Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft's Limited Offer Isn't a 'Free' 'Upgrade' But the Limited Time or Right to Prevent Microsoft From Taking Over and Spying on PCs

Microsoft installs real-time NSA surveillance on every PC

Michael S. Rogers "I don’t want a back door. I want a front door." -- Director of the National Security Agency (NSA), April 2015



Summary: Microsoft is hijacking and compromising every PC that has Windows on it; even Microsoft boosters are starting to publicly complain

Once upon a time Microsoft pretended that its horrible malware/spyware was a 'free' limited offer. Nowadays, based on the latest moves from Microsoft, staying away from it is the limited offer. It is being imposed on all users because adoption has been abysmal and Microsoft needs to create the illusion that people still like Windows and want the latest version. Time to move to GNU/Linux?



"Time to move to GNU/Linux?"According to Robert Pogson's catch, IDG's Microsoft boosters are now among those who complain about what Microsoft is doing. They explain how Vista 10 tries to infect PCs and spread itself (yes, like a virus). Here is the summary from Slashdot:

As you may recall, Microsoft has delivered KB3035583 as a 'recommended update' to users of Windows 7 and 8.1. What this update does is install GWX ("Get Windows 10"), a program which diagnoses the system to see if it is eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 10, and if so, asks the user if they would like to upgrade (though recently, the option to decline has been removed). Some users have gotten around this by editing Windows Registry values for "AllowOSUpgrade", "DisableOSUpgrade", "DisableGWX", and "ReservationsAllowed" in order to disable the prompt altogether. This advice was endorsed by Microsoft on their support forums.

According to a report by Woody Leonhard at InfoWorld, the newest version of the KB3035583 update includes a background process which scans the system's Windows Registry twice a day to see if the values for the four aforementioned registry inputs were manually edited to disable the upgrade prompt. If they were, the process will alter the values, silently re-download the Windows 10 installation files (about 6 GB in total), and prompt the user to upgrade.


Well, “more windows 10 horror stories [appear] on slashdot,” cubexyz wrote at the #techrights IRC channel last night, “the end is near”.

We've heard there is something inside the EULA that would discourage if not effectively prevent the victims from organising a class action lawsuit against Microsoft with its sheer aggression (Microsoft is only getting more aggressive, not less). If a small company was doing the same sorts of things its employees would risk arrests, but Microsoft is well-connected with the US government (and secretive units thereof), so it will get away with almost anything.

The noteworthy thing about the above (latest developments) is that even fans of Microsoft are starting to panic a little. They can get upset by Microsoft's attempts to impose on everyone what Microsoft is after and some of their reactions are something along the line of, "Microsoft, what the Hell are you doing? I like you, but this is going too far!"

"The noteworthy thing about the above (latest developments) is that even fans of Microsoft are starting to panic a little."Microsoft is, in many ways, worse than ever before. The media, nonetheless, would try to tell us that "Microsoft loves Linux" and one site is openwashing a spyware company with articles such as "Microsoft Continues To Make Everything Open Source" (published last night). This article's headline is a lie because every core product across the entire range of them is proprietary; there is openwashing using selective little "open" marketing of some particular components that depend on the core products (a trap). Office, Windows, SQL Server, etc. are all proprietary, so who was the writer kidding (or trying to kid)? "Bigger companies," the writer claimed, "fully understand the benefits that come from making their software products open source." Well, when it's openwashing, then the purpose is marketing. They don't 'get' Open Source, let alone Free software. They demonstrably hate and attack software freedom. They're preying on people. They're spying on them.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Gemini Links 19/04/2025: Contingencies, GTD, and Old Computers
Links for the day
Links 19/04/2025: Economic Races, Charm Offensives, and USB-C Rants
Links for the day
Links 19/04/2025: "Infantilization at Big Tech" and LLM Slop Abused in Defiance of Workplace Rules/Policies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/04/2025: Palm Addiction and Real Experts
Links for the day
Egypt is Controlled by Google, Not Microsoft
Moving from Microsoft to Google is not the answer
Microsofters Say They Cannot Find a Job (That They Want) Because of Techrights, But Techrights Merely Reported on Their Behaviour
Quit pointing the finger at people who are recipients of abuse or merely mention the abuse
Free Software and Standards - Not Marketing Blitz - Needed Amid Growing Severity of Dependency on Hostile Suppliers (or Another Country's Sovereignty)
ZenDiS can be described as the "Center for Digital Sovereignty of Public Administration"
When It Comes to the Web, Google is Evil and It Destroys the Web's Integrity With LLM Slop
Even academia, which is meant to keep standards high, is being lured into LLM slop
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 18, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 18, 2025
Links 18/04/2025: "Fentanylware (TikTok) Exodus Continues", Chinese Weapons Allegedly in Russia Already
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/04/2025: Price of Games and State of Tinylog
Links for the day
Sounds Like IBM is Preparing for Mass Layoffs/Redundancies in Red Hat, Albeit in "PIP" (Performance Improvement Plan) or "Relocation" Clothing
This isn't the "old" IBM; they're applying pressure by confusion and humiliation
Gemini Links 17/04/2025: Role of Language and Back to Mutt for E-mail
Links for the day
"Sayonara" (さよなら), Microsoft
Windows had fallen below iOS in some countries
Links 18/04/2025: Layoffs at Microsoft Infosys and Qt Becoming Increasingly Proprietary (Plus Slop)
Links for the day
Google News is Dying
treating MElon's algorithmic/biased site as a source of verified news
Microsoft's Attack Dogs Have Failed. Now What?
It would be utterly foolish to assume that Microsoft has any intention of changing
All Your "Github Projects" Will be Gone One Day (Just Like Skype)
If you have code you wish to share and keep, then start learning how to do so on your own
To Understand Who's Truly Controlling You Follow the Trail of Censorship (or Self-Censorship)
Do not let media steal and steer the narrative; CoCs are not about "social justice", they're about corporate domination
Fedora Already Lost Its Soul Under IBM
Fedora used to be very strict compared to many other distros and it had attracted very bright volunteers
Microsoft is Still Attacking GNU/Linux and the Net
Microsoft bribed the government using money that did not even exist
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 17, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 17, 2025
Gemini Links 18/04/2025: Pinephone Pro and Linux is too Easy
Links for the day
Links 17/04/2025: Calling Whistleblowers at Microsoft, Slop Doing More Harm Everywhere
Links for the day
Links 17/04/2025: Russian Bot Farms Infect TikTok (Which US Government and SCOTUS Decided to Block January 19), US Hardware Stocks Crash Due to Tariffs
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/04/2025: Sticking to Free Software, Smolnet, and Counting the Reals
Links for the day
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Privacy Fiasco in Detail: In Conclusion and Enforcement Action Proceeds Against OSI at the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA)
There's too much to cover in one single part
When You Fail to Filter Your Clients You End Up SLAPPing Reporters on Behalf of Bad People From Microsoft in Another Continent
“American Psycho”
Links 17/04/2025: LayoffBot and Tesla Cheats Buyers
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 16, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 16, 2025