Each time I think they've changed, they make it clear that they haven't
Stockholm Syndrome.
"...something just irks the hell out of me that they think that this is a cool thing to do."
Yeah, restricted freedom and anti-democratic business practices irks a whole lot of us. :)
Microsoft's just been trying to be Apple ever since the Zune.
Long story short: you can still decide when you want to update Windows - 10 steps instead of one.
Detailed Steps:
Open Computer Management
After disabling the Windows Update service in the Computer Management Console, click on the Recovery Tab. There, turn first three options to "Take No Action." Else, the service will reactivate itself after a while.
This way, you control when you want to update.
Note: If you use Defender, manually turn on the Update Service when you want to update the definitions.
That seems risky security-wise.
I'll just stick to my Linux machines, which update without bringing me down for half an hour.
No, some of us bitch and moan about Apple whenever it's on topic and this is also a logical fallacy of sorts ... if Apple does it, that doesn't make Microsoft's actions OK.
No, some of us take the down votes and voice our opinion. :)
They've been acting evil like this for 40 years now; what makes you think they're ever going to change?
New blood, and fear. Gates is gone, and Ballmer was humiliated by the iPhone. Management now has to be in constant fear of ceding more ground in the consumer space. And they know that as consumer goes, so goes business... 20 years later.
Many of Microsoft's recent moves are heartening. Supporting Mono officially. Implementing web standards quickly. Backing off this signed app stuff in Win10.
MS has never had as much commercial pressure as they have now. They can't afford to alienate their niche supporters they way they could when they were the de facto everything. That gave me hope.
Of course old habits die hard, but I don't think it's impossible for a company to evolve. IBM did. Apple did.
MS is masking their fear of being ridiculed for ugliness by focusing unduly on design. The result has been "form over function." And now, MS pays lip service to productivity.
They also focus intently on security to avoid being ridiculed for unsecure software (viruses, bugs, crashes compared to Mac and linux). The result? Closed Windows Phone and Windows Apps which unfortunately doomed both; and forced updates with intrusive data collection.
Last but most important, MS's is as fast as a tortoise compared to Google, Apple, Amazon... They can't seem to make up their minds on features, app and OS design - hence the multiple reboots of Music turned Groove; Universal apps/Metro apps/UWP; Wp7,8,8.1,10->?, skype/message app, Metro skype and now UWP skype.
For a company which built itself on compatibility, the constant change in direction is death by a thousand cuts.