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Microsoft Windows

Microsoft To Disable Policies In Windows 10 Pro With Anniversary Update (ghacks.net) 535

Posted by msmash from the things-Microsoft-does dept.
Reader BobSwi writes: More changes in the Windows Anniversary update, due August 2nd, are being discovered. After yesterday's news about Cortana not able to be turned off in the Windows Anniversary update, certain registry entries and group policies have been found to be updated with a note stating that they only apply to Enterprise and Education editions. Win 10 Pro users will no longer be able to turn off policies such as the Microsoft Consumer Experience, Show Windows Tips, Do not display the lock screen, and Disable all apps from the Windows Store.
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Microsoft To Disable Policies In Windows 10 Pro With Anniversary Update More

Microsoft To Disable Policies In Windows 10 Pro With Anniversary Update

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  • I'm shocked. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28, 2016 @02:04PM (#52600913)

    You see my face? I'm shocked. Really, I am.

  • In a country far far away (Score:5, Insightful)

    by NotInHere ( 3654617 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @02:04PM (#52600915)

    Having no windows makes this story as relevant for me as the UAE story today. Interesting to know that the freedoms I enjoy are not something everybody enjoys, but nothing really relevant for my everyday life.

    To all windows users: you are always welcome here in the linux world. There is a place free for you!

    • Unfortunately there are still some apps that only really run in windows. I have lots of Linux computers, but I still need windows for a few things.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      To all windows users: you are always welcome here in the linux world. There is a place free for you!

      To all comfortable homeowners, you are always welcome here at the homeless shelter. There is a place free for you!

    • Re:In a country far far away (Score:4, Insightful)

      by mlw4428 ( 1029576 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @03:59PM (#52601961)
      Sure. Without having to worry about WINE (since most of these tend to update fairly frequently) I'll need Quickbooks, Office 365, I have a handful of games I do like to play from time to time, Turbotax, and on occasion Visual Studio. No, I don't want crap open source replacements that only implement 30% of the functionality. No I do not want LibreOffice as it doesn't implement all of the features and sometimes has compatiblity issues from time to time that MS never has.

      I need this to work with my hardware now and into the future without issues. I want to do as little configuration as possible - I don't have 6-10 hours a week to mess around with crap not working randomly. I also don't want to waste the money I spent. Can Linux do all of this? No, no it cannot. Frankly, I upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 8.1 (which itself was an upgrade from Windows 7). I had no issues and I even had Bitdefender installed. Everything migrated just fine. I don't understand the resistance, personally, from a security aspect it just makes sense. I'm no Windows fanboy (I have a Thinkpad 11E running Fedora 24 and I dual boot Ubuntu just to keep up with the distribution).

      Your "free place for you" comes with a LOT of hidden costs for most people and 99.9999% of the time, people like you just shrug their shoulders. You offer a half baked solution without understanding the current needs of the populace, because YOU want YOUR platform to be as popular as Windows. It's understandable, but fustrating as a technologist. You're inadvertently advocating to make an unsuspecting user's life more difficult without telling them of the pitfalls in switching OSes on a whim - espeically one that has poor commerical software support. Push them to Apple at least.

      • Re:In a country far far away (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Grishnakh ( 216268 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @05:21PM (#52602519)

        I don't have 6-10 hours a week to mess around with crap not working randomly.

        Apparently you do have time and inclination and tolerance to put up with MS advertising to you and preventing you from turning off spyware and other "features".

        I also don't want to waste the money I spent.

        You need to go read about the Sunk Cost Fallacy.

        You offer a half baked solution without understanding the current needs of the populace

        Hey, if the populace doesn't mind being spied on and having advertising forced on them right in the OS, then good for them, they can have it. Not me.

        Push them to Apple at least.

        I don't think all that software you listed will work on MacOSX, so that doesn't seem like a viable alternative to people like you either.

  • Free my ass. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28, 2016 @02:05PM (#52600921)
    Windows is going to have so many strings attached, it'll look like a marionette.

  • Year of the... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28, 2016 @02:06PM (#52600927)

    So... now is this finally the year of the linux desktop? I think yes.

    I have been on linux a long while now. After trying to help my family decide if they want the Windows 10 upgrade, I said yes (for longevity), but plan to add a new SSD with Linux Mint to each of their desktops for primary day to day use.

