run calc.exe with UAC disabled. That sucks. UAC is like "babysitter mode", and I don't want it. Rolling back...

 

UAC annoys me more than a non-root user in Linux..

[WALLONN7]

4 minutes ago, banned said:

Can't run calc.exe with UAC disabled.

 

Calc is out of its mind... It's in bipolar mode!!!

[steven36]

Its Christmas  and the only article you can find is about something that  dont exist anymore since Aug 2016? Don't you think we heard enough about it from July 2015 -July 2016?  We seen it in the News for a sold year no matter if Microsoft  admits  too it  or not cant change the past and the fact they did it..  If you didn't know they put GWX in windows 7 and 8.1 by now you must had been on MAC OS or Linux or just use smart phones.

 

Looks like its paying off too this article  wrote by MAC OS fanboy  so hes not even Pro Microsoft.

 

Microsoft has reclaimed its birthright: Windows 10 to overtake Windows 7 within a year

http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-has-reclaimed-its-birthright-windows-10-to-overtake-windows-7-within-a-year/

 

1 hour ago, banned said:

UAC annoys me more than a non-root user in Linux..

You get use too it after awhile ..i use to not like it ether, tell turning it off started breaking things in windows 8.1 so i stop turning it off almost 3 years ago.

[WALLONN7]

2 hours ago, steven36 said:

Its Christmas  and the only article you can find is about something that  dont exist anymore since Aug 2016? Don't you think we heard enough about it from July 2015 -July 2016?  We seen it in the News for a sold year no matter if Microsoft  admits  too it  or not cant change the past and the fact they did it..  If you didn't know they put GWX in windows 7 and 8.1 by now you must had been on MAC OS or Linux or just use smart phones.

 

Soviet Union... Vietnam... Iraq... Afghanistan... These are more than dated news... But it does not prevent you, US fellows, from reminding us from time to time...
My five cents: If the subject or people bother you, avoid them all. Period.

[steven36]

19 minutes ago, WALLONN7 said:

 

Soviet Union... Vietnam... Iraq... Afghanistan... These are more than dated news... But it does not prevent you, US fellows, from reminding us from time to time...
My five cents: If the subject or people bother you, avoid them all. Period.

I was not talking to you was I ? if you want too post the news from these countries  feel free to do so . The OP article is USA news  as well so why are you thanking it? mostly they copy stories from other blogs and change the words around .

 

ExtremeTech is owned by  Ziff Davis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExtremeTech

Ziff Davis, LLC is an American publisher and Internet company. It was initiated during 1927 in Chicago, Illinois, by William B. Ziff, Sr. and Bernard G. Davis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziff_Davis

Just like ZDNet is owned by CBS in the USA so you have a weak argument  its all mainstream news in this topic so far .

[WALLONN7]

2 hours ago, steven36 said:

I was not talking to you wast if you want too post the news from these countries  feel free to do so .

 

Well, once you did not understand my point... I'll leave it to when it happens...

 

2 hours ago, steven36 said:

The OS article is western news  as well so why are you thanking it?

 

Why am I?!

Well, they make me laugh!!! And I love to laugh!!! Simple as that!!!

[steven36]

20 minutes ago, WALLONN7 said:

 

Well, once you did not understand my point... I'll leave it to when it happens...

 

 

Why am I?!

Well, they make me laugh!!! And I love to laugh!!! Simple as that!!!

You make no sense you seem to be ok with USA news as long as it fits you're agenda  but you jump on people who post it it when it dont ! This is a site of a technical  nature keep you're hatred at the door for other countries   ... I will be the 1st to tell you I dont believe most of the news  but a year from now we will see were Microsoft stands regardless  of  what the main stream media says . The closer 2020  gets Windows 7 life will be winding down . Microsoft controls  updates  it's just facts . I dont care about windows 7 ive not even used it in years , There's no future  in the past .

[WALLONN7]

2 hours ago, steven36 said:

You make no sense you seem to be ok with USA news as long as it fits you're agenda  but you jump on people who post it it when it dont !

 

Let's recap:

1. "You called OP a dated subject... so, why talking about it?" - you argued
2. "I told you old US wars are more than dated... but you, US, still live and talk about dated subjects 'till todays... so why you, US, still talk about it too?!" - I did the same as you
3. You missed my point...
4. You don't catch my point yet...

