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Microsoft blocks Windows 11 workaround that enabled local accounts

pcworld.com

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Re: Microsoft blocks Windows 11 workaround that enabled local accounts

#121

Post by Ekaros »

hans_castorp wrote: post #81
devsda wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. Only MS knows the actual impact of their decisions. The fact that they are removing a workaround says that it doesn't impact them much i.e. their actual users don't care. Despite all these shenanigans, their regular users will be oblivious to the harm and power users will still grudgingly use it.

I guess(!), MS makes most of their profit from Windows licenses with enterprise licenses, where all users are managed through ActiveDirectory. If that assumption is correct, then I guess the financial losses of private users not migrating to Windows 11 might be negligible.

How many actual retail licenses they sell? Either retail or individual OEM. As with pre-builds for consumer market license is already there. And lot of home builders just go for grey market which have fraction of retail price. Even Home is not exactly cheapest product if bought retail from regular reseller.

Re: Microsoft blocks Windows 11 workaround that enabled local accounts

#122

Post by alkonaut »

cjk2 wrote: post #4

More user hostility. Less user choice. I remember a few years ago on here everyone crowing about the new Microsoft and how it wasn't like the old one. It's notably worse a this point.

Microsoft is famously a handful of very different and very large companies who don't seem to speak. The DevDiv part is a lot different now than 20 years (or even 10) ago.

The other sides of Microsoft are mostly the same as they always were.

Microsofts OS division have bet everything on the strategy that "enthusiasts" aren't going to run Windows anyway. It's a segment they never cared about, and nothing indicates they ever will. I don't agree with the strategy (because it's these enthusiasts who recommend things to everyone around them and of course fix their parents machines every Christmas since the 90s), but I'm going to guess that more clever people than me have run the numbers and reached the conclusion that it's better to alienate our 10% of the Windows user base while catering only to enterprises and the non-tech-savvy users who are actually likely to buy the subscription recommended on the start menu. We weren't going to do that anyway now were we?

Re: Microsoft blocks Windows 11 workaround that enabled local accounts

#123

Post by 7bit »

mistercheph wrote: post #101
whywhywhywhy wrote: post #75

I'm definitely not one of those people who thinks Windows should stay frozen forever as Windows XP, I appreciate we're finally getting 15-20 year old features like search filtering in the task manager. But whoever's bonus metric is tricking people to sign in with MS accounts is really making it a gross experience. I managed to finally get my new machines install on a local account using "OOBE\BYPASSNRO" although none…

Pirate it next time!

It comes with free root kits as well

Re: Microsoft blocks Windows 11 workaround that enabled local accounts

#124

Post by 7bit »

mistercheph wrote: post #101
whywhywhywhy wrote: post #75

I'm definitely not one of those people who thinks Windows should stay frozen forever as Windows XP, I appreciate we're finally getting 15-20 year old features like search filtering in the task manager. But whoever's bonus metric is tricking people to sign in with MS accounts is really making it a gross experience. I managed to finally get my new machines install on a local account using "OOBE\BYPASSNRO" although none…

Pirate it next time!

It comes with free root kits as well

Re: Microsoft blocks Windows 11 workaround that enabled local accounts

#125

Post by haunter »

baal80spam wrote: post #9
EnigmaFlare wrote: post #6

I'm so happy my brand new computer a few years ago was deemed not powerful enough for Windows 11 so I stayed on 10. Windows for home users is clearly in a death spiral.

Unfortunately (as I really like(d) Windows OS), I agree with you. Once my LTSC is end of life, I'm finally swapping to anything but Windows.

Windows 11 LTSC just came out last week and no online account needed

Re: Microsoft blocks Windows 11 workaround that enabled local accounts

#126

Post by lioeters »

cageface wrote: post #24
cjk2 wrote: post #4

More user hostility. Less user choice. I remember a few years ago on here everyone crowing about the new Microsoft and how it wasn't like the old one. It's notably worse a this point.

I’m very uncomfortable with the degree to which I’ve become dependent on VSCode, GitHub, and Typescript. Microsoft has the same incentives to exploit their users now that they always have.

> VSCode, GitHub, and Typescript

So true. Majority of my time on the computer is dominated by these, and I'm not comfortable they're all owned by Microsoft.

I don't see how they could ruin a programming language, but a code editor and centralized code repository.. Especially the latter, I'm surprised how long it's been since the acquisition and so far it's been mostly unaffected by the inevitable enshittification.

The only thing that will incentivize Microsoft from ruining these admittedly great products is the existence of viable alternatives. Same with Windows, minus the great part.

Re: Microsoft blocks Windows 11 workaround that enabled local accounts

#129

Post by anal_reactor »

Brian_K_White wrote: post #104
mrweasel wrote: post #14

Other than being able to gobble up user data and being able to associate it with a person (or at least an email address) and later sell that information, what is Microsoft reasoning for refusing local accounts? This whole obsession with forcing users to create a Microsoft account is really weird. It may provides some features for certain types of users, but I really don't see any reason for forcing a Microsoft accoun…

They can charge a recurring and increasing subscription fee for on-line accounts and services. And of course data. Before they can do that, they first have to get everyone dependant on the on-line account and services, because most would not voluntarily knowingly agree to be charged a subscription just to use their own computer, not intentionally using any external services. So step 1 is do not charge for the basic a…

> Most will go along with this because it's free this exact minute and most people follow strictly the path of least immediate resistance. You can make most people do anything you want by just making anything else 0.0001% more difficult. This is not cynical, this is studied.

This is terrifyingly accurate.

Re: Microsoft blocks Windows 11 workaround that enabled local accounts

#130

Post by ptx »

HeckFeck wrote: post #51
cjk2 wrote: post #4

More user hostility. Less user choice. I remember a few years ago on here everyone crowing about the new Microsoft and how it wasn't like the old one. It's notably worse a this point.

The only thing I can praise is the .NET Core ecosystem. C#, ASP.NET and EF is very comfy for web dev compared to my experiences with Java and its thousand moving parts. That said, I still fear what may come. The decrees from on high concocted by the unscrupulous bugmen that are breathing absolute contempt for their users. Who can ponder their designs while maintaining his conscience?

.NET Core would be great if it weren't tainted by the New Microsoft policy of turning all tools into spyware. Now you have to remember to set DOTNET_CLI_TELEMETRY_OPTOUT=1 everywhere and meticulously ensure that it doesn't get stripped from the environment when launching subprocesses, changing users, etc.
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