There's never been a better time to switch to Linux. For the longest time I was using Windows on my personal machine (for gaming), and MacOS for work. Not sure why, but one day I decided to try out dual booting Kubuntu (KDE Plasma + Ubuntu), and haven't touched a Windows machine since. Using MacOS feels bad now. I don't see myself ever willingly installing Windows again. MacOS is unfortunately something I still have to use.
Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account
661–670 of 1001 posts
Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account
#662Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account
#663Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just use Massgravel and problem is solved :) https://github.com/massgravel/Microsoft-Activation-Scripts
LOL. I found that website today and thought it was named "mass grave".
Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account
#664Linux Mint is a very nice, easy to use distro for people who are sick of this shit and want to try getting off Windows...
Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account
#665My 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.…
Companies that cannot run their businesses responsibly at scale should not be allowed to run their business at that scale.
If Microsoft can't do it, if Apple, Google, Facebook, X , OpenAI can't do it, then maybe we shouldn't allow companies to operate at scales which inevitably lead to widespread consumer harm.
They should be required to provide human customer service, with some sort of legal liability to ensure their products perform as advertised, without an end-user having to spend tens or hundreds of hours chasing down a solution, spending thousands of dollars on a lawyer, and all the rest of the hassle.
This is a legislation and regulation issue - the data barons are exploiting the effective absence of any accountability for harms they casually inflict on the public, ranging from gotcha situations like the OP to viral self harm trends among kids to mass surveillance and commercial invasion of privacy.
Pirate everything, support open source, pay content creators directly.
If they want to have billions of users, they damn well better be able to handle each and every one of those users in a commercially responsible fashion, or they have no business operating at that scale. We should be done with the "oops, we're too big and we make too much money to care that we just casually wrecked your life, oh well!" If the solution is to force users to have to buy a new PC, or a new phone, or create a new account, or anything in that vein, it's almost intentional, and casually malicious.
It's not like these companies don't know what they're doing, they can simply afford not to care. Until there's regulation and accountability that's more expensive than ignoring the consumer casualties, things will continue to get worse.
Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account
#666Pirate it and you will have a much better experience for free
and it comes with free malware! I gotta be honest man, I do not understand someone who pirates executable code. I (and I assume most of the hn audience) am not some starving student with nothing to lose. I would much rather run linux than pirate windows.
You might not be up to date on how this works.
The OS installation images come from Microsoft. They're the same amount of malware as the OS that comes preinstalled on your laptop. Probably a tad less, depending on the brand.
Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account
#667Pirate it and you will have a much better experience for free
and it comes with free malware! I gotta be honest man, I do not understand someone who pirates executable code. I (and I assume most of the hn audience) am not some starving student with nothing to lose. I would much rather run linux than pirate windows.
Lmao what? Microsoft gives the ISO's away and the MassGrave tools literally use Microsoft's own code to activate it.
Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account
#668I 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…
To be honest, I think KDE is a better alternative to transition to from Windows.
Maybe it's just personal preference but I could also never really get the hang of Gnome.
Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account
#669damn, I remember when Windows 10 was supposed to be the evergreen OS.
Re: Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account
#670Earlier quoted context omitted.
For majority that want to switch but can’t yet, gaming is the biggest pillar still very far behind. Many popular games (and game related apps) don’t work on Linux, sadly. I don’t know if it’s ever going to change either because of it being a chicken or egg scenario where they don’t want to spend the time supporting it cause it’s not enough users, but it’s also not enough users cause it’s not supported.
The biggest problem is probably work-related apps not working. Adobe products, MS Office, and certain niches like the music industry just aren't supported on Linux. Many ultra-popular games don't work due to anticheat, but some do. Dota 2, Counter-strike, Marvel Rivals, Overwatch 2, among others work perfectly fine. We've also reached a point where virtually every offline game will work too.
If you aren't using advanced features, Google's online suite can easily replace MS Office.