14 DAY TRIAL // A petition that went viral earlier this week raised nearly 5,000 signatures in just a few days, as more users consider that the Electronic Frontier Foundation should investigate Microsoft for its practices regarding the very aggressive Windows 10 push.
Specifically, the petition claims that Microsoft is violating users’ right to choose and privacy by installing Windows 10 on their computers without them first giving their consent. Furthermore, it points to cases when the Windows 10 installer was launched all of a sudden, without users being prompted about it first.
No official statements so far
Neither Microsoft nor the EFF has offered statements on this new petition so far, but the number of those who are supporting the idea of an investigation against the software giant is growing. And comments posted on the petition page pretty much speak for themselves.
“I own my computer. I say what software is installed. When ANYBODY willfully manipulates me into installing ANYTHING I do not want then they are acting against me; Microsoft, at this point and through their actions in this case are WORSE than the **** that writes malware with the goal of profiting from me. Microsoft are WORSE because I am their customer - not their product. They don't own my computer, they don't own me,” Simon Dainty from Bradford, United Kingdom, posted.
The free upgrade promo for Windows 10 will come to an end in July, and that will be the moment when Microsoft will completely remove the Get Windows 10 app from users’ computers. The Get Windows 10 app, which was released to users back in June 2015, is supposed to download the necessary files to start the installer of the new OS, but also to check for compatibility issues that might exist on a Windows 7 or 8.1 PC.
Users who are still running any of these two operating system versions have until July 29 to upgrade to Windows 10 free of charge. Any upgrade performed beyond this date will cost $119.99 for the Home license.