Hello there. The Forbes article was hidden behind some "Welcome" script that wouldn't remove itself unless I allowed its site to save cookies on my machine, which I did not do. But, I did end up finding a text feed of the article. What follows below (which describes Microsoft's new "strong-arm" tactic) is that article. Hope this helps.
Jan 2, 2016 @ 05:30 PM Microsoft Warns Windows 7 Has Serious Problems Gordon Kelly , Contributor Speaking to Windows Weekly, Microsoft Marketing chief Chris Capossela explained that users who choose Windows 7 do so “at your own risk, at your own peril” and he revealed Microsoft has concerns about its future software and hardware compatibility, security and more. “We do worry when people are running an operating system that’s 10 years old that the next printer they buy isn’t going to work well, or they buy a new game, they buy Fallout 4, a very popular game, and it doesn’t work on a bunch of older machines,” Capossela stated. “And so, as we are pushing our ISV [Independent Software Vendor] and hardware partners to build great new stuff that takes advantage of Windows 10 that obviously makes the old stuff really bad and not to mention viruses and security problems.” He also stressed it is “so incredibly important to try to end the fragmentation of the Windows install base” and to get users to a “safer place”. There’s only one problem with Capossela’s statements: they are complete rubbish. Windows 7 is no less secure than Windows 10 (it will be supported until 2020) and no less compatible with new hardware and software. In fact its far greater market share means it is developers’ priority and has greater compatibility with legacy programmes and peripherals. If Fallout 4 won’t run on your Windows 7 computer, it will be upgrading your components not installing Windows 10 which fixes that. As for fragmentation, the only issue that creates is for Microsoft and its target of getting one billion devices running Windows 10 within 2-3 years of release. And this is where the true motivation for Capossela’s statements become clear: “We think every machine that is capable of running Windows 10 we should be doing everything we possibly can to get people to move to Windows 10…We are going to try to find that right balance, but we just know there’s a lot of people out there who constantly kick the can down the street without a little bit more of a, frankly, a push. And so, there’s no doubt with a base as big as ours, it is hard to move anyone to a new model without angering some people. We don’t want to anger anybody, but we do feel a responsibility to get people to a much better place, and Windows 10 is a much better place than Windows 7. We will always give you a way out, but we’re trying to find the right threat balance.” This phrase – “threat balance” – is telling. Microsoft has been cranking up the pressure on Windows 7 and Windows 8 users to upgrade and, in my opinion, the ‘balance’ was replaced by ‘threat’ a long time ago due to mandatory Windows 10 downloads, automatic upgrade attempts and now Capossela’s claims which add up to nothing more than deliberate misinformation designed to unsettle users. As I’ve written before, at its core Windows 10 is a very capable operating system with immense promise but it is also overly controlling and I can respect those Windows 7 and Windows 8 users who choose to stay where they are. And this is the part Microsoft has forgotten: technically it keeps giving users a choice, but by enforcing nagging pop-ups, cutting opt-out options and spreading groundless fear for the average user it appears there is no choice at all… _______________________________________________ Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared. For membership options, visit http://lists.window-eyes.com/options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/archive%40mail-archive.com. For subscription options, visit http://lists.window-eyes.com/listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com List archives can be found at http://lists.window-eyes.com/private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com
