It’s happening again, not once, but twice! Microsoft is being sued for its highly questionable tactics in persuading people to upgrade to Windows 10. This follows a similar case in which a Californian business woman was awarded $10,000 earlier this year after she said her business lost money due to an upgrade to the new OS that she claimed happened without her consent.

The victor in the above case, Terri Goldstein, said that users facing upgrade issues should “know their rights and fight back”, while we said that was indeed likely to happen. And it has.

The first of the lawsuits involves three Florida men claiming, “Microsoft’s Windows 10 update prompts violated laws governing unsolicited electronic advertisements, as well as Federal Trade Commission prohibitions on deceptive and unfair practices,” according to the Seattle Times.

The second lawsuit in Haifa, Israel, claims that Windows 10 was installed on computers without the owner’s consent. In a statement Microsoft responded to the actions saying, “We believe the plaintiffs’ claims are without merit and we are confident we’ll be successful in court.”

In its defense Microsoft said that the upgrade was a choice, and if people did have any problems concerning a surprise upgrade then the company offered free customer support. Microsoft also stated that people who have upgraded have 31 days to go back to their former OS.

This might not ameliorate the concerns of people that claim they have suffered financially because of the upgrade. Goldstein said she lost a significant amount of money, and time, after she could not use her computer. At the same time Microsoft’s tactics have been somewhat sly, gaining the attention of the world’s tech media.

Perhaps the most deceptive of Microsoft’s upgrade tactics, called “indefensible” by long term Microsoft blogger Paul Thurrott, was making the Windows ‘X’ not the go-to place for closing Windows but agreeing to an upgrade. Microsoft basically made clicking  the ‘X’ do exactly the opposite of what it’s meant to do.

A few thousand dollars is not a lot of money for Microsoft, in fact, for a company that boasted fourth quarter revenues of $22.6 billion, mere thousands is a drop in the ocean. If Microsoft does end up paying though, expect more actions to follow – something that might be called Upgrade Karma. In a statement from the lawyer representing the Florida triumvirate he said that consumer actions against Microsoft could end up costing the company not thousands, but tens of millions of dollars.

Photo credit: Shelby H via Flickr