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Microsoft Is Downloading 6GB of Windows 10 Updates Without User’s Consent

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Re: Microsoft Is Downloading 6GB of Windows 10 Updates Without User’s Consent

#71

Post by tim333 »

johnward wrote: post #68
Retra wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft is getting heat for trying everything they can because they're supposed to be "trying everything they should ," instead of violating their user's expectations. It's great the MS wants everyone on their latest OS. But "latest" doesn't mean "best." Taking away user choice subverts the economic principles that encourage improvement -- that "best" is decided by the consumer, not the producer. It would be ideal…

Can't users opt out by disabling automatic updates? Microsoft is basically doing what every other modern software company does but taking heat for it.

Microsoft seems a bit more opaque about it than Apple - I've got pcs, a macbook and an iPhone and with Apple it's always a straight forward so and so is available, do you want to download it? Windows not quite so much.

Re: Microsoft Is Downloading 6GB of Windows 10 Updates Without User’s Consent

#72

Post by wang_li »

9872 wrote: post #50
teaneedz wrote: post #2

So why are we allowing Microsoft to get away with it?

Because automatically keeping all Windows users on the latest version makes the internet safer for everyone.

Is Microsoft/Apple/Google/etc. prepared to pay me for software that I've previously purchased but is incompatible with their newer OS? Plus any costs associated with finding new software, training on the new software, migrating to the new software, etc.?

Re: Microsoft Is Downloading 6GB of Windows 10 Updates Without User’s Consent

#73

Post by johnward »

wang_li wrote: post #70
johnward wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't users opt out by disabling automatic updates? Microsoft is basically doing what every other modern software company does but taking heat for it.

Arguably all software vendors who sell a product should be prepared to do two things: 1. continue fixing bugs in their prior products. 2. create new features in new products. People who buy something, e.g. an original iPad, no longer get OS updates even though the item was advertised as being safe to use to access content on the internet. This is provably false and while EULA shenanigans provide a fig leaf of proprie…

Just for the record the iPad2 still updates. Though the hardware can barely handle iOS8. It's almost unusable. It seems crazy to think there would not be an end of support for something that old. Maybe Apple doesn't allow updates because they don't want the original iPad to become completely unusable?

Re: Microsoft Is Downloading 6GB of Windows 10 Updates Without User’s Consent

#74

Post by McGlockenshire »

Karunamon wrote: post #51
0x0 wrote: post #49

ISPs with metered subscribers are going to make a killing this month!

Isn't there an on-by-default option that causes Windows to behave differently wrt. updates if you're on a metered connection? Still, it's on the user to mark their connection as metered...

The "this is a metered connection" toggle will only appear for wireless devices. There is no way to enable it when on a wired network.

Source: Much googling after I found myself on a hotel's low-bandwidth network for a week.

Re: Microsoft Is Downloading 6GB of Windows 10 Updates Without User’s Consent

#75

Post by johnward »

tim333 wrote: post #71
johnward wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't users opt out by disabling automatic updates? Microsoft is basically doing what every other modern software company does but taking heat for it.

Microsoft seems a bit more opaque about it than Apple - I've got pcs, a macbook and an iPhone and with Apple it's always a straight forward so and so is available, do you want to download it? Windows not quite so much.

I use OSX most of the time. It usually prompts me to install things. That doesn't seem like "automatic updates" though.

Re: Microsoft Is Downloading 6GB of Windows 10 Updates Without User’s Consent

#76

Post by nacs »

9872 wrote: post #50
teaneedz wrote: post #2

So why are we allowing Microsoft to get away with it?

Because automatically keeping all Windows users on the latest version makes the internet safer for everyone.

This isn't a security patch. This is pre-downloading an entire OS upgrade without the user asking for it.

Re: Microsoft Is Downloading 6GB of Windows 10 Updates Without User’s Consent

#77

Post by 9872 »

wang_li wrote: post #72
9872 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because automatically keeping all Windows users on the latest version makes the internet safer for everyone.

Is Microsoft/Apple/Google/etc. prepared to pay me for software that I've previously purchased but is incompatible with their newer OS? Plus any costs associated with finding new software, training on the new software, migrating to the new software, etc.?

It's the application developer's responsibility to maintain compatibility. That's why Windows offers people dev preview builds.

The people who make the software you use don't do that? Don't use their software.

Re: Microsoft Is Downloading 6GB of Windows 10 Updates Without User’s Consent

#78

Post by 9872 »

nacs wrote: post #76
9872 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because automatically keeping all Windows users on the latest version makes the internet safer for everyone.

This isn't a security patch. This is pre-downloading an entire OS upgrade without the user asking for it.

You don't believe the newer version of the OS is more secure?

If nothing else, supporting fewer active versions would make MS more responsive to any security issues that do arise.

Re: Microsoft Is Downloading 6GB of Windows 10 Updates Without User’s Consent

#79

Post by Retra »

johnward wrote: post #68
Retra wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft is getting heat for trying everything they can because they're supposed to be "trying everything they should ," instead of violating their user's expectations. It's great the MS wants everyone on their latest OS. But "latest" doesn't mean "best." Taking away user choice subverts the economic principles that encourage improvement -- that "best" is decided by the consumer, not the producer. It would be ideal…

Can't users opt out by disabling automatic updates? Microsoft is basically doing what every other modern software company does but taking heat for it.

Chrome auto-updates, but if it auto-updated itself into a completely different program, then I would have a problem with it. A lot of people enabled auto-updates in Windows without being under the expectation that their whole OS would upgrade.

It's like how putting "this EULA can change at any time" doesn't allow you to change the EULA to do subversive things. People agree to them under reasonable expectations. Using the terms and settings as a Trojan Horse is not respectful of those expectations.

Re: Microsoft Is Downloading 6GB of Windows 10 Updates Without User’s Consent

#80

Post by joenathan »

function_seven wrote: post #64
brandon272 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> First, default settings are never "consent". First, I'm confused about how this is considered a default setting. Anytime I've installed a version of Windows that has automatic updates it asks me during the install what my update preferences are. Just because a select menu has something as the default doesn't mean that I'm not consenting when I review that select menu and hit "Next" in the installer. Windows 8: http…

Your Win7 screenshot shows just a nice green shield next to the preselected default setting, and a scary red "X" next to the one that would prevent Win10 from being downloaded. The 3rd option also says that you will be vulnerable if you select it. Finally, nothing on those screens says anything about automatically downloading a different OS. There's zero consent to that.

It's not a different OS it is an upgrade, and the scary red "X" is valid and not a scare tactic. I deal with people on a regular basis that are still running XP, which leaves them vulnerable to attack and infection.

In the always connected world that we live in, automatic updates are a very necessary fact of life.

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