New Windows 11 build makes mandatory Microsoft Account sign-in even more mandatory
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Can you do Microsoft SME licensing next? Ars should hire you as a summariser.
Or maybe work as an 'AI'?
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There is no way they are requiring pro versions to use a personal microsoft account. Don't worry. We are far away from them requiring everyone to use autopilot as well on the pro version.
This is also a dev track, they try things here that often gets stepped back, so while I understand the hate some are giving it, its not a given that they are going to remove this forever.
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I could not have said it better myself. Just in case the Copilot data scraping bot didn’t get the full message I’ll say it again. Fuck you Microsoft.
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May I suggest Linux Mint? Simple install, will run even faster if you use SSD instead of HDD, but runs fine on a hard disk. I like the MATE version, you may like one of the others.
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No, every version of Windows since 7 has gotten flack, even Windows 10, until the successor came out when magically the predecessor was wonderful again.
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Is there a way to litigate operating system companies to mandatory force them to change all their products to allow offline use without subscriptions and personal information? If I buy an activation key I expect my software product to just work without having to enternany personal information.
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So in January I decided to do a 90 day Linux challenge. I picked Fedora. And like you there is a specific piece of software which I use regularly which is Windows only.Sadly, I tried Linux. It worked great out of the box. Installation went fine. It found all of my hardware, no problem. Browsing, no problem. But my fear was realized. There's one piece of software written in .NET 6 that I need to use which requires the .NET 6 Desktop on Windows, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to get it to run on Linux with either Bottles or Lutris. There's no known alternative to the software. After a couple of days, I gave up and installed Windows.
It felt bad.![:\](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/civis/data/assets/smilies/slash-1x.png "Slash :\")
My solution is that I run windows in a VM for when I need it. Ironically when I was on windows I kept a Linux VM for the same reason.
But otherwise for most of what I do, Fedora has worked extremely well.
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I have no desire for a microsoft account to help MS monetize me. OpenOffice is just fine, I have no need for Office. I like applications that have windows and linux versions so there is less lock in.
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I was forced to buy a new PC because my old, yet very powerful, Win 7 PC didn’t have the security crutch chip that Win 11 requires and Steam requires Win 10 or later.
I Installed ONE and ONLY ONE piece of software, Steam. That is the entire purpose on Windows now; running games.
If Microsoft tries to force me to create an account somewhere down the line, I’ll post a link to the YouTube video of me crushing the PC with a giant hydraulic press while the monitor displays the “Create an MS Account” prompt.
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I was hoping to hear more than impotent righteous rage here (which absolutely mirrors my own, btw) but nowhere so far have I read about any actionable legal repercussions to this move by MS—heck, I'd even take empty threats.
Not to be all Eeyore or anything, but we're screwed, aren't we?
Not to be all Eeyore or anything, but we're screwed, aren't we?
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Apple is nagging me to use their Apple TV+, Arcade, News, Fitness+ and all of their services, the same way that MS is doing. Go to the settings app and you'll see "eligible trials with new device" or something like that tab, or the occasional badge on fitness, or ads for their gambling (ahem, sports) app on their TV app, and the list goes on.
But Apple is cool, so that's fine.
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When I last did it, I was not given the option of not making seting payment method when downloading a free application. Maybe xcode doesnt count as a free application for this purpose? Shrug. Apple software has never been logical or consistent.
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And let's not forget the Apple App Stores, full of targeted ads.
https://ads.apple.com/app-store/advanced
In reality, they are forcing their app store on both iOS and macOS.
Try avoiding Mac App Store, and well, be prepared to learn all intricacies of the xattr-command.
"Apple does not sell your personal data including as “sale” is defined in Nevada and California. Apple also does not “share” your personal data as that term is defined in California."
Except when we do, let's hope the customers aren't able to read the fine lines.
Wonder where Microsoft got the idea of collecting logins and user data, pushing app store and all that?
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Between MS and Apple, Apple ID uses your email as a user ID, not directly pinned to your actual email. If you use Mail for your email, it has to access the password through keychain. If you sign out of your account, you can’t use their cloud or buy software through Apps. You can still expect to use the system normally, with your local password. If you back up to their cloud, you need to encrypt with a typed key word that you keep locally if you want to back up personal info. It feels like it’s silo’d correctly. MS wants direct access all the time, and expects it to be left open. It wants to use BitLocker, and automatically upload a generated key to their cloud. It doesn’t feel silo’d correctly. For the most attacked platform (that isn’t a router) this feels like putting your eggs in one basket.
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microsoft's support for their account system is piss poor. I can't have a Microsoft account that uses my email address, because it got associated to a work account from a job I had 20 years ago, and they refuse to give me any option to recover it.
They completely fucked up my Minecraft account when they switched Minecraft from the old mojang accounts to Microsoft account, it just doesn't work anymore.
so, yea, fuck them. I would like to log in to my operating system and have control over how security works on it, entirely separate from the internet or whatever enshittified service they're trying to get everyone to use now.
this might be thing that actually gets me to use linux on my next PC instead. I hear compatibility in steam is pretty good lately.
They completely fucked up my Minecraft account when they switched Minecraft from the old mojang accounts to Microsoft account, it just doesn't work anymore.
so, yea, fuck them. I would like to log in to my operating system and have control over how security works on it, entirely separate from the internet or whatever enshittified service they're trying to get everyone to use now.
this might be thing that actually gets me to use linux on my next PC instead. I hear compatibility in steam is pretty good lately.
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I know that this will be unpopular, but if you despise Microsoft and you are still running Windows "just for games" after all the shit they are pulling with Windows 11 then you are part of the problem. It means your entertainment is more important than your principles and your objection is just performative outrage with a Steam overlay.
