“Oh, Microsoft recommends Windows 10,” she said — on camera –after noticing the message, clearly annoyed but also trying to laugh it off. “What should I do?”
It’s a funny clip, especially given how well Slate handled the whole situation. But this is something many Windows users are getting pretty sick of, as Betanews pointed out.
Windows 10 is a free upgrade, and Microsoft is going out of its way to make sure everybody knows about it, regularly popping up notifications such as the one Slate confronted. If you run a Windows 7 or 8 computer, you know what we’re talking about. It seems pretty unlikely that anyone interested in the operating system at this point doesn’t know about it (or hasn’t already installed it).
So users are annoyed, making it extremely relatable to see a notification like this on live TV. Windows 10 notifications really are popping up everywhere, aren’t they?
At least a few Twitter users agree. Here’s a brilliant bit of Photoshop magic, showing that no version of Windows is safe from these popups:
https://twitter.com/blowdart/status/715372758901784578
And here’s another, in an altogether unexpected place:
@blowdart @troyhunt pic.twitter.com/itZJtWlM5i
— Dan Kern (@w6fdo) April 1, 2016
That’s right: you can run but you can’t hide. Windows 10 is going to find you. It doesn’t matter what device you’re using, or if you’re just watching the local news. Microsoft wants you to upgrade to Windows 10.
We actually think Windows 10 is pretty great, to be fair, but at the same time we can understand why users of Windows 7 and 8 are tired of seeing these popups. Here’s hoping Microsoft shuts down this annoyance come July, once the free upgrade period is up. But who knows? Maybe they’ll double down on the nuisance.