A California woman has been awarded $10,000 in a lawsuit over a botched Windows 10 installation that she said she didn’t want, didn’t authorize, and left her computer running at a “crawl” and prone to crashing. Microsoft’s customer support service was unable to solve the problem, so she sued for lost wages and the cost of a new PC, and came out on top.
“I had never heard of Windows 10,” Teri Goldstein told The Seattle Times. “Nobody ever asked me if I wanted to update.”
Microsoft denied any wrongdoing and said it dropped its appeal and accepted the judgment to avoid the expense of fighting the case further. Still, the suit has been seen as yet another blow against Redmond, especially since Windows 10 already has a reputation for being pushier than it should be. I also wonder how this might impact Microsoft over the legal long run. Denial of wrongdoing will only get you so far, after all. Unless there were very specific circumstances about this case that led to the ruling, I would think that the outcome would encourage an awful lot of similar suits in the future.
I’ve reached out to Microsoft for comment and will update if and when I receive a reply. In the meantime, if you do happen to be interested in Windows 10, bear in mind that the free upgrade offer comes to an end in just over a month. If you take the plunge, you’ll also want to have a look at our recommendations for ten must-have Windows 10 programs, right here.
Thanks, Kotaku.