    • Re:Year of the... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by ITRambo ( 1467509 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @02:24PM (#52601099)
      Linux share of the desktop/laptop market has doubled in the last eight years to over 2% today. That's not too shabby. I really like Mint 18 Cinnamon. It actually does everything for me that Windows does. This is the first distro that I've tested over the last 20 years that met my goal of a distro installing everything, including drivers for my network printer, quickly, easily and the first time. LibreOffice 5.1 even opens my Excel templates the same as Excel does, and prints correctly. I set the default LibreOffice file formats as .docx and .xlsx, for compatibility. It also opens Publisher files. What's not to like?

  • And next month... (Score:5, Funny)

    by burtosis ( 1124179 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @02:07PM (#52600935)
    Clippy is back, can't be turned off, and likes watching you shower. Welcome to the future of computing.

  • The Latest Innovations (Score:3)

    by Fire_Wraith ( 1460385 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @02:07PM (#52600939)
    Microsoft continues to amaze and excel as they go to new lengths to make the Windows experience even more excruciatingly intolerable to any user that has the slightest clue what they're doing with a computer. They've outdone themselves this time, but are likely already hard at work at making things even worse in the next update.

    Meanwhile, I'm eminently glad that I managed to avoid the Windows 10 Update demand scheduler on my laptop, which still remains comfortably on Windows 7 (for now, at least - I'm sure they're working on that, too).

    • Re:The Latest Innovations (Score:5, Interesting)

      by vux984 ( 928602 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @02:43PM (#52601289)

      Microsoft continues to amaze and excel as they go to new lengths to make the Windows experience even more excruciatingly intolerable to any user that has the slightest clue what they're doing with a computer.

      I have been trying to figure out what the HELL they are thinking.

      99.99% of Windows 10 Pro users were NEVER going to mess with group policy editor to tweak those settings anyway. So ~why~ go to the trouble of disabling them.

      And as for the one in a thousand that is going to go into group policy and change this stuff... why spend resources getting in his way... there's no money in that. And its just going to piss them off, and they WILL find another way.

      So... no I don't think this really has anything to do with preventing consumers from doing what they want.

      I think this has everything to with ensuring enterprises have to use the enterprise version, and pay the VLA subscription prices etc. That's where the money is, and that's where it might actually be worth it for microsoft.

      i think us power users are just being caught in the cross fire.

      The interesting question for me, unless I wish to abandon windows entirely* is how painful moving to the enterprise version would be. I've always paid extra for windows pro, because i wanted to run IIS, and RDP, and not be stuck with the idiot permissions model, etc. So I've long since accepted paying a bit extra to get what I want from windows.

      Now, maybe instead of pro, I just want the enterprise version. So what will that cost... because it seems it does everything I want. It lets me turn off telemetry, it lets me turn off cortana, etc, etc. If I had the enterprise version, I wouldn't be stuck fighting with windows, it would just work for me.

      http://www.zdnet.com/article/m... [zdnet.com]

      So Microsoft... $84/user (so i can have enterprise on all my computers and laptops, and always up to date?) And I don't have to put up with any of your consumer-freemium-telemetry-cortana-shit? I'm potentially ok making that deal.

      * re abandoning windows option; I work with windows so I need it. I own a macbook pro as my primary laptop; and I have linux running in my office as well... so I'm fairly well positioned to leave windows if I really wanted to. But I don't really want to... I use it for games, and I use Windows for work (visual studio and other proprietary stuff), and for accounting, etc, etc.

      I like linux, and love it as a server, but find it needs too much tinkering for a gaming PC or HTPC. And OSX ... i like my laptop, but I'm not going to shoehorn myself into apple's extremely limited lineup of overpriced desktop options.

      • Re:The Latest Innovations (Score:5, Interesting)

        by MachineShedFred ( 621896 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @03:18PM (#52601607) Journal

        Many large companies are using the Pro license, because they don't want to be on the hook for annual enterprise licensing payments. I know of at least two Fortune 500 companies that are using Pro licenses for their desktops and laptops, and I imagine there are many more.

        This is Microsoft applying a group policy crowbar to get them onto "Software Assurance."

