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Posted on 06/12/2018 9:37:39 AM PDT by dayglored
So how did that April 2018 Update go for you then?
Champion of consumer rights and closer of customer email services Which? has taken a hobnailed boot to Microsoft's beleaguered Windows 10 operating system with research that will make for unpleasant reading at Redmond.
A latest survey of more than 1,100 UK users comes after Which? gave Microsoft a kicking back in 2016. One thousand members of the online comparison service got in touch back then to complain about Windows 10 updates, and nearly two years on – things do not appear to have moved on much.
In the survey, conducted in March and so before the excitement of the April 2018 Update, Which? reported users experiencing slow PCs and occasionally total failure. Forty-six per cent of users that suffered the latter condition ended up paying an average of £67 to get someone to fix their PC for them.
Half of users questioned experienced some sort of problem, with 21 per cent reporting programs behaving erratically or failing completely following a Windows 10 update. Sixteen per cent found hardware such as printers or speakers had stopped working.
Which?'s helpdesk revealed that over the last three years it had been contacted about Windows 10 problems three times as often as it was contacted about all other operating systems combined (including mobile).
The consumer champion has called on Microsoft to allow users to have more choice on whether to accept or reject updates and be clear about the potential pitfalls as well as benefits in allowing an update to install. And, of course, to pay compensation for those hours lost or costs incurred as consumers battled with the consequences of clicking OK.
Alex Neill, MD of Home Products and Services at Which?, said: “What started out as a tech problem has become a huge customer service fail. Microsoft needs to finally engage with its customers, do more to fix the problem and pay out compensation, where appropriate.”
Good luck with that. Microsoft reacted sniffily to a class action lawsuit brought over the Windows 10 update last year. The wonderfully named Frank Dickman demanded in February 2018 that Microsoft give him back his Windows 7 or pay $600m. Dickman’s chances of a bumper payday range from razor thin to none.
In the case of Which?, Microsoft struck a more conciliatory note: “We want to make sure our customers receive the right support they need to get the best Windows update experience and we will continue to review customer enquiries and issues on a case-by-case basis to ensure individual help and resolution where possible”
Microsoft are keen to ensure users keep updating in the wonderful world of Windows as a service and, to be fair, Windows 10 has excellent security defences in spite of its faults.
However, the Which? survey and the groundswell of user dissatisfaction shows that the software giant still needs to work a little harder in how it communicates with and pushes updates on unsuspecting users. ®
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I have W10 on all my computers.
Very little to no problems with it. In fact, it made my 10 year old Acer work MUCH better.
Just because folks don’t know how to use it, does not make it bad.
Besides, they can always go to linux if they don’t like it.
And I bet the EULA will shoot anything these folks can do down quick.
So happy for you that Windows 10 work perfectly in your world. Wish that it did for mine and the plethora of friends and family who activate the phone chain asking for computer help after every update. I’ve taken to postponing any update for at least 3 weeks. That seems to give a nice window of opportunity for massive user complaints and bug fixes by Microsoft to take place before I risk my own computer to the blue screen of death.
“Just because folks don’t know how to use it, does not make it bad.”
Hmm, blaming the customer... do you work for Microsoft, by chance?
All you have to do is find ONE person in this world of billions, and publicize his or her story.
The anecdote then indicates how the world should be run.
The April 2018 update totally screwed our small business networking system. Had to spend the day trying to find a solution, then individually rebuilding each computers networking capabilities that the Win10 Update disabled. Cost me a bunch of valuable time that I could have been using to make money instead of losing time and money.
Microsoft’s solution from its website? Use the cloud. I have already contacted our attorney who, when asked if he wanted his stuff on the cloud: “To get hacked? No way”.
I've actually spent time storing important data off on side machines/external hard drives that don't have Windows 10 or access to the Internet.
Nope, just a happy customer who as done enough tech support for friends that I had found that most problems are caused by people who don’t bother to learn about what they are using, or, by trying to “get by” with the minimum requirements, instead of upgrading.
Got problems with the product? If the product is good (which, I contend, W10 is), then the problem is the user, or, the equipment.
I do realize W10 is not perfect, but, I do know that if you try to run it on an old computer with 2gig of memory, it isn’t going to work well, but, same computer with 4gig, will do quite well. More memory (my good laptop is an i7 with 8 gig)is even better.
Your mileage may vary.
So happy with Win 7 Pro 64.
* Existing Windows 7/8 users who always want to be on the cutting edge, who love to change things around and learn new ways of doing things, generally find that upgrading to Windows 10 is the obvious and fun thing to do. Most have had good experiences, because it's what they wanted to do.
