Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2 • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2

#141

Post by snapplebobapple » Sat, Apr 06, 2024, 2:38 PM UTC

marginalia_nu wrote: post #118

krimskrams wrote: post #90

After having used Windows for over 20 years (XP to 10), I decided to switch to Linux a year and a half ago and I'm happy for it. The requirement for a Microsoft Account and nonsensical UI changes requiring more clicks to reach the settings I want was annoying but not a deal breaker at first. Microsoft has also been trying to make Windows more like MacOS, or a mobile tablet, since Windows 8 which I don't like. What re…

I don't think it's so much Linux getting better as Windows getting worse. Like even beyond having ads in the start menu and having the default browser open up to a gigantic chumbox, a lot of the things Linux was historically getting crap for like the inconsistent UI elements; that stuff is so much worse on Windows now. Running KDE apps in Gnome or vice versa looks significantly more visually consistent than running W…

Go boot up and use a vm with kde3 then kde4 then kde5 then kde6 and i think you will rescind your claim. Its night and day better over time. I suspect even gnome has improved but i dont have the experience with it so i cant authoritatively comment.

Re: Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2

#142

Post by appstorelottery » Sat, Apr 06, 2024, 3:14 PM UTC

philistine wrote: post #123

appstorelottery wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You still can? The binary has to be notarized, but Apple doesn’t take a cut, you can run your own store and sell a game. Yes, however the binary did not have to be signed back then - and I didn't need to pay apple for the privilege of writing software for their OS. > Also, about little snitch specifically, obdev now sells are more user-friendly version in the App Store that uses the new user space filtering API. An…

I’ll push back on that. Notarization is a great feature. The fact computing didn’t include it was what led to decades of malware stealing billions from people. Properly implemented, everyone could freely and easily notarize every single piece of code they need to run. Total freedom, with notarized code to give the leeway to the OS maker to remove code when it’s malware. The fact of the matter is that the OS makers ar…

I completely agree - free and easy digital signing would be excellent. Doubly so if there was a way that I could identify myself to the government and receive some kind of hash that could be verified by the OS maker without exposing my identity. This would be a way of protecting my privacy, while also empowering the OS maker to report to the government if something illegal is happening. Of course, I haven't thought this through - and it's reliant upon a government we can absolutely trust not to abuse this. Looking forward to seeing us evolve as a species though ;-)

Re: Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2

#143

Post by slenk » Sat, Apr 06, 2024, 3:30 PM UTC

TranquilMarmot wrote: post #59

HlessClaudesman wrote: post #4

Not being able to customise my environment is a dealbreaker for me. I will be converting my day to day machine to Linux rather than being nagged into a user hostile OS upgrade. Clearly Microsoft has given up on powerusers, the people who notice and sometimes fix flaws in their monolith. Seems shortsighted.

I've been considering this more and more lately. The Steam Deck is actually what's pushed me closer to adopting Linux on my desktop. I usually run Windows just because it's the easiest OS to run games on, but the Steam Deck has really shown that with Proton you can run... basically anything! Every tool that I use is cross-platform these days, anyway. VS Code, Blender, Inkscape, Godot, etc.

There is 1 game stopping me from making the switch and its battlefield 2042. Every other game I play has a linux equivalent. Even some games with EAC.

EA just simply will not allow it

Re: Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2

#144

Post by kyriakos » Sat, Apr 06, 2024, 3:30 PM UTC

I think this is a sensationalist article. The unsupported software are blocked on a pre release version of Windows, this is not a final release to consumers. It's very likely to be because some underlying OS changes break these tools which either will be fixed by the authors or by Microsoft before release.

Re: Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2

#145

Post by bastard_op » Sat, Apr 06, 2024, 3:43 PM UTC

I'd love to know why Microsoft takes this sort of passive aggressive breaking of applications to try to change and fix their obviously sub-par UI in Windows 11, trying to force users to accept and adapt to it, vs improving it by putting it back to what it was a built-in option, and now blocking software to do so. It's like someone there takes public hatred of their changes personally as an affront, and insists users should just deal with it and the crappy UI changes everyone hates. It is like the stink of Steve Ballmer never left.

I use Linux for everything desktop for almost 20 years now, but keep a windoze vm for Visio, Project, or random other windoze-only crap, and windows 11 just looks grating to even consider. As most do historically, I skip every other windoze version, it has literally added nothing I need since windows xp, and would continue to use it if I could get OS security patches still as a runtime environment for the few mentioned applications.

