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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

#851

Post by m463 »

BizarroLand wrote: post #722
k3nx wrote: post #620

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was enough to get me to try Linux again, and it was pretty eye opening for me. My work laptop is a $3,200 USD Dell 5570 from 2023. I bought a Beelink SER5 on amazon on discount because it was an older model around $300. I installed Ubuntu on the SER5. I've used gentoo and other distros, I wanted to use the computer, not configure it, that's why I went with Ubuntu. That little Beelink box runs circles over the Dell…

If you have the space on your main drive you could probably shrink the partition a few hundred gigs and dual boot linux on it. Swap over whenever you need something on Windows, easy peasy.

I think linux should be on a dedicated drive. Theoretically Windows should coexist with other operating systems. Realistically it nukes dual-boot setups with great regularity. It is called "win" after all...

https://html.duckduckgo.com/html/?q=windows%20breaks%20dual%...

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

#852

Post by jama211 »

Many of these comments are pretty funny. Only on HN would people think the public cares about avoiding having a MS account. Sure, many here may care, but I’m not silly enough to think most people do, or that this has any chance of “killing” the OS like many here seem to claim it will. Just a crazy thing to say.

Sure, I’d love it if one day Linux got proper support and started to become widespread and Microsoft’s bloatware was impacted. But a lot more has to change before this can actually happen, obviously.

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

#853

Post by goosedragons »

jama211 wrote: post #847
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…

Speak for yourself, I tried again to switch to Linux last year with standard Ubuntu and had multiple issues, the machine wouldn’t wake from sleep, would lock up with a grey graphics glitched login screen when locked, I tried to upgrade the OS and it broke all my graphics drivers, after I spent another few hours trying to fix it (and seeing a lot of very unfriendly and unwelcoming “help” from the Linux community), and…

Nvidia graphics?

How much care did you take in getting a machine for running Linux? Did you get one specifically with that in mind? Or did you slap it on the machine you already had?

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

#854

Post by Exoristos »

tombert wrote: post #785
Exoristos wrote: post #717

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who's used Linux on the desktop (mostly Ubuntu) daily for about 15 years, I still couldn't conscientiously recommend it except to tech hobbyists or for limited use cases. It's shinier than ever but still a mess.

I think it’s generally pretty ok for people who primarily just browse the web. My grandmother, who doesn’t know anything about computers at all, runs Linux Mint. She primarily uses Chrome, and someone set her up with Thunderbird and LibreOffice and she’s been totally fine with that. Keep in mind, this computer is old . When she bought it, it had Windows Vista installed and she’s still getting some life out of it. I t…

Since the advent of Chromebook, it's my recommendation for the "elderly user who just needs email"-type use cases. Linux has so much that can go wrong.

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

#855

Post by jama211 »

bigyabai wrote: post #781
labrador wrote: post #709

I guess I'll be the contrarian in the thread: My main machine is Windows 11. I recently bought a refurbished laptop to make it a Linux torrenting machine with ProtonVPN. I first installed Fedora, which I hated. Where's the mininmize window button? Why are scrollbars practically invisible? What's with the hideous cartoonish desktop? I switched to Ubuntu, which I'm more familiar with. Installing ProtonVPN was an absolu…

> What's with the hideous cartoonish desktop? Have have you used a version of macOS made in the past 5 years? Fischer-Price is the new Jony Ive.

I have, and I have no idea what you’re talking about. Macos looks sleek and professional, always has.

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

#856

Post by bananalychee »

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 know quite a few longtime Windows users who are interested in moving to Linux today because of what Microsoft has done to Windows 10/11. But I'm not too optimistic that they'll last long. Things still break a lot on my Linux devices (laptops mostly). I can't boot from a suspended state, I've been locked out of my system after an upgrade, and I've been tortured by cyclical dependency package conflicts. Getting a few pages out of my printer with the Linux drivers sometimes takes several attempts because it just locks up at random. KDE keeps breaking my two-monitor layout for some reason I haven't bothered investigating. I can get around those problems, but Windows, with all its problems, is more stable and hands-off. I use the Enterprise version and turn off as much garbage as possible, but that's a one-time annoyance.

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

#857

Post by jama211 »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #733
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.

Switching costs a thousand plus dollars, or you can install this on your existing machine.

If it were only about money, Linux would’ve taken over 20 years ago.

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

#858

Post by jama211 »

daemin wrote: post #469

The biggest issue I have with Windows insisting that I use a Microsoft Account to log in is that I have a long and complex password set up for the account which is stored in a password manager. I don't want to dumb down that password, I don't want to use biometrics, I don't want to use a passcode or pin to log in as that is arguably less secure. I just want a local account which I can set up a convenient password for…

I’ll be honest I really don’t understand the desperation to avoid it. It works fine, you barely ever have to interact with it or use it, you use a pin to log in, it’s not like you can’t log in if you’re offline or something, it’s just to tie your settings to an online account like anything else. I use windows, Linux and Macos on different machines - until I read this thread I had no idea people cared at all about the Microsoft account thing. Using it is fine. It’s not lovely, but it’s just… fine. Not a big deal at all.

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

#859

Post by cpburns2009 »

voidmain0001 wrote: post #788
jcalvinowens wrote: post #736

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When I upgraded my PC I was apparently supposed to transfer the license before deleting the old PC from my account. Doing it in the wrong order lost the license forever - no way to transfer it. This happened to me too! It's absolutely insane that a license I bought through my account can't be transferred somehow... My newest NUC is somehow recognized by Windows 11 as being entitled to a copy, and I can reinstall on…

I so wish I could move to Linux, but I extensively use Windows computers via RDP and the Linux RDP clients are just so bad on my eyes. I tried Remmina, rdesktop and FreeRDP. Maybe NX would be a good option but I can't install NX on all of the computers I use. I guess I should shut-up and try to contribute to those projects to make them better.

RDP worked flawlessly for me back when TSClient was still supported. Remmina and KRDC are always hit or miss.

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

#860

Post by wombat-man »

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.…

Wow, this must be a recent change. My license somehow was disassociated from my machine. I was able to get someone to fix it over the phone after some basic troubleshooting. It was a little annoying it happened at all, but at least they fixed it.
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