Ask Slashdot: Should Production Networks Avoid Windows 11? 192
Slashdot reader John Smith 2294 is an IT consultant and system administrator "who started in the days of DEC VAX/VMS," now maintaining networks for small to medium businesses and non-profits. And they're sharing a concern with Slashdot.
"I object to Windows 11 insisting on an outlook.com / Microsoft Account OS login." Sure there are workarounds, but user action or updates can undo them. So I will not be using Windows 11 for science or business any more.... I will be using Win10 refurbs for as long as they are available, and then Mac Mini refurbs and Linux. My first Linux Mint user has been working happily for two months now and I have not heard a word from them.
So, as an IT Admin responsible for business or education networks of 20 users or more, will you be using Windows 11 on your networks or, like me, is this the end of the road for Windows for you too?
I'd thought their concern would be about Windows is sending user data to third parties. But are these really big enough reasons for system adminstrators to be avoiding Windows 11 altogether?
Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments. Should production networks avoid Windows 11?
"I object to Windows 11 insisting on an outlook.com / Microsoft Account OS login." Sure there are workarounds, but user action or updates can undo them. So I will not be using Windows 11 for science or business any more.... I will be using Win10 refurbs for as long as they are available, and then Mac Mini refurbs and Linux. My first Linux Mint user has been working happily for two months now and I have not heard a word from them.
So, as an IT Admin responsible for business or education networks of 20 users or more, will you be using Windows 11 on your networks or, like me, is this the end of the road for Windows for you too?
I'd thought their concern would be about Windows is sending user data to third parties. But are these really big enough reasons for system adminstrators to be avoiding Windows 11 altogether?
Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments. Should production networks avoid Windows 11?
Betteridge's law be damned (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes.
And why limit it just to production networks? Everyone should avoid Windows 11.
Re:Betteridge's law be damned (Score:4, Insightful)
Not only is this the obvious answer, it's the answer being used in practice.
Re:Betteridge's law be damned (Score:4, Interesting)
I was playing a game with my son. The sound cut out and it ground to a halt and crashed. I was informed the sound driver had just been updated (during a game, with no warning). But then there was a prompt to "update and reboot" which I figured I should do after a driver change, but it said NOTHING about Windows 11.
I said OK and then it started this long "update" process and said it might require several reboots. And I realized, uh oh, they're sliding in Windows 11. So, game night was over.
Worst part, the next day we tried to play again and found that Rocket League was running at about 1/2 to 30% of the frame rate as before. I played with all the settings, upgraded NVidia drivers, but nothing helped but cranking down the resolution from 4k to 1080.
The only good news was that you can go into system settings and revert back to windows 10. I don't think that was ever an option after a Windows update before. I did that and the game is running fine again.
Re: Betteridge's law be damned (Score:2)
Re:Betteridge's law be damned (Score:4, Funny)
Following the law of "every other Windows is decent" then the eventual Windows 12 should be alright to transition to from 10.
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If you are ready to pay a subscription fee for Windows 12. Because that's were Windows is going. I am sure there's going to be a basic free version with some heavy limitations. What those limits are going to be I don't know, but it can be anything from limiting user use time to block the installation of programs. Close to what is done with Windows 10 S edition.
Re:Betteridge's law be damned (Score:5, Insightful)
Look at this point I strongly believe Windows should move to a "free-to-play" model if they are going to collect and sell telemetry and other userdata. If that's your plan I should get the OS for free, if I want to opt out of that I would be willing to pay. Essentially just let me easily buy and work with the Enterprise version at a reasonable, personal use price.
Windows is still a product that a lot of people put work into and probably costs a fuckload to maintain. I think Microsoft should simplify the pricing model and make more options available for personal users.
Basically I am not opposed to the idea of a subscription-OS on it's face but like anything what the deal contains and what it costs are really the important factors.
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I wouldn't count on MS to simplify licensing. If they were able/willing to do that they would never have let it get complicated enough that even MS support can't determine how many of what licenses are required for a given defined use case.
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The problem with the free model is that Microsoft will care even less about supporting older hardware. Windows 11 was panned for not supporting relatively recent and still perfectly functional computers. Windows 10 has support until 2025, but if it was free what are the chances Microsoft would offer 10 years of support like they do now?
