Man named Frank Dickman sues Microsoft for $6bn for deliberately upgrading his PC from Windows 7 to Windows 10

[Valentyn]

I can under the consumer frustration! I have Windows 10 Pro; I'ver turned off automatic updates; and set it to defer upgrades.

Yet I've had many instances anyway where I'd get rebooted, or turn on my system to find Windows installing stuff. It's broken a lot of software and old hardware compatibility at times.
 

[GoodBytes]

 

Here are my questions:

1. Its been since 2015 Windows 10 is out.... It took him 2 years and half to react?
2. Backup deleted from the upgrade? I know that sometimes upgrade can screw up... but never delete personal data. All i can think of, is that he look online for instructions, and followed some that he didn't understand and wipe his system by doing a clean install. Or his system was infected with a ransomware or something, his personal data was gone, and tries to blame MS as a way to get money or his data back (and make some)
3. Where is his backups? i guess he planned to sue the HDD/SSD manufacture or ASUS if the drive fails.
4. 6 billion dollars, suggests that he has no idea how to evaluate the value of data. How did a lawyer even proceed with the case. Reading the article, his ultimatum, suggests that he didn't see one, and will do after the 30 days. He will be in for a surprise.

[-TesseracT-]

ah, the US

[Sauron]

42 minutes ago, Blademaster91 said:

Couldn't he just settle this with Microsoft giving him a copy of Windows 7?

Or he could, you know... just download the installation image for free and legally from the website? Then just ask Asus for a license key. Or even ask microsoft, they're pretty cool with requests like that if you don't act like a douche. And I highly doubt Asus is "untrustworthy" to the point that running a lawsuit against MICROSOFT is a better idea...

[captain_to_fire]

8 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Its been since 2015 Windows 10 is out.... It took him 2 years and half to react?

Or the conclusion would be Mr. Dickman is not only a dick, he's a fraud.

[captain_to_fire]

35 minutes ago, Captain Chaos said:

As stupid as this case is, I hope he wins

 

They'll probably end up giving him a Win7 DVD though, as that's the alternative he suggested.

And by winning you mean Microsoft paying Dickman $6bn and a copy of Windows 7? If in an unfortunate event he won the case, I'll probably ask myself what is wrong with the American judicial system despite having one of the best constitutions in the world?

[Misanthrope]

51 minutes ago, hey_yo_ said:

Microsoft's PR rep commented that Mr. Dickman can roll back his PC to Windows 7 which is true to all Windows 10 upgrades. I remember when my PC upgraded from 8.1 to 10, it gave me the option to roll it back in a 10 day duration. Dickman said Windows 10 deleted the Windows 7 recovery partition during the upgrade but I call it bullshit.

A rollback is not satisfactory: A compelled upgrade should have never been pushed on people.

 

Now this obviously isn't a 6 billion dollar issue, or even 6 million or even 6 grand mind you. However I would like a precedent for a class action against Microsoft. And no it's not about customers getting something out of it but against hurting Microsoft into compliance.

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

4 minutes ago, hey_yo_ said:

And by winning you mean Microsoft paying Dickman $6bn and a copy of Windows 7?

Absolutely, and let every other nut sue them for insane amounts too, using this case as a precedent.  If they go bankrupt, they can't annoy people anymore with forced updates and in-OS ads.

[Blademaster91]

33 minutes ago, -TesseracT- said:

ah, the US

There are people everywhere with more money than sense to be making stupid lawsuits,don't generalize all of the US.

21 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

A rollback is not satisfactory: A compelled upgrade should have never been pushed on people.

 

Now this obviously isn't a 6 billion dollar issue, or even 6 million or even 6 grand mind you. However I would like a precedent for a class action against Microsoft. And no it's not about customers getting something out of it but against hurting Microsoft into compliance.

Except that no one was forced to upgrade to windows 10,canceling out of the prompt is easy,and if you didn't the rollback works fine. He screwed up trying to rollback the OS and most likely deleted his own backup partition and didn't rollback in the time period that Windows 10 allows. Waiting 2 years to sue over it is the most suspicious thing out of this.