 

[steven36]

8 minutes ago, WALLONN7 said:

 

Let's recap:

1. "You called OP a dated subject... so, why talking about it?" - you argued
2. "I told you old US wars are more than dated... but you, US, still live and talk about dated subjects 'till todays... so why you, US, still talk about it too?!" - I did the same as you
3. You missed my point...
4. You don't catch my point yet...

 

Stop posting highlighted words you blind me , No i did not argue with you. you started it, I was just posting my opinion minding my own business  I was not even talking to you or I did  disagree with you tell you quoted  my post . I dont even like talking to you because i dont trust you .

[Karlston]

Sorry, but a Microsoft admission of doing wrong is scarcer than hen's false teeth, and therefore is News. And furthermore, it's just happened, and that makes it recent News.

 

And (ab)using the fanboy word is just attacking the messenger, not the message. It's established fact that Microsoft right royally pissed off lots of the Windows world with their aggressive GWX nagging and trickery, and lost much credibility, as well as giving Windows 10 a stench that'll take more than a half-hearted apology to remove.

 

Any apology needs to come directly from Nadella and Myerson, and they need to have the guts to front the press and let them ask the unpleasant (for Microsoft) questions. It'll just remain a burr under plenty of Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 users' saddle-blankets until then. Then Microsoft needs to fix their appalling QA problems.

[WALLONN7]

2 hours ago, steven36 said:

I dont even like talking to you because i dont trust you .

 

2 hours ago, WALLONN7 said:

My five cents: If the subject or people bother you, avoid them all. Period.

 

[steven36]

27 minutes ago, Karlston said:

Sorry, but a Microsoft admission of doing wrong is scarcer than hen's false teeth, and therefore is News. And furthermore, it's just happened, and that makes it recent News.

 

And (ab)using the fanboy word is just attacking the messenger, not the message. It's established fact that Microsoft right royally pissed off lots of the Windows world with their aggressive GWX nagging and trickery, and lost much credibility, as well as giving Windows 10 a stench that'll take more than a half-hearted apology to remove.

 

Any apology needs to come directly from Nadella and Myerson, and they need to have the guts to front the press and let them ask the unpleasant (for Microsoft) questions. It'll just remain a burr under plenty of Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 users' saddle-blankets until then. Then Microsoft needs to fix their appalling QA problems.

Microsoft said they was sorry for doing it before  they just done it again and again  tell it was over even if Nadella and Myerson, said they was sorry its just words, they would not mean it ..It's about business is all they tired to push everyone to windows 10 by using sneaky tactics  because the old way Microsoft done things does not work.no more. Words can not get back my time i had to spend keeping certain machines at my house from updating to windows 10 i cant get that time back. 

 

A lot of software vendors use  sneaky tactics  it could of been much worse  . Some software will stop working all together if you dont update that connects to the internet . If Microsoft thought they could of got away with it i'm sure they would of put a real kill switch in windows 7 but due to there contracts they couldn't.  You still have a choice you can use windows 7 still , Everyone had time too roll back and millions didn't. I even have one PC I rolled back . It was even in the news how to roll back. 

[Karlston]

It'd be remiss of me not to post Woody's take on this...

Two thumbs down: Capossela’s explanation of the Get Windows 10 debacle

The blogosphere is abuzz with reflections on Chris Capossela’s explanation of what happened with the “Get Windows 10” debacle. An anonymous poster here pointed me to an ExtremeTech post by Joel Hruska which has several pertinent comments.

 

If you haven’t seen the video yet, the edited version of Windows Weekly 497 is here. In the first hour or so, Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott and Mary Jo Foley talk with Microsoft Chief Marketing Officer, Chris Caposella. As usual, I saw it live on Wednesday. (The Windows Weekly live taping is always worth watching: Wednesdays 2:00 pm East Coast.)

 

I didn’t write about Capossela’s comments about the “Get Windows 10” campaign in InfoWorld because it seems to me to be… I dunno… revisionist. Perhaps Capossela’s view represents the way Microsoft officially sees things. If so, it’s sad. Capossela says, in part (quoted by Hruska):

We know we want people to be running Windows 10 from a security perspective, but finding the right balance where you’re not stepping over the line of being too aggressive is something we tried and for a lot of the year I think we got it right, but there was one particular moment in particular where, you know, the red X in the dialog box which typically means you cancel didn’t mean cancel.

 

And within a couple of hours of that hitting the world, with the listening systems we have we knew that we had gone too far and then, of course, it takes some time to roll out the update that changes that behavior. And those two weeks were pretty painful and clearly a lowlight for us. We learned a lot from it obviously.