That said, Windows is basically free now. You can use it without a product code with a few minor limitations, or you can pay a couple of Euros to one of those dodgy key sites
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Look at this point I strongly believe Windows should move to a "free-to-play" model if they are going to collect and sell telemetry and other userdata. If that's your plan I should get the OS for free, if I want to opt out of that I would be willing to pay.
Honestly, at this point it essentially is. The OEM cost of a Windows license is about equivalent of getting a burger at McDonalds. Sure Windows 11 Home edition may come with a $130 price tag, but virtually no one has ever actually bought it instead having been included on their PC with a tiny OEM fee, or been given for free with an upgrade. Worth noting is that Windows 11 even actively updated without issue pirated Windows 10 PCs. The presence of AutoKMS or other tools is something that MS could have trivia
Re: (Score:3)
As a reminder, Win10 was a free upgrade, as was Win11 for users of certain previous versions of Windows (Win7 & Win8/8.1).
Corporate and educational users have been "enjoying" the subscription model for years, it's called "software assurance" and corporations pay a small annual fee per user and gain access to all new software releases as soon as they are released. Corporations and schools find it more cost-effective and easier to manage than buying retail licenses every few years.
Windows S is a user-alte
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Then they should LOVE Linux's subscription plan. All the updates you want forever for free with no registration of any kind.
Re: Betteridge's law be damned (Score:2)
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I mean, users like the walled garden approach right? Apple has super high brand loyalty and customer satisfaction in general (of course that's within the demographic Apple appeals to)
And really we have to empathize with MS a bit about automatic updating. Back during XP the joke was the OS was always full of holes, new exploit this week, etc etc, I've been on /. for long enough to know how much of a security thrashing they got (and deserved) for a long time. Win10/11 compared to that is miles ahead on sec
Re:Betteridge's law be damned (Score:5, Insightful)
Even with lots of Googling it's nearly impossible to figure out what to let through and what to ignore. And that's for a technically adept power user; everyday users have absolutely no hope in figuring out any of that, and in a worst case scenario they will simply opt out of all updates out of frustration, ironically leading to them being more vulnerable to malicious actors.
So, while users theoretically have more control over updates, they effectively have less than ever before.
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This "expert" lives in a world where "production networks" are, apparently, based on a peer-to-peer "workgroup" network. For an environment running 20 or more users, any sane IT Admin would insist on installing a local Windows Server instance, set up all users with Active Directory user-ids and configure Group Policies to lock down and manage the clients.
No shit! (Score:4)
Re:No shit! (Score:4, Insightful)
Windows 10 is bad enough for reliable environments that businesses can rely on to make money. Windows 11 doubles down on regressive UI and settings changes which make the user experience infuriating.
Both W10 and W11 are as stable as Michael Jackson on a crack bender.
How many times has W10 and-or W11 patches broken something in the Windows OS? More often than W7 I think.
BleepingComputer website seems to have a posting every other week of some broken bit in W10 and-orW11 due Microsoft "official patches".
Face it folks. W10 and W11 are the best advertising that Linux OS ever received FOR FREE.
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Face it folks. W10 and W11 are the best advertising that Linux OS ever received FOR FREE.
Yet, oddly, no one is "buying" Linux (I know, it's free) - Linux adoption on the user desktop remains a single-digit percentage of market share (Yes, android is "almost" Linux, but no one runs android on their desktop).
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Both W10 and W11 are as stable as Michael Jackson on a crack bender.
Grade-A, solid gold, FUD
Citations and backing data should be required to make claims like this and be taken seriously
Re:No shit! (Score:4, Insightful)
How many times has W10 and-or W11 patches broken something in the Windows OS? More often than W7 I think.
Microsoft fired most of their testing staff and moved to a model of slowly rolling out patches to see what breaks. Consumers get them first, and if they get back loads of telemetry suggesting that things went badly wrong they pause the roll-out and do some more testing.
Business users are supposed to delay updates to give time for consumers to get screwed over, and Microsoft to fix their patches.
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How many times has W10 and-or W11 patches broken something in the Windows OS? More often than W7 I think.
You mean how many times has someone in the hundreds of millions of people running the thing found a bug that has affected very few people?
Observer bias is a real thing. The reality is that bugs a plenty though affect is very minimal.
