I will never come to terms with how the rest of the world let/is letting this Win10 thing happen. One of the most nefarious corporations in history openly siphons personal data from its users, and has the ability to lock people out of their own property.

They installed that shit on my main machine without my consent. I clicked no in that stupid dialog probably hundreds of times and then one day without warning it force installed it. Unbelievable, I'm still pissed about it.

Did you roll back?

I have not - they warn that rolling back can lose data, break stuff, etc. I've heard from other people that rolling back is a huge hassle. When I need to do a wipe, I'll just reinstall Windows 8. I don't see much difference between 8 and 10 other than one broken program and it feels like it runs a bit slower. Thanks Microsoft, hope it was worth pissing off millions of people for, fuckers.

Always make backups.

I will never come to terms with how much hyperbole is being thrown at this (semi-)botched launch. How is the world 'letting' Microsoft have a poor product roll-out strategy? How is Microsoft more nefarious than Blackwater, or the Corrections Corporation of America? How am I more locked out of my PC when Windows stops working than I'm locked out of my DVD player when I have to return the disc I rented?

I mean - I get why people care. I have a McLuhanesque relationship with my PC that I'll never have with my phone or my tablet (devices that regularly force me to upgrade OS, and also 'siphon' personal data), and I can feel actual low levels of anxiety when my PC breaks, even if I don't need it for anything. I just don't get the hyperbole.

Microsoft are installing adware and spyware on millions of PCs without their owners' consent. They're criminals, unambiguously, and they should be punished - brutally and extravagantly.

You have a charming definition of crime, which seems to boil down to "I hate this behavior, so it must be criminal"? I'm not saying I approve of Microsoft (presumably*) botching their product roll-out, but you're kind of proving my point about the hyperbole parade.

Of course, everything Microsoft does could be criminal from an antitrust perspective, but that's the risk of having a platform monopoly. From that perspective, making W10 free for most users could be seen as pro-consumer or anti-consumer with equal validity.

*~35% of Windows users appear to be using W10 - I don't know if that's above or below their current target.

[author flagged as a spammer - redacted]