Microsoft 365 price rises are coming – pay up or opt out (if you can find the button) Users are now receiving notifications regarding their Microsoft 365 subscriptions and must take action if they wish to avoid Copilot and its extra charges. The email from Microsoft warns that the cost of a 365 Personal Subscription will jump, however, there is no need to worry – Microsoft knows what's best and will increase …
WHY is anyone at all trusting MS with all their shit when they can't help but act like a dodgy sharp-practice startup?
Because they don't understand or don't care about data privacy. We of this forum are sooooo unrepresentative of the rest of the market though.
I got the 365 + AI bundle at the old cost because my annual family sub renewed a week or two back so I'm able to say what it can do, none of which will surprise you. For people like us, the AI does nothing we'd pay extra for. But if (say) letter writing isn't your thing, the Copilot drafts a pretty damn good letter based on a short request. It burns my soul to write that, but it's true. I challenged Copilot "write a letter asking for a refund for a faulty toaster, referencing relevant UK consumer law", and it did. Admittedly it made up the specifics of the toaster fault, but it correctly referenced the UK Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the relevant elements of that, and gave a clear, structured letter, defining the problem, and the outcome I wanted. A few other moderately complex letter requests were pretty well handled - for example drafting letters for my MP, either protesting about a lack of control over illegal migration, or protesting about the government's inhumane approach to illegal migrants.
However, going back to your question, who better to answer your question (albeit more politely phrased) than Copilot:
Why Do Consumers Trust Big Tech Companies with Private Data Despite Evidence of Misuse?
An Exploration into the Paradox of Data Privacy and Consumer Trust
Introduction
In the modern digital landscape, data has become one of the most valuable commodities. With the rise of big tech companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple, the collection and utilization of private data have reached unprecedented levels. Despite numerous scandals and revelations about the misuse of personal information, consumers continue to place their trust in these corporate giants. This document delves into the reasons behind this paradox, exploring the psychological, sociological, and practical factors that underpin consumer behavior.
The Illusion of Control
One of the primary reasons consumers continue to trust big tech companies is the illusion of control. Many companies offer privacy settings and customization options that allow users to manage their data to some extent. This sense of control can create an illusion of safety and transparency, even if the underlying data practices remain opaque. By giving consumers the ability to tweak their privacy settings, tech companies provide a reassuring facade that their data is being handled responsibly.
The Convenience Factor
Another significant factor driving consumer trust is the unparalleled convenience offered by big tech companies. Services like Google Maps, Amazon Prime, and Facebook Messenger have become deeply integrated into daily life, providing unparalleled ease and efficiency. This convenience often outweighs concerns about data privacy, as the immediate benefits of using these services are tangible and significant. Consumers are willing to trade some level of privacy for the comfort and accessibility these platforms provide.
Brand Loyalty and Reputation
Big tech companies have spent years building their brands and cultivating a sense of reliability and trustworthiness. Apple's emphasis on user privacy and security, for instance, has bolstered its reputation as a safe choice for consumers. Even when there is evidence of data misuse, the overall brand image and loyalty can mitigate the impact. Trust in a brand is often built over time and through consistent positive experiences, making it resilient to individual scandals or breaches.
The Normalization of Data Sharing
In recent years, the sharing of personal data has become normalized to the point where it is an expected part of digital interaction. Social media platforms encourage users to share intimate details of their lives, while online retailers track purchasing behavior to offer personalized recommendations. This normalization reduces the perceived risk associated with data sharing, as it becomes a routine aspect of using digital services. When everyone is sharing data, the practice feels less dangerous.
The Complexity of Data Practices
The technical complexity of data collection and analysis is another factor that contributes to consumer trust. Most users lack the technical expertise to fully understand how their data is being used, and the intricate nature of these processes can make them seem abstract and distant. Big tech companies often leverage this complexity to their advantage, providing vague or convoluted privacy policies that are difficult for the average consumer to decipher. This opacity can lead to a sense of helplessness or resignation, where consumers trust the companies because they have no practical alternative.
