Unofficial Windows 11 requirements bypass tool allows disabling all AI features

https://www.neowin.net/news/unofficial-windows-11-requirements-bypass-tool-now-allows-you-to-disable-all-ai-features/

by pinewurst • 11 months ago

220 172 11 months ago

neowin.net

svl7• 11 months ago

Link to repo as the article fails to even mention it: https://github.com/builtbybel/Flyby11

fireflymetavrse• 11 months ago

Allowing this on Github means that Microsoft silently approve it?

xeonmc• 11 months ago

mas is on github too

ChrisNorstrom• 11 months ago

I'm honestly still shocked there isn't some kind of lawsuit or federal investigation on how Microsoft is able to get away with dropping support for CPUs that are only a few years old. Thus forcing unknown millions of people worldwide to upgrade an ENTIRE CPU and Motherboard just for the next version of Windows. What are we supposed to do with all that e-waste?! People who spent thousands on a 32 core threadripper from 5 years ago are now suppose to just... throw it away and buy another 32 core threadripper?!

None of the 7 computers in our house have processors that are supported. Just the AMD Threadripper 2000 series and earlier that launched in 2018 (just 7 years ago) are not supported. That's a massive amount of CPUs about to hit ebay probably at huge discounts.

I'm hoping the Linux community takes advantage of this moment and focuses heavily on converting Windows users to Linux + Bottles.

rolph• 11 months ago

I'm honestly still shocked how much of this malarchy users will just lay down for.

the way MS gets away with it is by making people think they have no other choice.

sixtyj2• 11 months ago

This.

The worst death is from fright. So let’s keep calm. Because Win 10 will work after October 2025.

nickjj• 11 months ago

I wonder if MS will extend the deadline, especially since there's unofficial tools bypassing their restrictions.

I remember last year when they announced removing a major MS Teams connector around webhook integrations.

In July 2024 they said in August 2024 this feature would be disabled for new apps and then in October 2024 all integrations would stop working. This would effectively break a ton of 3rd party integrations. Think how crazy that is considering their top market is enterprise companies being sold on Teams through O365 licenses.

For context, this would be the equivalent of Slack saying they are going to remove all OAuth / webhook integrations and replace it with something else when "something else" wasn't even properly documented with practically no notice.

A few weeks after that announcement MS decided to extend that deadline to December 2025. I don't know the current state of things since I no longer work at the place using Teams.

ta685714• 11 months ago

That's me, I stayed on Win 7 at home out of principle against enshittification. Worked as beautifully as ever for light browsing and gaming. Then Chrome support stopped, including Steam. Can't upgrade any Electron app, either. Still holding out but soon I'll relegate it into a box running under linux. Well, it had a good 30+ year run.

dbetteridge• 11 months ago

It sucks but it's not illegal? Private business has made the choice to not support a set of processors on their os.

Run Windows 10 ltsc or move to Unix or Linux if that's an issue

Aurornis• 11 months ago

If you’re talking about Threadripper 2000 series, just grab the official ISO and install it. Should work despite not being on the officially fully supported list.

I'm honestly still shocked there isn't some kind of lawsuit or federal investigation on how Microsoft is able to get away with dropping support for CPUs that are only a few years old.

There is no law that requires a company to make their new product compatible with a different company’s 7 year old hardware. I don’t know why you’d expect this to become a lawsuit or federal investigation.

dangus7• 11 months ago

I’m honestly surprised that anyone with 9+ year old hardware would want to run Windows 11 at all.

This kind of user isn’t exactly jumping on the latest Windows version. They’re going to be using Windows 10 until their hardware dies and they’ll “upgrade” when their next machine comes with the current Microsoft OS.

I personally don’t think the end of “support” for Windows 10 will have any meaning. There are too many users still using it for Microsoft to stop patching it. The “unsupported” status will only matter to companies who want to pass audits.

whyoh• 11 months ago

dropping support for CPUs that are only a few years old

Isn't it only 2017 CPUs and older? So that's at least ~9 years of free updates (free updates stop at the end of 2026 with the extension), which is frankly better than most other OSs.

