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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

#601

Post by hobs »

jonathanstrange wrote: post #590

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.

Check the shrink wrap - in most localities you are leasing a license for which they tell you that you accept all liability and failure upon yourself.

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

#602

Post by dleslie »

tombert wrote: post #596
rpodraza wrote: post #591

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would honestly do so, but if I want to run games and music production stuff (like Cubase) I'm pretty much forced to be on Windows.

I don’t play much AAA stuff, but Steam+Proton has gotten very good; I almost never even bother checking compatibility anymore. I don’t know anything about music production though.

The snags arise when playing games that use specific anti-cheat measures. Which is particularly annoying these days because developers are forcing them to be active when you're playing single player.

https://areweanticheatyet.com/

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

#603

Post by BirAdam »

tombert wrote: post #596
rpodraza wrote: post #591

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would honestly do so, but if I want to run games and music production stuff (like Cubase) I'm pretty much forced to be on Windows.

I don’t play much AAA stuff, but Steam+Proton has gotten very good; I almost never even bother checking compatibility anymore. I don’t know anything about music production though.

What music stuff I've tested worked on Linux, but I am also not a very demanding user in that regard.

EDIT: by Linux, I mean Linux+Proton

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

#604

Post by noirscape »

tombert wrote: post #585

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 suspe…

I think people will sooner just start hard breaking Windows ISOs just to get rid of MS's garbage (arguably already the case if you use Rufus, which customizes the OOBE setup to already reject checks and tracking if you tick the boxes. They also have a checkbox to iirc disable the TPM check that's killing a lot of older device support because there's nothing in W11 that actually relies on a TPM, it's just an artificial restriction from Microsoft to kill old hardware), which will just lead to people doing what they've already been doing with Microsoft's stuff: pass it around like arcane knowledge that becomes increasingly difficult to find as it gets ingested by dodgy spam sites to the point where you're entering registry keys that either fix your problem or send everything to a third party.

Microsoft is a level of entrenched that Linux practically won't be able to beat for reasons that have little to do with technical viability and everything to do with legacy tools, having software that works with business formats (Office; any other office equivalent on Linux will still have compat issues and as long as those exist, they won't be a valid replacement - for much the same reason, although not fully locked to their platform, Adobe is a permanent barrier to Linux adoption) and video game DRM on popular titles keeping them basically in that position forever.

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

#605

Post by cortesoft »

tombert wrote: post #596
rpodraza wrote: post #591

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would honestly do so, but if I want to run games and music production stuff (like Cubase) I'm pretty much forced to be on Windows.

I don’t play much AAA stuff, but Steam+Proton has gotten very good; I almost never even bother checking compatibility anymore. I don’t know anything about music production though.

I play a lot of sports games and they rarely work with Linux. A ton of my other multiplayer games I play also don’t work. Anti-cheat stuff often requires Windows.

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

#606

Post by pavel_lishin »

josefritzishere wrote: post #593

Microsoft is so hostile to their users, it's genuinely surprising they maintain market share.

I would imagine that their home users are a tiny percentage of their market share; I'd wager that most people using Windows aren't the ones who purchased it, but are using company-provided hardware and software.

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

#607

Post by mixmastamyk »

mac-attack wrote: post #242
mixmastamyk wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an interesting point. To what extent does AI support make Linux on the desktop more viable? Reminds me of a discussion recently that said something similar, that developing in Rust is easier now that you can have another machine do battle with the borrow checker, haha. To extend, maybe someone could build a "SysAd AI" distribution that administers itself given natural language directions? Let me know if anyone…

There's a catch-22 in that the average Linux user is pretty loudly opposed to AI and so it appears hard for pro-AI software to gain footing in the space. Granted, most AI tools are Linux-friendly ATM, but my uneducated guess is that a larger % of Apple/Windows users use AI daily than Linux users

Yes, though the idea would be to make Linux more viable for regular folks, and a sysad on their side should help.

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

#608

Post by [deleted] »

Night_Thastus wrote: post #598

My biggest annoyance is that I specifically bought a Windows 11 license, from the MS store, using my MS account. I did this because I assumed that if something went wrong, I would always be able to recover it. I could never 'lose' the key if it was tied to my account. Well unfortunately, MS screwed me. When I upgraded my PC I was apparently supposed to transfer the license before deleting the old PC from my account.…

[deleted]

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

#609

Post by thorum »

Am I the only one who has simply said “no thanks” to Windows 11?

There were hints of where Microsoft was heading in Windows 10, but at least a lot of the worst “features” could be disabled.

I find 11 just completely unacceptable software to run on any system I own.

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

#610

Post by 1970-01-01 »

naldb wrote: post #344
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…

The best thing to happen to Linux Desktop is not that it has improved but that its biggest competitor has dropped the ball? That’s not really praising it.

I think it counts. If the most popular airline in the world suddenly started forcing you to commit to a subscription model to travel, one would consider less popular airlines going forward. Sometimes consistency of doing the job without adding hassle is more important than arriving at every destination under the sun. The problem with the Linux Desktop is it that it has a reputation as a scrappy alternative until it hits that random problem that grounds it. It will never replace Windows but it can take bigger and bigger chunks of users out of it.
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