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Windows 11 Will Display Watermark If Your PC Does Not Support AI Requirements (tomshardware.com) 94

Posted by msmash from the cringe-behavior dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: With Windows 11 24H2 all geared up to have AI-intensive applications, Microsoft has added a code that will warn you if your PC does not meet the hardware requirements, according to code dug up by Twitter/X sleuth Albacore. The warning will be displayed as a watermark so you know that you cannot use certain AI-powered built-in apps because of an unsupported CPU.
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Windows 11 Will Display Watermark If Your PC Does Not Support AI Requirements More

Windows 11 Will Display Watermark If Your PC Does Not Support AI Requirements

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  • As always, the first question (Score:5, Insightful)

    by hackertourist ( 2202674 ) on Friday April 26, 2024 @09:49AM (#64427196)

    for any new "feature" MS comes up with: How can we switch it off?

    • for any new "feature" MS comes up with: How can we switch it off?

      Install another operating system and acquainted with Wine?

    • InControl controls Windows automatic updating/upgrading system by targeting it to a specific major version and feature update release. By default, the current release will be used. So if you âoeTake Controlâ with the major version and feature release shown in the boxes in the lower left, Windows will remain right where it is â" only installing monthly security updates â" until you âoeRelease controlâ.

      https://www.grc.com/incontrol.... [grc.com]

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by jslaff ( 881873 )
      I can see how AI itself could be useful in some specialized fields, especially medicine, but the few times I've used server-side AI it's been little more than a hyped-up search engine. I truly don't see what any user who is the least bit literate (which is a point) needs it on the CPU running their home computer.
    • Iâ(TM)m still enjoying my i7-4790k that keeps windows 11 off my PC entirely. It was probably one of best tech investments I ever made.

      I donâ(TM)t know what Iâ(TM)ll do when windows 10 support ends.

      • I was relieved when the Windows 11 Checker came back and said one of my special-purpose PCs "couldn't upgrade to Win 11" because of the hardware.

        Me: Excellent, thank you.

      • I just turn off the TPM in the BIOS on modern machines to stop the automatic upgrade to Win11.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by msk ( 6205 )

        My i7-4790K system started out as a Hackintosh. Now it runs Devuan. As noted elsewhere in these comments, I run the games I want to run via Lutris and Steam.

        I've replaced disks and the video card in the nearly ten years I've used it. Otherwise it's as it was, and works fine.

    • Install Linux
      • I was going to do this until Linux distros starting forcing people to accept Snap and Flatpak. No I won't jump through hoops anymore to remove stuff like this; I used to but I am old and tired of having to fix shit just to get a minimally acceptable OS... it's why I went back to Windows to begin (second) with. So Now I am forced to bite the bullet and pay for a Mac.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by msk ( 6205 )

          Devuan doesn't force me to accept Snap, Flatpak, or systemd.

          I run the games I want to run via Lutris and Steam, the latter two installed from maintained .deb repos.

          I use Cinnamon for my desktop environment. It's not fancy, and mostly just works.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dddux ( 3656447 )

      Exactly. I left Windows for Linux 10-ish years ago when W8 was released, thinking "this is going nowhere". I actually thought Windows 7 was bad enough. :)))

      Now I install Windows here and there for fun, usually some superlite or compact version, just out of curiosity, and when you think "this is going nowhere" Microsoft finds a way to surprise you again with even worse things. I recently installed W10 compact version for a friend, version 22H2 with '23 updates and saw ads being served in the system tray! Yes

  • I don't want any AI (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 ) on Friday April 26, 2024 @09:54AM (#64427208)
    And I don't want to see any watermarks, either.

  • Oh for crying out loud. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by nightflameauto ( 6607976 ) on Friday April 26, 2024 @09:55AM (#64427214)

    This warning serves no purpose other than creating more tech-junk. If someone wants to use install or use an AI feature, that would be the time to warn them their hardware doesn't support said feature. Putting a display notice, from a software update that will be shoved out to anybody running Windows 11, is only going to make the panic-monkeys that think they need every last ounce of power throw away perfectly usable systems in order to get "support" for features they probably aren't using anyway.

    I know PC sales have slowed down since we hit a point where new generations aren't really giving us that much more than previous generations. That said, I don't think the "solution" to that is to force-feed yet more hardware to the scrapyards.

    Microsoft could make a killing at this point if they decided to release a somewhat more expensive version of Windows without all the crippleware, full-screen ads, and tracking enabled. Why can't the OS just be an OS? Stay out of the way and let us do what we need to do with the system. Stop telling us we aren't compliant with Microsoft's "we own your soul" vision. We don't care. We just want to use our god damned computer to get our work done, play a game, or surf the web.

