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Microsoft's big lie: Your computer is fine, and you don't need to buy a new one

technical.ly

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Re: Microsoft's big lie: Your computer is fine, and you don't need to buy a new one

#61

Post by andrepd »

kgwxd wrote: post #3
FlipperPA wrote: post #2

Microsoft's latest lie is primed to created the largest single E-waste event in human history, argues Timothy Allen, Principal Engineer at the Wharton School, in an article for Technical.ly. The article gives practical suggestions, and argues the migration from Windows 10 to Linux Mint is easier than Windows 10 to Windows 11.

> and argues the migration from Windows 10 to Linux Mint is easier than Windows 10 to Windows 11. This message needs to stop. I use both heavily, because 1. I need to work and 2. I believe it's my duty to attempt to escape the prison MS/Apple/et al have built around us. But running Linux is fucking hard, unless all you need is available in a browser, and even then... If someone is going in expecting an easy replaceme…

> But running Linux is fucking hard, unless all you need is available in a browser, and even then...

Has this actually been a valid complaint for the past 15 years?

I'll concede that installing it (merely downloading, burning to a thumb drive, disabling secure boot, following the install wizard) already puts it beyond the scope of 99% of users, which will use the pre-installed OS no matter what.

But using it? Linux Mint is orders of magnitude more user friendly than Windows. It's fast, clear, there's no ads and no mandatory logins. Things work out of the box with no need to manually install drivers. There's an easy to use "app store". Most Windows programs even run with Wine/Proton.

We're not in the 90s slackware era anymore.

Re: Microsoft's big lie: Your computer is fine, and you don't need to buy a new one

#62

Post by marcusb »

andrepd wrote: post #38
add-sub-mul-div wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The funniest thing about this is that any major security indicent with Windows 10 after EOL would obviously get fixed by Microsoft because it would be so existentially terrible for them to point to the fine print and ignore it. But you can't stop outrage journalism.

So the piece is right: it's not actually end of life.

No. If a vendor says “we aren’t going to support this product after X date - don’t call, don’t write”, that’s EoL.

Doesn’t matter if they do one off fixes because they decide that’s the right thing to do - product is still EoL. You won’t get support if, say, Word crashes due to a core library bug. You can’t rely on them doing regular testing. EoL.

Doesn’t matter if the DoD comes to some ridiculously expensive bespoke support arrangement - still EoL. You could probably offer them enough money to provide a support contract for MSDOS 1.0, but that’s still EoL for everyone else and in general.

Re: Microsoft's big lie: Your computer is fine, and you don't need to buy a new one

#63

Post by bfmalky »

ryao wrote: post #22

Every time this happens, I wonder why people do not just drop Windows entirely.

I can't run Ableton or Lightroom on Linux, and Macs are almost 3x the cost of a similar spec'ed windows laptop.

The apps are quite specific to me, but I imagine there are similar killer apps for other windows users.

Re: Microsoft's big lie: Your computer is fine, and you don't need to buy a new one

#65

Post by gosub100 »

coreyh14444 wrote: post #6

We can't have it both ways. Either Windows gets serious about security and enforces hardware encryption or forever the industry will say "oh, Windows isn't secure you can't trust it."

The dichotomy is with their backwards compatibility. They could gut the windows apis and replace them with more secure models, but that might upset legacy corporate customers so instead they let ordinary people get hacked or lose their family photos and spend money on repairs.

Re: Microsoft's big lie: Your computer is fine, and you don't need to buy a new one

#66

Post by Yossarrian22 »

patchtopic wrote: post #58
marcusb wrote: post #28

> Microsoft has a long history of playing fast-and-loose with the truth. And that’s again the case with Windows 10 coming to its supposed “end of life” this fall. I can’t take an article seriously, whatever merits it might have, if this is the opening gambit. “End of life” is a fairly common term of art amongst software and hardware OEMs. Windows 10 is going to be end of life. No scare quotes needed.

But in 2015: Microsoft announced at its Ignite conference this week that Windows 10 will be the last version of Windows. Microsoft has no plans to let Windows 10 become stale. On the contrary, it plans to keep Windows evolving with regular improvements and updates. Read More: https://www.slashgear.com/windows-10-said-to-be-microsofts-f...

That’s not what the quote says

Re: Microsoft's big lie: Your computer is fine, and you don't need to buy a new one

#67

Post by j_seigh »

ChromeOS flex. It will run on hardware that even Linux complains about. I've even installed it on a Chromebook that stopped getting updates. Though, you have to replace the firmware, which entails some risk of bricking, so you can do a UEFI boot.

Also you can upgrade windows 10 to windows 11 even on hardware that Microsoft says is unsupported. Google for the workarounds. You only need to download the win11 iso from Microsoft and make a bootable USB stick using Rufus. Don't download anything from anywhere else. I wouldn't trust it.

Re: Microsoft's big lie: Your computer is fine, and you don't need to buy a new one

#68

Post by pathartl »

Let's be real for a second, we're in an era where people are less likely to buy a new computer. Part of it is due to the performance plateau of new hardware, part of it is people just don't use PCs as much. This is the same demographic of people that ran XP until they bought a new PC that just happened to run 7. Or 7 -> 10.

I think about my mom. She's not tech literate, but needs a PC to do business. She cannot seem to remember Ctrl C, Ctrl V. She doesn't know what a file explorer is or how to pair a Bluetooth device. There is no way in hell she would know how to update to 11, nor would she even comprehend any of the differences between the two. She's the type of person that would buy a new computer if her charger stopped working. She represents millions of people that own a computer.

We're going to see a lot of 10 stragglers not due to protest, but incompetence. For any of us that actually care about updating, it is incredibly simple to bypass any checks. For anyone that would attempt to run Linux, it would be easier to bypass the requirement checks. This whole thing is blown completely out of proportion because people are still trying to push the year of the Linux desktop.

It might convert some people, but stop pushing (imo) misleading narratives like planned obsolescence when we're living in an era of a Windows that is more secure than ever, has the largest catalog of runnable software, and probably the largest step in the history of the platform.

Re: Microsoft's big lie: Your computer is fine, and you don't need to buy a new one

#70

Post by deltarholamda »

bfmalky wrote: post #63
ryao wrote: post #22

Every time this happens, I wonder why people do not just drop Windows entirely.

I can't run Ableton or Lightroom on Linux, and Macs are almost 3x the cost of a similar spec'ed windows laptop. The apps are quite specific to me, but I imagine there are similar killer apps for other windows users.

>3x the cost of a similar spec'ed windows laptop

Man, I'm not so sure about that. The M-series Macbooks are just crazy good for speed and battery life. The basic bottom-tier Macbook is $1000 and will do for a vast majority of people. A $330 Windows laptop is going to be a phenomenal heap of junk. People were running Ableton on 16GB M1 Macbooks a couple of years ago.

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