[CamperBob2]

I don't think this debacle can be blamed on Ballmer, and certainly not on Gates.

In fact, I have to wonder if the reason why Ballmer was finally handed his walking papers by the board was that he was unwilling to greenlight these frog-marched upgrades to Windows 10.

Somebody very powerful at Microsoft, or perhaps elsewhere, wants everybody to accept this free update way, way too badly, and it's not clear why.

[cmurf]

They're getting their asses handed to them by malware. They have a huge attack surface of users on various versions of Windows. Forced upgrades reduces that attack surface of older versions of Windows.

That's all I can think of. In open source software where this is more transparent, computer security is hard. Backporting fixes is harder, and expensive, and has its own risks. Microsoft can't be immune to the same problem.

[cm2187]

I don't believe a single second that Microsoft is adopting this hard line for security considerations. They want to monetize their users. They want them to watch their in-OS ads, they want to accumulate data on people, they want them to go to bing for search, etc.

[kahnpro]

Exactly. If Microsoft cared about user security, they've had the last three decades to do something about it. This is all about monetization and tracking.

[yuhong]

I think the most important one here is the Windows Store.

[cm2187]

I forgot it and completely agree, they want a cut of anything installed on the machine. And following this logic I wouldn't be surprised if they would make it increasingly difficult to install any non store app. Requiring them to be signed first, then signed by them against a fee, then simply not allowed like iOS does.

Which is why not having the option to turn down upgrade after having been upgraded to windows 10 is problematic.

[yuhong]

They did do something similar with Windows RT, but that was completely locked down with no existing Win32 app base to worry about. And yes, they do have uninstall I think with 30 days before files are deleted.

[tobias3]

They are already doing it with drivers. Windows 10 will only load Microsoft signed drivers and Windows Server 2016 will only load WHQL signed drivers for which you have to pay a fee.

[yuhong]

But the CA makes most of the money not Microsoft though.

[mavhc]

It's mostly about Windows Phone, which needs apps, which means the store needs users. If it gets users then people will bother to develop cross phone/desktop apps. Of course no one uses the store still, even as Microsoft tries to force/trick you into logging in with a Microsoft ID.

[api]

They're rushing to copy all the things I dislike about Apple. They're also rushing to emulate the things I hate about Google and Facebook. Meanwhile they are doing little to fix what I don't like about Microsoft, nor are they copying many of the good things.

In Zero to One there is an excellent chapter about the dark side of competition and how it makes you cargo cult your competitors instead of thinking creatively. This is an example.

Don't compete. Innovate and focus on the user and the problem domain, not the others. Otherwise you just become an inferior copy.

Windows 10 Spyware Edition is a misstep like Google Plus.

[yuhong]

I think it is the matter of the size of the market, particularly in the long run.

[metaphor]

Agreed. [1]

[1] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3135657

[CamperBob2]

They can address security issues (as they always have) without forcing an OS upgrade.

The low-level 'attack surface' is mostly unchanged. Windows 10 is not a total rewrite of Windows Vista/7/8, or anything close to it. As proof of this assertion, you'll note that most security patches that apply to Windows 10 will correspond to equivalent patches for earlier versions.

[yuhong]

Yea, WinSE does cost money too and I think I saw a mention that it is considered a cost center.

[frik]

Bill is back, and he is a major force behind Nadella, Nadella is just a marionette. Yes, Microsoft used to be a better citizen when Ballmer was in charge.