      • Re:The Latest Innovations (Score:4, Insightful)

        by ilsaloving ( 1534307 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @03:35PM (#52601763)

        These moves by Microsoft amount to nothing less than extortion. Our company uses Windows 7 Pro as our standard desktop because Enterprise costs approx 3 times more, and we arn't going to get 3 times the value for it.

        By doing what they are doing with Windows 10, they are basically holding companies like ours over a barrel because if we stick with Pro, we end up with *reduced* functionality.

        I can say right now that I'm going to be sticking with Windows 7 for as long as humanly possible. Maybe Apple can get away with this kind of silliness since, despite their billions in the bank, they are still basically a niche company so no one cares. No one is forced to use Apple.

        On the other hand, people ARE forced to use Microsoft because they have an almost perfect monopoly on PCs and business computing. As long as people can continue to stick with Windows 7, I don't see too much of a fuss happening, but I see a massive shitstorm in Microsoft's future, and they deserve every single turd.

  • Somehow relevant (Score:5, Funny)

    by msmash ( 4491995 ) Works for Slashdot on Thursday July 28, 2016 @02:09PM (#52600953)
    Guys, tomorrow is the last day for your free Windows 10 update. It's really important that you know that [twitter.com].

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Calydor ( 739835 )

      I'm not touching updates until AT LEAST September, following several confirmations from reliable independent sources that no more Win10 installers are going out.

      • Then you better unplug your device(s), insert them in a large container filled with water, and bury them 6 Meters underground.

        They will find a way in...

        • With updates permanently disabled? I doubt it. And if they do, just either boot your original install partition to get back to a factory restore, or use your backup USB key to re-install.

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by Khyber ( 864651 )

            "With updates permanently disabled? I doubt it."

            That doesn't matter. If you updated Skype or installed the recent Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for a newer game (The Culling, in my specific example,) you got your security settings overwritten and changed without your permission.

            http://imgur.com/a/ERYYN [imgur.com] - have a peep at the three screenshots I snagged after making sure I re-forced windows update back off. Took about twenty minutes of checking timestamps in the filesystem to figure out what happened, a

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Dunbal ( 464142 ) *
      Ahahahahaha fucking awesome!

  • What is going on here? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by myrdos2 ( 989497 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @02:11PM (#52600971)

    The consumer desktop is Microsoft's huge success story. Why degrade that experience? There are already goddamned ads in the user's start menus, plus remnants of the hated Windows 8.1 interface, plus massive privacy issues, plus strong-armed updates being forced down people's throats... I mean, what is this? It's like they're taking their productive, flagship product and doing everything they can to turn it into an annoying toy.

    • Re:What is going on here? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Calydor ( 739835 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @02:16PM (#52601021)

      Toys are meant to be fun.

      What Microsoft is essentially saying is that your computer in no way, shape or form belongs to you. Not the software, not the hardware, not the decisions about when and how to interact with it.

    • Microsoft is forcing Windows users to choose:
      OPTION #1 - Free-Spy-on-me OS
            - or -
      OPTION #2 - Pay-every-year OS

      With Option #1, your data+metadata is sold to whoever will pay.

      With Option #2, you must be smart enough to config your OS to get privacy but stupid/desperate enough to not seek options.

      • There is really only one option:

        OPTION #1, your data+metadata is sold to whoever will pay after your credit card has been successfully billed for your first installment of your contractual payment plan. Phone carriers everywhere look on with envy.

      • Option #4 - OSX

        Option #5 - Android

        Option #6 - iOS

        Option #7 - Linux, FreeBSD, Unix, ReactOS...

        And based on the numbers, 5 and 6 are winning.
        • You forgot about (1) re-installing 7 or 8/8.1, or installing a previous version of Windows that will actually run all that old software that the current one can't.

      • With Option #2, you must be smart enough to config your OS to get privacy but stupid/desperate enough to not seek options.

        There is quite a lot of Enterprise software used by specific industries and for specific tasks, that only runs on Windows.
        A LOT
        Currently, quite a lot of that software runs on XP or 7, with a few dipping their toes into 8.1 or even 10.
        When they finally upgrade their software to run on a newer version of Windows, what is going to happen?

