Microsoft is tricking consumers into becoming beta testers

It’s no secret that Microsoft’s attitude towards Windows users worldwide has changed dramatically over the last decade or so: once it became apparent that the popular operating system was not going to contribute to the company’s bottom line as much as it used to, its executives decided to leverage its vast active user base in other ways and, at the same time, minimize the resources invested in the product itself.

This led to a number of decidedly consumer-unfriendly choices, from gathering way too much user data and personal information from each Windows installation in a non-transparent way for non-transparent purposes to pushing advertisements and promotions in multiple parts of the OS, to delivering low-quality updates and upgrades, to forcing users into signing for Microsoft online accounts in order to use Windows altogether (despite the OS being perfectly functional using local accounts). All of that despite the overwhelming majority of Windows users have already paid — one way or another — for the license of the operating system they depend on every day.

But Microsoft’s latest scheme is its most insidious yet and should be opposed by consumer rights groups worldwide. There’s some interesting backstory to this particular development, but — in a nutshell — what most recently happened is this: through its latest Windows 11 system update Microsoft added an innocent-looking little toggle named “Get the latest updates as soon as they are available” to the settings offered in the Windows Update area.

What Microsoft does not make in any way clear — nor did it find fitting to mention in any press release or any official blog post — is the fact that those “latest updates” are actually beta software. Unfinished, possibly problematic, potentially even disastrous software that the company intends to test with the help of unsuspecting consumers, turning them into guinea pigs in order to save on hiring proper beta testers.

While the relevant page on Microsoft’s official website is conveniently unclear about all this — using vague wording and avoiding being specific regarding the state of these updates — there is a single footnote on the explainer page of this option that gives the game away: “Features may be gradually rolled out starting with devices that install the monthly optional non-security preview release”. Oh, really? Starting with? The company then admits that “when they’ve validated that each feature is ready, they’ll gradually roll it out to new devices, and eventually include it enabled-by-default in a subsequent monthly security update”. So the people first receiving these features do so without the latter being “ready” (that comes later) and they can only hope that those updates are not installed on their PCs in a state that can cause issues or damage.

So, as Paul Thurott over at Thurott.com has also deduced and pointed out a few days back, these “latest updates” seem to be the same kind of software we consumers usually get as non-security optional Preview updates around a month before their official, mainstream release. There is a reason why we can always dismiss those Preview updates without installing them: when they appear in Windows Update these are still undergoing testing by Microsoft employees and Windows Insider Program participants. It’s beta software. But it now seems that Microsoft intends to use many more people, even unsuspecting consumers, as beta testers too.

CFR: a vague term for a devious option

Microsoft misleadingly calls this approach “Controlled Feature Rollout” (CFR). What the company should mean when using this term is that it will be releasing newly-developed but completed OS features (those making it out of its Windows Insider channel of beta software) gradually, i.e. not to every Windows 11-based PC at once (as is the case with security updates). But what Microsoft actually seems to be doing by following this CFR approach, is pushing Windows software still in beta (features still intended for Windows Insider participants to test) to consumer PCs.

Non-Windows Insider users who toggle that option switch to “On” essentially activate CFR on their PC without having any idea of doing so. This practically means that they can be leveraged as beta testers without being aware of what they are “signing up for” (the OS does not display any kind of message or warning when they do). They are led to believe that getting the latest updates “as soon as they are available” — who wouldn’t want that, right? — is the same thing as “as soon as they are ready for mass deployment”. Which is, of course, not the same thing at all.

This is also completely different from what Microsoft has been doing with its Windows Insider program for years. The people participating in it are well aware that what they’re getting in the form of the latest system updates through the Insider channel is beta software. It’s incomplete, not properly tested code that could cause problems or even loss of data at any time.

But Windows Insiders are volunteers: unpaid beta testers that have actively, willingly signed up for this, accepting all possible consequences in order to access new Windows features or fixes as soon as possible. The people turning that new Windows 11 toggle to “On” have not signed up for that, but Microsoft is seemingly planning to use them as beta testers anyway by keeping them in the dark and downright misleading them through the wording of this toggle.

Consumers need to know about CFR openly, at once

Not only are Microsoft’s choices regarding CFR confusing and self-serving, but they are also quite risky for everyone involved. That toggle is set to “Off” by default right now, but people not following the company’s changes in OS update policies all that closely could easily turn it to “On” believing that they’ll be getting new features ready for mainstream adoption (which they won’t be). But what if one such half-baked feature proves disastrous?

Memories of botched Windows 10 updates that crippled PCs irrevocably, forcing complete re-installs, or OS upgrades that deleted entire document folders in the process (valuable user data that could not be easily recovered), are still fresh. What happens if something like that happens when unsuspecting consumers install a new Windows 11 feature not tested enough before finding its way to their PCs? Who’s to blame then — even purely from a legal standpoint? Microsoft for not being honest about CFR? Consumers who switched that toggle to “On” without having been informed about what they “agree to” by doing so? Both? Does it even matter if considerable damage is done that way?

In the eyes of this reporter, what Microsoft needs to do in order to handle this situation in a professional and consumer-friendly manner (assuming the company is interested in that) is quite clear. Ideally, the company should just remove that new toggle altogether: turning ordinary Windows users into Windows Insiders by misleading them is simply unacceptable. It’s an option that Microsoft should have never even considered.

If the company insists on including that option in Windows Update, then it should ensure that a disclaimer is displayed upon turning that toggle to “On”, informing consumers about the state of the software they agree to install on their PCs. For the same reason, it should also issue an official statement, clarifying what CFR actually means for end users. 

If past experience is any indication, though, Microsoft will probably do no such thing: that would be an admission of getting caught red-handed, which the company’s PR would not like one bit. That’s Microsoft’s problem, though. It certainly doesn’t concern everyday Windows users who will have every reason to be angry if the company does not handle this swiftly and transparently. At the end of the day, what truly matters for both parties is consumer confidence in Windows 11 — of which, let’s face it, there’s not a whole lot to go around right now. Here’s hope, then, that Microsoft will acknowledge that fact and act accordingly.