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Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

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Re: Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

#161
post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I ran into this trying to set up a new Dell laptop for my mom. It shipped to her in "S mode", meaning that among other things I couldn't install arbitrary software from the web. I assumed there'd be some straightforward way to disable it (even if it might be a little buried to discourage normies). But after several hours of searching through tutorials and mucking about in Windows settings, the command prompt, BIOS, a…

Microsoft keeps being the best advocate for Linux.

Except normies don't have the option at computer stores.

Even the OEMs that do offer the option to have Linux pre-installed keep pushing for "Works best with Windows".

What is a non technical user to do, the choice ends up being macOS, Windows, or ChromeOS thin clients.

Re: Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

#162
this is why ive finally ditched windows for everything.

ive been a dual boot linux user for years, but still booting into windows for games and work.

no more, i just couldn’t take the:

- constant nagging

- ads for all of microsoft’s other shit that i absolutely did not want to use. copilot, onedrive, xbox, and on and on.

- the nonstop “sign in to your microsoft account” etc…

- settings i very deliberately changed reverting back on update.

- how stupidly long updates would take.

i just finally went to linux for everything. i was concerned about work stuff, and i ahve to admit, its absolutely definitely not perfect, but it still … feels? … better. i’m not sure this is the right phrase, but it just feels more fun. i feel good when i diagnose a linux bug, like productive or something. that feels more like fun to me compared to the dark patterns of windows which feels frustrating. if that makes sense.

i’d rather spend 20 minutes fixing a weird quirk on linux than the deal with the assault microsoft is constantly throwing at me when using windows. and id absolutely rather put up with a feature that isnt fully complete yet on linux than deal with dark patterns on windows.

and gaming? at this point, if a game doesn’t work on linux, i just play something else that does. there are just way too many choices of rad games that run good on linux. it does help that the games i’ve been playing lately (like cyberpunk) run a bit better on linux anyway.

the only holdout for me at this point is video and photo editing, i have to break out my macbook for lightroom and premiere still. but from what i understand linux is moving very very fast in that area so i’ll just use my mb until those are caught up. the day i can ditch my adobe subscription will be the type of “let’s go to the bar and toast with shots” kind of day. and from what other people say, it’s very close.

the cherry on top for me is, weve moved our parents machines to linux mint. my gf and i jokingly wonder if they would have even noticed if we hadn’t told them, firefox just works for their facebook and amazon lol. huge bonus that i can update their machines with a quick ssh apt update which takes literally seconds vs windows which sometimes takes half hour plus.

Re: Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

#163
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

some people do more than just write code

What are some common hold-ups you know of? I don't program but have still used GNU/Linux on my main machine for over a decade now. It can browse the web, play games, listen to music, watch TV and movies, you can draw, you can edit video, you can stream to Twitch.

It's mostly professional software that is the issue. CAD, CAM, BIM, GIS, DAW, PLC, accounting, graphic arts, etc. etc.

Re: Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

#164

I was in a hurry trying to log into my kid's Minecraft account, wound up clicking something to associate it with the Windows account... now the PC is in restricted mode and I'm having a hard time restoring the previously associated Microsoft account (among other things, have to ask permission to open the browser and approve the requests logging in on my phone)! Everything online says to use the option to switch to a…

> Everything online says to use the option to switch to a Windows account but I am pretty sure it is not available anymore. Not everything. I say: use the option to switch to Linux. I installed PopOS and Steam for my 11 y/o. She games either on her Nintendo Switch (not Microsoft) or on her iPad (not Microsoft) or on Linux (not Microsoft). Wife works from a Debian desktop PC, so do I. Microsoft is not allowed in this…

An option only available on households with UNIX skills, and work that has zero dependency on using Microsoft products.

Something that isn't available to everyone.

Re: Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

#165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I ran into this trying to set up a new Dell laptop for my mom. It shipped to her in "S mode", meaning that among other things I couldn't install arbitrary software from the web. I assumed there'd be some straightforward way to disable it (even if it might be a little buried to discourage normies). But after several hours of searching through tutorials and mucking about in Windows settings, the command prompt, BIOS, a…

When I worked at a very big US company some years ago, I received for work a new Dell laptop with Windows also in "S mode", to replace an older Dell laptop. However, at that time I had no idea about the existence of the "S mode". I could not install on the laptop some applications that were distributed and used internally in the company and which were essential for my work. I requested assistance from the IT departme…

That’s crazy, surely it would have been cheaper to buy a new laptop at that point. I mean if you combine all the costs of those people trying to problem solve, plus the opportunity cost of you not being able to do your work…

Re: Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

#167
post #86

Windows has reached the point where it deserves only to run in a virtual machine for some needs. Otherwise leave it behind and move on to Linux, BSD or whatever doesn't require a cloud account to work

Oh man, unfortunately all the things I need windows for doesn’t work well in a VM:

Solidworks, needs special license to work in a VM that my company is not willing to pay for

DAWs, need real time access to low level audio stuff

Games, well, lets just say the experience is better with wine on linux

With the exception of work, at some point I decided that not only is windows dead to me, but any application that can only run on windows is also dead to me.

Re: Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Random bits out of my memory in no particular order, except the first one: First and foremost Linux was free, no money, no licenses, no procurement procedures, download and install. Windows insisted to have a GUI even on servers and you had to remote desktop to them and click click click. That was how most of the world was using those NT 3.51 boxes. It soon became PHP vs ASP and Java run on both OSes equally well. Th…

> Windows insisted to have a GUI even on servers and you had to remote desktop to them and click click click. That was how most of the world was using those NT 3.51 boxes. No way. Why didn’t they have the foresight to see this was a bad idea?

Microsoft is called Microsoft because they make software for microcomputers. Networking and multi-user systems aren’t in their DNA.

Re: Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

#169
post #119

I enjoy windows 10 hugely now that it is out of support. It became way better when microsoft started tormenting the users of win11 instead of win10, and now that windows update doesn't bring new catastrophes and unexpected reboot, the OS is finally not interfering with usage anymore.

You are not worried about 0-days and other malware?

Running Windows 10 Enterprise IoT LTSC still gives you updates until 2031 with the added benefit of no app store. I run it as my main OS since last October and have yet to encounter any issues.

Re: Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything

#170
I switched to Windows 10 as my main development machine few years ago after 25 years of continuously crashing Linux with an enormous pleasure. FreeBSD, well, there's nothing to crash there, that's the problem with it. Nothing. I didn't know almost anything about this Windows OS so I just started playing some sort of whac-a-mole game with it. I don't know what I did but right now I'm a happy (windows 11) user. I use Hyper-V with great success for driving my Linux and FreeBSD development. I like powershell and the dotnet platform and storage spaces and ntfs and many other. Good technologies, it feels good using. Windows terminal is almost OK. I stay away from crap like WSL and Code. I still use mutt for mail, not Office. And I can just play a game without any problems.

There's no Microsoft creep anywhere inside my daily flow. Actually, as of late, I feel more creep in Linux and FreeBSD than in Windows. Everything just works. Sometimes it tells me it has some updates for me. I let it install them and that's it. I'm back to my game, no weird stuff.

No account problem, no copilots, just my shit and myself and no Irene.

When I read about other users having trouble with it I get pretty sad. I wish I could say "do this and that" but I have no idea how my whac-a-mole game drove me to this happy situation. I must have (de)activated some (attack) vectors by mistake. But I whacamoled it head to end, from bios to wallpaper. I kept hitting and hitting, backuping, restoring, backuping,restoring, until i won. I'm on Windows 11 Pro in testing mode right now. Getting back to a linux desktop as my main? Nah, not right now. I have my i3wm running on a gpu partition inside hyper-v and sometimes I drop to it... I can't do all my arcane linux stuff in windows yet but i'm getting there. For now, I'm enjoying it. Been a while now. I just hope they don't notice me...

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