Microsoft Finally Admits It Went Too Far With Its Pushy Windows 10 Update Campaign
Those of whom have been troubled by Microsoft’s relentless efforts to get you to download the newly released Windows 10 version may feel a sense of déjà vu reading this article. Microsoft has finally come clean about its campaign to push Windows 10 down the throats of Windows 7/8.1 users.
Microsoft’s Get Windows 10 upgrade campaign came under a volley of criticism for its persistent nagging and stubbornness. Microsoft’s Windows 10 upgrades interrupted in live weather program on TV, livestreaming of a game and during surgery. Generally the perception among Windows users was that Windows 10 upgrade was being pushed down their throats. Finally, the Redmond giant has admitted that it went too far and was aggressive with its “Get Windows 10” upgrade campaign by pushing it on people, whether they wanted it or not.
Back in July 2o15, Microsoft launched its new operating system ‘Windows 10’, which was offered as a free upgrade to users having Windows 7 and 8/8.1. However, many of the users didn’t opt for the free OS upgrade offer. To improve the adoption rate, Microsoft aggressively put up notifications and alert users to push them to avail the upgrade.
While the upgrade at first was only optional, but all are aware of Microsoft’s trick to push Windows 10 upgrade with the “Get Windows 10 update” dialog. If you click on the red X in the message box’s upper right-hand corner, you would only delay the upgrade but cannot cancel it. Several users found that their systems were running the Windows 10 even though they didn’t want to install it.
During an interview with Windows Weekly (via ExtremeTech), Microsoft’s Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela admitted that Microsoft initially went too far in the upgrade campaign resulting in some mistakes. He pointed out that the two weeks period where the users started complaining about the unexpected behavior until when a patch was released were “very painful.”
Capossela said: “We know we want people to be running Windows 10 from a security perspective, but finding the right balance where you’re not stepping over the line of being too aggressive in something we tried, and for a lot of the year I think we got it right. But there was one particular moment in particular where, you know, the red X in the dialog box which typically means you cancel didn’t mean cancel. And within a couple of hours of that hitting the world, with the listening systems we have we knew that we had gone too far and then, of course, it takes some time to roll out the update that changes that behavior. And those two weeks were pretty painful and clearly a lowlight for us. We learned a lot from it obviously.”
During the first year of availability, Microsoft offered Windows 10 as a free upgrade to all Windows 7 and 8/8.1 users, which was possible with an app called Get Windows 10. Having said this, Windows 10 is now no longer free for users who failed to take advantage of the offer. If you wish to get your OS upgraded to Windows 10, you will now have to pay a price for the same.
