This is why I pirate Windows Server and KMS activate with an instance of vlmcsd on my home router (with the DNS SRV wizardry set up to allow automatic discovery). You can pay and pray, or you can vote both with your dollar and wits!
Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows
321–330 of 800 posts
Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows
#322Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most people on HN, I would postulate, don't use Windows. We might use VS Code, we might use Azure, but we aren't using Microsoft's operating system.
You'd be surprised about this. A ton of developers use Windows even if they are developing software that runs on Linux servers (myself included). Especially so in the last few years with WSL being quite good and Docker being available. 2019's Stackoverflow report for OS usage put Windows at 49.3% for "Professional developers" with MacOS at 29.2% and Linux at 25.3%. I happen to have a few tech courses on programming a…
> 2019's Stackoverflow report for OS usage put Windows at 49.3% for "Professional developers" with MacOS at 29.2% and Linux at 25.3%.
Now expand that over the years and you'll get a clear downward trajectory:
2013: 60.4%
2014: 57.9%
2015: 54.5%
2016: 52.1%
2018: 49.9%
2019: 47.5%
Note that they haven't asked about the OS in 2017 and that the numbers I've found here[0] for 2019 are a few % smaller than yours. I've also used "all respondents" instead of the professional ones because they didn't make the distinction until 2018, but quite frankly, that works in Microsoft's favor since professionals are relying on it even less.
[0] https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2019/#technology-_...
Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows
#323Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's no indication of magical behaviour, it's just unfriendly.
By magic, GP means that it's undiscoverable. It's a crazy thing to say, "start the installer without a network connection and you'll suddenly get a new option in the installer." Or, "when the installer asks you for your email, keep spamming invalid responses until it gets frustrated and unlocks the ability to skip the prompt." That doesn't sound like a sensible UX flow, or even a UX flow with consumer-unfriendly prom…
Ah. I interpreted it as meaning removing the option was magical. This seems like just an increase in the dark patterns that were already present around local accounts, not a qualitative difference. Microsoft has been pushing back against local accounts hard in the setup process - you already had to carefully jump through hoops to make one.
Trying again without network access is actually one of the first things I'd try, but yes, it's undiscoverable for most people.
Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows
#324Earlier quoted context omitted.
Windows is also the OS that doesn't require relatively expensive hardware(MacOS barring hackintosh) and doesn't require that much fiddling(Linux). It's basically the good enough option that most people would use.
It also lets you build bloody good ones. The 3950X will be a ripper when it's out, couple that with a PCIE4 nvme, 3600 MHz DDR4 and you'll have screaming performance for a relatively modest budget that'd cost you a mortgage and a firstborn under Apple - if at all possible.
It will also work with Linux though.
Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows
#325Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do they though? My friends that work IT in corporate settings seem to tear their hair out every time MS (or anyone ) tries to auto-push an update that they haven't had a chance to rigorously test for compatibility and security with their existing stuff. Some of them have fiduciary responsibility to not add/change/upgrade software without carefully testing it first. That doesn't seem compatible with the trajectory Win…
> Some of them have fiduciary responsibility to not add/change/upgrade software without carefully testing it first. While that makes a lot of sense will it remain a requirement if/when it's simply not a choice with any major vendor? Can smaller vendors still provide that choice and meet all the necessary certificates that such industries often also require? (Serious question, not trolling.)
There is WSUS. Group Policy is a very powerful tool. Get control of your updates!
Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows
#326Buy pirated Windows LTSC on ebay (or actual, if you have 260 usd to spare), it solves most of Windows 10 problems
If you're going to pirate, might as well pirate Windows Server, which is basically the same kernel with a far less offensive (and bloated) userland configuration.
Windows 10 Server supports Store, LTSC does not.
Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows
#327This is incredibly bad. In general I have a positive opinion about what MS is doing lately, but Windows is a glaring exception, it’s getting worse and worse at an alarming rate. In the last two months we had two consecutive updates that broke basic functionality for users who disabled web results in Windows Search (which is a very common setting among those who care about privacy) https://www.zdnet.com/article/window…
>> getting worse and worse at an alarming rate
That's because Windows Division does not exist anymore as a separate business unit within MS. It's now a part of Azure. And Azure doesn't really care all that much about making desktop excellent. It'll just keep it good enough for you to buy more Azure, but not more than that.
Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows
#328Meanwhile, the Linux world is wasting its biggest opportunity to take over the desktop space. IMO, Unintuitive interfaces (e.g. Gnome shell), forced package management (as opposed to decentralized distribution of apps) and lack of care for graphic design are the biggest things keeping the masses away from the Linux desktop, because in other areas (speed, robustness, privacy, control) it just blows Windows out of the…
Pop_os! has done a lot for user experience (install and use), trending closer to macOS. I do see efforts being made towards capturing desktop users.
It's great, but...good lord, that name.
If your hope is to appeal to the masses, there are in my view two cardinal sins in OS naming:
1) Don't put "OS" in the name. It's an automatic "nerd alert." macOS is an exception because you don't have a choice to install it, and Apple is...well, Apple. They're often an exception to many things.
2) No punctuation marks, symbols, etc. Just letters.
Pop_OS! breaks both of them, and one of them twice, and it drives me nuts, because it's a nice distro.
Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows
#329Earlier quoted context omitted.
If only the Linux on the desktop dreams of a decade ago - along with those Linux-installed PCs they tried to push at Walmart - had a more optimistic outcome...
It might have, if Linux evangelists had pulled their heads out of their asses and actually made what people wanted instead of assuming everyone was too dumb too use a computer and only needed a pretty web kiosk and email. If they had made the OS function in a sane way instead of the Rube Goldberg machine of cobbled together systems that it is. To this day I still hear people blame Linux Desktop's complete and utter f…
Reminds me of Firefox evangelists.
Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows
#330Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple, with the new Mac Pro. Mac starting at $6k, Screen starting at $5k, but the monitor itself is only good on a (I hope) VESA mount, if you want an ordinary desk stand it's an extra $1k. https://www.cnet.com/news/1000-apple-mac-pro-display-stand-s...
It's ridiculous to call it an "ordinary desk stand" it's anything but. A 100% perfectly calibrate weightlessly counterbalanced stand is a godsend for those who need it. The rest can get the VESA adapter instead. Furthermore, this is a product targeting a market that normally spends over $40,000 on a monitor without any mounting gear or stand to do the same work. Apple's display a bargain in context. If you think this…
>this is a product targeting a market that normally spends over $40,000 on a monitor without any mounting gear or stand to do the same work. Apple's display a bargain in context.
Sure, the cost of the stand is peanuts to the overall cost, a pro will buy it without a blink - but that doesn't mean it's not overpriced. Same thing happens in every industry where professional tools come with extras and accessories not worth the price, but not worth the time to shop around either when the cost is a tiny fraction of the total