Microsoft: "We have no obligation to return data to you." The terms of service of the Windows store allow Microsoft to "change or discontinue certain apps or content offered in the Windows Store at any time, for any reason," and explains that "If the Windows Store, an app, or any content is changed or discontinued, your data could be deleted or you may not be able to retrieve data you have stored", but if you are lucky "we may refund to you the amount you paid for the license," |
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Microsoft's Windows store, which is basically a knockoff of similar stores made by Apple, Google and Amazon, contains several frightening clauses: "Some apps may also stop working if you update or change your Windows 8 Beta device, or if you attempt to use those apps on a Windows 8 Beta device with different features or processor type. You are responsible for backing up the data that you store in apps that you acquire via the Windows Store, including content you upload using those apps." and "We have no obligation to return data to you. If sign in information or other data is stored with an expiration date, we may also delete the data as of that date."
In the last 5 years, Microsoft has discontinued numerous products including Microsoft Money, Encarta, Zune, MyPhone, Windows Mobile and Microsoft Kin. The most extreme example is probably Windows Mobile: The first devices with Windows Mobile 6.5.3 wer sold in Summer 2010 and it was dicontinued one year later. Starting with July 15 2011, people with a Windows Mobile device could no install or upgrade applications or use the MyPhone backup service. |
