A small, but extremely sneaky, update to the Get Windows 10 (GWX) popup for Windows 7 and 8.1 users changed the way the “X” button works. In short, clicking the “X” button is now a confirmation that you want to update to Windows 10.
Over the weekend, there has been a massive backlash from Chinese users against Microsoft’s unrelenting push to get everyone onto Windows 10.
Chinese users’ reaction
According to a report by China Daily, over 1.2 million users have lodged complaints against Microsoft and Windows 10 on Weibo. China Daily received comment from Yang Shuo, who works at a Beijing-based public relations company. He claims the sudden update interrupted his work. Mr. Shuo was busy drafting a business plan, but the update’s interruption led to the cancellation of a meeting for a deal worth 3 million Yuan. (R7,188,876.04).
Mr. Shuo said that he failed to save the draft when his laptop restarted for the update; his clients had already left by the time he finally finished the business plan, resulting in the above mentioned loss for his company.
Mr. Shuo explains: "Just because I didn't see the pop-up reminder does not mean I agreed." He further adds that he did not even know when the update was downloaded to the laptop, nor was he connected to the internet when the update started.
According to China Daily, Ning Jiayu, a professor at the Nankai University in Tianjin, said that:
"I had ignored all pop-up reminders about the update in past months, but it suddenly started updating automatically."
Further, Zhao Zhanling, a legal advisor with the Internet Society of China, noted that the incident shows Microsoft has not respected a user’s right to know and choose and further speculates that the company “may eventually profit from the unwanted upgrades. Mr. Zhanling comments: "The company has abused its dominant market position and broken the market order for fair play."
Keep in mind that these are just three of the 1.2 million complaints from Chinese users. Clearly, the Windows 10 upgrade push is causing some serious concerns for users who prefer to stay on Windows 7 or 8.1.