Face it folks. W10 and W11 are the best advertising that Linux OS ever received FOR FREE.
And people don't adopt Linux. That should tell you everything you need to know. But then I read on Slashdot that Linux is dead and everyone switch to BSD to avoid systemd and now you're saying Linux is still a thing so honestly I don't know what to believe anymore.
Re:No shit! (Score:5, Insightful)
Agree with this. But W11 is bullshit.
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Windows 10 is perfectly stable, has enterprise releases, LTSC releases. There are precisely zero settings which change on my machine, and in fact many settings are managed by group policy as it should be for any business where computers are considered essential to reliable operation.
It takes a bit of wrangling but you can get Windows 10 into a state where is is pretty stable and usable.
Not only is Windows 11 terrible and several giant steps backward from Windows 10, there still is no LTSC version of Windows 11, which makes it completely useless for any business or large organization.
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Not only is Windows 11 terrible and several giant steps backward from Windows 10, there still is no LTSC version of Windows 11, which makes it completely useless for any business or large organization.
Yet, somehow, corporations around the globe rely on Windows to run their business and never, ever, even for a moment, consider abandoning that monstrosity of an OS from Bellevue Washington for Linux.
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"Perfectly stable"? Your answer presumes facts not in evidence. After 5-6 years corporate sysadmins got it to a point where it isn't too bad, but overall it feels like a return to the days of Windows 98/XP with crashes, driver incompatibilities, and significant instabilities introduced with every maintenance release. Our organization has been fighting a rash of sound systems and microphones randomly and inexplicably not working after the big January update - microphones which had been fine for the last 3
Re: No shit! (Score:3, Informative)
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Thanks - I'll mention the Dell monitor hub possibility to our tech team.
Re:No shit! (Score:4, Interesting)
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Mine is pretty stable. But like this poster, I'm regularly pissed when my system is rebooted without my knowledge or permission as it kills multiple VMs. After something updated itself (again, without warning or permission) I was faced with a "Sign in/sign up for Microsoft ID" screen that could not be bypassed by any obvious fashion. I ended up rebooting one more time, which luckily worked.
Re:No shit! (Score:5, Informative)
No citation is needed. Just look at the facts.
Windows 10 Enterprise is like a different OS to the lower editions. Microsoft lets big businesses turn off the really shady stuff because they know damn well that no professional IT department would ever permit compulsory telemetry, forced updates and reboots under Microsoft's control instead of the IT department's, etc.
Now try being a smaller business or self-employed. You still have the same basic needs as any other business for reliability, stability, privacy, etc. However, your IT admin is probably done by one or two people in the office who are the "experts" in addition to their other responsibilities, and you're limited to the Pro edition of Windows unless you jump through hoops that almost no organisation of this size actually will. Unlike earlier versions, Windows 10 Pro is little better than Windows 10 Home and still comes with all the user-hostile junk that you can't fully disable.
Microsoft essentially abandoned small businesses with Windows 10.
Re: No shit! (Score:2)
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Windows 10 Enterprise is like a different OS to the lower editions.
Cool story. Now back in 2023 Windows ELEVEN Enterprise is like an almost identical OS to the Professional edition.
But I like talking about the past. Let's meet up at a cafe in Constantinople to discuss OSes that are not being discussed further.
Enterprise (Score:4, Informative)
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It wouldn't surprise me if there were a couple of GPOs to "limit nonessential telemetry" and "use only AD login".
Then again, it wouldn't surprise me if there aren't. Or if they require some superduper license to use. Most businesses won't care if a little bit of data leaks here and there - if they even comprehend it. MS's salespeople will be trained to wave these concerns away with "Oh this is all normal, it's just like your smartphone." And those businesses who do care, can pay. Segmenting the market to ma
Re:Enterprise (Score:5, Informative)
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but also the correct way, regedit should be a last resort.
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Then again, it wouldn't surprise me if there aren't.
It would surprise me since Microsoft has published countless pages on technical documents detailing exactly how to do just that. It may surprise you to learn that they all apply to Windows 11 Pro as well.
Re:Enterprise (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Enterprise (Score:5, Insightful)
Please get your head out of your ass. The lack of oxygen is affecting your cognitive abilities and sight. Otherwise you would realize that there are as many small and medium business users out there who don't want this, as enterprise users. And small and medium businesses don't have the money for enterprise licenses. Small and medium businesses drive around 50% of the North American economy. So kindly go fuck yourself.
