KB3035583 Installing Windows 10 using Windows Update?

We have two big things on our (customers who own their PCs) side and that is what Microsoft fears most: 

1. Windows 7 -- now the gold standard
2. business conservatism

Microsoft is on record committing to support it through to early 2020.  The vast majority of people now using Windows 7 (now half the marketplace), own computers that can and will continue to support windows 7 for 4 1/2 years more.  If win10 is undesirable, there will be a growing market for repairing Windows 7 computers to make them last longer.

Businesses make decisions primarily based on whether there is a bottom line benefit.  Unless Win10 delivers huge benefits, it is highly unlikely business will jump from 7 to 10.  It is critical to understand that approximately half the PC marketplace is business.  Note well that April 2014 was the date that Microsoft stopped providing security updates to XP and that forced business to make a massive change. 

Virtually all businesses that made the leap bought new computers (the usual way to change OS) that were officially branded as Windows 8, but in fact had Windows 7 installed.  The Windows 8 licences that came with them will never be utilized.  Businesses don't make PC purchases for a couple of years.  Most plan to keep them at least 5 years.  Even those that do get replaced will have Windows 7 installed.  Those companies who lease their PCs will be releasing them to their leasing companies who will be selling used/refurbished Windows 7 computers.  That could turn out to be a big marketplace.

You can still buy a brand new Dell PC with Windows 7 installed, but you need to represent yourself as a business.

You can read my overall take on the PC marketplace at:  http://canadiantech.info/?page_id=247

Dig deeply enough into any Microsoft executive's psyche and you will discover Apple envy.  Apple has made a fortune selling things.  What these execs do not understand well is their customers.  Windows customers are a different kind of cat than Apple customers.  The Apple strategies won't work with Windows customers because they mostly buy on the basis of value rather than hype.  I do intend to be insulting here.  It is much like the difference between people who buy Jaguars Vs. those that buy Dodges.

Windows has become much more than a consumer product.  It is very widely used by literally billions of people who have spent many years learning how to use Windows computers.  Microsoft is using Windows as a strategic piece to grow profit in other ways.  Hence Windows will continue to morph into tactics that will provide Microsoft with profit opportunities, that may or not be of real benefit to Windows users.  Win10 most concerns me because of its potential to be used to offer us (coral us) into buying things that we don't want.

I think we are faced with a change in Microsoft strategy, a shift to a subscription model or at least an accelerated upgrade strategy.  This is not for the benefit of the customer; it is to make him pay more. 

It is, in other words, a dispute in the making, a standoff between what the customer wants and what Microsoft wants.  Having tricked us once,  how far will Microsoft go?  What bright line of ethical practice do they recognize that would prevent them from sending out updates that disable old software?

The standoff will end up where all intractable disputes end up, in court.  We assume now that Microsoft's high powered lawyers have written the license agreement to let them do what they want, but all such agreements can be reviewed in light of basic issues like whether they are so totally one-sided as to be a sham, and whether the customer received what he reasonably expected to receive for the money.  Presumably the courts have been reluctant to wade into the details of operating systems, but Microsoft is a pretty big target, and it is painting a red circle on its own back.

The above notwithstanding, Win7 computers will NOT be offered the free upgrade to Win10 unless & until KB2990214, KB2952664 and KB3035583 have been installed.

I think Microsoft could have handled the free upgrade to Windows 10 in a much more "customer friendly" way ...

In stead of creating multiple upgrades, at different times, with different priorities, that only confused their customers, Microsoft should have created one OPTIONAL upgrade that contained all of the necessary code to allow one to take advantage of the free upgrade process.

In that way, those customers who want to upgrade to Windows 10 could install the single OPTIONAL upgrade, while those customers who have no intention of ever upgrading to Windows 10 could bypass the OPTIONAL upgrade.

The way in which Microsoft has handled this issue does make one feel that the upgrades (KB2990214, KB2952664, KB3035583) do something more than merely enable a free upgrade to Windows 10.

Microsoft, could you tell us more about KB2952664, please? Is this just another KB3035583?

I'm not Microsoft nor do a represent Microsoft but no, KB2952664 is not "just another KB3035583."

Compatibility update for upgrading Windows 7 [to Windows 10]

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2952664

Update enables additional capabilities for Windows Update notifications in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 SP1

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3035583

Tip: Compare the File Information sections of both KB articles.

The above notwithstanding, Win7 computers will NOT be offered the free upgrade to Win10 unless & until KB2990214, KB2952664 and KB3035583 have been installed.

Well put.  I am in complete agreement.  I have the responsibility for 140 computers and will not permit Windows 10 on them unless and until I am confident it is sufficiently beneficial to do this.  Windows 7 is the gold standard, to be supported through to 2020. 

It would take a lot to convince me to support Windows 10, with the possible exception of systems that had to be replaced with new ones.

By the way, the vast majority of Win10 users will have NO control over the WU process in it.