because you will not update until forced in most situations.
you simply are not aware of every security fix or vulnerability found, and therefore can't know when you should update.
in the early 2000s there a few very large profile windows viruses that spread like crazy, despite patches being released months or years earlier. the viruses took out networks across the globe and caused considerable mayhem for days.
congress had hearings and several tech companies testified, including Microsoft. congress wanted to know why users weren't forced to update their computers, and Microsoft said that they can't control what their users do.
congress blamed Microsoft for users not patching their systems.
so this happened a few more times and Windows Update was improved continuously going forward.
now you're forced to update, because people who thought they knew all about security failed to update when they should have.
now, users blame Microsoft for forcing them to patch their systems.
I blame Microsoft for requiring reboots for updates and making those reboots destructive to my state. If I could go to bed at night and know that everything will be where I left it in the morning, that would be fine. I can't, so I take extraordinary measures to ensure that my computer remains under my control. Up until fairly recently it rebooted while under active use; something which is never acceptable. No update ever made is that important.
It updates when I say it updates, and not a moment before. Congress and Microsoft can GFT if they don't like it.
well when you write your own operating system you can decide how that works, I guess.
If you choose to stop hiding icons in the notification area, windows will tell you days in advance of any forced reboot. It does for me, anyway. I don't know why the default is to hide icons down there, but it's probably because a lot of apps like to stay running for some reason and pollute the notification area.
If you unhide all icons there and occasionally glance down at it, you'll see when Windows wants you to reboot. It is only after days of you not interacting with that icon that the reboot is forced. That's how it's been for me, anyway.
You all just want to complain about Microsoft. None of you have anything of value to say. I wish you would all just admit that to yourselves.
The purpose of Windows is to support the staff I want to do on the computer, not to support Windows. There is a priority inversion here, refusing to acknowledge that does not make it go away. Neither does making excuses for Microsoft's user hostile design make it not hostile.
> "congress wanted to know why users weren't forced to update their computers"
That sounds made up. Happy to be proven wrong, but I doubt congress demanded to know why people aren't being forced to update Windows. It's too weirdly specific.
In the early 2000s, nobody was forced to do anything. Even for games, patches were uncommon because people bought the CD-ROM. If the game had bugs, the process of finding the patch, if it existed, was not accessible to most people.
well, it would be weirdly too specific if the conversation didn't lead to it, but it did.
"how did this happen?
> Bugs were found in windows systems which allowed this.
"can you not fix those?"
> we can.
"why didn't you fix them?"
> We did, the patches have been available for months in the worst case.
"then why are computers running your operating system still affected?"
> Because users have not downloaded and applied the patches.
"why not? are they not encouraged to do so?"
> We make them available but a user must choose to do it.
"Why do you not force this? This seems like an easy way to address the issue of unpatched operating systems."
> We cannot control what the users of our operating systems do.
"Not good enough. Clearly your current stance is not sufficient given the state of the Internet right now."
> Ok.
========
Very much paraphrased, but that's how I remember it going. I watched the thing live on C-SPAN and I don't know if it was blogged about anywhere. Even then the internet hated Microsoft even though most of its users ran Windows.
This is blatantly, flat out wrong. Even the implicit premise here is wrong.
It is not Microsoft’s prerogative to update my device. They don’t own my device. They don’t get to decide when I decide to install new software. That right exclusively belongs to me. Even congress doesn’t get to have a say in this. Users have private property rights. And this, what Microsoft is doing, is bordering illegality.
Unless it is matter of national security. Then, you put masks on, sit home, let your locations transferred to CIA/NSA, update your device, have a full body scan and go some other country to be killed at war.
I don't lose work because of an update, because I don't use windows.
I can't be why windows updates are forced, because I haven't used windows since 7. I can update a system package, a library or even a kernel without losing a process.
Tell me again why windows needs to force the user to update?
because you will not update until forced in most situations.
you simply are not aware of every security fix or vulnerability found, and therefore can't know when you should update.
in the early 2000s there a few very large profile windows viruses that spread like crazy, despite patches being released months or years earlier. the viruses took out networks across the globe and caused considerable mayhem for days.
congress had hearings and several tech companies testified, including Microsoft. congress wanted to know why users weren't forced to update their computers, and Microsoft said that they can't control what their users do.
congress blamed Microsoft for users not patching their systems.
so this happened a few more times and Windows Update was improved continuously going forward.
now you're forced to update, because people who thought they knew all about security failed to update when they should have.
now, users blame Microsoft for forcing them to patch their systems.