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Get your head out of your ass.
Windows Professional IS the retail version of the software assurance-licensed Windows Enterprise, it can be managed *exactly* as Windows Enterprise can be, and it only costs a little more when pre-installed on a desktop than Windows Home.
Hairdressers, plumbers, etc buy computers with Windows Professional on them every day, and most of them do have an IT specialist on retainer, insuring that backups are made and the network runs well.
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Otherwise you would realize that there are as many small and medium business users out there who don't want this
No. Small to medium businesses are effectively little more than consumers as they are run by people no smarter than consumers and lack the IT resources to make them otherwise. They don't care. People have shown conclusively they don't give a shit about this and are happy to continue to be abused.
And small and medium businesses don't have the money for enterprise licenses.
I didn't say enterprise license. I said Home isn't relevant. You can get Windows 11 Professional and manage it with a simple group policy. And if your 10 user business doesn't understand how that works then throw yo
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Most /.. readers think Windows 11 has the tile interface of Win 8 and the suctacular performance of Windows Vista.
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Windows Enterprise is only available as an annually licensed product. Windows Professional is the retail version of the same software in Windows Enterprise. This is how it has been for DECADES, it's nothing new.
Windows Professional can join an active directory network and be managed thru Group Policies, just like Enterprise.
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and where does that leave the local dentist, builder, plumber supply, auto shop, hairdressers, cafe ?
they can't escape the bullshit even if an insurance company or financial office can
Using Win11 Pro, that also does not need an MS account for Login.
After all, a dentist, builder, plumber, autoshop is not doing that PROfessional activity at Home.
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and where does that leave the local dentist, builder, plumber supply, auto shop, hairdressers, cafe ?
The local dentist office should be running w Windows Server environment, they don't store billing and patient medical records on apeer-to-peer workgroup network. Same for the builder and plumber supply houses. The local Auto Shop or hairdresser likely has a single windows computer and an embedded POS system.
The issues detailed are only a real concern in 20+ user networks - Or does your hairdresser have a 20+ user network in their salon?
Personally (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't get my head around the idea that I have to authenticate to Microsoft to get into my local computer, and that my drive encryption is automatically backed up to Microsoft. Not that plus a key, but a direct use "here decrypt everything" is stored on their system. Not as an option, but by default and only adjustable with many work arounds.
I sympathize with MSFT being blamed for unpatched systems and being locked out of encryption and trying to solve both with automatic restarts and cloud-backup, but I don't need or want that. I can backup my own system, I can maintain on my own schedule, and I actually use my computer for more than just web browsing, so you can't randomly restart and "restore state."
Time to bring back Windows NT with sane settings and no cloud integration. I need a Windows made for people who USE their computers, not a Windows for people who want an "iPad but with a keyboard."
Re:Personally (Score:5, Insightful)
I can backup my own system, I can maintain on my own schedule, and I actually use my computer for more than just web browsing
Why do you use Windows then?
Re: Personally (Score:5, Informative)
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I can backup my own system, I can maintain on my own schedule, and I actually use my computer for more than just web browsing
Why do you use Windows then?
Perhaps gaming? But having said that, is strange that such an L337 PRO of computing does not know that Win11 Pro does not need the MS Account to log in.... Strange indeed...
Re:Personally (Score:5, Informative)
Find me a CAD package for Linux that does everything SolidWorks does.
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Perhaps because his accounting system, client management system, and custom applications from his suppliers/partners were written to run on Windows?
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This. ;-)
I am really unwilling to give Microsoft that much control, and them being locked out of encryption is not a bug, it's a feature
And I'm not even a "business" user with valuable secrets to protect, it just goes completely against the grain.
To answer of the Question of the submitter:
NO. I still have Windows 10 for some games that don't work on Linux, and very occasionally to run some hardware diagnosis tool where I don't have a convenient Windows alternative. Otherwise it is Xubuntu Linux here.
I don'
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I can't get my head around the idea that I have to authenticate to Microsoft to get into my local computer
You don't. You setup an account online and then Microsoft pressures you into setting up Windows Hello. Windows Hello is 100% local authentication and it exists precisely so your computer is *not* sending sign-in credentials over any network. It is also responsible for encryption.
