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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

#691

Post by alexchantavy »

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #236
alexchantavy wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't make a custom gaming rig with Mac. Linux gaming isn't quite there yet too.

Serious question: why not just use a stand-alone gaming system (e.g. PlayStation, xBox)? Don't really game much, but I did buy a PS4 just for the therapy of offline GTA5 beatdowns. ---- The only Microsoft in my house is a twenty year old Windows 7 Pro machine — it always just works .

I would buy a PS5 if I didn't already have a gaming rig tbh. For PC I enjoy the tinkering and the ability to basically do anything with it, but nowadays the cost compared to console is stupid and after a long day's work the last thing I want to do is see another desktop UI. Different toys for different purposes.

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

#692

Post by macNchz »

bluetidepro wrote: post #641
Redster wrote: post #631

I know that there are enterprises and individuals who need Windows. I also know that I had been on Windows my whole computing life and made the switch late in 2023 and there's never been a better time to switch to Linux. I could have switched much sooner! I have found my Windows apps for everything work (or have equivalent or better Linux versions) and will soon be switching my non-technical wife over to Linux to avo…

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.

Depends a lot on what kinds of games you play, I think—I built a PC in 2020 and originally set it up to dual boot Linux and Windows, but over time I used the Windows partition less and less and wound up deleting it last year.

I realized recently that at some point I stopped even checking ProtonDB before buying games on Steam, I guess because its been so long since I've run into one that didn't work. I play a pretty wide variety of games, but not so much the type of competitive multiplayer FPS that seems to have the worst Linux compatibility due to anti-cheat.

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

#693

Post by protonbob »

soupfordummies wrote: post #653
LeifCarrotson wrote: post #619

Rufus and Massgravel still function as a pressure release valve to prevent too much outrage from building up, but Microsoft is working hard to direct more and more of the flow into the channels that get them the most revenue. If HN readers want to set up a machine without any of the bloatware, with all the "developer-mode" switches turned on, without a Microsoft account, there are still ways to get it done. I actuall…

The cheeky response to that is: At that point you might as well have just installed Linux :)

You may have missed this part. >the Windows-only software I have to use for work is no longer nagging me about being out of support

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

#694

Post by kwanbix »

bobajeff wrote: post #616
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…

About Gnome (Shell). I disagree it looks very pretty but the UX a huge step backwards from Gnome 2. Users are better off with KDE, XFCE or Mate.

Yeah, for me XFCE > Cinnamon > Budgie > KDE.

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

#695

Post by dartharva »

josefritzishere wrote: post #593

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

It's because Microsoft is not a consumer company, it's a B2B service provider. They couldn't care less about retail users in general, to the point that it's been their policy to turn a blind eye or even tacitly support the blatant piracy of Windows among Home users across generations.

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

#696

Post by bob1029 »

mzmzmzm wrote: post #680

I've used Win 11 for years and never had an MS account. If you just get the right European/enterprise/education image the first time you don't even have to do anything to skip OOBE. But it feels like the walls are closing in, and the day I finally can't do anything without an MS account, I'll finally daily drive Linux. Hopefully the part of my Steam library that will still need Proton will run smoothly--that's the ma…

Proton runs like a dream these days. I can't think of a game that I couldn't run under it that I really wanted to. The biggest incompatibility seems to be caused by multiplayer games or live service games with hyper aggressive DRM or anti-cheat measures (Destiny, PUBG, etc). If you typically avoid these kinds of games I think you'll be alright.

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

#697

Post by mr_machine »

jasode wrote: post #677
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 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. [...] I suspect, though, people will realistically just migrate to Chromebooks, Most people will stay on Windows... even with all the increasing annoyances from Microsoft... because there's too much important software that runs only on Windo…

Ink/Stitch (https://inkstitch.org/) is a F/OSS option for a lot of embroidery machines... maybe not hers, but worth a look.

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

#698

Post by palmotea »

lagniappe wrote: post #685
observationist wrote: post #665

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 thei…

>Companies that cannot run their businesses responsibly at scale should not be allowed to run their business at that scale. The reality of the situation is: If it were enough of a problem that the bad outweighed the good, people wouldn't use it, but yet they still do, so it's not enough of a problem.

> The reality of the situation is: If it were enough of a problem that the bad outweighed the good, people wouldn't use it, but yet they still do, so it's not enough of a problem.

The key words are monopoly and lock-in. Those things can really scramble the bad vs good equation.

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

#699

Post by kwanbix »

tombert wrote: post #627
bobajeff wrote: post #616

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About Gnome (Shell). I disagree it looks very pretty but the UX a huge step backwards from Gnome 2. Users are better off with KDE, XFCE or Mate.

Everyone says that it’s a step backwards, and even I did for awhile until I, you know, actually used it. I don’t mean “install it and run it for an hour and declare it sucks”, but actually try and learn the way that the devs wanted you to use it, and stick with it for a week or two. When I did that, I actually found myself really liking it. One of my biggest pet peeves in tech, and I am guilty of this myself, is when…

I tried many times to use Gnome3+ and I never understand the logic behind it.

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

#700

Post by ZeroConcerns »

fph wrote: post #592
ZeroConcerns wrote: post #589

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…

Comparable to what? To Windows 11?

Yeah, sure. I'm getting heavily downvoted here, and that's fine, but truth of the matter is that nothing gets even close to Windows 11 when it comes to Enterprise-ish deployments, and failure to acknowledge that is why possibly-better alternatives are losing.

Source: I'm sort-of the IT manager for several around-50-employees businesses. All of these offer a choice of Windows, Mac or Linux laptops, because that's what needed to attract quality employees these days.

For Windows, it's really simple. Order HP or Lenovo without an OS, put on the Windows 11 Enterprise image, and send it on along with the Entra credentials. User powers the machine up, selects 'for work', enters the AD credentials and gets a working desktop with AV, firewalling, Office and so on.

MacOS? Slightly more involved story: we need to provide instructions on how to successfully navigate the forced Apple sign-in story, then download some dependencies to get to the point where the Windows users already were.

Linux? Oh, boy... Even when standardizing on something like Ubuntu LTS, basic compliance and policy enforcement is a huge pain. As in: hours and hours of support. I've evaluated several supposedly-solutions for this, and, ehm, no...

And: to be perfectly clear: I'm wide-open to suggestions for something better! If you can offer Ubuntu LTS, (or, well, anything) but with AV, firewalling and basic policy enforcement that can be remotely attested, I'm all ears!

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