Microsoft Updates Windows PCs Without User Consent
September 14th 2007 14:37
Depending on which end of the fence you're on you can see this as yet another evil attempt by Microsoft to take over the world or that Microsoft is simply tired of having users stuff up their operating system because they don't update. On the other hand it could just as well be have been a lazy programmer forgetting to include there is an update being downloaded.
The 'update' itself is small and centers around the actual Windows Update feature. While people have already started accusing Microsoft of acting immorally I believe the reasoning behind it is simple. First of all, Microsoft is under no obligation to inform users it has upgraded the software but it does so anyway. Secondly, the reason for this update seems to have been centered around the update software itself and nothing else.
Why would Microsoft do this update without even asking users to consent? Perhaps because there is some sort of generel transition going on with the update servers that recquire all Windows computers auto updates be patched to comply, even if a user does not wish to have updates now that migt not be the case in the future and should the need arise when there are no update servers compatible with the system then all it can lead to is negative rep for Microsoft.
The 'update' itself is small and centers around the actual Windows Update feature. While people have already started accusing Microsoft of acting immorally I believe the reasoning behind it is simple. First of all, Microsoft is under no obligation to inform users it has upgraded the software but it does so anyway. Secondly, the reason for this update seems to have been centered around the update software itself and nothing else.
Why would Microsoft do this update without even asking users to consent? Perhaps because there is some sort of generel transition going on with the update servers that recquire all Windows computers auto updates be patched to comply, even if a user does not wish to have updates now that migt not be the case in the future and should the need arise when there are no update servers compatible with the system then all it can lead to is negative rep for Microsoft.
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Comment by Anonymous
The SAAS concept has it's negatives and positives to both the consumer and provider. Largely my magnifying glass is on the draw backs to the end consumer. Because let's be honest capitalism is a great and solid system and it's the consumers job to be the harshest critic. My big fat negatives are: I don't want to pay you x every month, year, x-number of uses. Usually SAAS means may less now pay more later. Most of us don't buy more than one OS per computer.
Here's where it's going to hurt us. Sys Admin has hundreds or thousands of computers to manage. Old school system each one has a key stuck on it, theres the OS. New school, purchasing updates the VLK for each existing system(IT knows what they manage and purchasing know what IT needs licenses for). Microsoft's new game plan, Microsoft sells you a license management server the license management server contacts Microsoft and tells them how many licenses you are using, it can disable equipment in over licensed environments and then Microsoft contacts purchasing. (Yeah, the sales team said this in front of 30 Sys Admins.)
Now back to the updates. We have apps which may not work with the updates. We had some apps which weren't IE7 friendly. My bad, I didn't test just let WSUS run it's course. Luckily, Firefox did rectify this issue. No less, a really cool feature of Longhorn Server's WSUS4 with vista clients is that it makes the decisions for you. It won't cache the updates you don't need and it will force the updates you do need. One asks: "Can you control the updates through WSUS4?" Sales: "Of course, I can't tell much about it because it has just begun development but you can control your updates but system critical updates are forced."
Yea! Microsoft will make all the decisions for us. They will even remember to make our equipment inoperable until they contact our purchasing dept so they can remotely apply their licenses on our server! Cool!
Next gen software will just have you hire a sales rep who will allocate your tech spending budgets for you!
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
It's silly ina lot of ways. In reality MS is under no obligation to even say what it updates, just does so out of courtesy (in case something stops working you might track it to the updates). In this case there was ZERO chance of anything breaking, the update was to one isolated aspect of the system that has little to nothing to do with anything at the sytems core.
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
I'm really enjoying the update service in Ubuntu. I let it run when I'm ready, and when I've got an available connection.
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
No use blaming Windows if you're not using it properly
Comment by Anonymous