Regulatory Assurance
Government regulations and industry standards also play a role in fostering consumer trust. Laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in the United States are designed to protect consumer data and hold companies accountable. The existence of such regulations can reassure consumers that there are external checks and balances in place, even if they are not always aware of the specifics. This regulatory framework can create a baseline level of trust in the system as a whole.
Psychological Factors
Several psychological factors also contribute to the continued trust in big tech companies. The optimism bias, for instance, leads people to believe that they are less likely to be affected by negative events than others. This bias can make consumers downplay the risks associated with data sharing, assuming that breaches or misuse will not happen to them. Additionally, the principle of cognitive dissonance suggests that once consumers have committed to using a service, they are likely to justify their choice and overlook negative information to reduce mental discomfort.
Social Proof and Influence
Social proof and peer influence are powerful motivators in the digital age. When consumers see that their friends, family, and peers are using and trusting big tech services, they are more likely to follow suit. The widespread adoption of these platforms creates a sense of legitimacy and acceptance, making it easier for individuals to overlook privacy concerns. The influence of social networks can thus reinforce trust in big tech companies, even in the face of evidence to the contrary.
Conclusion
The trust that consumers place in big tech companies with their private data, despite evidence of misuse, is a multifaceted phenomenon. It is driven by a combination of psychological factors, the convenience and integration of digital services, brand loyalty, regulatory assurance, and the normalization of data sharing. Understanding these underlying reasons can provide insights into consumer behavior and highlight the need for greater transparency and accountability in the tech industry. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, addressing these trust issues will be crucial in fostering a more secure and ethical environment for data privacy.
Here is another subheading for you, since you seem to have an essay there - Free Tech Support. In the Olden Days there were a lot of knowledgeable Windoze users who would learn stuff at work & do free work for their families.
Of course these days those numbers are dwindling, and many of these users have been exposed to Unix via Mac & Linux, many of them working in DevOps (I've never written that down before!) where Windoze doesn't get much of a look in. Many of these will have bought MacBooks, Raspberry PIs or just installed Linux on old machines. Their relatives, friends etc. are the ones left up shit creek without a paddle, who will be devoured by the (shit-eating, natch) cloud piranhas one by one . . .
In the modern digital landscape, data has become one of the most valuable commodities. With the rise of big tech companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple, the collection and utilization of private data have reached unprecedented levels.
I have to admit, Copilot is surprisingly well programmed: it deliberately omitted mentioning its own master in a derogatory-toned sentence.
That's because to Microsoft, there is no English language, there is only American. There are no locales other than USAian. Dates are only formatted in the backwards USAian format. Units of measure are backwards imperial measurements and not the same units that the civilised world use (although USAian scientists in general use standard units because they are not insane)
Datas backwards would make sense, it would be readable. Unfortunately, it's messed up beyond belief. But that's nothing compared to the leap back in social awareness.
I can just imagine aircraft completing a transatlantic flight now "Welcome to New York, please set your watch back 6 hours and your calendar back 250 years".
Because they see the opportunity to do this now while (f)Elon Musk is wreaking havoc on the other side of the pond. A perfect distraction allowing Microshaft to up its prices. They have to make up all that money MS [cough][cough] to Trump's Presidential Library (yet to even have a location let alone being built).
Get out now people. Don't buy anything with a 'Made in USA' label.
Clippy was shit. Copilot is shit. Big tech is throwing money hand over fist on AI and trying to force it onto users without even asking. AI in it's current form is not fit for purpose and something the vast majority of people don't want or need.
As for M365, what's wrong with pressing F1 for assistance? Or does that option no longer exist?
