Now when trying to activate the OS by attempting to call the phone number for Microsoft Product Activation, an automated voice response says the following: "Support for product activation has moved online.
Linux is this way, guys.
This alone is enough for me, to consider Windows a bad choise.
I’ve said that line so many times.
For me its that and the other 20 reasons. :)
I would note that every single time I’ve tried to reactivate windows after a mobo or CPU upgrade, it has failed.
I guess it’s supposed to work better if you sign into your Microsoft account ever, which I don’t, because I see literally no reason they would need me to expect to advance spyware and adware.
The phone activation is the only thing that has worked. Good thing I’ve been dual booting a Ubuntu fork for the past six months. I guess after my next hardware upgrade I’ll be Linux only.
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Remember when you activated software with a key on the back of the CD case?
FCKGW?
How did you get MY key?!
I remember key generators… :)
Never had any luck with those to say the least…
I think today, maybe they dont work. But I was using them in the 90s and 2000s, they were great and had music and graphics and everything, coded in pure assembly. :)
I remember awesome multi keygens for groups of titles by one publisher. Good times 😁.
I never used the one on the CD case, I just used all ones. Or 123451234512345, etc. for Windows 98.
This is the dumbest decision for one reason alone: some laptops and desktops that lack updated drivers cannot connect to the internet.
It literally happened to me with a lenovo laptop, where I had to find a way to bypass the internet requirement or else I’d have a $800 paperweight.
If I didn’t need Windows for a specific reason I’d be on Linux, believe me. But this decision is ridiculous.
I don’t see how this particular thing is an issue. You don’t need to activate Windows during the setup. You can skip activation, update the driver, and then activate windows afterwards
I think the real problem is setting up Windows without a Microsoft account?
or use your phone or any other device to get the activation key.
To all Linux users. Help out the new ones, explain calmly and make them feel welcome so that they can contribute back later too.
“What else can we do that’s hostile to our customers?”
The next move will be bringing back Clippy and then a full-screen ad that you have to dismiss every ten seconds.
And with that any chance I’ll ever buy a Microsoft product ever again.
It was only a matter of time. Surprised it took this long.
My last Windows will officially be the Win10 IOT I have installed in a Virtual Box, just so I can run a couple of little programs that aren’t available for Linux, and don’t work in Wine.
I had a copy of windows Xp that I used to call to get activated.
The moment I needed Microsoft’s permission to use my computer after installing a graphics card, I made an image of the drive, wiped it and installed a Linux distribution. That was 2008, and I’ve been a very happy computer user since.
I know not everyone can make that switch, but it’s easier than ever before, and Valve has really changed the calculus with Proton. Gaming was the biggest thing holding back Linux adoption (IMO).
I’ve gone back and forth between Linux and Windows as my daily driver- biggest problem for me was and still is lack of Adobe Creative Cloud support/good photo editors. Wound up switching to Mac for work stuff but use a SteamDeck and run Bazzite on a gaming rig hooked up to TV.
All we need for the year of the linux desktop is Adobe, Autodesk and Outlook :)
There are offline environments that cannot do it online, this is bullshit. Working with critical infrastructure in OT networks, Microsoft is basically saying that Windows should not be used anymore in those.
Problem is that OT is full of legacy shit, so switching to Linux is more easily said than done.
I have the same struggles, Amen!
You could always just install Linux Mint and then install the Mint XP theme. No Microsoft Account required.
I’d switch off windows but most of the games I play won’t work on Linux due to “anti cheat”.
Not judging, just curious.
What games are those? In the last 12 months I tried 151 games on Linux. All of them worked, only 6 required tinkering.
The fact they mentioned “anti cheat”, it’s going to be your modern online multiplayer games. It’s going to be games like Fortnite, PUBG, Call of Duty, Battlefield, etc.
I recently found a neat list of games that don’t work due to Anti-Cheat:
https://areweanticheatyet.com/
So it’s probably one of the ~700 games.
Not the original commenter, but for me it’s Arc Raiders. I’m a fan of extraction shooters and have been messing with the idea of fully switching to Linux and ditching microslop completely, aaaaaaand then Arc Raiders was released
i’m a linux gamer and can personally confirm arc raiders works on my machine 👍
Arc Raiders
Arc Raiders has Platinum status on Linux, meaning it works extremely well under Linux. What problem are you having with it?
I’ve come to terms with the fact that i just won’t play those games. There are just too many wonderful games out there that do run perfectly well under linux. Does help that most of my gaming buddies think the same. Definitely a challenge when your entire friend group is hooked in those kinda games
Then enjoy windows (unfortunately). You have no other option unless you buy those games again on a Xbox or PlayStation console.
To hell with Microslop.
People need to have some dignity. When an OS becomes an ant-privacy ad serving platform first and foremost, it’s time to ditch it!
My newest computer came with Windows 11. I ran it for a few weeks and wiped it and installed Bazzite Linux. I have had virtually no issues and honestly it’s been a fantastic experience.
I do have an older laptop running Win 10 for a handful of programs that I haven’t figured out how to get to work under Linux yet, but it’s just a matter of time.
What softwares? Sometimes there are good alternatives for them.
“official”
Good thing I am no longer on it. Going forward if I ever get a new laptop I am going to setup linux mint (or another distro) on it right away, thus activating it without it. Being connected to the internet in the first place.
Btw for anonymity it is critical. While it will never make it anonymous, they want you to connect to the internet for your activation so they can register your device and the ID you used to sign up for it.
By bypassing all that they won’t immediately know who owned it through whatever machine IDs computers have on them.
By bypassing all that they won’t immediately know who owned it through whatever machine IDs computers have on them.
There’s probably enough redundancy in such possibilities to track you not to care about this particular thing technically .
It’s just an insult to the user and they are assholes, dealing with assholes is a bad sign similar to black cats crossing your path. Don’t deal with assholes.
No need to explain this technically, you might think it’s better, but you are implicitly supporting the idea that without hard proof it’s fine that they are doing all those weird things. It’s not, you don’t have to prove anything. They are assholes, don’t deal with them, don’t keep taking insults. Simple.
That’s why I said ‘they won’t immediately know’ I never said they will never know or never have that information. The way how the system works today is that the best thing that can be done is try to be noise in the system than anonymous.
Wouldn’t doing anything harder than usual be a flag about you then?