Also your drive encryption is not automatically backed up. It is optional and you are prompted on how you want to back it up (write it down, copy to clipboard, print it out, USB stick, or sync to Microsoft account) when you first en
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If you're not getting it, it's because you turned off the "Notify me when a restart is required" option in the Windows Update settings.
Is this "Notify me when a restart is required" option available for home users, or only for Enterprise Edition group policy? I'm running the home version of Windows 10, and every couple of days I come to my PC in the morning to find that it restarted overnight. Some programs aren't shutdown cleanly, and it's a super pain in the ass. If there's any way to delay or control these restarts, or reduce their frequency, it would be a huge win.
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Is this "Notify me when a restart is required" option available for home users, or only for Enterprise Edition group policy?
Its available in Windows Professional, the retail version of Windows Enterprise.
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Oh I wish we could go back in time. Users were smarter then and actually RTFM and learned to use their PC rather than just whining about it online.
Not to mention that there were actually good and usable FMs.
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I can't get my head around the idea that I have to authenticate to Microsoft to get into my local computer, and that my drive encryption is automatically backed up to Microsoft. [...]
I sympathize with MSFT being blamed for unpatched systems and being locked out of encryption and trying to solve both with automatic restarts and cloud-backup, but I don't need or want that. I can backup my own system, I can maintain on my own schedule, and I actually use my computer for more than just web browsing, so you can't randomly restart and "restore state."[...]
If you are so L337 that you "can backup my own system, I can maintain on my own schedule, and I actually use my computer for more than just web browsing" then, you seem to be a true PRO.
There is an edition of Win11 called Win11 Pro that is right for you! And guess what? The PRO edition of Win11 does not require you to use an MS accounto log in to your local machine, and also does not store your decription key on MS's cloud!
Is strange that a seasone L337 PRO like you did not know this...
Glad I could help
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You don't - the summary had a link to the various workarounds to avoid that issue.
Re: Personally (Score:2)
Everything you say, plus: the cloud integration is non-obvious, as is even local data storage. Users have no idea where their data is stored, and whether it is in the cloud or not.
One school I am involved with provides Windows PCs that students can use. Every reboot restores the system image - students can install software, but unless they want to reinstall every time, it needs to be on a removable drive. A lot of Windows software will not work this way. Even things that do install will insist on saving t
Ever since Microsoft turned into a big data player (Score:5, Insightful)
Their OS is just a vehicle for privacy invasion and data pilfering now, just like Google's mobile OS is a vehicle for privacy invasion and data pilfering on mobile platforms. In the past, Windows was a bad OS. Now it's a nefarious one.
Anybody running Windows unless they absolutely have to - I assume mainly because of gaming, some specific software that just won't run on anything else like SolidWorks, or because that's what they're forced to use at work - probably doesn't give two shits about their privacy.
Honestly, in this day and age, Linux is a very viable alternative even for total newbies. It's not the steep learning curve and big jump into the unknown it once was. I rock Linux Mint too and it's very close to the traditional Windows UI paradigm (i.e. not Metro), and anybody who's ever used a PC should quickly feel at home with it.
Linux is an bit to scattered with all the distros (Score:2)
Linux is an bit to scattered with all the distros and some software is missing and wine can be hit of miss.
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Genuine question: what do you need Wine for?
Even so, I'm not saying switching to Linux goes without problems. I'm saying it's a lot slicker experience than it used to be and the choice of free software alternatives to paid WIndows-only software is very convincing for 80% of applications.
But more importantly, what I'm saying is, Windows has become such a threat that going through whatever pains of switching to Linux still remain has become almost a necessity for anyone genuinely concerned about their privacy
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I use wine on a semi regular basis. I have several pieces of software that I need to control and configure some instrumentation and they are windows only. But they run perfectly fine in wine. Also I regularly run SketchUp 2017 in wine. And one other piece of dotnet software that requires winforms.
So in the real corporate world there are many pieces of software that are windows only but run okay on wine. So let's me have a bit of sanity.
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Ah yes, I did have to do that with National Instruments hardware we had lying around. Then NI started kind of supporting Linux, so we switched to native Linux for most of our testers. Then NI stopped supporting Linux, but I was lucky enough to convince management to ditch NI altogether.
