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<title>What Is the Right Way to Upgrade an Installation of Windows? |
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- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> |
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<div class="reduced-width"> |
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<h2>What Is the Right Way to Upgrade an Installation of Windows?</h2> |
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<address class="byline">by Richard Stallman</address> |
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<div class="article"> |
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<p>It is commonplace in the computing field to urge users to “upgrade” to |
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newer versions of Windows (and other nonfree programs) so as to get |
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fixes for “security.” This conclusion follows from the assumption |
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that these programs are honest software, designed to treat the user |
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right. We do not expect that to be the case, and we know it is not |
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the case for Windows. Therefore, we make a different recommendation.</p> |
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<p>In fact, newer versions of Windows have exploits before they are |
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released. They are designed with various kinds of malicious |
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functionalities; see “<a |
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href="/proprietary/malware-microsoft.html">Microsoft's Software is |
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Malware</a>.”</p> |
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<p>Newer Windows versions contain added malicious functionalities; they |
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give Microsoft more power over the users. That is a reason not to |
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switch to a newer version. For some users, switching to a newer |
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version may require rewarding Microsoft with money and even buying a |
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new computer. We hardly want to encourage that!</p> |
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<p>Therefore we decline to support Microsoft by urging users to move to |
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newer versions; we do not treat the unintentional flaws of Windows as |
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more important than the intentional ones.</p> |
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<p>Our advice to those using any version of Windows is to |
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<a href="https://upgradefromwindows.org">upgrade to GNU/Linux</a>.</p> |
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<p>Supporting GNU packages on any version of Windows (or any non-GNU-like |
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systems) is not part of the GNU Project's core mission. Our slogan |
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is, “It runs best on GNU/Linux.” We cooperate with the users who wish |
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to maintain that support, because we may as well cooperate when it is |
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not difficult. We have no responsibility to continue doing so, but as |
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long as it is feasible and not holding us back, we have no reason to |
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stop.</p> |
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</div> |
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</div> |
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</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> |
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<div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> |
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<div class="unprintable"> |
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<p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to |
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<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. |
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There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> |
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the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent |
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to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> |
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<p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, |
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replace it with the translation of these two: |
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We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality |
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translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. |
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Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard |
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to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> |
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<web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> |
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<p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of |
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our web pages, see <a |
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href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations |
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README</a>. --> |
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Please see the <a |
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href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations |
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README</a> for information on coordinating and contributing translations |
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of this article.</p> |
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</div> |
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document was modified, or published. |
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If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. |
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Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying |
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year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including |
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being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). |
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There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers |
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Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> |
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<p>Copyright © 2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p> |
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<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" |
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href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative |
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Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> |
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<p class="unprintable">Updated: |
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$Date: 2019/01/29 00:08:10 $ |
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