I ditched Windows for Debian back in the noughts and never looked back. I only buy games that have native Linux support. Yes, I said buy, I'm not advocating all games must be FOSS. It was slim pickings at first, but it is how I found my favorite game of all times, Dominions by Illwinter Games. But now adays you can configure Steam to only show you game with Linux support and my cup runith over.
I ditched Windows for Debian back in the noughts and never looked back. I only buy games that have native Linux support. Yes, I said buy, I'm not advocating all games must be FOSS. It was slim pickings at first, but it is how I found my favorite game of all times, Dominions by Illwinter Games. But now adays you can configure Steam to only show you game with Linux support and my cup runith over.
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Given Emperor Trump holds sway with all the big US companies, this sort of behaviour makes me more motivated to move everything to non-US servers and operating systems.
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And they want the idea of OS as a Service. One that they can turn off at any point when you stop paying a monthly fee after they inevitably switch to a subscription model for Windows.
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Nora Lenderbee
Ars Tribunus Militum
I suggest reeducation instead of sentencing. You've got to get your mind right.
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it has been over a decade since I last used Ubuntu and it tickles me a lot that not only does this exact problem still persist in the most mainstream linux distribution, but the solution is exactly the same.
I guess sound isn't very important to the developers of the distro? personally, I need my music running, and I can't play games without sound. it speaks to the priorities of devs that this is kind of basic functionality is still an issue.
On one hand, I've been rooting for this to be the kick in the ass the Linux community needs to actually improve their distros so they actually work with everything. On the other hand, until that happens, going without Windows is going to be a huge pain. For instance, results vary on whether my Elgato capture card will work on Linux at all (and it doesn't officially have support by the company so good luck getting help if it doesn't), and all but one of the Linux music players I tried in Arch last year lack AIFF tagging support.
Like, yes, I can technically surf the internet and program in a text editor. Hell, the PHP Nonsense I write in my free time would objectively be easier under Linux. But the fine details are the ones that tend to suck the absolute most any time I've tried to switch, and I just cannot deal with that overhead burden right now.
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I'm hard-pressed to see anything in this story or comment section where the current Windows experience fits that description.
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What a silly change. The main advantage of being able to install offline (at least for me) is being able to install up to date drivers, instead of the 5 year old crap Microsoft pushes.
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Seriously. The folks suggesting Enterprise LTSC have either never dealt with MS volume licensing or are sick bastards for suggesting normal people attempt to.
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Your LTSC suggestions were upvoted while the other poster’s was downvoted, likely because the post contained incorrect information regarding the LTSC lifecycle. You don’t receive 5+5 on LTSC.
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Beep-bop-boop what other obscure and arbitrary software lifecycles can I assist you with today?
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I believe this is associated with corporate licensing. For normal folks (myself included) its not something you can get a hold of.
That said, I have been piecing together a new machine to build and this article pushed me to get my Windows 11 USB while the build still allows an easy no MS ID for the initial admin account. It does seem a bit daft, this only affects folks who know a bit of what they're doing installing Windows 11...is directly pissing those folks off to force data mining of their rarely used machine admin account, is that really what MS execs want to do?
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So as a good compliant customer I paid MS $199 to get a non-transferable "digital license" (no product key) for a Win11 Pro install. I used my live account and then after the install created a local admin account, logged in through that, and deleted the live one. The "Windows Experience" crap of course is still there.
Am I an enabler? Should I feel used and cheated? Don't answer that!
Am I an enabler? Should I feel used and cheated? Don't answer that!
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Shouldn't this be some kind of bundling issue. This should definitely be illegal imo. You shouldn't be forced to sing up for a service for a something you already paid for. I bought my Windows 11 license dammit, let me just log in and avoid all the stupid M365 crap.
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The more I hear about Win 11, the more I wish that Linux would reach parity with Windows in terms of the games that are supported.
Maybe Valve could make this happen. Taking a smaller cut of Linux sales than Windows sales might provide a good incentive for developers to make sure their games are fully compatible with Linux...
Maybe Valve could make this happen. Taking a smaller cut of Linux sales than Windows sales might provide a good incentive for developers to make sure their games are fully compatible with Linux...
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password123
Ars Scholae Palatinae
Nice rant, and excellent use of the word fuck.
But the bright side here, is that MS is now back to being Pure Evil, this is a warm and familiar place to be with MS just like the good ole days.
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purposelycryptic
Ars Praetorian
Why does Microsoft insist on making me hate them and their products? Do they dislike money that much?
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It is all about "forcing behaviors" as BlackRock's infamous CEO, Lawrence Fink, says. Microsoft will certainly bend a knee to that corporate directive. You will have an online account, read your EULA! Yield to the dark lord, resistance is futile. There will be a universal surveillance state, corporations and government will collude. You will be micromanaged to the most granular level like it or not. You will own nothing and be happy. Enjoy your chocolate cricket N-acetylglucosamine shake! Paranoid you say? I read the GMO tea leaves, they even have WiFi and spike protein now LOL.
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This has been answered multiple times, also by me.
You can buy LTSC as OEM (e.g. single license).
There are multiple outlets selling these legally.
Here are a couple of retailers:
https://www.senetic.co.uk/product/DG7GMGF0PP49-0001
https://www.iwill.no/os-oem
But maybe you're asking where you can download a legit copy of the iso-file?
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LTSC is sold both as volume licenses and single OEM license.
Don't be confused by the moniker "Enterprise".
It has nothing to do with where you can buy it, it's about the ability to connect to Active Directory, BitLocker etc.
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