Relevant followup article.
<a href="http://venturebeat.com/2015/10/15/microsoft-stops-automatic-windows-10-upgrades-says-default-checked-update-was-a-mistake/" rel="nofollow">http://venturebeat.com/2015/10/15/microsoft-stops-automatic-...</a><p>TLDR: It was a mistake and Microsoft stopped it.
The Windows 10 upgrade process is what finally pushed me to Linux on the desktop. As with any upgrade, I figured I'd wait a while for the dust to settle (Ars' articles on the privacy-invasive nature of Windows 10 made me a little nervous, but I figured that'd get fixed with time).<p>Unfortunately, Microsoft have been extremely aggressive about getting users to move. The 8.1 update that encourages you to upgrade also downloads a copy of Windows 10 -- which, on a small SSD, was frustrating. So, I removed and blocked the KB-x update that added the upgrader.<p>Microsoft then added another, differently named KB-x update which preloaded Windows 10 -- even if you'd blocked the other one (<a href="http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/09/microsoft-is-downloading-windows-10-to-pcs-even-if-you-dont-reserve-a-copy/" rel="nofollow">http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/09/micros...</a>).<p>Which, for me, was all a bit too much. Originally I figured I'd come back after some time, but the massively expanded Steam catalogue on Linux is making me question that too.
I'm glad they rolled it back, but getting an unintended system upgrade is such a big deal that I find myself wanting a bigger act of contrition.<p>This is a really big mistake to make with your flagship product.
PSA: For people with Windows 10 installed, I've found the following tool quite useful in shutting down the large amount of information collected.<p><a href="http://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10" rel="nofollow">http://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10</a>
I had not switched to win10, but was told by others who did saying that win7 > win10 > win8, i.e. win7 is the best, is it true? I have a dual-boot win7 for tax-filing that I had not booted into since April, using linux daily. This news made me feel relieved a bit that it's good I did not have win7 running and got automatically "upgraded".
On a side note the 'get windows 10' update even if hid from the available 'important' updates will come back again to install. Disabled updates altogether, still not sure if that does the job!
The fact that the possibility to make that "mistake" exists makes it a non-mistake. And rather something that was due to happen but maybe someone pressed the button too early.
Url changed from <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/10/16/microsoft-accident-forces-windows-10-onto-windows-7-windows-8/" rel="nofollow">http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/10/16/microsoft...</a>, which points to this.
Right "Accident". I'm sure the ads on the W10 start menu were an accident as well. <a href="http://betanews.com/2015/10/15/microsoft-now-uses-windows-10s-start-menu-to-display-ads/" rel="nofollow">http://betanews.com/2015/10/15/microsoft-now-uses-windows-10...</a><p>I think Microsoft is trying to earn more money by forcing upgrades to Windows 10 and then displaying ads on the start menu and other places.<p>It is the pot of frogs in water, they slowly turn up the heat so the frogs won't notice until it is too late.