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It’s not just the “odd few” anymore.  As Michael Horowitz says:

When your big fans turn against you, that’s bad. Leo Notenboom wrote Microsoft, We Deserve Better on Oct. 24, 2018. Quoting: “In recent weeks, I’ve seen calls from several sources suggesting that Microsoft stop, take a breath, and seriously review their update process. I agree. This madness must end … I still believe that most people should take all updates, albeit with extra attention to backing up first … [but] since updates are forced, it’s a little like playing Russian Roulette. There’s no real predicting whether or not the barrel is loaded when you’re forced to pull the Windows Update trigger … Even if your chances of experiencing a problem are one in ten thousand (aka 0.01%), it’s certainly enough to make people nervous.”

When it gets to the point that even Microsoft fanboys call the update process “madness,” it’s not madness to suggest there’s a monetary reason MS continues with it.

The original article that is referenced is not a tech article, and the focus is political.  In fact the first sentence of the piece is “Silicon Valley’s contract labor has become a hot political topic…”.  I disagree with you that we are over-compensating in favor of workers.  However, I appreciate that you are willing to speak up.

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Elly, MrJimPhelps

The issue here is not telemetry & AI vs human workers, it is the fact that Microsoft & Lionbridge colluded in their (successful) attempt to deny basic benefits to temp workers who had organized as a union.  It is one thing to use technology to improve company performance; it is another to treat your sub-contractors like sub-humans.

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OscarCP, Elly

Yup, that sounds like the plan alright.
I would add 1 item to your formulae:

• Pay people to generate “fake news” and keep circulating it.  The theory here is that if people hear anything enough times, they’ll believe it.  Witness the “Windows 10 gets better with each release” and “Hassan: Windows 10 Won’t Waste Your Time With Unexpected Updates Anymore” links that have been recently referenced here at askwoody.

Maybe microsoft should buy a news network to make it easier to “say one thing while doing another.”

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Steve, Noel Carboni

If you had Mr. Nadella’s ear for a moment, what would you say is unmet?

If I had his ear, I would clean the wax out of it!

As Susan mentioned, we users are thinking, if M$ can’t get the update procedures working correctly, and we don’t trust the Windows foundation, why would we move with M$ to the cloud (clod)?

Nadella & crew are instead thinking, hey if we move everything to the clod, we can force updates whenever we want, and have TOTAL CONTROL.

This disconnect is an unfortunate corollary to the lack of customer focus that FakeNinja mentioned.

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rc primak, ve2mrx, AJNorth, Rock, OscarCP, HiFlyer, mcbsys, flackcatcher, LH, lurks about, satrow, Great Lake Bunyip, Rick Corbett, samak, Sessh, Elly, Seattle27

Norio wrote:

… So, it appears that we can use the MiniTool in this situation to manually download updates without reverting the telemetry setting.

I found that even with the MiniTool I wasn’t seeing the updates for Microsoft Office (which I had configured to be “on” in group policty).  I ended up downloading the offline update cab (wsusscn2.cab) from https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa387290.aspx and configuring MiniTool to use offline updates (just copy the cab into the minitool executable directory).  That gave me access to the latest Office updates.

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HiFlyer

Hello, I am running Window 10 Enterprise 1709 for testing on one of our department’s systems (we use Win8.1 and have not yet migrated).  I looked at the telemetry settings in the registry (HKLM \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Policies \DataCollection) on the Win10 system and found it was set to “1”.  I modified the value to “0” and rebooted, and ran windows update.  No updates were available.  However, when I ran the Windows MiniTool I received four choices: 1) Intel driver update for Intel(R) Ethernet connection 1217-LM; 2) Update for Windows 10 Version 1709 for x64-based Systems (KB4058043); 3) Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool x64 – February 2018 (KB890830); and 4) Definition Update for Windows Defender Antivirus –  KB2267602.  So, it appears that we can use the MiniTool in this situation to manually download updates without reverting the telemetry setting.

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HiFlyer, laidbacktokyo

Thanks for the clarifications; I need them.  I’m sure I am mangling the language and spellings and not using the terms correctly.

But, that’s one of the wonderful things about food–it communicates a culture without having to know the lingo.

Hand-mashing ingredients does make a difference.  There are many chefs that believe making a pesto with a food processor ruins it, and that the only way is to use a mortar & pestle.  Food scientists have found that the fat in oil gets transformed when processed, so there might be a factual basis for this preference.

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AlexEiffel

Mmmm. Tasty Thai food.  I lived in Chicago for 25 years and now I’ve been in Boulder, Colorado for 15 years, and I MISS GOOD THAI FOOD!  I especially miss being able to step off the El train, get some gai pad krapow (or pad kra pao gai?) (minced chicken with basil, chiles & garlic) to go, and get back on the train and go home to experience one of the heavenliest cuisines in the world.  I would watch the chef use his “Thai food processor” (two cleavers wielded with a rat-tat-tat synchronicity) and attempt to duplicate the dish at home, but I could not match the flavors.  The food inspired me to purchase an enormous mortar & pestle from Thailand which I still use on a regular basis.  Your article has given me motivation to try to make this dish again.  As you note, the authentic ingredients are more accessible now.

Woody asks: “I wonder about the other credit reporting agencies.”The New Republic has a good article titled “Break Up the Credit Reporting Racket” that will reinforce the view that credit-reporting companies are all sleazeballs and that it’s time to get rid of them.  The article also has some interesting history.  For example, did you know that Equifax started out as a private detectives/investigators?  And that they would include race, religion and sex lives in computing credit worthiness?

As far as Experian’s history, there was a company called LifeLock whose niche was offering automated credit freezing services for a reasonable price, and Experian killed it.  Here’s what Brian Krebs (krebsonsecurity.com) has to say:

“By 2006, some 17 states offered consumers the ability to freeze their credit files, and the credit bureaus were starting to see the freeze as an existential threat to their businesses (in which they make slightly more than a dollar each time a potential creditor — or ID thief — asks to peek at your credit file).

Other identity monitoring firms — such as LifeLock — were by then offering services that automated the placement of identity fraud controls — such as the “fraud alert,” a free service that consumers can request to block creditors from viewing their credit files… 

Anyway, the era of identity monitoring services automating things like fraud alerts and freezes on behalf of consumers effectively died after a landmark lawsuit filed by big-three bureau Experian (which has its own storied history of data breaches). In 2008, Experian sued LifeLock, arguing its practice of automating fraud alerts violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

In 2009, a court found in favor of Experian, and that decision effectively killed such services — mainly because none of the banks wanted to distribute them and sell them as a service anymore.”

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