UK VAR raises alarm bell on Windows 10

NCI Technologies warns fellow resellers with overseas customers to beware of new automatic updates

A UK reseller has warned fellow VARs with customers in countries with limited internet access to beware of Windows 10, claiming upgrading could burn a hole in customers' pockets.

Updates to Windows 10 – such as new features and security patches – are automatic on certain versions, with the option to choose when to download them taken away.

Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise users will be able to defer updates, but for other versions, updates will occur automatically, according to details released by Microsoft.

This is a problem for customers in regions with limited web access, according to UK reseller NCI Technologies, which has customers in the Falkland Islands.

The VAR's managing director Andy Trish went to the islands at the end of 2013 to kit out local schools with PCs after serving there in the Navy in 1982.

He said internet access on the Falkland Islands can cost £1 per minute except during a six-hour window during the early hours of the morning when it is free. Once users have used a certain bandwidth limit, they can be cut off. At the moment, islanders manually install updates during the free period to save hefty download fees, Trish said, but with the new Windows 10 rules, this will not be possible.

"The ability to control when you download Microsoft security patches means that you can keep your machines fully up to date and secure using the free bandwidth available through Sure [island internet access] after midnight," he said. "Lose this ability and you may get large downloads when you least expect it, day or night, without any option to stop it.

"There is currently no information released by Microsoft on whether an in-place downgrade is available should you not like Windows 10, so ensure that if you do upgrade, you have a complete working backup of your current operating system and data."

He said about 3,000 people in the region will be affected by this move.

"I disagree with turning off the ability to turn off automatic updates," he added.

"[Customers] won't upgrade to Windows 10 for this very reason. If Microsoft wants people to move to Windows 10, they need to take it to all markets.

"Microsoft is going to say 'unfortunately we can't meet everyone's objectives'. The Falkland Islands are just one of my customers but lots of others [are affected]. I'm not just talking about one island – it's about places all over the world which don't have the bandwidth."

Microsoft was unavailable to comment at the time of first publication.