Microsoft Corporation,
My name is Austin Snider, I am an IT professional and a computer power user that has been using Microsoft products for nearly two decades. In this time, I have seen many different departments at Microsoft produce exceptional products, such as the controller for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Visual Studio, which I have loved for quite some time. Despite these quality products, Microsoft has released many less than spectacular products — notably the original Xbox 360, which had critical hardware design flaws that caused regular heat failure, and Windows Vista, which suffered terribly in terms of application compatibility on both a personal and enterprise level.
Regardless of the quality of many of your company’s products, as a user, I have had a number of unpleasant experiences with Microsoft products, most notably the Xbox 360 hardware problem, Windows Vista compatibility problem and now with the forced migration to Windows 10 and the automatic, forced, updates and data collection that Windows 10 includes. As someone who believes that people should control technology (and not the other way around,) I was appalled when I was, without warning, interrupted from a game of Sid Meier’s Civilization V for my machine to restart and Windows 10 to be forcibly installed on my laptop computer without my consent. Had I been doing work on my computer at the time, I presumably would have lost unsaved progress — not to mention that there was a period of time where I was forced to wait before resuming use of my computer, with a new, unwanted operating system. Regardless of what I happened to have been doing at the time, this manner of random unwanted behavior is simply unacceptable. It is for this reason that I will take all efforts possible to no longer use Microsoft products — especially Microsoft Windows –unless required by my work. Furthermore, I shall, on a matter of principle, share my negative opinion of the Windows user experience with those who ask for it.
It is a shame for me to have to turn my back on some of the best hardware and software products that exist; however, I cannot in good conscience continue to personally support a company which does things like this to its customer base. With that, I am done. Unless my will fails me, I will be personally boycotting all of Microsoft’s new products and services in the future — unless a requirement of my school or employer — and I encourage home users and business owners with similar experiences to do the same.
Austin R. Snider