Bloke sues Microsoft: Give me $600m – or my copy of Windows 7 back

Frank Dickman is a hell of a super hero name, we gotta say

A fella in the United States is taking Microsoft to court to get Windows 7 put back on his PC.

Frank Dickman, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday seeking damages from both Microsoft and CEO Satya Nadella for what were termed "civil rights violations" that occurred when his Asus laptop was automatically updated from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

He seeks either a new copy of Windows 7 or $600m.

(Well, the lawsuit states "$6,000,000,000.00 (six hundred million dollars)" – so take your pick, $6bn or $600m.)

According to the complaint – submitted to the US district court in Denver, Colorado – the trouble for Dickman began when his Asus 54L notebook, which had been shipped with Windows 7, updated to Windows 10 and "became non-functional immediately."

Now, Dickman wants to downgrade from Windows 10 back to Windows 7 via a digital download and activation code from Microsoft. To get it, he says he is willing to sue both Microsoft and Nadella himself.

Easy peasy

Want to go back from Windows 10 without resorting to litigation against a $700bn corporation? There are easier ways:

If you only recently upgraded (as in the last 30 days), the process can be as simple as navigating to Start> Settings> Update and Security> Recovery and choosing the "Go back to Windows 7/8.1" option.

Beyond that, there are other options, including using a third-party backup utility to restore old images, or simply getting an installation ISO and using your PC's activation key to perform a clean install.

Suffice to say, despite Windows 10's faults, it has excellent security defenses. You should only stick with Windows 7 if you really, really like it or need it.

His lawsuit gives Redmond 30 days to give him the software or pay more than a half a billion in damages from a default judgment.

"The only sensible remedy is for Microsoft Corporation to supply the OEM version of its operating system by download from its website and confirmed by the key code which came with the computer," Dickman's filing read.

"Failure of Microsoft Corporation and its CEO (Satya Nadella) to provide this function within thirty days of the provided summons should yield a payment from the two defendants to the plaintiff of a remedy... of six hundred million dollars."

El Reg asked Microsoft for its response to the filing. A puzzled spokesperson declined to comment.

While Dickman's ...ambitious... litigation may not go very far in a district court, his sentiments are no doubt shared by a number of PC users around the globe, who took exception to Microsoft's over-zealous marketing of Windows 10 updates in the lead-up to and aftermath of its 2015 release.

He is also not alone in wanting to stay with Windows 7, despite the OS being nearly nine years old and less than two years from retirement: Windows 7 retains a sizable market share according to web estimates. ®