this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2025
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The plaintiff says that Microsoft's tactic of "forced obsolescence" is an "attempt to monopolize the generative AI market."

Case file: https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/klein-v-microsoft-san-diego-complaint.pdf

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[–] ApeNo1@lemmy.world 122 points 3 days ago (3 children)

I would not pursue the path of suing for not supporting a legacy operating system, but instead focus on the forced obsolescence of hardware blocking people moving to Windows 11 on millions of computers that are still perfectly functional.

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 96 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Do you not remember Microsoft saying Windows 10 was going to be the last operating system? They literally said they were going to move to continuous updates.

[–] haroldfinch 14 points 3 days ago

For anyone wondering what Microsoft actually said about Windows 10 being the last version: https://www.windowscentral.com/windows-10-may-be-last-version-windows-microsoft-rethinks-operating-system

And no, they didn't it'd be the last Windows. They said it'd be the last traditional release before moving on to "Windows as a Service".

[–] ApeNo1@lemmy.world 21 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yes. Tech companies say a lot of things at points in time but having personally spent 3 decades in the industry, the one thing you can rely on is that they will always chase the money. If it means breaking old promises they will do that in a heartbeat and use marketing to spin it as something great for users.

[–] Auli@lemmy.ca 19 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Problem is saying shit like that has consequences.

[–] KazuyaDarklight@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (3 children)

They kind of have done it though, even now I can upgrade a 10 computer to 11 IF it has the hardware. So from a license level it's effectively what they promised, it's the hardware reqs that are the problem. If they left the name the same we could be sitting at the same issue with the latest "10 Forever" updates being blocked by hardware requirements.

[–] otacon239@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)

But that’s just it. There’s no reason for the extra hardware requirements they added to 11 other than to force a bunch of users onto new computers, on top of the fact that they’re making it more and more difficult to use Windows without the Internet.

Why are we defending their decisions when all they do is take from us?

[–] KazuyaDarklight@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

I'm not "defending" shit. But there are holes in the argument when coming from this direction. If we want to win, we have to have a concrete argument.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 days ago

They kind of have done it though[:] even now I can upgrade a 10 computer to 11 IF it has the hardware.

That's not continuous updates.

Upgrade != Update

[–] xiwi@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 days ago

Lmao microsoft is such a scum company, always has been.

Lying thieves

[–] Couldbealeotard@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago

I understand that Microsoft never officially said this. It was a comment by an MS employee who was not in a position to make such a claim.

[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago

Would be an argument if we weren't talking about software that was sold with the promise it would be suported

[–] atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

It’s not really legacy though in the same way that previous versions of Windows have been when they went EOL. Microsoft switched to an “agile” workflow for Windows around 2017, the current version of Windows 10, 22H2, is not quite 3 years old.

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 days ago

Yup, you could skip Vista by using XP until windows 7, and you could skip windows 8 by sticking with windows 7 until 10 came out.

Now they're forcing people to get every version even if they put out a shit version of windows.

Also computers aren't ramping up in hardware performance like they used to so a lot of people who would buy a new computer every so often and the new one would just come with a new version of windows... they aren't doing that any more.

Also there's tarrifs, inflation, and a lot of people just can't afford a new computer. So this is a perfect storm of windows suckiness.

They should be sued for facilitating war crimes and genocide.

[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 22 points 3 days ago (1 children)

To my reading the plaintiffs argument is that users are being forced to upgrade to Win11 or pay $30/year ($61/year for business users) and this presents an undue burden on consumers. As much as I hate to say it, Microsoft looks to have short circuited this claim two days prior to the filing.

From June 24:

Windows 10 support is NOT ending on October 14, 2025, if you’re ready to link your Microsoft account and sync Settings to the cloud. Adding a Microsoft account to Windows 10 will extend support until October 13, 2026. If you don’t want to link a Microsoft account, you can either pay $30 for a local account or use Microsoft Rewards 1,000 points.

source

So MS is saying that as long as you're not using a local account, you don't have to pay for extended support for Win10. Only if you want to keep your local account do you need to pay $30/year (as a non-business user).

[–] july@leminal.space 20 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

That sounds like a cheap mobile game. Pay 1000 points to unlock ad free experience!

[–] kautau@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago

Welcome to hyper-capitalism, where the currencies are made up and the valuations don't matter

[–] bluesheep@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 days ago

Only a 1000 scrip!

[–] bacon_pdp@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago

Well, they get sued every 11 days on average. So this isn’t newsworthy unless the judge decides something novel.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 3 days ago

These folks would really hate Apple's support path for old OSes.

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

Sweet, maybe I'll be able to get some relatives off of 11.

[–] Plurrbear@lemmy.world -5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

I logged into my Mac computer today to find out that “Teams is not supported by iOS” that’s fucked! A lot of people rely on Zoom and them Team to do interviews and such! Fuck Gates!

[–] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

You know he hasn't been part of Microsoft in over a decade, right?

[–] Plurrbear@lemmy.world -4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Yup! Fully aware.. but still fuck em.. thanks for the “update” 🤦🏽‍♀️ also, check your comment before posting because you clearly can’t even make a correct sentence and statement.

I believe you meant, “he hasn’t BEEN a part of Microsoft in over a decade”.

[–] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Ohh no. A grammar mistake. My point has been totally neutralized.

[–] Plurrbear@lemmy.world -2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Nope, never stated that… just saying that if you want a point to come across valid might want to check your comment before posting.

And just because Gates hasn’t been a part of the company doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a voice in it. I have friends in Cali working in tech who state that he is still involved in certain parts of the company.

But either way, I shouldn’t have to deal with this just because I believe iMacs are better than a trash laptop with Microsoft.

I was a teacher for years and getting Google Laptops for kids was my nightmare! They were always so slow and had so many issues! When we used iPads we NEVER had problems… that shows something!

Microsoft vs iOS will never die! But now I have students not being able to use certain Microsoft apps because they have an Apple computer… I feel so bad because I don’t know what to tell them because I also have an Apple and cannot access the same apps.

[–] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Sure bud. Whatever makes you feel better. There are much nicer ways to point out a simple mistake if that was your actual intention. And based on the response, it clearly wasn't.

Saying their are Microsoft apps you can't use on Apple products is the pot calling the kettle black.

And what do Google laptops have to do with this?

[–] naeap@sopuli.xyz 1 points 3 days ago

iOS is now running on Macs?

Didn't really follow, but did they switch the naming of their OS to be the same as their mobile stuff?

[–] Blaster_M@lemmy.world -4 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Meanwhile, in Linux land, 6 month release distros only support for 1.5 years...

[–] prof@infosec.pub 17 points 3 days ago (1 children)

If you disregard LTS versions, yeah 😄

Even then it's usually just a kernel update and not a complete OS reinstall.

[–] skisnow@lemmy.ca 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

yeah, it's not a fair comparison because updating to the LTS version is nothing like as disruptive as the move from Windows 10 to 11, and even when that falls out of support it's still not as disruptive to upgrade to a newer LTS.

[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 8 points 3 days ago

You're welcome to request a refund.