Re: Ever since Microsoft turned into a big data pl (Score:5, Informative)
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Mint installs easier than any Win I ever met,
Let me guess, you haven't installed Windows on a computer for what, 10 years?
The current Win 11 installer is just as simple as any mainstream Linux distribuion.
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Anybody running Windows unless they absolutely have to - I assume mainly because of gaming, some specific software that just won't run on anything else like SolidWorks, or because that's what they're forced to use at work - probably doesn't give two shits about their privacy.
We're talking about businesses here. There's literally a dedicated version of Windows which doesn't do what you say in this scenario.
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Further, this is Windows 11 we're talking about. It has *way* more data collection in it's Ent
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Windows Enterprise IS Windows Professional, and they both offer straight-forward methods to create local users without requiring an Active Directory server environment...
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Waitamoment, wasn't that Enterprise? The version that requires a volume license and is unavailable for private users and small businesses?
Do you really have no idea what "Windows Professional: is? Its a single-user retail version of Windows Enterprise that ships pre-installed on many, many retail computers.
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Windows Metro shipped in Win 8 and was essentially replaced in Win 8.1.
The OS UI is a non-issue, it's the lack of software that users need to run that keeps them off Linux.
"Almost the same as Excel" is not the same as "functional equivalent to Excel" in the corporate world.
Started looking at Linux (Score:4, Interesting)
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The windows 11 update is going to require alot of perfectly good hardware to be replaced along with all the issues that come along with it
The point here is production equipment on networks with >20 users. When Windows 10 EOL comes up any machine not capable of running Windows 11 will be close to 8 years old. This leads to two situations:
1. Your IT department should be fired for using old hardware reaching end of life reliability issues in a production network.
2. Your users must be some mythical creatures that don't utterly destroy their hardware within 8 years, and you should consider reporting them to the government as they are likely ali
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The windows 11 update is going to require alot of perfectly good hardware to be replaced along with all the issues that come along with it, so I have started looking at replacing some workstations with Linux or Chrome OS and using remote app when necessary.
I don't know if I'll be successful or if users will accept it but it's better than relying Microsoft at this point.
Perfectly good machines you say?
Let's see Win11 Hardware requirements:
* 4GB of RAM? Pretty reasonable in 2023
I do not know about you, but a machine with less than 4GB of RAM is not perfectly good in 2023, at least not in my book
* 1Ghz Processor with at least two physical cores? Pretty reasonable in 2023
I do not know about you, but a machine with less than 1Ghz and 2 Phy cores is not perfectly good in 2023, at least not in my book
* 64GB of storage? Pretty reasonable for 2023
I do not know about you, but a mac
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Win 10 has two more years of support, and all that "perfectly good hardware" will be two years older. At what point will your users stop running their old Win7/8 desktops that they updated to Win10?
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In the case of my mother in her 80s, forever?
As a personal device, a fifth generation core i5 laptop from 2015 with 16GB is more than enough grunt for the foreseeable future - just how bloated will Web 4.0 become...
After upgrading her to a Windows 11 machine once support ends, I'll reclaim said laptop as a Linux portable until the end of the decade - batteries are cheap.
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Secure boot doesn't protect anyone against any real threat. You can still takeover a windows network by getting someone to click on a fucking email.
Re:Started looking at Linux (Score:5, Insightful)
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"Perfectly good hardware" that doesn't even have secure boot.
You probably mean TPM 2.0. Secure Boot has been common in motherboards for a decade now. But your point remains valid. By the time Windows 10 EOLs TPM 2.0 will have been standard on all PCs less than 8 years old.
No perfectly good hardware is harmed in the windows 11 migration.
Re:Started looking at Linux (Score:4, Interesting)
Ever dealt with insurance companies? You do know that those companies put in a lot(!) of effort to find any reason to not pay out. And security is a murky enough field that they would not have to do much to find a reason. Paying for a security insurance is the same throwing money away and a very poor argument.
Secure boot is also not nearly as safe as Microsoft wants you to believe. TPM 2.0? Years ago that was successfully hacked within 30 minutes of brute-forcing.
Microsoft made improvements to their security the last few years, I'll give them that. But not nearly enough for them to take their current stance on imposing their "our way or the highway"-approach. If I wanted that, I would be a happy Apple customer.
