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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

#581

Post by a_red_horse »

hnrodey wrote: post #563

Normies that are upset with Windows will switch to macOS. You guys are smoking crack if you think regular people are going Linux.

At this point, I’d just be happy they’re switching off windows out of spite.

I’ve never been a Windows hater like some people in the industry, and have actually enjoyed and appreciated some of the weirdness and quirks from an OS perspective. I’ve also known

But man this Win11 stuff feels so fucking extreme it’s ridiculous. No I won’t use your MS account. I’d have switched over to Linux or BSD if it wasn’t for games/niche hardware (yes, I know of proton, but this is an HN thread so my personal anecdotes override your evidence)

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

#582

Post by browningstreet »

SeanAnderson wrote: post #193
browningstreet wrote: post #64

Two weeks ago, after Microsoft reset my default apps twice in a week, I bought an external drive, backed up all my stuff and wiped Windows. I’ve got Linux all over the place, in many cloud envs, and on older hardware. But I finally committed to it on my big, meaty, main desktop. The one I use for coding and banking and accounting. I’m running a Linux distro full-time. I had to hack a few minor hardware things. Nothin…

What flavor of Linux did you end up going with? Why?

Some years ago when an older Macbook Air of mine need a bit of Linux upgrade TLC I cycled through a bunch of linux distros (Fedora, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, etc) and found that Ubuntu had more automatic built-in support for the hardware and had no 1st hour niggles. So I kept it.

When I decided to wipe Windows off my desktop, I started with Fedora because I wanted more container/package consistency with some of the other environments I interact with, and I thought I wanted some of the bare-bones Gnome stuff. But Fedora just didn't feel right.. it was uglier than Ubuntu, the Super-key action was a bit jankier, I missed the menu, I had to manually configure the NVIDIA drivers, and the flatpaks didn't really seem like a huge improvement to me.

Anyway, I wiped Fedora and went again with Ubuntu. I feel like that last round of polish they add to it, and some of their device driver defaults, just work better for me. I have had no issues with snaps though I had to learn to mount external directories over symlinks for things like Thunderbird's snap security for relocated profile stores (moved my profile off the SSD and over to the internal spinning disc). But that was easy.

I tried Linux Mint before and thought about Pop_OS but decided to stick with one of the major distros. Ubuntu has won two of my recent "let's try a bunch of distros" so I think that itch has been quieted for a while.

I will say, for Linux in general, after configuring all the apps I use on the daily (browsers, Obsidian, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, etc) my Linux storage on / takes up all of 35GB of storage on a 256GB SSD. I am unreasonably pleased by that.

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

#585

Post by tombert »

I doubt it’s going to happen, but a part of me prays that people will eventually get sick Microsoft’s increasing bullshit and it really can become the Year of the Linux Desktop. Gnome has genuinely gotten pretty great in the last couple years, and I think a lot of former Windows would genuinely like it if they gave it a chance, and virtually any Linux you install will have less tracking bullshit than Windows.

I suspect, though, people will realistically just migrate to Chromebooks, which I suppose are “Linux”, but not what I would consider the “Linux Desktop”

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

#586

Post by cheald »

kelseydh wrote: post #422
mythz wrote: 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…

Is Linux gaming on Steam actually competitive in performance and availability to what you'll get on Windows? I'm looking into building a gaming computer I'm surprised to hear I could roll with Linux for it.

Not only is it competitive, it's actually superior in many instances.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/06/games-run-faster-on-s...

Basically the only games that don't work are those which include anticheat which intentionally borks Linux. Check https://www.protondb.com/ for any game you're interested in to see if it'll run or not.

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

#587

Post by hnrodey »

a_red_horse wrote: post #581
hnrodey wrote: post #563

Normies that are upset with Windows will switch to macOS. You guys are smoking crack if you think regular people are going Linux.

At this point, I’d just be happy they’re switching off windows out of spite. I’ve never been a Windows hater like some people in the industry, and have actually enjoyed and appreciated some of the weirdness and quirks from an OS perspective. I’ve also known But man this Win11 stuff feels so fucking extreme it’s ridiculous. No I won’t use your MS account. I’d have switched over to Linux or BSD if it wasn’t for games/n…

Regular people don’t even know to be annoyed/angered by the login stuff. This is nerd maxxxxxing.

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

#588

Post by hnrodey »

eYrKEC2 wrote: post #580
hnrodey wrote: post #563

Normies that are upset with Windows will switch to macOS. You guys are smoking crack if you think regular people are going Linux.

First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they attack you. Then you win. J/k, but I still love Linux and as a family it admin, people in my sphere get pushed there.

I like Linux too. But also I can read the room.

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

#589

Post by ZeroConcerns »

So, yeah, this whole thing is a bit silly, and also discussed previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45497384 (and possibly elsewhere).

My TL;DR: a. Get a Microsoft 365 subscription, so you can set up Entra ID and avoid the 'consumer' account nonsense; b. It would sure be nice if the EU DMA would also be applied to this obviously monopolistic situation; c. Do, however, note that there are exactly zero Linux distros that even come close to offering comparable functionality...

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

#590

Post by jonathanstrange »

I don't care about a Microsoft account as long as they don't force me to log in, remember some kind of password,or use some Microsoft email. If they locked me out of my machine or transmitted data to their servers violating the GDPR, then that would be a problem. Windows 11 is a paid product, it's quite expensive, and that alone means Microsoft is fully liable for damages from negligence and failure.
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