If you include paid ESU updates it's at least ~11 years and if you include LTSC it's even way longer than that.

There are many things we can complain about when it comes to Windows, but I wouldn't say long term support is one of them. It's generally better than macOS or Linux distros, not to mention smartphones.

troupo2• 11 months ago

Isn't it only 2017 CPUs and older? So that's at least ~9 years of free updates (free updates stop at the end of 2026 with the extension), which is frankly better than most other OSs.

That's the indictment of the industry, not a praise for Microsoft.

SSLy• 11 months ago

Isn't it only 2017 CPUs and older?

MSFT lies to our face about not supporting Kaby Lake, except the one single CPU that was sold in Surfaces when W11 was announced. What an coincidence.

tonyhart72• 11 months ago

"Thus forcing unknown millions of people worldwide to upgrade an ENTIRE CPU and Motherboard just for the next version of Windows"

I don't know why you must come conclusion at this point, no one force you to upgrade into next version

as far as I know, when you buy windows 10 license, you tied into certain edition that would work for that edition. nothing mention next OS (in this case windows11) should backward compatible with last edition

if you think 7-8 years is bad, think how much smartphone that not receive update for years, most often that this phone didn't receive update at all

and google and apple literally making new edition of android/ios that break depedency every year

Moru• 11 months ago

Windows has always been backward compatible with old hardware. There has never been a big problem where you couldn't just upgrade to next version on the same computer. This big jump is not a good one for MS, it is locking out a lot of people that would be customers and are now getting Linux Mint instead. I have several friends that are non-techies and installed Mint on their own without any problems. No support needed even, nothing close to how they need support for Windows. They have dualboot so their old games work on Windows and everything else on Linux. Sooner or later that will be gaming on Linux and Windows never get booted again.

Krssst• 11 months ago

I don't know why you must come conclusion at this point, no one force you to upgrade into next version

Security updates are necessary and regular Windows 10 users won't get them anymore.

lloydatkinson• 11 months ago

Haven’t seen anyone mention it yet but 11 runs perfectly fine on older provided your CPU has POPCNT - which apparently was introduced in 2008.

Rufus can create a bootable USB drive with the 11 installer modified* to bypass the other artificial requirements like TPM and bypass the stupid “need internet access to force you to make a Microsoft account” requirement too.

https://rufus.ie/en/

*change some flags in the installer

userbinator3• 11 months ago

just for the next version of Windows

...which you probably didn't need either, so just refuse to upgrade and start pushing back that way.

p_ing4• 11 months ago

Those older CPUs don't support Virtualization-based Security[0] which is a significant upgrade in the Windows security posture.

[0] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/de...

everyone2• 11 months ago

Im assuming MS will always have one secret good version of windows for enterprise? Eg. I have Win 10 LTSC 2021 which runs out in 2032.. I assume when that runs out there will be some replacement good version of windows?

I also installed Linux Mint which I am trying to do as much as possible on. Its really fantastic, its crazy how it "just works".. The most intuitive and user friendly OS ive ever used.. I just do a lot of weird game and game-dev stuff that I still need Windows for.. If I didnt do that stuff I would 100% be on Mint.. And that is changing with Steam, Wine, Bottles, Proton, Lutris, the amount of stuff u cant do keeps shrinking and it keeps getting easier and easier. Most people on earth should be using Linux, it would be objectively better and easier to do everything they want to do on their computer compared to all the other popular OSes.

magic_hamster• 11 months ago

Mint is in a good place right now. I enjoy it immensely on most of my daily devices. Still stuck with MacOS for work which I lament.

guilamu2• 11 months ago

The new 'good' (more like less worst) version of Windows is Windows 11 iot ltsc. It's as clean as windows 11 gets (https://massgrave.dev/windows_ltsc_links#differences-between...).