Under "perfectly good hardware" I understand that the hardware that was bought still functions as well as it did when it was bought new. That newer hardware has more and/or better features, I don't deny. But if older hardware remains functioning as it did for the purposes it was bought, it seems wasteful to me to just throw away hardware, just because Microsoft wants me to.
You will find that the last point is what going against the grain with a larger part of the population than Microsoft expects.
Historical baggage (Score:5, Insightful)
That's the reason most companies and individuals dont switch along with lack of technical knowledge for alternatives. They have so many windows specific apps (commercial or in house) and data that only those apps can process that they're understandably reluctant to switch. More so if the IT dept is a Windows only affair with little or no knowledge of *nix. I imagine starting afresh a lot of users and companies would swerve Windows and head to mac or linux but theres a lot more more to it than just the OS.
Workaround email address (Score:2)
I would not be nice and use no@fuckoff.com instead.
Not ever no needs a thank you. And maybe it makes the point more clear. (doubtful as it is)
Shouldn't Microsoft requiring an account (Score:5, Insightful)
And I think I just died laughing. We don't enforce antitrust law around here. There's much more important things to worry about like critical race theory and trans kids playing junior varsity sports... Ain't distraction wonderful?
yes, they should avoid windows (Score:2)
Should production networks Use Win11 Home? NO! (Score:2)
The only versions of Win11 that require a MS account are Home and Lower (like S)
Win11 Pro and higher DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT require an MS Account.
So, the conundrum is solved by a simple use of Betteridge's law of headlines:
Should production networks avoid Win11? NO
Should production networks use Win11 home or S instead of Win11 Pro or Enterprise? NO
This guy "John Smith 2294" started in the days of DEC's VAX/VMS ... and got stuck there it seems
Re:Should production networks Use Win11 Home? NO! (Score:5, Interesting)
Microsoft has removed the option for local account in recent Windows 10 versions. Regardless if they are Home or Professional versions. You can maybe workaround that issue with some tricks, but those loopholes might have been closed already in most recent version of Windows 10.
Easy to do local accounts on Win11 (Score:2)
Of the two that did not, both allowed me to create a local admin user (something you should be doing anyways). After that, I deleted the online user. Problem solved.
Side note: One changed my local login user to an online account due to a shady Office UI box. That was corrected by changing the user account to "not automatically log in to Microsoft Apps".
Three machines. All with local logins now. Not
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I installed a freshly-downloaded Win10 Pro literally the last month, and set it up with a local account. Granted, I never connected it to the Internet during the install.
windows 10 started this shit years ago (Score:2)
and your just now noticing after a half decade?
don't connect to a network and move on during install, its not that fucking magical to bypass, and its been a thing for a long time now
otherwise move on to your OS of choice ya dumbass useless fuckwit
Re:windows 10 started this shit years ago (Score:4, Informative)
MS is slowly moving towards only allowing Network based accounts.
If you want to autosave your work in Office for Mac you are required to be logged into your MS account. 'F' that for a game of soldiers.
I often work in places where Internet connections are forbidden. I know that one of those sites is preparing to ditch MS entirely because of this move towards MS === Big Brother === "I'm sorry Dave, I can't allow that".
Because of their move to force me into logging into MS, we have ditched Office on all laptops. I predict that my company will throw MS out with the dishwater within 12 months. We are not alone.
For Pete's sake (Score:2)
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Germany was trying to spread Linux-based offices, but it appears Microsoft sabotaged that project using FUD, lobbying, and probably other slimy things we haven't discovered.
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The city in Germany found it cheaper to run Windows once you factor in the custom software that needs to be defined, written, tested, deployed and supported that could otherwise just be bought and run on Windows. Governments run lots of applicaton-specific programs that are not available on Linux.
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...I was probably too far down the food chain to voice an opinion but I certainly remember managers coming back from meetings with executives looking unhappy. Our jobs were going to get more complicated and less reliable. And this was before most of the world had even heard of computer viruses and security!...
This has been going on for a long time. I remember in the mid 1960s hearing about people coming out of OS/360 meetings who stopped laughing at IBSYS.
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For banks they should just go back to 3270 terminals.
Re:I Wish Linux Would Get Wayland Finished and In (Score:4, Insightful)