    • Unfortunately this is the logical conclusion of letting Microsoft dominate desktop computing for a generation and investing too much in software that relies on proprietary data formats. There isn't much effective competition for many of the users who are still using a Windows desktop, because they're locked in by whatever Windows-only software they still rely on. Those who could jump ship to mobile devices, games consoles, Apple desktop or Linux probably already have.

    • Microsoft does this periodically to drive sales for their OEMs. It's why Vista was so dog slow. It was literally meant to sell more hardware. It's not a bug, it's a feature.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Targon ( 17348 )
      Sales have slowed down because the normal upgrade cycle for the general public was disrupted by Covid-19, and due to Intel not making new chips that make people want to upgrade(and the general public still not knowing about AMD). Remember in 2020 all those jobs suddenly made people work from home, and that made a lot of people suddenly upgrade their computers. The normal upgrade cycle is 4-5 years or so between computer purchases, so from 2020 to 2024 or 2020 to 2025 would be the cycle. Garbage machin

    • You want to own your computer?

      Use Linux. It is the only option left.

      • Not really. You're forced to accept Snap and Flatpak. No, jacking around removing it is not an appropriate option.
        • I've been on Linux since the '90s and haven't so much as encountered Snap or Flatpak.

          You must have chosen a distro that was wrong for you. I've been on Fedora since RedHat spun it off, but that's mainly an inertial choice and may not be right for others. But Linux is certainly not restrictive in that way.

    • is only going to make the panic-monkeys that think they need every last ounce of power throw away perfectly usable systems in order to get "support" for features they probably aren't using anyway.

      DING DING DING! By George, I think they've got folks! /s

      Of course it will, that's the entire point of the watermark. To make the user feel uncomfortable, so they'll go shovel out some more money to Microsoft's Partners.

      This kind of practice should be illegal, as it's a border line racketeering scam, but of course it's Microsoft's computer, you just use it under a perpetual lease agreement, so you have no rights to assert here. We should be glad we don't have to drink a verification can just to watch th

    • The reason is they want people on copilot. Never mind that the previous assistant was supposed to be ai already but the ai department burnt so much money they try to get users on it.

  • Somehow I picture this as a scarlet letter "A" taking up at least a quarter of the screen real estate.
  • Linux made it waterproof, now to figure out a way to make it coffee_proof

    • ThinkPad used to put drain holes in the keyboard in case you spilled drinks.

      • used to

        Damnit you're right, I just checked both my T14's and no drain holes.

        It's too bad, on my older units that system really worked. The liquid hosed the keyboard but the rest of it was fine.

  • badge of honor (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Osgeld ( 1900440 ) on Friday April 26, 2024 @10:04AM (#64427244)

    I dont want AI bullshit shoved down my throat

  • Why? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SuperDre ( 982372 ) on Friday April 26, 2024 @10:12AM (#64427258) Homepage
    Maybe I'm just getting too old for this sht, but why would I need AI features in my windows environment? What can it do for me when using windows? I mean, I never even use ChatGPT, but that's online, so no need to have integrated into my windows. Even as a developer I still don't use co-pilot or things like it.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Calydor ( 739835 )

      And why would a 'normal' CPU not be able to do all of these things anyway, just a little slower?

    • Maybe I'm just getting too old for this sht, but why would I need AI features in my windows environment?

      That's because we are all peasants in the eyes of Microsoft. You don't need AI for anything really. MS needs AI to gather data on everything you are doing so they can sell that data. Remember, Windows is not the product and you are the customer. Your data is the product and MS partners are the customers.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Indeed. Microsoft needs to die. The sooner, the better.

        • Killing Microsoft is a difficult task, as they are so huge and wealthy and established. Fortunately, there is a company that is demonstrating that it is willing to spend the huge sums and put in the massive effort to destroy microsoft. Ironically, that company is also microsoft.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gtall ( 79522 )

        MS doesn't need AI for telemetry. My take is they saw the AI/ML thing and decided that could put a hole in their alleged software. They probably could not explain how it would do that, but the paranoid have everything to fear.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Luthair ( 847766 )
      It looks like you're writing a resume - Clippy

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      If you need to ask... oh, wait.

      Yep, same here. Do not need, do not want, keep that crap away from me.

    • Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ChunderDownunder ( 709234 ) on Friday April 26, 2024 @12:09PM (#64427686)

      Data centers cost money.