* Existing Windows 7/8 users who felt that their version was not performing well may find that Windows 10 offers generally better performance. By and large, they seem to enjoy it.
* Existing Windows 7 (and some 8) users who are perfectly content with their version because it works fine for them, are a different story. They know their version, they've mastered it to whatever degree is appropriate, their business may depend on it, and there is no Earthly reason to change everything around "just because".
That last group comprises the folks you are deprecating, and you're wrong. The problem is NOT with the user. The problem is that rather than sell product to the users who want it, Microsoft is forcing people who DON'T want it, to take it, and MS did NOT do nearly a good enough job of working out the bugs, given the enormous size and varied environment of the user base they are forcing this down the throat of.
Let's say the obvious: Microsoft blew it bigtime with Windows 10 QA and rollout, and they're doing what they can to recover from it. I honestly and sincerely hope they get their act together.
When Windows 10 rolled out and the entire world did not immediately turn on its heel and embrace the new design even though the upgrade was free, they began to fear they were in trouble. When the freebie period ended and the uptake fell off, they knew they were in trouble. When their own milestones disappeared without a trace, and Windows 7 remained the dominant release in the field, they got real scared, and it became "Windows 7 Must Die". And they started forcing it down people's throats.
So are we surprised there are legions of unhappy Windows 10 users? No, we are not surprised.
But we need to step back and look at the Big Picture.
Microsoft has gotten out of the "Windows is our product" business. Windows is no longer a viable end product for Microsoft, but instead is merely a means to an end. That's why they killed off the Windows Division a while ago.
Windows has become just another platform on which to deploy their products, primarily cloud-based subscription applications like Office365.
So Windows is far from "dead", but its days as an independent, functional operating system are over. Sic transit.
#MeToo :-)
But at work I run an IT department that is rolling out Win10 by default (because support for 7 disappears in a year and a half) and so I work with 10 all the time. It's okay, I have few issues with it technically, and it performs quite well. I hate the UI, but oh well.
If you thought the "FMCDH" contingent with WinXP was large and noisy, wait until you see the Win7 contingent.
I have a friend who runs a small, local consulting business; he has many business customers.
Shortly after Win 10 came out, one of his customers decided Win 10 was the way to go. My friend advised her against it but she went ahead and used the “upgrade to Win 10 for free” that MSFT offered back then.
Since then this customer is taking up a good deal of his time. Updates are a nightmare for the customer as some updates break some computers but leave others untouched. My friend spends lots and lots of time at this one customer and charges accordingly.
He has written a friendly letter to his other Win 7 business customers advising them if they update to Win 10 he’ll drop them as a customer.
He stays really busy (also does house calls for consumer users), so he’s not real concerned if he loses a couple of business customers.
MS philosophy is migrate or die. MS left tens of thousands of individuals and businesses with large investments in XP to wither on the vine instead of providing a stable support environment. Many people did not want to leave the XP OS. So, you either migrated or died. I also consider their software pricing as predatory. I migrated alright, straight to linux. Been happy ever since.
I’d do the same thing. Windows 10 is a mess. They rolled it out way too soon, but let’s face it, the only reason they did was because MS wanted to control your computer, not let the customer remain in control of it. That’s why I refuse to completely migrate to it, though I do have a hard drive that is dual-booted with W7 and W10.
And a strong no thanks to a rented OS. I see the various flavors of free Linux as a big stumbling block to this idea.
Windows XP / Office 2003
Windows 7 / Office 2010
Windows 10 / Office 2016
The XP/Office 2003 disk is so I'll always have it and Microsoft can no longer screw around with it.
The Windows 7 / Office 2010 disk is my primary OS and the one I use 99% of the time.
The Windows 10 / Office 2016 disk is so I can view the shambled mess that Microsoft is creating and try and find some way of tweaking it to make it half way operational.
But there's no way I'm migrating to Windows 10 full time, even after 7 is no longer supported. I'm fooling around with Linux distros now and am trying to find the best one to use. I'll likely make the jump to Linux full time within the next year or so, but I hate to do that just because MS keeps putting out a worse operating system than the one prior.
I'm like you, no way I'm storing anything in the Cloud, and all of my files are stored locally. No way I'll "rent" software and if they don't like it, tough. I'll keep my old software, i.e. Acrobat, Photoshop, Office, etc.
Windows 10 will forever be BETA.
So...one person can say that Windows 10 works perfectly for them and that’s okay. It’s not okay for me to say that it doesn’t work perfectly for me or my universe of friends and family? Nice double standard. Apparently it’s not just libtards who ascribe to the idea of “one standard for thee, but not for me.”
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