For the little I do use it, ie. basic navigation and launching apps in the task bar, Microsoft almost ruins what I do have to habitually since XP. I never wanted or needed anything added in 7, 8, 10, or 11.

Re: Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2

#146

Post by bastard_op » Sat, Apr 06, 2024, 4:16 PM UTC

ykonstant wrote: post #18

HlessClaudesman wrote: post #4

Not being able to customise my environment is a dealbreaker for me. I will be converting my day to day machine to Linux rather than being nagged into a user hostile OS upgrade. Clearly Microsoft has given up on powerusers, the people who notice and sometimes fix flaws in their monolith. Seems shortsighted.

How good is running Windows in a VM with a Linux host nowadays? Does it work well for office users who want to run Office? How about people who want to run Adobe or Autodesk software? These use cases seem to be causing the most friction for the transition in my circles (apart from gaming, which is a different story).

As a 20 year full-time Linux desktop user doing Enterprise IT consulting, running a windoze VM has never NOT been an entirely functional experience for me.

I've used both QEMU and Virtualbox to run them, mostly Virtuabox (yes, oracle sucks, it was still sun when I started), and probably the most demanding things I do on it is Visio, which I use for some very complex design docs in windows it general struggles with already. I used windoze xp in vm for ages even past its date of expiration, basically until newer Visio's no longer supported it, and all windows versions tried (7 and 10) have worked fine outside their own UI quirks.

I don't even enable 3d drivers, or try to make it do graphics-heavy things. Everything else I can do fully in Linux (including gaming), and this has been in supporting most any and every sort of enterprise across those years in technology.

Anyone that tells you Linux can't/doesn't work is being obstinate, ignorant, or lazy.

Re: Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2

#147

Post by AwaAwa » Sat, Apr 06, 2024, 4:30 PM UTC

I think Microsoft's long term vision is to turn all personal computing machines into dumb terminals that must slurp from the azure/office cloud. Enterprise focused with the ability to claim that this way there is DLP built in from your security risks (employees).

In a world where decision makers only need to think of the short term (cloud computing as global/general panacea), I absolutely see this strategy mixed with some 'AI' buzz words seeing traction.

For retail customers, turning the Windows 11+ machine into a console-like brings further advantages.

Re: Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2

#148

Post by infamia » Sat, Apr 06, 2024, 4:39 PM UTC

lolc wrote: post #113

zelphirkalt wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny, how many GNU/Linux desktop environments allow you to do that easily, while being developed by a handful of people, while MS has probably hordes of people working on the UI of Windows. They just don't seem to get it or have complelety incapable UI/UX designers or something.

Every configuration option is a support burden. I say tihs as a KDE user who installed Gnome for the parents.

Let's be real, MS doesn't give a flying flip about support. They use their customers as alpha and beta testers. It has been a few years, but the last time I used Premium Support it was a miserable experience. The agents knew about as much as I did and wasted my time waiting around for a call backs that solved nothing. They don't care. I would hang my head in shame to be associated with such a rotten organization like MS. I don't know how some of those folks sleep at night working for MS.

Re: Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2

#149

Post by anal_reactor » Sat, Apr 06, 2024, 4:46 PM UTC

withinrafael wrote: post #30

There are plenty of reasons to skewer Microsoft, but this isn't one of them. Microsoft isn't blocking all customization apps here, of course. They're blocking known [1][2] unreliable, poorly written, high crash rate software that is extremely sensitive to OS changes, hotfixes, and/or upgrades due to the nature of the software (e.g. hooking functions, patching memory, etc). The block is geared towards a specific revis…

> They're blocking known [1][2] unreliable, poorly written, high crash rate software that is extremely sensitive to OS changes, hotfixes, and/or upgrades due to the nature of the software (e.g. hooking functions, patching memory, etc).

That people still somehow prefer over native Windows. Makes you realize how bad Windows actually is.

Re: Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2

#150

Post by anal_reactor » Sat, Apr 06, 2024, 4:51 PM UTC

krimskrams wrote: post #90

After having used Windows for over 20 years (XP to 10), I decided to switch to Linux a year and a half ago and I'm happy for it. The requirement for a Microsoft Account and nonsensical UI changes requiring more clicks to reach the settings I want was annoying but not a deal breaker at first. Microsoft has also been trying to make Windows more like MacOS, or a mobile tablet, since Windows 8 which I don't like. What re…

When they kill Windows 10 support and the newest Windows is still garbage, I'll switch to Linux. Most apps are compatible with Linux anyway, and these that aren't can be run within a VM, or I can have dual-boot, or whatever. I don't want my computer to be actively fighting against my comfort.