        Do you think they will sit around a big conference table and say:
        "Hey! I've got it! Were going to port our flagship software to run on Linux! Yea, thats right, o

    • The next stage:

      - Add Candy Crush Deluxe Ad Edition (replaces Solitaire)
      - Replace Minesweeper with FarmVille
      - Finally, require the viewing of a 30 second Ad to open any appliation

      • The next stage:

        - Add Candy Crush Deluxe Ad Edition (replaces Solitaire) - Replace Minesweeper with FarmVille - Finally, require the viewing of a 30 second Ad to open any appliation

        And a recruiter from Microsoft just sent you an email through LinkedIn for an opening in their "Strategic Values" department.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by jellomizer ( 103300 )

      Well there are a few things.
      1. Most Home Users and Small Businesses are unable to maintain and administer their own computer. Many of the big security problems and hacks come from the users lack to properly Admin their home PC. This lack of Administration skills put Microsoft in a worse light than it deserved. Because they fixed the problems quickly and offer fixes. But too many users just didn't want to waste the time keeping their system operational.

      2. People no longer want to pay a lot for computers.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mpercy ( 1085347 )

        "Because of the cheaper hardware much of the extra processing needs have moved to "the cloud"."

        That's just wrong. No matter how cheap the H/W is, it's still faster than the bandwidth to the cloud.

        The reason to put things in the "cloud", which here is in your microsoft cloud account, is simply to give MS more access and ownership of your files so that they can be mined for advertising purposes. That's why Cortana cannot be disabled, so that all your searches go to MS for mining purposes. That's why there's 1

  • Microsoft is pushing Linux harder than any nerd you've ever met ever has.

    Cortana - Clippy 2.0

  • Windows as a Service (Score:5, Interesting)

    by npslider ( 4555045 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @02:14PM (#52601003)

    What did that really mean? I for one, never fully understood where they were going with that idea.

    Was it to become more Google-ish, always in "Beta", slowing adding changes ever so subtlety?

    Perhaps, but I think now we are getting the clearer picture. Now that Windows is a service that you "subscribe to" the users not shelling out the big bucks (i.e. corporate site licencees and Software Assurance customers) are seeing control of their computers slowly removed.

    Microsoft now seems to feel that if you do not own a "licence", you use OUR service "OUR WAY", end of story. Over. Out.

    Not sure I like this.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Dunbal ( 464142 ) *
      Your computer gets to turn on, but you will have to pay a monthly fee to be able to actually DO anything with it.

    • Re:Windows as a Service (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Eponymous Coward ( 6097 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @02:31PM (#52601155)

      I think they want everybody on Windows 10 to entice developers. If you are going to write a Windows application, they want you to target Windows 10 and their universal platform. Until they get a big enough number of users there, it's a pretty tough argument to make.

      If that's true, then I think they are damaging their brand for nothing. Other than games there's just not a lot of interesting things happening in Windows for mainstream consumers anymore. Windows is most interesting for business users and Microsoft has shown that they aren't willing to accept that yet.

    • Not sure I like this.

      It amuses the hell out of me! :) But I run Linux, so for me it is just a sideshow.

      • It's nearly a slideshow for me too. I use my Android phone for nearly everything. I do have Windows 10 computers, but rarely use them.

        I wonder how many users out there technically "have" Windows 10 devices, but for all intents and purposes are just desk ornaments pushed aside by Android or IOS?

    • Not sure I like this.

      I'm sure I don't like it.
      To quote the politician guy on Naboo in Phantom Menace when they're talking about the talks breaking down with the Trade Federation:
      "It's Outrageous!"

  • Is it feasible to block Cortana with the router? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mark-t ( 151149 ) <markt.nerdflat@com> on Thursday July 28, 2016 @02:15PM (#52601009) Journal
    is there a way to configure openwrt to give an ip address of 127.0.0.1 or something for the reuests that come through?

    • IIRC there was something posted a while back about these programs ignoring the hosts file, dunno if they always do a DNS lookup or if there is a hard coded IP/name set in the actual code.

      If spoofing the DNS doesn't work, you'll need to do something in the firewall part of your router, either to deny connections to whatever IP or subnet(s) it uses or something else.

    • I followed these instructions and stopped lots of the telemetry, as far as i know, by blocking all the listed I.P. addresses in my router. http://www.dslreports.com/foru... [dslreports.com] i'm happy to be corrected by someone more knowledgable!
    • Yes. Put it in your DNS and block port 53 outbound to other DNS servers.

