Microsoft Just Lost the Windows 10 Privacy FUD War (Premium)

Microsoft's critics have seized on problems both real and imaginary in Windows 10. Most of these supposed complaints are overblown, but no matter: Now regulatory bodies are triggering real changes in the product. So even without antitrust action, governments are once again impacting the design of Windows.

I have a problem with this.

Oddly, I also have some issues with some of Microsoft's overly-aggressive efforts in Windows 10.

More oddly, the issues I have with Windows 10 have nothing to do with the supposed privacy issues on which FUD masters and regulatory bodies are focused.

Let's go back in time to the summer of 2015, when Windows 10 was fresh and new and ushering in a new era for Microsoft on the PC. It should have been a time for celebration, right? I mean, Windows 10 was---is---by all accounts a wonderful compromise that works equally well on old-school PCs and touch-first devices like tablets and 2-in-1s. Kind of a miracle, right?

But as I noted in the wake of the Windows 10 launch, this product also brought out the crazies.
With Windows 10 launching this week, the nutjobs have come flying out of the woodwork spouting nonsense, all of which, happily, is easily refuted. First, we were told that Microsoft’s “free” Windows 10 upgrade would come with subscription fees after 2-4 years, despite what Microsoft was saying. Nope: Windows 10 is free, not “free.” Then, we were told that a new Windows 10 feature (really a feature that debuted last year in Windows Phone 8.1) called Wi-Fi Sense would secretly let your PC share your secret Wi-Fi passcodes with friends. Nope: Wi-Fi Sense is opt-in and requires Windows 10 devices; no sharing of codes ever happens. And now we have the best one: privacy nuts are on fire because of a clause in the Windows 10 EULA which supposedly states that “you give Microsoft very broad power to collect things you do, say and create while using its software [and that] Windows 10 will be reporting back many things that you do, to the Microsoft servers back at Redmond.” Guys, seriously. Use Linux if you must. But don’t drag down the rest of us with your nonsense.
A week later, however, the FUD army latched onto a topic that has now proven to have legs: Privacy. I described these claims as "overblown" but noted, too, that perception matters. So prescient!
Most of the [Windows 10] complaints fall into two basic categories, those things that are in fact not new to Windows 10, and those things are really new but are being overblown by privacy fanatics. Regardless, these reports are tugging at our very human tendency to see conspiracy where there is none: Windows 10 is free for many, so Microsoft simply must be doing something underhanded as a result. After all, Microsoft would never really give away Windows 10 for free.
At the time, Kirsten Fiedler of the European Digital Rights told the UK’s Mail that “Microsoft basically grants itself the right to collect and process everything yo...

Gain unlimited access to Premium articles.

With technology shaping our everyday lives, how could we not dig deeper?

Thurrott Premium delivers an honest and thorough perspective about the technologies we use and rely on everyday. Discover deeper content as a Premium member.

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC