Samsung Misbehaves Again

[SteelCrysis]

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/229...ng-drivers

Microsoft is doing everything it can to get everyone to install Windows 10 as it tries to leave Windows 8 in the dustbin of history. It made the update free, started bundling it with Windows Update, and it even started getting a little sneaky with the update prompts (before partially reversing course on that last one). However, Microsoft is definitely not on the same page here with Samsung, one of the largest makers of PCs. Samsung is actually advising people not to update its computers to Windows 10 because it has neglected to make compatible drivers.

The operating system on your PC is what you interact with on a daily basis, but simply updating that won’t necessarily mean all the hardware in your computer has what it needs to work. You need drivers for all of that, and that’s up to the device manufacturer, not Microsoft. Ever since Windows 10 started hitting PCs, Samsung owners have been complaining that vital pieces of hardware don’t work properly (or at all) after the update. Attempts to find updated drivers on Samsung’s site have been fruitless.

Some consumers have reached out to Samsung in search of a solution. One user found that the Broadcom wireless module in his Samsung NP-R590 laptop stopped working after updating to Windows 10. A surprisingly frank email from Samsung technical support said that the company is not recommending anyone update its machines to Windows 10 yet because certified drivers don’t exist, and there’s no timeline for when they will. The kicker is Samsung’s suggestion that people contact Microsoft directly about the issue. Microsoft will surely be unable (and unwilling) to fix this mess for Samsung.

Microsoft started pestering its partners about getting ready for the Windows 10 upgrade about a year and a half ago. Windows 10 started rolling out to consumers about six months after that. Samsung has had 18 months to get drivers ready for its computers, and there still aren’t any. Checking Samsung’s support pages, even laptops from a year or two ago still only have driver packages certified for Windows 8.1.

One of the main issues here is that a lot of Samsung’s laptops (but not all) will work in Windows 10 if you upgrade from Windows 8.1. However, going straight from Windows 7 is going to cause issues on most Samsung computers, according to the company’s own website. Microsoft still prompts Win7 users to upgrade, though. There’s no guarantee your hardware will stop working following the update, but if something does break, you’re going to be out of luck.

For a small electronics manufacturer this would be unacceptable, but for Samsung it’s disastrously negligent. Samsung makes a lot of different computers, and testing new drivers on all those hardware configurations is a serious undertaking. However, Samsung is one of the biggest consumer electronics companies in the world. It has the resources to do this, and it hasn’t.

http://www.extremetech.com/electronics/2...-smart-tvs

Samsung has long been a giant in TV manufacturing, but falling prices and shrinking profit margins have hit the company’s bottom line. As a result, it’s reportedly testing programs that would add new advertisements to the main menu bar of its higher-end televisions. The program is currently only active in the US but is expected to roll out to Europe as well.

The Wall Street Journal reports that this move isn’t confined to top-end televisions from 2015 or 2016; Samsung is exploring adding software updates to older models that would introduce advertising on those platforms as well. The push to monetize TVs in this way comes from Executive VP Lee Won-jin, who Samsung hired away from Google, and is part of a push to shift away from hardware sales as a primary profit generator and towards other forms of revenue. The WSJ reports that these ads are displayed on the home page next to prominent apps. When Samsung introduced advertising in 2012, the ads were only shown if the user first clicked the apps button. Samsung claims it places ads “to deliver relevant brands and content to consumers.”
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I actually agree with Samsung, 100%. If it differentiates its products based on how much data it can gather on them or the advertising revenue they generate, it’ll certainly put its TVs in the “Do not purchase” category for me. In fact, there’s basically no reason to hook a television to the Internet, ever, without simultaneously implementing a firewall to block communication with unapproved sources. Samsung’s advertising servers, whatever they might be, are the very definition of “Unapproved.”

Or just buy an old-fashioned “dumb” TV without any of these nifty new features. That’s an equally valid solution as far as we’re concerned. And while Samsung is far from the only manufacturer including advertising on their televisions, their status as a major player in the industry means more companies will follow this trend if it catches on.