  • ... and you thought you owned your computer. (Score:3)

    by QuietLagoon ( 813062 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @02:16PM (#52601027)
    Microsoft is slowly but, apparently, surely removing the control of your computer from you and giving it to Microsoft.

    .
    Each of these pronouncements makes me even happier that I did not succumb to the Microsoft malware that tried to trick me into upgrading my Windows 7 PCs.

    And, btw, my tally so far is one Windows computer has been converted to Linux. Now I'm starting to work on the next one.

    • Microsoft is slowly but, apparently, surely removing the control of your computer from you and giving it to Microsoft.

      Are we sure we are talking about Microsoft? Funny, I thought that was the Government's job?

      • Microsoft is slowly but, apparently, surely removing the control of your computer from you and giving it to Microsoft.

        Are we sure we are talking about Microsoft? Funny, I thought that was the Government's job?

        Is there a difference?

  • Windows 10 sucks the big one! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by oldgraybeard ( 2939809 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @02:17PM (#52601035)
    I continue to be amazed by the stupidity of Microsoft. Just when you can't believe there could be a worst version of Windows, here comes Windows 10! An invasive, poorly designed and unfit for any business use at all. I never thought I would say this but maybe Windows ME had some redeeming features after all. When compared to the turd that Windows 10 is and is morphing in to. Come on Microsoft!!!! make Windows 11 an updated, business usable Windows 7 Pro lookalike! Otherwise, I don't see how business will continue down the Microsoft road.

  • They do the same with Office 2013 & 2016.

    Anything less than the "Enterprise" branch of Office will not honor GP registry values... we learned this one the hard way. It is not well documented.

    It would appear that MS is moving toward making GP only apply to products with "Enterprise" in the title.

    Granted, GP is an enterprise feature for the most part, but the lack of any notice about these changes is kind of shitty...

    • I should further clarify that, as far as I know, retail versions of Office 2013 and 2016 still honor GP registry values. It is the Office365 versions that are crippled in this way unless you go with an enterprise tier.

      • Yes, you are correct, and I would like to add that what MS has done with O365, and continues to do with their OS is beyond the pale for scumbaggery.
        I have to support all this in the Enterprise, but at home its Linux.
        I cannot emphasize enough to people to GTF away from Windows 10, and stay away.
        Utter garbage.
    • Actually, removing significant functionality from an already sold product is more then shitty. It is illegal.
  • One benefit of waiting until the last minute is that I get to see all this come out before I clicked that accept button. Now I'll definitely stick with Windows 7 until the end.

    Before I get roasted for even having Windows 7 or thinking of upgrading.. 99% of my PC use is for playing games.. I'm sure there are ways to get some of them working on Linux but I'm past that part of my life where I enjoy fiddling with computers as a hobby.

  • Every anniversary they'll disable something else. Eventually you won't even be able to save files locally. And everyone will cheer because "it's now ALL in the cloud."

    The concept of "your" data will become as obsolete as "your" computer.

    • The concept of "your" data will become as obsolete as "your" computer.

      Then "You/Me/I/Us" go away as well, to ostensibly reside in a cloud somewhere...

  • Was thinking along the lines of getting the free upgrade.

    I am in the process of reverting the two machines I had already upgraded back to Windows 7. Regrets, and hope Windows 10 spys are eliminated. In not, I can always install from media again, as both were clean licenses (not OEM crapware) I bought myself. Not much lost even if I have to format and reinstall, as the primary apps used are Word, Powerpoint, Chrome, and VMWare and I have good backups of all data as standard practice. Will actually probably

    • Kept windows 10 for more than 30 days so now will have to format and reinstall. Probably better that way anyway.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by SeaFox ( 739806 )

      I am in the process of reverting the two machines I had already upgraded back to Windows 7. Regrets, and hope Windows 10 spys are eliminated. In not, I can always install from media again, as both were clean licenses (not OEM crapware) I bought myself.

      The spyware was backported to Windows Vista and above as system updates. If if you use a retail install disc you will have to block those updates from being applied afterwards.

