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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

#301
post #259

Discovered Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC edition recently. It's great! It is supposed to get security updates through 2032. It doesn't have Cortana, OneDrive, CoPilot, Edge, etc. (Which is a good thing IMO.) Nor does it require a cloud account to use.

Does steam work on that version? That's pretty much the only reason I use Windows these days.

Steam works, and so do very competitive games with picky anti-cheats!

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

#302
post #292

Im genuinely curious, what is the issue if you keep using windows 10? I have a 10 year old macbook pro with a bootstrapped windows 10 for testing various things, and it looks like everything is kind of working the same way? Steam hardware survey shows that 32% of people are still using windows 10. Besides "security updates", there is nothing to loose?

If you don't care that a random person can get remote access to it, then no, I don't think you're "losing" anything. The biggest issue is no protection from 0-day security vulnerabilities, which Microsoft patched a lot of in 2025.

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

#303

Discovered Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC edition recently. It's great! It is supposed to get security updates through 2032. It doesn't have Cortana, OneDrive, CoPilot, Edge, etc. (Which is a good thing IMO.) Nor does it require a cloud account to use.

Wait, is that a product that one can buy? It sounds like it would solve most of my issues with Windows.

You download directly from microsoft, here is a useful guide: https://massgrave.dev/windows_ltsc_links

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

#304
Amazing how many people in here don’t understand how the non-tech section of the business world works. Windows is in no danger of being replaced and age of the decision makers has nothing to do with it.

You use Windows because you live in Teams and Outlook. You use Windows because you, your suppliers, and your customers are all using CRMs that don’t run on Mac and your employees of any age sure as hell don’t know how or want to run Linux desktops. You use Windows because you paid Deloitte consulting a trillion dollars to give you your whole tech stack and they can’t even spell Linux.

I could go on and on but no, the corporate world doesn’t care that you have to have an online account (they prefer it), privacy is something you don’t even expect and is managed by IT anyway, etc.

I’ve been hearing how home users are going to switch to Linux for 25 years with no change in marketshare. They’re not. Nobody cares anymore, it’s like saying that HD-DVD is going to win the format war over Bluray now. It’s yesterday’s battle and the victory already divvied up the spoils.

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

#305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe someone will develop a new user-focused OS that's somehow compatible with Windows programs. That's either Linux with WINE, or a "custom distro" of Windows from the remaining neighbourly hackers in the modding scene (they can't embed the hostility everywhere and as deep as the kernel, although they are most likely trying.)

WINE it is. I can't see any point in playing cat and mouse with an actively hostile OS. When a new Windows update starts stealing IMAP credentials[1] before the modding community catches on, it's game over for the user. Better to not use anything based on Windows. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38212453

New Outlook is exactly the sort of thing that the modders would not want you to use anyway.

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

#306
post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a similar issue, after cleaning up a Windows machine for someone else, making sure Firefox with uBlock was running. I took a look at it a few weeks later and there was some bullshit Microsoft Bing search bar or AI thing on the toolbar. Wiped, installed Linux. Microsoft is setting fire to the bridges and those will be users which they will never be able to get back again. Linux works great for gaming except some…

> Linux works great for gaming except some anti-cheat stuff which probably won't be legal anymore anyways in Europe under the PLD. I tried to have a gaming setup with Linux (SteamOS and Bazzite) but both failed when I tried to connect more than one Bluetooth controller and they'd be unable to distinguish them or disconnect everything after a few minutes, it was a frustrating experience.

This depends on the bluetooth chip and its driver. It works better on some than others.

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

#309
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…

> with Linux Desktop marketshare still slowly, steadily rising over the last 10 months. Where do you get these figures from? Is there a sensible % increase? I've been using Linux desktop for a decade now and I am certain it still used by few, and nothing has changed recently. Or you're telling me 2026 is the year of the Linux desktop?

The year of the Linux Desktop was like 3 years ago with Proton becoming good and the kernel getting a ton of improvements.

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

#310
post #300

The best thing to happen to Linux Desktop is Windows 11, with perfect timing too as modern Linux has been a joy to use as a daily driver. Normally I'd be unhappy when a sleazy corp forces me to give up on 25 years of muscle memory of using my preferred OS, but I'm thankful they gave me the push I needed to rip off the ad/spyware laced Windows Band-Aid that I only need to do once in my life. It's been over a year sinc…

I switched to Ubuntu on my main machine this year and even as a heavy 365 user it's better. Battery life is massively improved. I even still run the odd game on cs2. 11 feels like toy town in comparison.
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