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Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

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Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

#161

Post by al_borland »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #129
al_borland wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> compatible with Windows programs It seems with each passing year this becomes less important, as more and more apps are either web based or cross platform.

To the average consumer, Windows doesn't matter much anymore. To enterprises, Microsoft has them under lock and key with Office 365, basically forever. LibreOffice is nowhere near a replacement for Excel in an enterprise setting.

I work in a large enterprise and I see more and more people move to macOS every year. We use Office 365. I run the Office apps on my Mac. We backup with OneDrive. We collaborate with SharePoint. We use our AD accounts to login on macOS, use InTune to manage endpoints. My Mac even has Defender on it now.

Microsoft is still getting their money, just slightly less from Windows itself.

Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

#162

Post by estimator7292 »

neilv wrote: post #103
billfor wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FreeTaxUSA is great and web based.

Web-based isn't airgapped? Working in tech, I know what absolute slimeballs pretty much any tech company is about privacy and user data today.

So out of all options you use turbo tax?

Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

#163

Post by acidburnNSA »

da_chicken wrote: post #139
acidburnNSA wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of the corporate IT workforce is heavily invested in Microsoft systems. It creates somewhat of a co-dependency. I only run Linux at home. My mom also runs Linux, though she doesn't really know a lot about it. If I could I would have run only Linux at my previous corporate jobs. But the IT people balk: how will windows defender work in Linux? At one point they did install windows defender on Linux and it ground…

> But the IT people balk: how will windows defender work in Linux? They don't think that at all. They probably know more about Linux than you do because I guarantee half the systems they manage are already running it. What they think about are the applications that the people who actually make the decisions at your companies refuse to migrate away from. They know the cost of hiring Linux sysadmins vs Windows sysadmin…

In my example they literally demanded to run Windows Defender on a Linux server that I requested. There was no Linux experience on the IT team whatsoever.

Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

#164

Post by pjerem »

avazhi wrote: post #66
Havoc wrote: post #7

Had to edit a .docx today to refresh my CV today...and realised oh...I don't have any more windows machines on hand anymore. Interesting how smoothly that faded away psychologically after 20+ years of windows use without me even overtly noticing. Think MS is in for a rough ride on Windows. Short of corporate world - Excel/Sharpoint/AD - there is just no moat. Browsers work fine on all platforms, dev work is better on…

> and gaming on linux is rapidly becoming usable. I hate Microsoft and Windows just as much as the next self-respecting nerd, but this is no less a lol right now than it was 20 years ago. It’s like Linux users all play the same 15 titles that have Linux support and think those 15 games reflect broad ecosystem support.

Except for games with anti cheats, can you quote from your head three games the last 10-15 years that aren’t running perfectly on Linux ?

Because from my ~1 500 titles steam library, I can think of one game that I had issues with. And even this particular game (which is Tomb Raider 2013, btw) worked perfectly fine after a little hack. And ironically the "hack" was checking a checkbox in Steam to force using the Windows version of the game instead of the official Linux port.

Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

#165

Post by AJ007 »

vpShane wrote: post #3

'We'll never require you to need an online account to log in to your system' Look how that changed. Windows Recall 'We'll never use this in any bad way whatsoever' Sure thing. Windows 10 goes EOL in 8 days, with the EU forcing Microsoft to give their customer bases security patches. Not anywhere else though, and not in the U.S. What was the end goal with that? Move everybody over to Windows 11; on their EOL page it l…

This should have been the EU approach to Apple. Instead we got third party "App Stores" to install software Apple still approves and controls. It could have been a three paragraph law.

Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

#166

Post by estimator7292 »

ragequittah wrote: post #135
drnick1 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously, though, now that Win10 is being phased out, it’s time for people to wake up and join us in the free world. M$ wants you to throw away your hardware and buy a new computer with Win11. Give them the middle finger, format and install Linux instead.

If you like playing video games with your friends and working in a normal job you'll likely be using Windows 90% of the time even if you loathe it.

You're right. Wow, what a unique and novel opinion that no linux user has ever heard before. You know what, you've changed my mind, I'm installing windows now

Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

#167

Post by snovymgodym »

windows2020 wrote: post #94

Not sure Microsoft realizes the damage they're doing to the Windows brand. My first experience with Windows 11 was figuring out some dumb workaround to use a local account. When I think back to Windows 7, the good feeling isn't nostalgia. It was the last user-focused Windows. Maybe someone will develop a new user-focused OS that's somehow compatible with Windows programs. Or better yet, maybe Microsoft will realize v…

I'm not convinced Microsoft cares about the Windows market share in consumer PCs or the small amount of money they make from selling Windows licenses to regular consumers.

If they did, Windows wouldn't be so usable unactivated and the MassGravel activation stuff would have been patched already.

They built up their almost-monopoly when it mattered in the 90s and the 2000s, and now their market position is basically secured.

For Microsoft's purposes the main way of making money from Windows is from business and enterprise sales, and those sales will exist pretty much indefinitely.

Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

#168

Post by wildzzz »

r00t- wrote: post #108
rowanG077 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe someone will develop a new user-focused OS that's somehow compatible with Windows programs. Nothing as user focused as linux, and it's mostly compatible with windows programs with wine. Important to note though that user focused is not the same thing as easy to use.

I'm a linux fan but calling linux user-focused is insane.

Linux is user focused but not user friendly. Of course there are exceptions, anyone can use a steamdeck without ever having to leave the steam app.

Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account

#169

Post by estimator7292 »

fortran77 wrote: post #128

Can you use a Macintosh without an Apple account? Sort of, but with similar limitations: The App Store, iCloud syncing, iMessage, FaceTime, and other Apple online services are unavailable unless an Apple ID is used. What's the difference here?

Fewer people use Macs and those that do are disproportionately more likely to think privacy and freedom are unimportant
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