Help! Hahahahahaha. Microsoft deprecated help years ago. All that comes up now is a web page (as noted, always in Microsoft Edge regardless of user preferences) which is a security violation on a server when pressing the "explain this error message" link in various places such as Event Viewer. This web page will not in any way be useful and, if you are lucky, you might be able to find instructions for a slightly different version of the application that are almost related to, but not enough to be wholly useful, what you are trying to find help about.
People are not trusting Microsoft - it's just there are little alternatives, if any. Instead I see more people trusting Google and Apple as if they were better - enjoy your new Chrome without working ad-blockers...
FOSS has turned IT into a data hoarding business, because that's were the money come from now. And Microsoft too wants a a slice of that business, especially under Nadella who despise software development, that money are better spent dividends - which also fatten his bonuses.
The big investments in AI are made in the hope to make people even more dependent on those few companies, once they can't put two sentences together without AI help.
Opt-out only for current licences. No opt out for new purchases. You have to have it at the new over the top price or no Office software for you.
At £85 per year the "buy once" Office 2024 Home and Business looks viable again at £240. But bizarrely there is no Access in there. Are they finally killing the old database?
"You have to get Office LTSC or standalone Access ($$$)."
Surely that's easily fixed by a licence key for the Office version of your choice, from the key reseller of your choice. Cheap, works, legit.
Eg, about £20 for an Office 2019 Professional Plus licence from a licence reseller I've done business with and would trust.
So it is 'opt out' not 'opt in'. So is this not a form of Unsolicited Goods and illegal under the Inertia Selling rules ?
It gets even cheaper on Amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B08VF19JRD
Keep an eye on that (using the camels). It's 15 months plus Norton (which you can ignore or even sell on eBay), and it went down to €49.99 in November. Buy a few when it gets cheap and apply them all.
You need to chat with support. I didn't have the opt out button and had to go though a painful chat experience.
Also do it as close to a monthly anniversary date as you can. I had 2.5 months left on my annual sub. It got cancelled, I got 2x 1 month vouchers, and got switched to the classic plan.
Losing .5 month annoying, but better then having copilot
I just did the switch now and it was remarkably easy, if not exactly intuitive
I signed in, found the account management section, selected "Cancel" and it gave me options. One of which was the "basic" package for the old price and after I selected that I was informed that the change would happen when the bill is due and that's it.
> Users are now receiving notifications regarding their Microsoft 365 subscriptions and must take action if they wish to avoid Copilot and its extra charges.
Luckily, I took that action many many moons past. It's called "using Linux".
Oh, and I still get to use LLMs when I want, including virtual agents. Difference is: They run on my machine, they run when and as long as I tell them to, they run open source weights, their RAG storage lives on my local fileserver, I know exactly how it all works, and it's integrated in exactly the systems I want it integrated into.
I have recurring bill (yearly) active so to switch plan I had to:
- Open subscription management page
- Select disable recurring billing
- In the page that opens, you can choose a different plan, the plan without AI appears
- Select it and set the payment methods
If one just select change plan, that option does not appear.
All you need is sufficient compatibility.
For instance, in a WP document I have settings that ensure a heading is on the same page as the text that follows it. Ditto settings for no widows and orphans.
I'd expect a compatible application to follow that if it opens such a document. And yet I see PDF documents on HMG sites that regularly have a heading as the last line on the page. Either whoever generated the Word file - I expect that's the source - didn't bother with such niceties despite the fact that Word has such settings or their print to PDF application reflowed text to ignore it.
If writers of official documents don't give a stuff about layout why should we worry about 100% compatibility.
A large number of word processors users use them as it they are typewriters where you could delete/replace text. They have no real clue about formatting. I see that in the mandatory templates my company wants me to use. Those producing it have no idea of correct paragraph formatting, line spacing before and after, automatic style switch and so on. They are little more than ill-designed page layouts. The problem is that mastering a tool require the will to read documentation - which now is also more and more scarcely available - and learn. But the "colored pnecils" team can't.
