Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has lost a court battle and is being forced to pay $10,000 in a lawsuit filed by a woman named Teri Goldstein after her computer upgraded to Windows 10 without her approval.
There have been many complaints over Microsoft forcing upgrades on PCs without approval from PC owners. One such person who suffered the same fate is Goldstein, who was so frustrated by the practice that she decided to sue Microsoft. The company lost the case and was forced to pay $10,000 to Goldstein.
Normally the “X” icon on the pop-up upgrade window shuts down the window when clicked, but Microsoft changed how the upgrade panel functioned by changing the status of the upgrade to “recommended.” This means that shutting down the upgrade window would initiate the Windows 10 download and installation process. The unwarranted upgrade interferes with many tasks that the user runs as Goldstein found out. Her system became slow and would on occasion not follow as the new OS downloaded into her machine.
When she took notice of the situation, Goldstein called Microsoft, but her situation was not catered to, so she decided to sue the firm. The courts heard her case, and she ended up receiving $10,000 as compensation. Microsoft had filed an appeal against the decision but then decided to drop it. However, the firm maintains that it still doesn’t accept the judicial decision and that it decided to stop pursuing the case to avoid extra-legal charges.
The firm also argues that pursuing an appeal against the woman would have amounted to negative publicity considering that only a few weeks are remaining until the offer or a free upgrade is over. The company’s aim was to get as many people as possible to move into the new Windows version so that there can be more uniformity rather than the prevailing OS fragmentation. Many have complained that Microsoft has been forcing upgrades, and a successful lawsuit against the company will could lead to similar lawsuits.