      Tricking the consumer into running these language models on their PC reduces the electricity bills in the cloud.

      • Tricking the consumer into running these language models on their PC

        2024 people. The idea that doing something locally without a cloud is suddenly a nefariously "tricking the consumer".

        God I miss the days I was tricked.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Junta ( 36770 )

          Now the real trick is when they engineer it so that:
          -Your local device is doing all the 'real' work
          -Still needs to somehow 'check in' with a cloud service to keep it from actually working standalone, to preserve the cloud lockin.

          But broadly, I agree that 'off cloud' is a fantastic direction, but I'm pessimistic enough to presume they'll still somehow lock it to a cloud service anyway.

  • Will that bring the year of Linux on desktop?

    I guess anyone who can afford will just buy a new, better, compliant computer... a computer compliant with the last MacOS.

  • An operating system's primary function should be to run uaer applications with minimal overhead. Not a tech demo to glorify M$

  • So are these boosted minimum requirements the previous boosted minimum requirements, or did they just now pull a new set of minimum requirements out of their asses again? I lose track since they started changing shit mid-version. Might as well just buy a new computer and throw it directly in the trash these days.

    So what exactly CPU features is it that this glorious AI shit needs? ... Right, there isn't any actual CPU feature.

    And what does this AI shit give me anyway? ... Right nothing anyone wants or needs.

  • Most office PC's used in business aren't going to be used for AI. They're for users running in house software, word processing, web browsing, accounting and other mundane business tasks. How is AI going to increase a worker's productivity typing out a memo?

    For home users, using AI for little Johnny's term paper will just get him an F.

    MS needs to release a non-AI version for just plain workloads.

    • Re:Why? Are they afraid they'll miss the boat? (Score:4, Funny)

      by WaffleMonster ( 969671 ) on Friday April 26, 2024 @01:38PM (#64428012)

      Most office PC's used in business aren't going to be used for AI. They're for users running in house software, word processing, web browsing, accounting and other mundane business tasks. How is AI going to increase a worker's productivity typing out a memo?

      Prompt: Please rewrite the following words and ideas into professional statements: attn all printer broke cuz some dipshit tried to print on plastic cards, don't b dumb and do that shit. go to kinkos till fixed.

      Attention all: Our printer is currently out of service due to misuse by an individual who attempted to print on plastic cards. We kindly request that no one else try this, as it may further damage the equipment. We recommend visiting Kinkos until our printer has been repaired. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

  • I'm going to quote a comment I posed on another Windows story:

    I've been saying for years, to paraphrase: “Windows 11 is an ad delivery service, given away as shareware.”, this new Microsoft BS, takes that statement and doubles down on it. Windows 11, or Windows in general, is meant to be an Operating System, which means after installing it, I should only have enough tools and applications to get going. Anything else is my responsibility, including making sure I have the licenses I need to use the products.

    Go and grab a professional Operating System like Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, Solaris, FreeBSD, or several others and install them, what do you notice? What you'll notice is that bloat, and the crap, are gone. When I open the application's selector in Gnome 46 on Fedora 40, what don't I see? I don't see Ads, I don't see links to download applications with privacy abuse records that make North Korea smile, I just don't see garbage. I might see LibreOffice installed, I'll see some default applications that range from good to “why, I guess.”, but I don't see useless, pointless, nonsense crap.

    To paraphrase another quote I say often: “Windows is for people who pretend to do work, Linux / Unix are for people who have to get work done.” Microsoft keeps position Windows as the OS for laughs and to be discredited, and it's discredited, it's one step away from door knocking to explain it's a child predator (and it is a predator of children).

    So Ads + AI = Two things that shouldn't be in an operating system by default! If I want to install all the flashy stupid nonsense AI crap, let me, but no one trying to get serious work done is ever going to use that shit. AI is a joke, it's in its infancy, and miles away from anything you might think of using in a professional setting for professional work.

  • Without the required features, that version isn't even supposed to boot up, according to the article, so the watermark won't appear unless you trick the OS into running on unsupported hardware. Non-story.

  • Yet another validation for my ditching Windows. Thank you Microsoft for affirming my path is divine.

