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<title>What Is the Right Way to Upgrade an Installation of Windows?
- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
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<h2>What Is the Right Way to Upgrade an Installation of Windows?</h2>
<address class="byline">by Richard Stallman</address>
<p>It is commonplace in the computing field to urge users to “upgrade” to
newer versions of Windows (and other nonfree programs) so as to get
fixes for “security.” This conclusion follows from the assumption
that these programs are honest software, designed to treat the user
right. We do not expect that to be the case, and we know it is not
the case for Windows. Therefore, we make a different recommendation.</p>
<p>In fact, newer versions of Windows have exploits before they are
released. They are designed with various kinds of malicious
functionalities; see “<a
href="/proprietary/malware-microsoft.html">Microsoft's Software is
Malware</a>.”</p>
<p>Newer Windows versions contain added malicious functionalities; they
give Microsoft more power over the users. That is a reason not to
switch to a newer version. For some users, switching to a newer
version may require rewarding Microsoft with money and even buying a
new computer. We hardly want to encourage that!</p>
<p>Therefore we decline to support Microsoft by urging users to move to
newer versions; we do not treat the unintentional flaws of Windows as
more important than the intentional ones.</p>
<p>Our advice to those using any version of Windows is to
<a href="https://upgradefromwindows.org">upgrade to GNU/Linux</a>.</p>
<p>Supporting GNU packages on any version of Windows (or any non-GNU-like
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