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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

#801

Post by tombert »

brendoelfrendo wrote: post #783
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 could maybe convince my wife to move to Linux, but she's a full-time student and some of the EDU spyware for remote learning won't run on Linux. Most of it supports Mac, but she's not a Mac person either and I don't really see much advantage in trying to get her to be one. For at least the near term, we need to have a Windows PC somewhere in the house so she can get her work done. Much has been said about this befo…

Yeah, I am a bit concerned about that too. I just started a second masters and I think at least at one point I need to use that bullshit Guardian Browser spyware to do exams.

I might need to keep some piece of shit Windows computer around just to satisfy that because I think VMs are explicitly not allowed.

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

#802

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

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

#803

Post by more_corn »

You can tell this was a good idea because you can see a sudden surge in people reinstalling windows 7 a version that lacks significant performance and security updates but also predates the aggressively idiotic measures by Microsoft.

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

#804

Post by b_e_n_t_o_n »

observationist wrote: post #665
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.…

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…

How can the government regulate companies into providing good customer service when they can't even provide good customer service to their citizens?

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

#805

Post by wing-_-nuts »

Balinares wrote: post #666
wing-_-nuts wrote: post #645

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

So instead of downloading the OS, you're downloading a patching executable? How do you trust this? Is it open source and auditable? Otherwise you're opening yourself up to the same concerns.

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

#806

Post by tombert »

bitwize wrote: post #728
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…

The future of desktop Linux is in a Windows-hosted VM, and some configurations (Home) might not allow even that. We're a few years out from machines that, by law, cannot run an alternative OS on bare metal. As it is, Linux only runs on bare metal because Microsoft, the sole Secure Boot key authority for almost all OEMs, deigns to allow it.

I would think it’s in Microsoft’s best interest to keep it technically possible to install Linux on bare metal, if only to stave off potential anti-trust lawsuits. They would likely just make it very difficult.

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

#807

Post by b_e_n_t_o_n »

palmotea wrote: post #698
lagniappe wrote: post #685

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

Does Microsoft actually have a monopoly on anything these days? Maybe gaming? I saw its like 95% windows on Steam.

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

#808

Post by kro »

worble wrote: post #791
bluetidepro wrote: post #641

Earlier 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.

If anything, gaming is the pillar that is furthest ahead, thanks to SteamOS and Proton and everything else surrounding it. The main issue is that a lot of people I know need things like Photoshop or propriety CAD apps or video editing software where the alternatives are simply not acceptable - sure I can mention some OSS alternatives but it's not really my field; this is their job and they can't really take the veloc…

True, a huge number of games work great with those.

Games requiring anti-cheat however are a big issue that still require a dual boot Windows or VM.

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

#809

Post by cheeze »

jimbo808 wrote: post #661

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…

>for gaming

How do you handle the "for gaming" aspect?

I'd love to move to Linux but Battlefield is about to release and that's what my friends are going to play, so...

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

#810

Post by dateSISC »

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.…

the license is tied to your account in theory, if you log in with it, it should get activated?
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