Not content with others hammering on their coffin, Microsoft starts buying nails

Apparently our friends at Microsoft recently applied a stealth update to both Windows XP and Vista. This update took place--and this is important--even if users had Windows Update turned off.

This ranks right up near the top of "things not to do to your customers." Right behind suing them, I would suppose. (RIAA, are you listening?) Most stupid Windows users probably don't mind; hell, they probably don't even know. But that doesn't justify violating user privacy. Some may have good reason for not auto-updating their copy of Windows, but regardless whether the reason is good or just dumb, Microsoft still should ask permission and/or notify users what they are doing.

I think it's to patch a truly serious security hole in Windows Update, since it was those components that changed. I think Microsoft felt it important to protect all those millions of systems, since to really foul up a system you need to get into its innards. Windows Update, being über privileged, could certainly delve into our system's most highly protected internals. Yeah, it could have been a nightmare for the folks in Redmond.

But I don't care. They should have told us what they were doing. And why.