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Windows 11 is closing a loophole that let you skip making a Microsoft account

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Re: Windows 11 is closing a loophole that let you skip making a Microsoft account

#181
post #171
post #63

Windows set up is actually insane, I did it in a VM recently to test my app on Windows. I would say not only does it require a Microsoft account but you also have to agree to (at least) 3 EULAs about sharing/selling your data that are unskippable. Pretty sure it also makes you set your ad preferences. Absolutely insane for an OS, I don't know how people put up with it as a daily driver.

If you're setting up Windows in a VM for test purposes, I'd recommend Windows Server. There is an eval version you can get from Microsoft that can be used for 180 days without activation. No account needed, no extra BS installed.

This is a great tip thanks

Re: Windows 11 is closing a loophole that let you skip making a Microsoft account

#182
post #63

Windows set up is actually insane, I did it in a VM recently to test my app on Windows. I would say not only does it require a Microsoft account but you also have to agree to (at least) 3 EULAs about sharing/selling your data that are unskippable. Pretty sure it also makes you set your ad preferences. Absolutely insane for an OS, I don't know how people put up with it as a daily driver.

Luckily I use my phone for most tasks and can avoid my two remaining windows machines unless necessary. Also I doubt it's just me but every other day when Windows forces an update "restart and update/shutdown and update", upon restarting I am again prompted by Microsofts dark patterns for all the telemetry, defaulted to ON (location, biometrics, etc). Literally every second update windows wants to re ask me and I hav…

The grass isn't greener. With the amount of advertising, tracking, and upselling on iOS and Android, our smartphones are significantly worse than Windows 11.

Re: Windows 11 is closing a loophole that let you skip making a Microsoft account

#183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's standard practice for corporations to lie about their motivations for decisions. Why is this acceptable?

Because it's how the entire society functions. There's an entire class of lies that are not only accepted, but actually expected. Case in point: imagine saying "Hi, how are you?" and someone replying "I hate living like this".

I always answer that question honestly. Doesn't seem to get me into trouble. Often breaks the ice.

Re: Windows 11 is closing a loophole that let you skip making a Microsoft account

#184

Why do this? It was already a loophole that most users would never know of or care about using, but it is essential for a small core user base that cares about how they set up their systems. This cannot be a good business decision.

Addressed in another comment: close all loopholes, then make using your computer a subscription service. It's a great business decision. It's a horrendous decision in all other respects.

Windows as a service? Sounds frightening but surely it must be the way they are headed. Glad we have wine.

Re: Windows 11 is closing a loophole that let you skip making a Microsoft account

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Addressed in another comment: close all loopholes, then make using your computer a subscription service. It's a great business decision. It's a horrendous decision in all other respects.

Windows as a service? Sounds frightening but surely it must be the way they are headed. Glad we have wine.

wine, WINE, or both?

Re: Windows 11 is closing a loophole that let you skip making a Microsoft account

#186

Oh, another M$ account creation trick. When they discontinued Skype they said you could just log into Teams with your Skype credentials. Not so! That just forces you to enter an email address (that's not already associated with a M$ account) and guess what.. now you have ANOTHER M$ account. After this the Skype credentials are invalidated.

Heh, except they weren't (they said they would be). I can now log into M$ with both my old Skype userid and with the email address it made me enter. Not quite clear on whether this is two accounts or just aliases for one.

Re: Windows 11 is closing a loophole that let you skip making a Microsoft account

#187
post #130
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nvidia does the same thing for their geforce experience tool. For a tool that shouldn’t require an account. Bait and switch.

Not anymore. They have a new Nvidia App that doesn't require you to login.

Oh wow that’s actually amazing, I’m glad to hear it! This was going on for so long

Re: Windows 11 is closing a loophole that let you skip making a Microsoft account

#188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My gaming PC has four NVME slots. Currently it hosts Windows 10 and Fedora, but since a new update was released it's also about to host SteamOS. When W 10 support ends later this year, I'll use Windows 11 ARM in a VM on my MacBook and that'll be that. The only thing I really needed Windows for was gaming, tax preparation and running Scrivener. You can get native versions of Taxcut and Scrivener for MacOS and SteamOS…

I switched to 100% linux (PopOs, Suse) and the only app I really miss is Scrivener.

A mac mini is cheap if it's worth in investing in a platform to buy an app ala buying an Apple II to run Visicalc.

Re: Windows 11 is closing a loophole that let you skip making a Microsoft account

#189
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do all my development work on linux. I have a self-hosted linux server. I used ubuntu as my main desktop computer OS for a full year, and in that time I struggled with compatibility issues, games that wouldn't run as well as people said they would, driver update issues, necessary tools that simply don't exist on linux, and various configuration failures that simply don't exist on windows. Saying that you can game o…

I have to do all my corporate work on Windows. I have a self-hosted Windows server. I used Windows as my main work computer OS for three years, and in that time I struggled with compatibility issues, applications that wouldn't run as well as people said they would, driver update issues, necessary tools that simply don't exist on Windows, and various configuration failures that simply don't exist on Linux. Saying that…

I'm not sure what your point is? Coding works well on linux, games work well on windows. Neither works as well on the other.

Re: Windows 11 is closing a loophole that let you skip making a Microsoft account

#190
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do all my development work on linux. I have a self-hosted linux server. I used ubuntu as my main desktop computer OS for a full year, and in that time I struggled with compatibility issues, games that wouldn't run as well as people said they would, driver update issues, necessary tools that simply don't exist on linux, and various configuration failures that simply don't exist on windows. Saying that you can game o…

> ...driver update issues... Are these nVidia drivers? If so, there's your problem. nVidia on Linux has always been a shitshow of varying degrees (and based on my investigation over the years, I've found that the majority of the problems people say they have with xorg are problems that go away when you use AMD or Intel hardware). Anyway, Steam works great for me on Linux, and I don't use the various cheating tools th…

In my experience, there were no linux drivers that work as well as the first-party drivers on windows
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