Still, I've been using computers for 30 years and I'm starting to feel the itch to look for Linux alternatives and I'm pretty old. Change does do not comes easily to old people. This is bad for ms.

mamonoleechi• 11 months ago

If you want to switch to linux but not feeling overwhelmed at first, you can stay on windows and work with something like Virtualbox running your linux distribution of choice alongside.

You keep on testing/experimenting daily, slowly getting the hang of it one software at a time. And once you found how to do everything you have to on linux, you're just ready to switch.

majkinetor2• 11 months ago

The same. I used Linux a lot a decade ago, and all this MS mumbo jumbo with Win11 is totally disappointing and irritating, to the point that next OS will definitely be Mint. I envisioned that this might happen eventually, so I never locked in to any Windows tools, I use exclusively cross-platform tools. I live most of my OS time in powershell, vscode and firefox, so no problems there.

Constantly fighting MS irresponsible decisions makes no sense any more.

lock13• 11 months ago

Most people on earth should be using Linux

I don't think the current state of the Linux desktop is ready for that. Linux desktop still loves to show its sharp edges from time to time. Sure, I do also think most of Windows stuff now "just works" on Linux; Proton & Wine already cover a lot of "Windows-only" app I need and I only boot to Windows when I need to change some proprietary driver config.

However, I think "just works" here is different from the general population definition of "just works". HN folks probably don't even mind writing their own patches or compiling stuff for themself. But for the general population, people don't even change the default settings, let alone follow a tutorial or type in some commands on their terminal. People delegate this stuff to more "techie" people around them or dial customer support.

I don't think there will be a mass adoption of Linux desktop until this part gets ironed out or somehow everyone is forced to install Linux by their employer/school.

everyone2• 11 months ago

What would a normal person need to open terminal for though? In my recent experience with Mint I never needed it for anything normal.. eg wifi and bluetooth on laptop all just worked perfectly after install.. for installing software there is a gUI app store type thing.. for games u just install steam and it works exactly like on windows.

incone123• 11 months ago

Work issued me a Windows 11 laptop and even clicking on a window in the task bar does not reliably bring it to the front. There's sharp edges and there's wtf

anal_reactor2• 11 months ago

I've said this once because we've already had discussions "Windows bad", but I jumped ship too. My experience is different though. I installed Linux Mint - it doesn't work and it won't work. Quick search shows that Fedora KDE is the only distribution that actually supports graphics stack from current century, and doesn't have community drama around it (Ubuntu). I installed it. I keep running into weird issues like graphical glitches, devices randomly not working, shit needing fixing with complicated terminal commands, programs not behaving in expected ways, update regressions, and all the good stuff that Linux on desktop is known for. But we're definitely way closer to Linux being a working desktop system than we've ever been, and it gives me an impression that a dedicated tech-savvy person could potentially actually use it. I haven't booted into Windows for two weeks, and I think there's a decent chance I won't need in the foreseeable future.

majkinetor2• 11 months ago

Your experience with Mint is definitely discouraging.

PhilipRoman• 11 months ago

Ironically the more "user friendly" a distro is, the more issues I seem to have with it. I'm running Arch with a window manager, the only issue I ever had was a kernel regression, after which I switched to LTS.

Meanwhile whenever I had to deal with Ubuntu or other such distros, I keep getting issues in the most basic functionality even on fresh installs. Can't launch firefox, random non descriptive errors from package updates, poor device support...

IshKebab• 11 months ago

Yeah the Windows 11 IoT LTSC version is excellent. Better than Windows 10.

The UI and reliability is still generally better than Linux, although KDE is getting pretty close.

CommanderData• 11 months ago

"Works for now"

There's been many such tools for other anti-features, they eventually stop working.

Zopieux• 11 months ago

Still better than nothing. It's no secret maintainers need to play catch-up with Microsoft. This is the entire value-add of all those cool pro-consumer/user tools which use private & undocumented APIs, like yt-dlp.

picafrost• 11 months ago

There is something so fundamentally gross about Microsoft's vision of what role an operating system should serve. That there is an aftermarket of software that attempts to disable (but cannot remove!) the invasive dark patterns is alarming enough, but Microsoft may simply just... undo that, with the next unstoppable update.