  • Requirements (Score:5, Interesting)

    by slack_justyb ( 862874 ) on Friday April 26, 2024 @10:56AM (#64427390)

    Analysis by others seems to point out that the most fundamental requirement will be SSE 4.2 and the popcnt SSE instruction specifically, paired with the most fundamental requirement being TPM 2.0/Secure boot this is basically any CPU in the last six years or so (rough estimate there), but that's mostly the TPM requirement holding you back. SSE 4.2 is about 12 (? I think I didn't look up the age, I'm just guessing here) years old in CPUs, I think the standard is 15 years old. Anyway, the bare minimum requirement in this story is a nothing burger. More importantly is the fact that Microsoft is still going whole hog with AI integration which sucks. If you didn't have the bare minimum requirement, you weren't running Windows 11 to begin with (without hacking the OS to work). But clearly, they're gearing up to make cloud+AI in their OS an absolute requirement be it you like that or not. I think that's the bigger story.

  • I will definitely do away with all windows systems I can when Win10 goes out of support. In addition, I do not need an artificial idiot in my systems. There are enough natural idiots around already.

  • Windows 11 is already a hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside of a train wreck anyway. AI will damage it further and its quest to become more of an advertising platform rather than in operating system continues. It's only a matter of time before a windows emulation layer on top of Linux or BSD starts taking users away simply by doing the basics of what an operating system is supposed to do... well. (Which Windows doesn't actually do anymore.) Your "fancy auto-correct" copilot will eventually show it's

  • Was best known as the album that included the hit track Orinoco Flow

    Sail away, Sail away, Sail away

  • Based on Microsoft's history it would be crap

    Win XP = good
    Vista = Crap
    Win 7 = good
    Win 8 = crap
    Win 10 = good

    So when is Win 12 coming out?

    • Problem is, while you are correct that it cycles from bad to good, every bad is way worse than the bad versions before it, thus every good is worse than the good versions before it, they are 'good' simply because they aren't as bad as the most recent bad.

      So Windows Vista is better than Windows 8. Thus Windows 10 isn't as good as Windows 7, it's just better than Windows 8.

      and at this point, I really feel Vista is better than 11.

      • XP was the best Windows IMO.
        2000 was good too, but not for games. Same for the NTs.

        The DOS branch (9x and earlier) was iffy though.

  • Every colleague ridiculed me for switching to Linux.

  • I'm caught between scorn and pity (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Big Hairy Gorilla ( 9839972 ) on Friday April 26, 2024 @12:58PM (#64427852)
    There are options, but nobody wants to take their medicine. The world of software went from logic, back when only us in our ivory tower ran things, to emotion now that literally everyone thinks they know better. The emotion that wins everytime is fear, and Microsoft knows it. They will stick their finger up your ass on the next update, but they are still going to do it, and you're going to take it. You're not going to love it.. but you'll never do anything. Unh unh. Nope. You're too scared ... that you might not be able to access that email you wrote once in the 1990s.. and that powerpoint that you're so proud of... and NO.Stop it right now. You don't need access to that email or that powerpoint. Also, don't be retarded: never use powerpoint.

    PEOPLE! Libre office is fucking bug compatible with MSO. Stop saying it isn't good enough. You never needed a dump truck to deliver a kleenex... but you've been convinced that you need that MS dumpster fire because you are a. Fearful, and b. LAZY.

    I've converted and support several (smaller) offices to use 100% open source. It's fucking compatible. The differences are trivial. You're idiots. Keep paying thru the nose and complaining that there aren't alternatives. I haven't paid a license fee in close to 20 years. You don't have to either. Stop being so fucking stupid and lazy.

    You completely deserve that.

    • ... MS dumpster fire ...

      MS had the money to buy the parts it needed and create an office suite better integrated and more powerful than its competitors. It made Windows, so it was the first to market a multi-tasking version of its office-suite. That made it an industry standard so people had to go and learn how to navigate it's 4-menu (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access) system. That created stickiness: Businesses asked for MS know-how because that's what they had and because that's what people already knew. While no-one teaches

  • It's only applies to Insider builds and has already been removed.

  • Let's add some turds to the dumpster fire, it's not like it matters anymore anyway.

  • there hasn't been a single use case for ai on my desktop pc yet.

  • I mean, slashdot is supposed to be a website where nerds hang out. You'd think they would be a little more into AI, what it can and can't do, what it's good for, how to hack it, and so on. I personally find it quite useful. What kind of self-respecting tech nerd wouldn't find AI at least somewhat interesting?

  • Thanks, Microsoft, for making my life even more frustrating. All I use my personal PC for is playing simulation games and writing my daily mental health journal. At least that "Microsoft Office 2010 is too old, you need to upgrade" banner went away.

  • Just like scumbag anti-virus company, Microsoft is delivering scare-ware to scare their users into buying something they don't need.

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