The sky is blue, the world rotates, and Microsoft makes questionable decisions; these are all constants we can rely on daily. Fortunately, Microsoft’s users are always keen on reverting whatever it is that the Redmond giant is doing, and we’ve seen plenty of instances where the people have stood up against the tech giant. So, here are a few examples where Microsoft has gone a step too far and saw its users fight back.
The battle for local accounts on Windows 11 is on the user’s side
People don’t want a Microsoft account
This piece was inspired by a recent tussle Microsoft had with its users. See, before Microsoft accounts were a thing, people signed into their computers with a local account. These didn’t require an internet connection (we’re talking a time before home internet was a thing), and they lived on your computer.
Of course, when Microsoft accounts were introduced, the Redmond giant liked the idea of everyone logging into their Windows PCs with them. Users could unlock features such as syncing settings and wallpapers across their devices, and Microsoft gets some data collection. It’s win-win, kind of.
Except some people don’t want to use a Microsoft account; they want to keep using local ones. This began an arms race between people who wanted to use local accounts and Microsoft, which wanted to force everyone to use Microsoft accounts. Recently, Microsoft added a patch that stopped people from making local accounts, only for someone to find a new way the very next day. No matter what, Microsoft can’t squash local accounts forever.
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People fought against Microsoft’s push for ads in Windows
Keeping Windows ad-free
Photo of personal PC with Windows 11 start menu
Microsoft has been on the hunt for a new money-making program for a while now. Sure, it makes money off of selling Windows licenses, but people tend to hang onto them for years, if not a whole decade. So, Microsoft has been testing the waters for other revenue streams, and one of them has been, well, ads.
In the past, the company has tried to slide ads into all aspects of Windows 11. This includes unprompted notifications about the company’s other services, such as Microsoft 365 licenses and games on the Microsoft Store. And every time it tries something, the users are ready to fight back.
Take, for example, that one time Microsoft added ads to the Start menu. Days later, someone made a tool that let you shut them off again. People really don’t want to be advertised to within Windows, and every time Microsoft dips a toe into showing ads in the operating system, it usually gets a fiery rebuke from its users.
These days, Microsoft has changed tracks with its money-making plans. Instead of showing ads on Windows, Microsoft is focusing on its Copilot app, including its paid Copilot+ program, and teaming up with companies to have the AI assistant recommend their products during a conversation. But I have a nasty feeling we haven’t seen the last of Microsoft’s ad-based plans.
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Someone actually won $10,000 because of an unwanted Windows update
Now there’s an idea
How many times has a Windows update been a nuisance for you? Take that number (if you can still count them) and multiply it by 10,000. That’s how much you could have got if taking Microsoft to court over bad updates were more common.
As reported by The Guardian, one travel agent’s computer decided to auto-upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10. Unfortunately, the update failed, and she was left with a bricked laptop. Given how she needed it for work, she sued Microsoft for both a new computer and for the earnings she lost during the debacle. She even had a pretty scathing quote:
“I had never heard of Windows 10. Nobody ever asked me if I wanted to update.”
She ended up winning $10,000 after Microsoft didn’t want to invest money in fighting the case, which is pretty good going. I’m sure if Microsoft did this for every failed update, it would have gone bankrupt decades ago.
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The big guy doesn’t always win
Microsoft has a lot of power, but it’s by no means absolute. Every time Microsoft makes a bad judgment call, there’s bound to be someone who’s willing to take it on and win.
