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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

#981

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.…

Call support. They’ll recover the license for you.

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

#982
I cannot fathom why a SW developer ever needs to use Windows at least the last ten years. Do you work for MS? Use Linux and spin up a pass-through VM in your favourite supervisor.

The decline of Windows will cause a huge power vacuum that Linux distributions can in no way cover. Who will support the huge swaths of tech non-savy average Joe and Brenda users (mostly device drivers, games, Office) that sometime will need to open the command terminal? May be a new future trillion-$ company will come with a new proprietary desktop OS, possibly based on Linux, like android.

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

#983
post #850

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If customers just start bugging Microsoft devs directly as though they are customer support (which…technically they should be since they built the product) then maybe productivity would grind to a halt. When all the MBAs running the show start seeing all their JIRA dashboards full bad news then perhaps they’ll think twice? Heck if the McDonald’s CEO and family were required by law to eat their own McDonald’s product…

Building a product doesn't magically change your role. Devs are not customer support. What you're saying is basically that the ability to do a task means you technically should do that task. I can definitely mop, but that doesn't make me a janitor, not even technically.

Worse, a software dev may have no experience with IT-style troubleshooting. I've seen this first-hand. And there's no telling what assumptions they might make about how much users do or do not know when offering advice.

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

#984

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sail the high seas and you'll never feel cheated again.

Use free software from the get-go and nobody will feel cheated.

sounds good, doesn't work.

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

#985

Normies that are upset with Windows will switch to macOS. You guys are smoking crack if you think regular people are going Linux.

I largely fit that - switched to macOS after Windows 7. I'm put off Linux because I use Excel all the time.

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

#987
post #948

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a similar experience with my GPU. Got a 3090 and found that nvidia’s linux driver enforces a minimum GPU fan speed of 30% regardless of temperature. That’s unacceptably loud if you’re in the same room. After hours of searching online, flashing the GPU’s bios is apparently the only solution, so I bought a bunch of acoustic foam instead. I’m still 100% Linux on all devices, but this bit really sucks.

> flashing the GPU's bios is apparently the only solution Wouldn't disconnecting the fan and plugging it into the motherboard instead also work?

Interesting idea! But the PC it’s attached to is a mini PC, so I don’t have motherboard access.

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

#988

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…

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.

Apple (which you mention earlier) do. I've used their live support at any time of the day to solve issues whether it be a software glitch or having trouble using something I just purchased. The only company that comes close to this level of streamlined, anytime support, is American Express.

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

#989

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.…

Call support. They’ll recover the license for you.

Can't. As I said, they don't have any on-phone support anymore. I tried for a couple days but it's not possible to reach a human anymore. No keywords like 'representative' work now. The try to offer automated support or redirect you to webpages, but that's it.

The days of reaching a human at MS are gone.

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

#990

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who manages 1000s of windows devices.... Do the damn upgrades. That is why your device has issues. You can have all the moral complaints you want, I get it, but you're just making things more difficult for yourself. Either follow their patching cadence or switch to Linux. You're putting yourself into a purgatory zone that is only making things more janky.

I mentioned feature upgrades specifically. Why is it so imperative to apply them immediately, especially since the older major releases receive updates for quite a while after it stops being the most recent version? I'm talking about updates like 25H2, 24H2 etc that supply new features, not the "cumulative" stability/security updates that broadly don't change anything in terms of UX. I don't remember these major rele…

They do though. Especially the 24H2 stuff. They include all of the cumulative, feature, and security updates.
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