20 minutes ago, Captain Chaos said:

Absolutely, and let every other nut sue them for insane amounts too, using this case as a precedent.  If they go bankrupt, they can't annoy people anymore with forced updates and in-OS ads.

I doubt Microsoft's legal team is even going to look at the lawsuit after seeing 6 billion.

[captain_to_fire]

7 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

A rollback is not satisfactory: A compelled upgrade should have never been pushed on people.

 

Now this obviously isn't a 6 billion dollar issue, or even 6 million or even 6 grand mind you. However I would like a precedent for a class action against Microsoft. And no it's not about customers getting something out of it but against hurting Microsoft into compliance.

But Dickman is claiming that the old Windows 7 partition got deleted during the upgrade process which I never experienced. I think that he's oblivious of the rollback option in advanced recovery. Dickman is a swindler and a fraud and he reminds me of those people who would burn down their house just get an insurance claim. And somehow he just found out that Microsoft is pushing out upgrades deliberately? So yeah, it's a 6bn lawsuit that only insane people with a probable debt problem would make up.

[Misanthrope]

15 minutes ago, hey_yo_ said:

But Dickman is claiming that the old Windows 7 partition got deleted during the upgrade process which I never experienced. I think that he's oblivious of the rollback option in advanced recovery. Dickman is a swindler and a fraud and he reminds me of those people who would burn down their house just get an insurance claim. And somehow he just found out that Microsoft is pushing out upgrades deliberately? So yeah, it's a 6bn lawsuit that only insane people with a probable debt problem would make up.

Don't know if you experienced it or not but the important part here is if it's plausible that he did.

 

And yes he might be unfamiliar with the rollback options.

 

None of that is justification for Microsoft to force updates without explicit consent from the user.

[sof006]

This gone be good. Watch this space!

[Doobeedoo]

Haha oh wow these people are so delusional. Moron. 

My old PC that I don't use much still sits with W7 it didn't self upgrade. 

[Tech Enthusiast]

And people keep asking why a windows licence is as expensive as it is.

 

Hell, microsoft gotta make the money to pay these people. Cut em some slack!

[Tech Enthusiast]

2 hours ago, Blademaster91 said:

There are people everywhere with more money than sense to be making stupid lawsuits,don't generalize all of the US.

Lawsuits like this would never even make it into any paper anywhere else but the US.

 

The US is the most corrupt country on earth, and law(suits) are totally out of hand. Money is ruling the country like no other country on earth and people actually accepted that.

So yeah, it is totally fair to generalize that to the US.

 

No other county would be so crazy.

[NvidiaIntelAMDLoveTriangle]

3 hours ago, Blademaster91 said:

Couldn't he just settle this with Microsoft giving him a copy of Windows 7?

 

So they can update him to Win10 after he installs that Win7 copy, no no no.

 

[Sniperfox47]

2 minutes ago, Rattenmann said:

Lawsuits like this would never even make it into any paper anywhere else but the US.

 

The US is the most corrupt country on earth, and law(suits) are totally out of hand. Money is ruling the country like no other country on earth and people actually accepted that.

So yeah, it is totally fair to generalize that to the US.

 

No other county would be so crazy.

*Cough*South Korea and Samsung*cough*

*Cough*China and Mi/Foxconn*cough*

End of the day there's corruption everywhere. But let's avoid getting political with this.

 

How does everyone not see one potential possibility though...

 

What if his PC lost power while writing the updated bootloader and left the system in an unbootable state?

 

He said that the upgrade messed up his computer. And if the bootloader was screwed there's no dropping into advanced settings to restore automatically. Repairing the system also wouldn't be simple for a computer illiterate individual.

[Ashaira]

Since no one has said it i will take the hit.

Frank you're a dick man.

[Blademaster91]

37 minutes ago, Rattenmann said:

And people keep asking why a windows licence is as expensive as it is.

 

Hell, microsoft gotta make the money to pay these people. Cut em some slack!

Boxed copies of Windows have been $100 for quite a while, with how much it costs to build your own PC these days a $100 legit copy of windows is hardly expensive. There are other cheaper ways to get (plausibly) genuine windows but it can't be discussed here.