Then again, this is the company that answered complaints about Windows being bad for development by embedding an OS that is good for development and calling that an innovation rather than an acknowledgement that Windows is bad.

wtallis• 11 months ago

answered complaints about Windows being bad for development by embedding an OS that is good for development and calling that an innovation

Well, they actually did it twice in recent history: WSL 1 was relatively innovative, integrating Linux application compatibility into the Windows operating system itself. But that turned out to still be bad for development because it meant Linux software was now subjected to the performance problems of the Windows IO stack. So they responded with WSL 2, an ordinary Linux VM. And separately they also introduced the "Dev Drive" feature to let you create a filesystem that bypassed the worst parts of the Windows IO stack.

AndrewDavis2• 11 months ago

WSL 1 was relatively innovative, integrating Linux application compatibility into the Windows operating system itself

Both FreeBSD and Illumos were running Linux applications (at various levels of compatibility) many years prior to wsl v1. Joyent even went as far as re-implementing the Docker api to allow running OCI images natively in LX zones. Hence, it wasn't even that novel of an idea.

dangus7• 11 months ago

This begs the question of why Microsoft doesn’t just transition Windows to being a commercial Linux distribution, especially now that Windows licenses are so much less important to Microsoft’s business than they used to be.

PeterStuer2• 11 months ago

They allow these aftermarket products to work/exist as long as they remain niche. It keeps a select audience that would have jumped ship on Windows.

The moment these 'solutions' would get mainstream traction they will be shut down.

p_ing4• 11 months ago

The ability to change the installed components or configuration of Windows via OOBE has been around since NT4, at least. These tools are nothing new nor novel; they're required for companies that want to have a custom image and removing default components is one of the more common things to do.

sneak4• 11 months ago

…except for the inconvenient fact that Windows is the most developed-for (and thus developed-on) desktop OS in the world.

Linux is catching up (mostly in gaming) but nothing comes close to the amount of engineer-hours poured into building Windows desktop apps.

immibis3• 11 months ago

It's interesting you have to hedge it with "desktop" OS and the reason that's interesting is that desktops are mostly irrelevant.

Microsoft has their niche, which is offices. This used to be the main application of computers, but now it is just a very large niche.

The overwhelming majority of computer interactions are Android clients talking to Linux servers.

linhns• 11 months ago

True. And it’s baffling to see the flak it gets on here

jmclnx2• 11 months ago

I have no opinion on Windows Apps, but as a Developer, Windows Applications gives me nothing that is better than what Linux has. In fact, for development Linux (or BSD) is what developers should use.

In fact, I was trying to convince developers at work (fortune 500 company) to move from Windows to Linux for a long time, only 1 person moved.

For a bit of cruel fun, have a Finance person use Libreoffice scalc instead of Excel. Doing that is probably the worse thing you can do to a Finance person, I think after a few days of that, they will end up in ICU.

FWIW, we were allowed to use RHEL, Fedora or Ubuntu on our workstations instead of Windows.

everdrive2• 11 months ago

This pattern is actually how I decide whether or not a piece of software is worthwhile. First Windows install, what do you do? spend an hour or so attempting to disable or remove all the junk being pushed on you and fix terrible default settings. It's been a while for me with Windows, so I haven't had to battle with the online account requirement, Onedrive, etc. But, the general pattern remains. If an OS or software is just packed with stuff that's hostile to you, then it's either got to go (Windows) or be minimized as much as as is feasible. (smartphones & apps) This is actually what turned me off Ubuntu. It's not even close to being as bad as Windows, but I realized that on a fresh install I was attempting to get rid of snaps and the "buy premium" message when running apt, and a couple of other things.