Which is either patently absurd or confirmation that this part of Microsoft is completely out of touch with its customers.

 

Hruska goes on to state, quite rightly:

The larger question is why Microsoft ever thought it would be ok to switch how the application functioned after 10 months. Either Capossela is lying about Microsoft’s internal discussion of the topic or Microsoft doesn’t allow criticism of its decisions to percolate high enough in the company to inform its executive teams. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that changing how the “Do not install Windows 10 on my computer” process would inevitably result in a great many unwanted upgrades. The claim that it takes weeks to test an update to Windows Update is disingenuous as well. First, Microsoft could’ve fallen back to the old, previously-approved update and pulled the malware-style version of Windows 10 immediately. The company allowed the situation to go on for several weeks because it wanted to push as many people as possible on to Windows 10.

I really didn’t think Caposella’s confession was newsworthy, but there are reports springing up all over, so I’ll toss in my two cents. This from somebody who fought about “Get Windows 10” tooth and nail. Those of you who read AskWoody know all about it, already – you lived it out in real time.

 

From my point of view, the whole episode with the Get Windows 10 campaign and the horse it rode in on, KB 3035583, was “malware-style,” from the beginning. My first report about the malware nature was twenty months ago, on Apr. 6, 2015:

 

http://www.infoworld.com/article/2906002/operating-systems/mystery-patch-kb-3035583-for-windows-7-and-8-revealed-it-s-a-windows-10-prompter-downloader.

 

If Microsoft had anything like a “listening system” in effect, they would’ve heard the screams starting Apr. 7. I sure did.

 

Turning the “X” in the upper right corner into a “please upgrade my machine” symbol was just another in a long, long line of overbearing efforts. The fact that Terry Myerson promised in Oct. 2015 that

You can specify that you no longer want to receive notifications of the Windows 10 upgrade through the Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 settings pages.

rates, in my opinion, as one of the great lies of the whole campaign. The promise never came true, of course.

 

The “Get Windows 10” campaign has done more to destroy Microsoft’s reputation than anything I’ve encountered – and I’ve been writing books about Microsoft products for almost 25 years. The current slump in Win10 adoption, in my opinion, can be traced directly to Microsoft’s heavy-handed jackboot GWX approach.

 

I doubt that there’s a person on earth who doesn’t “know” that Windows 10 is “bad” because Microsoft forced it down their throats – and those of their Great Aunt Mabel, and their hairdresser’s pediatrician’s favorite radio commentator.

 

You just can’t buy publicity that bad.

 

Many of you, this holiday season, will be suffering the fallout.

 

Source: Two thumbs down: Capossela’s explanation of the Get Windows 10 debacle (AskWoody)

[straycat19]

5 hours ago, WALLONN7 said:

 

 

 

5 hours ago, steven36 said:

Stop posting highlighted words you blind me , No i did not argue with you. you started it, I was just posting my opinion minding my own business  I was not even talking to you or I did  disagree with you tell you quoted  my post . I dont even like talking to you because i dont trust you .

 

 

Boys, boys, boys.  Grow up, get a gun and settle it man to man and quit bothering the rest of us with your public arguments, that is what messaging is for.  That is why I very seldom revisit a topic after I post.  I don't care what anyone says or thinks and I refuse to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person.

[steven36]

46 minutes ago, straycat19 said:

 

 

 

Boys, boys, boys.  Grow up, get a gun and settle it man to man and quit bothering the rest of us with your public arguments, that is what messaging is for.  That is why I very seldom revisit a topic after I post.  I don't care what anyone says or thinks and I refuse to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person.

Dont feel bad people like you and others is why me and many more seldom visit this forum anymore much less contribute news post   .If you just comment and run ill just add you to my ignore list since you are just trolling and  read no feed back to the crap you spew out ? There you go added  I will  have a happy newyear  because I cant see you're post at all no more :P

 

 

[pc71520]

http://www.ghacks.net/2016/12/25/microsofts-explanation-for-pushing-windows-10-upgrades-raises-questions/

[namek]

Have they ever denied it in the first place?

[pc71520]

14 hours ago, namek said:

Have they ever denied it in the first place?

Mmm...

 

[OrbingStorm]

If they were truly sorry they would remove all the back doors and stop working for the nsa.

[edwardecl]

Have they apologised for putting forced spyware in Windows7/8/10 yet?

[pc71520]

On 26/12/2016 at 11:35 PM, edwardecl said:

Have they apologized for putting forced spyware in Windows7/8/10 yet?

Do you expect this to happen?