  • So glad I missed out (Score:3)

    by wonkey_monkey ( 2592601 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @02:48PM (#52601347) Homepage

    I was going to upgrade, just to see what it was like. First I tried to take a clone of hard drive, but somehow, during that process, my motherboard died and so I was without my laptop while it got repaired. In the meantime I'd heard a f ewhorror stories about Windows 10 so I decided to put it off.

    Now I'm glad I completely dodged the bullet. The latest thing to angry me up about Windows 10 was when I gave my colleague a shortcut on his desktop to deactive a VPN and add a route while he's in the office, so he can route the server-to-server VPN instead. All was fine until he got home. "Did you shut down the computer [before you left the office]?" I asked. He replied in the affirmative, and that he does so every time he takes the laptop to and fro. That's when I discovered that Windows 10 doesn't actually "shut down." It logs you off and hibernates instead. This leaves stopped services stopped, and leaves added routes in place.

    • Re:So glad I missed out (Score:5, Funny)

      by Fruit ( 31966 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @04:45PM (#52602243)

      I was going to upgrade, just to see what it was like. First I tried to take a clone of hard drive, but somehow, during that process, my motherboard died and so I was without my laptop while it got repaired.

      Your computer chose death over Windows 10.

  • Need to rename the editions (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ilsaloving ( 1534307 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @03:15PM (#52601565)

    It seems to me that Microsoft needs to rename their windows editions to properly reflect the changes in feature sets:

    Windows 10 Home => Windows 10 Games and Web-browsing Only Edition
    Windows 10 Pro => Gimped But Still Somewhat Usable Edition
    Windows 10 Enterprise => We Rape Your Wallet If You Want The Same Control You Used To Enjoy with Previous Professional Editions Edition

  • In what other industry can you get away with this? (Score:5, Informative)

    by LichtSpektren ( 4201985 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @03:36PM (#52601781)
    You need to buy 500 Windows Enterprise licenses at minimum, so what legal way are you supposed to get these spliced-out features back without owning a corporation?

    In what other industry can you get away with this?

    Imagine if you bought a car with power steering, and one day you go out for a drive to find it's been disabled; you have to upgrade to a premium car to get it back, and you can only do that if you buy 499 other cars at the same time.

  • With Win10, can't turn off the microphone.... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Fencepost ( 107992 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @03:41PM (#52601817) Journal
    I have a couple of ThinkPads that I use, one of which (T510) I upgraded to Windows 10 as my less-used guinea pig system. Very obvious post-install: the hardware Mute button (with its LED indicator) no longer worked under Windows 10.

    That's not creepy at all, now is it? At least I can sticker over the cameras except if I'm doing a videoconference.

  • Future anniversary updates (Score:5, Interesting)

    by WaffleMonster ( 969671 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @04:52PM (#52602305)

    You must watch a 30 second ad before logging into your computer

    Unless purchasing enterprise edition you will not be able to run more than 4 programs at a time.

    For your safety all software not signed and approved by Microsoft will no longer execute.

    For your safety UWP sideloading is no longer offered. You agree all side loaded software and associated data will be automatically deleted.

    To help improve customer experience your screen and key presses will be mirrored to Microsoft.

    Windows requires Internet access for real-time exfiltration of telemetry to Microsoft and any government or intelligence agency willing to pay. Windows will no longer function without Internet access. If Internet access is interrupted windows will be suspended until access is restored.

    Unless you have purchased Enterprise edition all Network data transfers are limited to the lower of 10mbit/s or 5 concurrent TCP session.

    Unless you purchase Enterprise edition desktop resolution is reduced by 1/3rd. Full screen applications no longer function. The non desktop area is used to display personalized ads 24x7 based on analysis of screen mirroring to Microsoft.

    Windows calculator now displays 5 second ads after every addition or subtraction operation, 10 second ads after multiplication or division and 15 second ads when any trigonometric or exponential function is used.

    Registry editor, disk manager, device manager, group policy, firewall and certificate manager are no longer available for use.

    It is no longer possible to login with a local user account. All accounts must be created and managed from Microsoft service.

    All local storage will now be automatically wiped, all your data and software uploaded to Microsoft and drives repurposes as encrypted data caches which you will not have access to. You agree all your data is now owned by Microsoft and you grant an irrevocable license to monetize it however they want. If you don't agree you will no longer be able to login to your computer or access your data.

