Windows 10: Why Samsung's tech support is telling its laptop and PC users not to upgrade

Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system has been out almost a year, however persistent issues with computer driver compatibility have left Samsung tech support little other options than to advise its laptop and PC users not to download the upgrade.

Based on an email correspondence between a customer and the Samsung's tech support, exclusively reported by The Register, the firm revealed that crucial drivers for its computers will simply not function with Microsoft's latest OS.

"Honestly speaking, we don't suggest installation of Windows 10 to any Samsung laptop or PC and we are still coordinating with Microsoft regarding to this matter," the email said in response to a query about issues with a laptop wireless card.

The email continued: "The drivers that we have on our website are not yet compatible to the latest version of Windows. What we usually recommend is to keep the current Windows version and we'll update you once the Windows 10 have no more issues on any Samsung laptops and computers or even monitors."

In response to the news, a Microsoft spokesperson said: "We apologise for any confusion caused by a recent incident where a customer service representative mistakenly provided incorrect information about Windows 10 upgrades for Samsung notebooks. Customers can visit the Samsung website where there is detailed information on the Windows 10 upgrade applicability for each Samsung notebook model run by Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8."

In any case, this response is likely to do little to soothe concerns from PC users wanting to get the latest OS before the free upgrade offer ends on 29 June. Once this date passes, users will be forced to hand over $119 (£99) for the luxury of installing the software.

According to Microsoft, Windows 10 is now installed on over 300 million machines around the world. Figures suggest that, as of May 2016, the software has 17% of the overall market share, however this figure is still well lagging behind Windows 7 which claims 48.57% at the time of writing.

While adoption appears to be on the rise, Microsoft has been met with criticism from some users and was recently accused of 'dirty tricks' for making it increasingly difficult to avoid upgrading from prior versions. As previously reported, users who clicked the red cross button usually assigned to exiting a piece of software would instead be linked into an unstoppable download process.

Meanwhile, it was also announced during the Windows Hardware Engineering Community (WinHEC) conference the firm plans to double the number of advertisements that appear in the Start Menu with its upcoming Anniversary Update from five to 10 in an attempt to drive developers to the platform.

This post was updated on 2 June to insert a fresh statement from Microsoft.