Nasty tricks and technological tongues －悪意のあるトリックとテクノロジー舌

“Who do you think you are: Windows 10?”

An angry outburst directed against a persistent salesman, overheard in Tokyo 

I wrote a few weeks ago about the rough seduction tactics of Bill Gates’ Microsoft with regards to Windows 10.  I was annoyed that the pop up message asking users to change to the new operating system kept appearing again and again every 20 minutes and couldn’t be gotten rid of.

When there is some new product being offered, I expect its makers to smile at me, flash their eyes, laugh at my jokes, and perhaps to reveal a hint of perfume.  I want to feel enticed to take the product home with me as an act of my own free will.  In contrast, Microsoft’s pop up messages for Windows 10 have felt more like being grabbed on the street and having Bill Gates’ tongue forced down my throat.

And it’s not just me who thinks so.  I had begun to wonder if I was just an old-fashioned gentleman, unused to the new seduction techniques practiced by a more liberal minded, technology driven age.

But I read an article about Microsoft’s pushing of Windows 10 on the BBC News web site this morning which shows otherwise.  Apparently Microsoft have had to change their style of marketing Windows 10 after sustained customer complaints.  People have been unintentionally installing the new operating system by trying to close the persistent pop up message.  If you clicked the cross at the top-right of the message then Microsoft was interpreting this as accepting the upgrade.  Normally, of course, clicking the cross has the exact opposite effect.  One commentator called this a “nasty trick”, and likened it to swapping the brake and accelerator pedals on a car.

According to the BBC article, Microsoft will keep sending hold-outs like me annoying pop up messages.  But they will “[provide] the customer with an additional opportunity for cancelling or rescheduling the upgrade”.

Here’s a suggestion for you Bill: Try to be a bit less forceful.  Some of us don’t like it.  When Windows 11 comes out, you can make it up to me with chocolates and flowers.  And no more technological tongues, please, until we know one another better.

 

Vocabulary:

an outburst – a sudden strong expression of an emotion

to overhear – to hear without intending to

rough – violent; forceful; impolite

sustained – continued

to liken A to B – to suggest that A is like B

a hold-out – one of the last people resisting a change, military attack etc.