Woman successfully sues Microsoft for $10,000 following forced Windows 10 upgrade

Microsoft has been under fire for aggressively pushing users to update operating systems to new Windows 10

Ever since its release in July 2015, Microsoft has been aggressively pushing its users to update their operating systems to the new Windows 10.

The campaign has backfired and the software giant has been under a lot of criticism for pushing the envelope too far.

Microsoft is offering the Windows 10 update for free for previous non-business Windows users, and this deal is set to expire on July 29. Hence, users of older Windows operating systems are constantly prompted to download the new version, which Microsoft argues is more secure than previous versions.

For someone who’s good with computers avoiding the update won’t be a difficult thing, but the same cannot be said for people who are not so techno savvy. Many users have complaint of the product loading onto their computers without their consent.



Recently, a small business owner from California Teri Goldstein successfully sued Microsoft for $10,000 in "compensation for lost wages and the cost of a new computer".

In her plea, Goldstein maintained that the update began on her computer without her consent and then it failed, leading her computer to continuously crash and becoming a hassle to use.

“I had never heard of Windows 10,” Goldstein told Seattle Times, adding, “Nobody ever asked me if I wanted to update.”

When Microsoft’s customer care failed to fix the issue, she took the software giant to court seeking compensation for lost wages, as well as the cost of a new computer.

The court ruled in her favor and so won the case. Last month, Microsoft dropped their appeal and Goldstein received a $10,000 payment from the company.

However, the software giant still holds the stance that the update is a choice, rather than a requirement and that people have to agree to a usage licence to begin the update. Furthermore, Microsoft adds that the reason for the strong push to upgrade to Windows 10 is mainly to do with the security of user’s computers and data.



But critics have something else to say. People aware with the development highlighted that the prompt for the update to Windows 10 does not come with a “no thanks” or “never update” option. This pose a serious problem for people who are not computer savvy, similar to that of Goldstein.

Another long time Microsoft follower Paul Thurrott pointed out that in a recent pop-up, the X button on top right-hand corner, commonly known as a way to abort installation process or exit any software program, is interpreted by the update tool as an agreement to go ahead with Windows 10, leading to confusion among users.

“The violation of trust here is almost indescribable,” Thurrott wrote.

Microsoft’s insistence to update is apparently part of its larger scheme to centralise things by eventually bringing all Microsoft users onto the same operating platform. The company has stated that it hopes to have a billion devices up and running on the new software by mid-2018. However, if cases such as Goldstein continue to occur, Microsoft’s strategy may backfire as their reputation declines and people lose faith in the new operating system.

The article originally appeared on Seattle Times.

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