Re: Snap.
I've bricked my share of machines over the decades, from embedded video and MP3 players, and simpler time Z80 CP/M boxes to modern i7 based Ubuntu machines. I've even brought down a Control Data Cyber back in the day, and several Vaxen.
However, none of those compares with scrubbing user data at the vendor level. Microsoft has had bad rollouts before that have bricked huge swaths of the user base, at the cost of time and money. So have IBM, Dec, Apple, and many application vendors.
But deleting user data is a different story. And this was not as the result of a user operation, it was inflicted on users by the vendor. That alone makes Microsoft's cockup much worse, and singles them out for well-deserved scorn.
If Apple pushed out an update that locked every iPhone for 24 hours, it would be a disaster as well, but it they were able to return the phones to their previous state, it would be an "outtage". But for people with 80GB of user data, waking up to find that they only have 1GB of user data left, because an unrequested Microsoft update scrubbed 79GB of is an unparalleled screw up, and Microsoft well and truly deserves to have their noses rubbed in it for a decade to come.
And I say that as some who, while not exactly a cheerleader for Microsoft, has been referred to as an "apologist" because I happily ran a Windows Phone for several years.
Screwing up an update is one thing. Deleting user data is something else, and falls into the "you had one job" level of screwup.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
