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0 pointsCamperBob29y ago0 comments

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.

0 comments

cmurf9y ago

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.

cm21879y ago

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.

kahnpro9y ago

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.

yuhong9y ago

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

3 more replies

CamperBob2OP9y ago

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.

yuhong9y ago

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

frik9y ago

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.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsCamperBob29y ago0 comments

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.

0 comments

cmurf9y ago

cm21879y ago

kahnpro9y ago

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.

yuhong9y ago

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

3 more replies

CamperBob2OP9y ago

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

yuhong9y ago

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

frik9y ago

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.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse