Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Upcoming Windows 11 builds cannot install without internet and Microsoft Account

infosec.exchange

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 288 posts

Re: Upcoming Windows 11 builds cannot install without internet and Microsoft Account

#231

Post by jofla_net »

sterlind wrote: post #63
bboygravity wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the NSA pays them to. Why did they do to Skype what they did (first turn it from p2p to centralized and spyable and then just ignore it and let it die)? Same reason.

(Opinions are my own, I have no inside knowledge.) I vaguely remember hearing that P2P Skype was the bane of sysadmins' existence. Skype would elect clients on high-bandwidth networks as supernodes. This tended to be business customers - the very organizations MS wanted to attract. Skype's prodigious hole-punching ability made it difficult to throttle, so it got banned from a lot of enterprises. MS essentially hosted…

I remember the old supernodes p2p app, was good times.

I used to leave an extra old laptop on with it running, maybe 15 years ago, on a public address.

During the arab spring, tons of traffic could be seen connecting clients in north africa. It truly did route around things.

Re: Upcoming Windows 11 builds cannot install without internet and Microsoft Account

#232

Post by physicles »

sshine wrote: post #17

Windows is the first thing that gets deleted on a new PC. An acquaintance of mine works for Microsoft. Every time I meet him, he always tells me how much money hey makes. I'm sure it's double of what I earn when I have a good year. A big part of me wants to earn that money, too. But an unwavering part of me knows, I could never work for Microsoft. At this point it is not just bitterness from their anti-Linux, anti-FO…

Always telling you how much money he makes? He sounds like a bundle of fun.

Re: Upcoming Windows 11 builds cannot install without internet and Microsoft Account

#233

Post by sirwhinesalot »

ohgr wrote: post #108
bigstrat2003 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you still need an enterprise agreement to get a license for LTSC? That used to be the case for 10, anyways... kinda puts it out of the reach of most users.

No you just steal it and pretend it’s ok because the machine came with windows 11. Tech companies taught me it’s ok to steal and do things without permission.

If buying isn't owning then piracy can't be stealing.

Re: Upcoming Windows 11 builds cannot install without internet and Microsoft Account

#235

Post by shepherdjerred »

zakki wrote: post #54
nullify88 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, those that are on the Windows 10 IoT LTSC builds will enjoy updates until 2032. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows...

Do you know where to buy it?

https://massgrave.dev/windows_ltsc_links

Re: Upcoming Windows 11 builds cannot install without internet and Microsoft Account

#236

Post by shepherdjerred »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #50
ohgr wrote: post #16

I give it a week before someone patches it. I’m using LTSC. That’s fine. I suspect that’ll never require a Microsoft account. Edit: come on EU. Step up here. Tell them they need to give the users choice.

Do you still need an enterprise agreement to get a license for LTSC? That used to be the case for 10, anyways... kinda puts it out of the reach of most users.

https://massgrave.dev/windows_ltsc_links

Re: Upcoming Windows 11 builds cannot install without internet and Microsoft Account

#237

Post by ranger_danger »

samiv wrote: post #59
donnachangstein wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm also 100% convinced Microsoft will introduce mandatory code signing at some point and make it so that you can only ever install software from Windows Store 2017 called. It wants Windows S Mode back. Needless to say it still isn't very popular. But this has been around for 8 years now

Yep, the technology is already there. Just a question of time before they flip the switch for good and force it down everyone's throat and call it "enhanced security and user experience".

There are so many legacy apps being used in the corporate world, I don't see this realistically ever happening.

Re: Upcoming Windows 11 builds cannot install without internet and Microsoft Account

#238

Post by khaledh »

disqard wrote: post #219
khaledh wrote: post #119

Microsoft knew they were losing the client device market to iPhone and Android (after their Windows Phone flopped). So they essentially gave up on improving Windows, and decided to turn it into a thin client for Microsoft cloud services. For this model to work well, they need to force users to have a stable identification, aka Microsoft account, in order to login to the thin client. Windows is over. I moved to Apple…

I don't know why you were downvoted. This really appears to be the simplest explanation -- turn every desktop into a thin client, served by walled-garden apps, and with Azure integration/dependencies. Then charge subscription fees to turn all computer owners into renters. Oh, and show ads too, while you're at it.

Thanks. The subscription model is now almost the default for everything. Investors like the steady stream, which makes sense financially. But unfortunately it has resulted in much lower software quality, because software shops now don't have to make a high quality, solid version that they sell once; they can just ship MVPs with bugs or missing features and tell you that we'll work on fixing/adding those features, just keep your subscription and you'll get it.

I miss the days when you bought a high quality version of something that you kept using for years.

Re: Upcoming Windows 11 builds cannot install without internet and Microsoft Account

#239

Post by schroeding »

cedws wrote: post #94
samiv wrote: post #45

I'm also 100% convinced Microsoft will introduce mandatory code signing at some point and make it so that you can only ever install software from Windows Store. They are envious of the Google and Apple walled gardens/cashcows and are now determined to turn Windows into one. Windows is no longer a product for users, the users of Windows are the product for Microsoft to be shoved into the Azure sales funnel.

That would never work, they would have to have some kind of override. Microsoft doesn’t have that kind of leverage over Windows users because they don’t have tight vertical integration. If Windows 12 enforced that, users would just stay on Windows 11 and MS’ leverage would decrease even further.

Until they need new hardware, for which there will (and can) be no drivers anymore, as Microsoft stops crosssigning them in the Hardware Dev Center after a while for old Windows versions.

Microsoft does have the leverage in this case, as long as folks want to continue using Windows.

Re: Upcoming Windows 11 builds cannot install without internet and Microsoft Account

#240

Post by baby_souffle »

grishka wrote: post #191
MYEUHD wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It becomes easier to exploit, as it no longer gets security updates; and vulnerabilities are publicly disclosed.

You can't really exploit something when its attack surface is nearly nonexistent, which is the case for most people who use an outdated OS on their personal device, for example.

What is it about unmaintained software on a personal device that somehow makes the attack service non-existent?
Post reply on HN