Microsoft loses $10,000 judgment against a woman in a forced Windows 10 upgrade case
From the time Microsoft introduced its new operating system, Windows 10 in July last year, the company has been condemned for its forceful campaign to get people to install the new operating system. Currently, the PC users just have about a month left to upgrade to Windows 10 with the free upgrade expiring on July 29.
However, it appears like that at least one customer took the fight to court and won a small judgment against Microsoft for how it installed its latest operating system.
Teri Goldstein, of Sausalito, California, sued Microsoft after a failed Windows 10 upgrade left her system performing poorly, prone to crashing, and apparently unusable for multiple days, reports The Seattle Times.
“I had never heard of Windows 10,” Goldstein said. “Nobody ever asked me if I wanted to update.” She said that she never authorized any updates.
Goldstein reached out to Microsoft customer service to attempt to resolve her issues. However, when Microsoft’s customer support didn’t fix the issue, she took the software giant to court, seeking compensation of $10,000 for lost wages and the cost of a new computer.
Last month, Microsoft had appealed the initial judgment but dropped that appeal. As a result, Goldstein won and collected a $10,000 judgment from the company. A spokesperson for the company told the Seattle Times that it denied any misconduct and had dropped the appeal to prevent the additional expenditure of further litigation.
Goldstein’s experience is an extreme example of the consequences of Microsoft’s forceful campaign to get people to use Windows 10, the newest version of the universal personal-computer operating system.
The frequent changes to Windows 10’s upgrade policy, obligatory telemetry collection, and decisions to kill off patch notes and make all updates mandatory (plus the issues with UWP and gaming) have collectively left a bad taste in many users’ mouths. While the Windows 10 giveaway was a great idea, but the entire process of dragging people into upgrading their OS rather than giving them choice to switch is uncalled for.
On the other hand, Microsoft says it offers users a choice to update, not a requirement. The company says before the installation, people have to acknowledge a dialogue box, and agree to a license agreement afterward to receive Windows 10.
It further adds that those who don’t like the new software have 31 days afterward to roll back to their previous version, and free customer support is available to those who run into trouble.
“We’re continuing to listen to customer feedback and evolve the upgrade experience based on their feedback,” Microsoft said in a statement.
With just over a month to go until it officially stops offering free upgrades to Windows 10, Microsoft has yet to move from its stance that once the one-year mark is over, the company will no longer offer a free upgrade to consumers.
Currently, Windows 10 Home is $119, while Windows 10 Pro is $199. Prices are identical between the downloadable and USB versions of the operating system. However, Microsoft hasn’t specified how it will price upgrades after the free offer has expired.
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