If something is being pushed on me, it's obviously bad for me, and good for the pusher.

suby• 11 months ago

I don't think the notion is always true of something being pushed on you automatically being bad for you. I agree that Windows is very user hostile, but something like mandatory updates where you cannot defer forever are good for less technical folks who, prior to this policy, were never updating and we had huge problems with botnets and malware running on people's machines. In a way it is like herd immunity where you benefit a bit from these botnet malware rings being less prominent than the past thanks to aggressive auto updates, even if you personally hate the policy and it's an annoyance to you. Or for another similar example, people going to remote parts of the world to vaccinate people to eradicate diseases like polio - things can be pushed on you, sometimes aggressively, and they can be a net benefit.

That being said, I do agree that windows is user hostile and i won't run it myself.

emeril• 11 months ago

at least for now, I just make sure that any internet connection is "metered" to avoid updates + use an LTSC build + use a bunch of winhawk + openshell to make it...usable :(

ms is def at the point of major enshitification

vivzkestrel2• 11 months ago

Microsoft should create a new windows option in addition to Home, Professional and Pro and call this one "Windows OPTIMAL" They can price this 3x if they want but it has 0 bloatware, 0 telemetry or atleast everything can be disabled at the time of installation. It is literally windows designed from the ground up for maximum performance, runs as smooth as windows 7 or xp used to back in the good old days

PeterStuer2• 11 months ago

They wont as it would be admitting their 'normal' offering is anti-consumer.

microtonal3• 11 months ago

Also, this is also the case with ad-disabling subscriptions, the people who have the disposable income to buy non-ad versions are the most interesting to a lot of advertisers.

QQ00• 11 months ago

for no telemetry and half the bloatware you can always use the enterprise version. it's also (n)x the price. there also the iot version which is more stripped down and get only security updates, no features updates or other craps.

I don't think we will ever see a new version the way you described it, the amount of information Microsoft get from spying and telemetry is so much more profitable they even gave 10/11 for free.

vivzkestrel2• 11 months ago

i want to be able to run games on it without a 100 programs running in the background. if Microsoft engineers really put their mind to it, they could create such an OS offering dedicated for gaming with literally nothing consuming your CPU and FPS except the game you are running

dijit2• 11 months ago

isn’t this IoT LTSC?

thats what i use it for, comes with no new feature updates (which is sometimes annoying as some software depends on some Windows feature updates) and you have to buy 5x licences- and its more expensive. but it works.

qwezxcrty2• 11 months ago

I just searched and it appears that contrary to what I thought, it is possible to individually acquire Windows 11 Enterprise (IoT or non-IoT) LTSC licenses from some redistributors.

The price varies a lot from suprisingly cheap ($7.7, is buykeysoft.com legit?) to a bit expensive but acceptable (~200 CHF). I'll definitely use these when I'm setting up my new desktop in the future.

xandrius3• 11 months ago

Already exists, just not to the normies.

IoT LTSC.

Works like a charm and no bloat.

closetkantian• 11 months ago

Can I run this on my laptop?

WithinReason• 11 months ago

It will also miss feature upgrades and so can be slower than the main distribution. It's probably fine if you don't play games.

hn-ifs• 11 months ago

This is what I use in a VM on my Linux host whenever I need to run something Windows.

I don't game and all my software is cross platform. Windows still has a few things I miss, programs like notepad++ (for which there's no true Linux equivalent), and portable apps (with Linux equivalents not really coming close, but understandably so).

Windows really is a broken OS solely set up for spying on users.

sandebert• 11 months ago

I have to use Windows for some things, and that's the version I have installed for that. I was a bit concerned at first, I thought I would find that some things didn't work. I've had zero issues though, highly recommend it. (No idea how it works for gaming.)

t0bia_s2• 11 months ago

LTSC Enterprise IoT. Using this for workstation for years.

Creating bootable install disc via Rufus gives you an options to set up offline account, skip secure boot requirements, skip privacy options, etc., Installation is then a matter of few clicks.

mzajc• 11 months ago

There are already some such oddities between Home and Pro; to my knowledge, Home will only allow disk encryption if you let Microsoft ""back up"" your key by signing into a Microsoft account. Pro has no such requirement.

