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The user as a profession

Read: 3820 Comments: 10 Rating: 16

Monday, December 9, 2019

It's no secret that large software developers often literally arm-twist their customers into upgrading to newer software versions (even when absolutely unnecessary). Not to mention the fact that the new version may cause all sorts of problems. Meanwhile, in their license agreements the companies disclaim any responsibility for adverse consequences, and users accept the terms during installation. Should users go to court if an upgrade has caused some kind of damage?

Actually, lawsuits over forced updates are not news:

An American national filed a lawsuit against Microsoft and demanded $600 million in compensation for the damage inflicted on their computer by a forced upgrade to Windows 10.

Source

However, this practice is not particularly widespread since ordinary people hardly have the energy and resources needed to sue corporations. And users are many.

Glen Weyl, a principal researcher at Microsoft, suggested that people join forces and create data unions.

Source

This idea emerged in connection with a trendier topic—harvesting user data. But it looks tempting!

The Anti-virus Times recommends

It is quite clear that the idea of forming user trade unions will hardly come to fruition. But speculatively, do you believe that we need organisations that would defend users' interests against software corporations when, for example, a software upgrade has resulted in data loss or security issues?

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