Anyway, the more advanced features you use, the less compatible the document may become. Still lack of real competition allows Microsoft to laugh all the way to the bank. IBM/Lotus and Corel/WordPerfect/Borland were able to kill good applications for lack of a proper vision.
Probably because so many users have no clue and just create headings and so on by selecting text, changing the size, weight, style, colour, etc. and then doing this again for the next one.
Whereas using styles one just selects the line and tells Word the heading level and leave it at that. As long as no idiot has removed the paragraph spacing the first paragraph will always be attached to the heading.
The other massive bonus of using styles is being to re-order content using the navigation side bar. It really is as easy as drag and drop.
Now if they could just fix the sadist way that images are laid out in content it would be usable...
Windows users can get caught in the Tar Baby that is Drive One. A windows installation if left to itself soon fills up Drive One with stuff you may not have intended to go there and soon Driove One is full and your Microsoft Outlook or Hotmail in my case is no longer accessible. My Hotmail user goes back to the 1990s and is how I access MIcrosoft.com to register Windows devices. The user has to either clean it out or buy more storage. Microsoft more or less forces the user to pay for Office 365 to get more storage. There are hints that increments of more storage are available but seem to be elusive. I tried using Office 365 and found it to be clumsy in the way it forces the use of Drive One for storage. I went back to using Google Docs. Going to Copilot or any other AI just to use my PC is a non-starter.
Personally, I would pay more for office/windows if they could guarantee that by doing so they would block anything and everything that is tainted by AI.
AI is the biggest load og bovine dropping since ‘second life’ or what ever it as called. The real problem is that AI is killing the planet, and destroying creativity, and original though... apart from that it is fine!
El Reg was beaten to the punch by AtomicShrimp with this scoop, about two weeks ago (though I think Mike went through a few hours of pain with MS support rather than press the somewhat daunting 'Cancel' button). Since then I have told anyone who stands around long enough to listen about MS's dodgy practices and I've talked a few people through the process to remove the AI tax.
I think people are forgetting, Microsoft do not care about you or I, they care about Microsoft. Period.
If their investors, who know or care little to nothing about their shady business practices (opt in by default for example), don't see a profit from their investment, their money dies up.
The only thing the investors care about are themselves. No return, no investment.
If MS have to pay €250,000 fine for opt in by default, they see it as a business expense (especially if it rakes in €5,000,000 a month until they're told to stop).
At this moment of low "AI" adoption, they need to show figures that say otherwise to those investors or, as I said above, bye bye investment money. If they, and they will, can show "a huge uptick in AI adoption", the investors who know nothing about anything, will pat each other on the back and shovel even more capital into the pit.
It'll be interesting to see what Microsoft do next after they've been told to stop opting in by default. Opt something else in by default instead, reap huge prodits and pay the fine. Rinse and repeat.
Anyway, I think the AI bubble is too big to burst now, and if it does, say bye bye to your pensions, cos it sure won't be the shovel sellers that end up paying for this, it never is.
I use bing when querying coding issues and frankly it has hit the target nearly every time.
It is getting better as well, I know no one on here wants to hear that but hey ho.
Thanks for the tip on not installing copilot with 365 I will be doing this.
Copilot is built into bing so why pay for it it’s free ?
had a customer who couldnt **purchase** licences due to a partner id error
it took them 23 DAYS to fix the issue by sending it "upstairs"
sheer bloody arrogance
but hey customer is always right, can give them a perfectly usable solution based around mint desktops/libreoffice and a synology nas or two with a few windows vm's for those who really need them
but some peoples just dont like change and will pay the price, who am i to complain, can but advise, get paid either way
shame as the few who have made the change love it :)
I've depreciated myself right out of Office 365 and into LibreOffice which does everything I need it to and better than Word, and it produces smaller PDFs from the same file. (Try it with Word and LO). As some of my docs are 150+ pages with diagrams, tables etc etc smaller PDFs are a positive benefit.
I have a copy of Office 2010 on my computer and a spare license should I need it in the future.
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