Eddy_Viscosity2• 11 months ago

windows designed from the ground up for maximum performance

They are fundamentally incapable of doing this. The senior management are incapable of even imagining in a dream of a windows that didn't spy on its users while also forcing them to use the software managers want in the way managers want.

Even if some dev team managed to make one (it would have to be on the sly), and guerrilla marketed it, and it was a giant hit, the managers would just force all the spyware and bloat and restrictions over time. They can't help but do it.

hakfoo• 11 months ago

It would fit into the product matrix where Vista and Win7 Ultimate did: explicitly targeting enthusiasts, parts-builders and boutique shops where they want to convey that you're getting a cost-no-object build.

Or being able to sell it as an aftermarket license upgrade would be a way to get more revenue from people who were otherwise going to ride an OEM Home license for which MS had a negotiated rate of 34 cents per machine.

OTOH, one thing about the ongoing advertising/enshittification bubble is that it seems to distort people's understanding of revenue and NPV. They'd rather have the possibility of infinite future ad/spyware revenue even when people are clamoring to offer up-front real cash instead.

userbinator3• 11 months ago

It's good to see that there still are some modders left in the community; there are others creating unofficial "distros" of Windows with most of the crap stripped out, and often useful additions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34654649

From my experience, Windows has always been somewhat modular (see 98lite for an early example), so it's not too difficult to pick and choose what pieces you want, but the main worry is that one of these hostile features is a dependency of a core component.

but do keep in mind that there is a risk associated with customizing your Windows installation in unintended ways

Of course there is this obligatory FUD from the Microsoft-fansite. In contrast to the risk associated with letting Microsoft absorb all your data and take control of your computer?

9999000009992• 11 months ago

Ubuntu.

Fedora.

Arch.

Open Suse .

Pick one, stop trying to make Windows look like a decent os. My local Windows install just gave up. I'm very close to trying Windows 11 in a VM on top of Fedora or whatever, can't really do that on my 16gb ram value laptop though.

If Maschine offered official Linux support, that's what I make music with, I'd be 100% Windows free.

cookiengineer• 11 months ago

Pick KDE if you want the same integrated experience.

The Desktop on Linux has come pretty far already and most of the complaints are from people that made the wrong choice for their UX.

Sometimes setting up a WINE environment is worth it, but I'd argue that as long ss you still need to use the CLI to create environments, it's not there yet. Proton has been amazing for better support.

Also, don't pick Arch when you come from Windows, it's not the right choice for you. Pick a beginner friendly distro, everyone has to start somewhere. Debian, LinuxMint, or Ubuntu are incredibly easy to learn.

9999000009992• 11 months ago

Debian based distros lag in hardware support.

KDE is heavy, but that's the magic of Linux. It's to you to figure out your perfect combination.

I'd argue that if you don't care how computers work, buy a Mac. If you actually enjoy the process Linux is great.

Krutonium3• 11 months ago

Sometimes setting up a WINE environment is worth it, but I'd argue that as long ss you still need to use the CLI to create environments, it's not there yet. Proton has been amazing for better support.

Go grab an installation of Bottles and prepare to be amazed.

NexRebular• 11 months ago

Or if you'd prefer not to contribute to linux monoculturalization, FreeBSD is available in addition to the other BSD variants and even illumos-based systems.

fruitworks• 11 months ago

I prefer to contriubute to linux monoculturization

esperent2• 11 months ago

A few months ago I switched from Windows 11 to Ubuntu on my laptop. Coming from a decade of experience running servers with various flavors of Linux it's not much of a learning curve for me.

And look, I love Ubuntu. I'm sticking with it (although kinda wish I'd been less safe and chosen Fedora or OpenSuse). But, to be honest, I've had, and continue to have, a ton of problems related to hardware. Problems waking from sleep (I gave up trying to fix this and just restart every time now), problems with external monitor not reawakening after screen timeout, problems with the wifi speed suddenly dropping until I restart (apparently Linux doesn't play well with Intel Killer 6e laptop wifi), problems with my Brother printer (won't wake from sleep over wifi, works fine on Android and Windows though).

