Let’s laugh at this Forbes article on why ‘you shouldn’t upgrade’ to Windows 10

Oh, Forbes contributors. Is there any opinion too silly for you to have? Forbes contributor Gordon Kelly has written a piece in which he explicitly argues that “you shouldn’t upgrade” to Windows 10 because he’s worried that Microsoft is trying to pull a sneaky trick over on its user base.

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Why is Kelly so suspicious of Microsoft’s intentions? He gives us two major reasons.

First, he’s concerned that even though Microsoft says Windows 10 will be free “over the lifetime of the device,” he notes that “Microsoft’s own internal slides reference ‘two to four years’ and that these numbers are determined by ‘customer type’ (another undefined phrase).”

Microsoft tells us that the phrase “two to four years” used in relation to the lifetime of a device was part of a statement that was “shared on the investor relations website” and was “not related to servicing policies for Windows in any way. Rather, it provides accounting details for how we’ll recognize revenue.” Microsoft also says that it will share more details on its Windows 10 servicing policy soon.

While it’s never good to take any company at its word, we 100% believe Microsoft is being straight with us here, for one simple reason: It would make no sense whatsoever for the company to pull a bait and switch like that.

Microsoft no longer has a monopoly on software platforms and it wants to win users’ hearts and minds with Windows 10. If it starts charging you for Windows 10 all of a sudden just two years after you install it, it’s going to lose a lot of customers. Why would it even think of doing such a thing with Apple and Google lurking around to pounce on disaffected Windows users?

Kelly’s second major gripe is that Windows 10 is going to install software updates automatically. As someone who’s used Android for years, this seems like a strange criticism — speaking personally, I actually want to have the latest software as soon as I can. iOS users feel much the same way, which is why so many of them rush out to get the latest version of iOS as soon as it releases.

Kelly, however, is not convinced.

“Why would anyone reject Windows updates?” he asks rhetorically. “Because some launch with bugs, others create incompatibilities with existing software and recently updates even installed adware (like the Windows 10 upgrade adverts Windows 7 and Windows 8 users are receiving). With no way to stop any update, Windows 10 Home users become guinea pigs for business users.”

Bugs, of course, are part of every new piece of software — just ask iOS and Android users. And as any Android developer will tell you, it’s best to have as many machines upgraded to the newest version of a platform as possible to avoid fragmentation. In fact, assuming Microsoft maintains even minimal relationships with developers, we’re going to imagine that developers will be ready to have their apps good to go for new versions of Windows 10 on the day that it launches.

“Delivering Windows 10 as a service means we can offer ongoing security updates, new features and capabilities,” Microsoft explains. “We’d like to make sure people can get access to the latest Windows 10 updates as soon as they are available.”

Or, of course, this could be all part of a grand plot on Microsoft’s part to lure people in with free Windows 10 and then shaft them over so completely that it will send them running off to Macs and Chromebooks. Anything’s possible, of course, but we give Microsoft a little bit more credit than that.

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