    To login to Windows for your safety and security your web cam and microphone must be enabled and pointed at you at all times when using computer. If web cam is switched off or blocked your computer will no longer function for your safety.

    All network communications even local communications with other computers on your network will now be routed thru Microsoft servers and analyzed for targeted advertising. Copies will auctioned off to anyone willing to pay for it. If you do not agree to these terms networking will be disabled. When networking is disabled windows will no longer have Internet connection and therefore it too will be disabled. All local disk storage is encrypted with a key you don't have and therefore you will permanently lose all access to everything until such time as you agree to our new terms.

    Windows now requires monthly payments to use Microsoft services. If you do not agree to pay monthly fee you will not be able to access Microsoft services. This means you won't be able to login to your computer and access any of your data until such time as you agree to pay.

  • Trying so hard to fail in a market they dominate (Score:5, Insightful)

    by xeno ( 2667 ) on Thursday July 28, 2016 @09:42PM (#52603967)

    Reality check:

    TL;DR: Older geek, former windows guy struggling to GAF. Moved on.

    I'm on a plane, using a Chromebook to browse the web and post here, because chromebooks get free GoGo service on a dozen flights a year. Gotta pay $15 to use Windows. If I flip the keyboard back, people mistake it for an iPad, kinda sexy looking, fun to use, not Windows. I get 14hrs per charge from a device that literally cost less than a Windows license by itself. Win10 provides an ok switchable touch-or-type experience, but it's not as mature. (The distinctive principles behind recent MS Office UI seem to be "waste space on your small screen" and "guess if this is clickable". Jerks.)

    In another couple tabs, I have my work's Office365 open -- outlook, calendar, a word doc, and I can see edits in onenote as one of my guys updates it a continent away. It's clunky compared to Google Apps at my last company, but it totally eliminates any compatibility issues re MSOffice files. Work just gave me a mac, and to be honest its just a different way to launch a browser, so I left it home as well. (Hmm. Onenote is nicer than Keep, but it's basically a direct copy of Lotus Organizer... 20 years ago...20!!. Funny. ) I kinda miss Visio.

    In my bag is a nice ultrabook running Mint 18, which is super stable and runs shockingly faster than Win10 on the same system.This weekend's project is scanning a couple thousand pages of family documents, and I can't bring a Windows laptop with me because the windows software for the hi-end scanner is an unstable clusterf*ck on WIn7/8 and Win10 simply doesn't recognize the device at all. Tried diff hw; it's the OS. I don't have hours to waste making this crap work on WIndows when it just works on Linux (Simplescan and XSane both worked perfectly with no jiggery-pokery at all). Same for numerous storage, wireless, input, a/v and other devices; I end up trying to fix Windows Update's wrong or borked drivers, when stuff just works on Linux. I find the reversal over the past decade pretty funny-not-funny.

    I have backups at home on external systems, some with NTFS and some with EXT4. The kids asked me to buy a consumer media server a while back, and then we pulled the drives when the p/s died. Surprise, surprise, EXT3. Why would I screw around with Windows when it can't read half of my media drives and most of the IOT devices out there?

    Bing? Oh please, I worked in Redmond for years, and tried hard to like them, but Microsoft simply can't get its collective shit together regarding search quality. Duckduckgo gives better results without the stalking behavior and implied-consent analysis. Win10 sending filesystem hashes back to the mothership without consent (or an ability to turn it off now) is creepy and rude. Even my kids were creeped out by the Xbox1 camera kerfuffle, and said they would rather have steam accounts and a badass theater projector+sound setup. So the old Xbox360 went to Goodwill. Want a cheap xbox and kinect?-- head over to the thrift store.

    Cortana? Not as good as Android voice search. Doesn't work on my phone. Doesn't work on my recent stupid-toy-smartwatch. Doesn't remotely replace a voicerec program like Dragon, which I still used occasionally until recently. But then the goog rolled out voicerec on Chrome, which gives me an excellent voice input into Docs and decent nav experience on this here Chromebook. Super convenient, just works.

    I'm struggling to find any reason why I care about Windows at all. Except I kinda miss Visio. And now they want to prevent me from turning off the WIndows App Store and the "Consumer Experience" that sends oodles of inappropriate data back to them? I just don't care anymore, but they're like the loudest guy at a party -- just waiting for him to leave.

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