I make up things all the time and then call them 'requirements'. Its just the way the industry works.

If he really wants to further this 'nice old Microsoft guy' image that he is pushing on youtube, he should really do a video on the truth behind the whole SoftwareOnline.com situation.

He's also apparently threatening legal action against people who discuss it https://x.com/endermanch/status/1820726634485350727

Have any people from Microsoft corroborated what he claims? Whatever I have heard of him is all from his channel and articles citing him.

But then Dave Cutler and Raymond Chen appeared on his channel for hour-long Windows history podcasts so maybe that's an endorsement of his claims.

Not surprising. That man seems so off. Like how he always says he's just doing his videos for the likes, while at the same time using the videos to advertise his book. Or how he leans so heavily into having worked at Microsoft but then doesn't actually seem to have worked on more than a handful of projects there (his videos get repetitive).

> The company has marketed its products through pop-up ads and unsolicited e-mails that offer a “free scan” of the computer. If a user elected to have the free scan performed, a software program downloaded, installed, and executed on the user’s computer.

> Once the free scans were installed, consumers were trapped in a labyrinth of advertisements to purchase an upgrade,” Tassi said. “Each new advertisement increased the consumer’s sense of fear, repeatedly warning of threats the computer faced if the user didn't purchase the product. In some instances, the ads kept coming until the free scan software was uninstalled or the consumer purchased the product. But the uninstall option didn’t always work properly and parts of the software remained on the computer.

One step forward several steps back though, with all the other terrible crap like copying your entire drive to OneDrive by default then attempting to make you subscribe when it fills up, adding all kinds of telemetry and ad tracking, shoving Copilot in your face whenever it can, just to name a few.