 

28 minutes ago, NvidiaIntelAMDLoveTriangle said:

And people keep asking why a windows licence is as expensive as it is.

 

Hell, microsoft gotta make the money to pay these people. Cut em some slack!

LOL,that would be ironic. Though the guy waited 2 years to stat suing,it makes more sense to use Windows 10 now since 7 is in extended support.

[AshleyAshes]

Forgive me if I'm wrong but outside of the money, he just want's MS to provide him with Windows 7.

 

Can you not use the key to any old Win7 install that was upgraded to 10 to install Win7 again instead?  Like, doesn't he just need a Win7 x64 ISO?

[aezakmi]

just users being users. MS should ask dick man if he knows what's an ISO

[captain_to_fire]

25 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

Forgive me if I'm wrong but outside of the money, he just want's MS to provide him with Windows 7.

 

Can you not use the key to any old Win7 install that was upgraded to 10 to install Win7 again instead?  Like, doesn't he just need a Win7 x64 ISO?

I don’t know. I think most product keys of Windows 7 is single use only and might require activation through phone, I’m not sure but Dickman might be using an OEM installation. maybe @GoodBytes can answer.

Edited February 16, 2018 by hey_yo_

[SpaceGhostC2C]

5 hours ago, Hiitchy said:

I don't even know what to say... But I will say this, if he allowed himself to be connected to the internet without taking any action to block windows from running updates, who's really at fault here? 

You know, the Windows 7 license doesn't state "stay away from the internet or block Microsoft updates unless you want your product to get automatically replaced by a different, potentially incompatible one in the future", so I guess the answer is... Microsoft? I think if you tread that path you could even make MS lose cases like this  

 

5 hours ago, hey_yo_ said:

does this dude really think he can win this case and get paid for 6 billion USD?

I don't know what he expects, but remember that winning a case and getting awarded the sum you claim are different things. You can sue for 6 billions, then the judge decides that the defendant indeed caused you some harm, and that said harm is worth X, where X could be 6 billions but also 6 dollars.

 

 

Frankly, I have no clue about this guy's case, but in general I could see a case for damages in cases of "auto-upgraded" computers going bad. Backing up a number for those damages is a different story, and will depend very much on what the computer was used for. For a home user, I think $100 for your time and nerves and a copy of WIndows 7 (taking at face value that WIn 10 nuked any traces, and you don't have any install media, and you could not obtain it from Asus -sorry, I forgot their untrustworthiness) should make your day.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Jamiec1130 said:

It seems that the guy claims the Windows 7 recovery files were deleted during the upgrade. 

OEMs usually have a hidden recovery partition and also include recovery disks. This guy should check his manual.

[captain_to_fire]

1 minute ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

Frankly, I have no clue about this guy's case, but in general I could see a case for damages in cases of "auto-upgraded" computers going bad. Backing up a number for those damages is a different story, and will depend very much on what the computer was used for. For a home user, I think $100 for your time and nerves and a copy of WIndows 7 (taking at face value that WIn 10 nuked any traces, and you don't have any install media, and you could not obtain it from Asus -sorry, I forgot their untrustworthiness) should make your day.

He doesn’t have the installation media because he’s using an OEM build of Windows 7 from Asus and he’s claiming that the Windows 10 upgrade wiped out the old Windows 7 which is not even true as Microsoft provides an option to roll back to the old operating system/W10 build through rebooting to advanced recovery options. 

6 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

I don't know what he expects, but remember that winning a case and getting awarded the sum you claim are different things. You can sue for 6 billions, then the judge decides that the defendant indeed caused you some harm, and that said harm is worth X, where X could be 6 billions but also 6 dollars.

I’m guessing Dickman probably needs the cash so badly that he went into great lengths to sue Microsoft despite becoming a fraud. I think he’s either using the built in Disk Cleaner or a third party clean up program like CCleaner and got the Windows 7 installation deleted. I’m not sure if recovery programs like EaseUS will still work to recover the Windows 7 install.