[Motorola Droid RAZR] Ohmster:
OT - Insidious changes at Microsoft?

This is off topic, but we have a lull in the thread and this issue will likely affect all of us. For those who do not care to discuss PCs, please skip this post.

I am very uncomfortable with the new Microsoft OS, Windows 10. No, I did not install it but several small clues are turning up that make me very, very uncomfortable with it. Once MS rolls out a new version of Windows, it is only a matter of time before one will be forced into it, like it or not, over updates and end of line for the previous version as what happened with Windows XP. Many did not like Vista or Windows 7 and wanted to keep XP, but MS killed support for it and eventually, everyone had to update. The same will happen with Windows 10.

So what makes me so uncomfortable?

Small things that are happening right now. Netflix will stop supporting Windows Media Center next month. I use WMC and a green button remote, why are they doing this? I contacted Netflix and the reason is that Windows 10 no longer supports WMC, that is a feature that has been taken away, and they must stay current with the current operating system on the market, Windows 10. No more free media center. :(

Tiles on a screen make the PC much more like a cellphone or tablet than a real computer. MS Office is the de facto office software in the nation. Commercial registration licensing is in the thousands of dollars per PC, home versions cost $300. Now Office is an app you can download and "lease" from Microsoft (Keep paying every month) or purchase for that user on that desktop on that machine, ONLY.

Automatic updates whether you want them or not. This policy has been temporarily suspended because some of the hardware driver updates have caused the PC to fail, this will be worked out in time.

Windows 10, the entire OS is 100% free. MS never gave away any of it's flagship products for free, EVER. Now it is free, why? To lock everyone down to an OS that they now will control absolutely like Verizon would on a cellphone?

There are other small things as well. I cannot edit some of my Live Mail contacts and am not sure why. I eventually ended up at people.outlook.com and found that the contacts are being merged in from other contacts such as gmail and I had to edit that contact to correct an incorrect email address and still the correction is not set on my PC. Live Mail or Windows Mail seems to be migrating over to a gmail format that Microsoft will manage much like Google.

Microsoft has turned a blind eye to Windows piracy all the way up to Windows XP, that is the first time they ever started to enforce product registration. Why? To obtain global dominance of the desktop OS and insure that almost everyone was using Windows? If so, the trick worked quite well. :rolleyes:

It appears to me that Microsoft has been jealous of the cellphone companies business model of paying a provider monthly fees, and charges for the better apps, and they want a piece of it. They want to make gradual, insidious changes to the computer model away from a desktop PC and turn it into a tablet format with leasing, purchasing, and renting fees for almost anything you want. Music? 99¢ per song. Movies? Rent $3-4 per night. Games? Rent, anything else, rent, pay, fees, monthly. I don't want a $2,500 tablet, I want the powerful PC that I created from bought parts! What now? Will I have to "root my own PC" when MS makes this change? How long can I get away with doing that? :confused:

If I have to, myself and anyone else who wants to retain "ownership" of their own PCs will likely switch to Linux over Windows 10. The Netflix consultant agreed and told me himself that he will switch to Linux over Windows 10 for this reason. I told him that I root my own cellphone to get out from under "Carrier Control" over the device that I own, bought, and paid for. He wants to root his phone too.

Anyone else out there with an opinion or personal experience with Windows 10 who would like to share? I do not have nor do I want Windows 10, but I would love to hear from those that have it and what it is like. What do you guys think? Am I right to be suspicious or am I being "too paranoid"? Your comments and opinions are welcome and appreciated. Please try to keep this civil and polite, thank you very much. :)

EDIT:

I do realize that this post is very much off topic so this is a trial run. If it does not go over well with the thread, i.e.: no one responds or replies, then I will refrain from making such posts again and take issues like this to a Windows forum. But, you all are well respected and good people and your experiences and opinions are worth a listen! 'nite guys! :D