None of these are quite deal breakers. Sure, I have to open and close my laptop lid three or four times to get the external monitor to switch back on, and and the login prompt will only show on my laptop screen which gets set to 1% brightness every restart, so if it's sunny I have to stick my face right against the screen to see it.

Nevertheless, I persevere. I've fixed 70% of the initial issues. But you know what I will not do? Recommend Linux desktop to a non-technical person. My mother, my sister, my girlfriend, most of my acquaintances. They would hate to deal with this stuff, and simply don't have to on Windows, for all it's faults.

I think that people who recommend Linux desktop nearly all started by buying a laptop that officially supports Linux, or at least is known to not have issues like these. Then they forget how important this step was and go around recommending it to everyone.

Most people shouldn't install a Linux desktop on any normal Windows laptop. Not a decade ago when I last seriously tried it out, and not now either. Although the experience definitely has improved, so maybe in another 5 or 10 years.

ashellunts• 11 months ago

Very similar to my experience. I also still use it because benefits for me as a developer are much more important, especially 30% docker performance win over wsl on same hardware.

vbezhenar• 11 months ago

Just to present my anecdote, I'm using Lenovo Thinkpad Gen 4 Intel with Arch Linux and I don't have a single issue with hardware. Literally everything works. Suspend works, my laptop connected to the display via USB-C cable which also delivers power to laptop. My laptop stays with closed lid (clamshell mode). Sony BLE headphones work. Even fingerprint sensor worked when I tried it (but I don't use it, as I'm working with external keyboard).

My only issue is that this CPU is a bit too slow, I should have bought laptop with a performance line CPU. And of course I have a lot of issues with Linux approach to usability, but that has nothing to do with hardware support, more like opinions.

a2128• 11 months ago

Most people shouldn't install a Linux desktop on any normal Windows laptop.

My personal experience was completely the opposite. I had two ordinary Windows laptops that I decided to install Linux on, all hardware worked perfectly. Even on the most niche distros like Void Linux, the touchscreen, pen pressure sensitivity, everything worked. The beauty of having hardware that is supported in mainline Linux kernel.

So it entirely depends on the hardware you choose to buy. Most people don't think about Linux when purchasing hardware, neither did I, and I only got lucky. But now it's at the front of my mind, and I think other people should also keep it in their minds if they don't want to forever be stuck with whatever Microsoft decides to stick on their computers

GoblinSlayer3• 11 months ago

I think linux laptops also tend to be cheaper because windows now has higher system requirements, so if you want something inexpensive but still eligible for web browsing, you might accidentally buy a linux laptop, but still worth to check that linux is installed on it.

tempodox• 11 months ago

Maybe the year 2100 will finally be the year of the Linux desktop.

llbbdd• 11 months ago

None of these are quite deal breakers. Sure, I have to open and close my laptop lid three or four times to get the external monitor to switch back on, and and the login prompt will only show on my laptop screen which gets set to 1% brightness every restart, so if it's sunny I have to stick my face right against the screen to see it.

I know there are tradeoffs everywhere in life but man, these are deal breakers. I'd install windows in my brain before I put up with having to push my boulder uphill just to log in.

Krasnol• 11 months ago

I don't understand this comments on forums like this one.

Who do you think you are addressing with this? People here are either on Apple, already on some other X or do use Windows because they have to.

Most of the rest of the people on this planet won't use either of your recommendations because they have no idea how to work this, how to fix errors, how to find programs they need, jump over compatibility issues with other Windows users, or don't even have a PC at home and have to work with windows at their workplaces.

So what is the point of your comment?

cheschire• 11 months ago

You seem to be under the misconception that everyone is at the same point in their life journey as you are.

Plenty of people here on this site are right on the edge of a major change in operating system and benefit from that slight peer pressure to go ahead and make that change.

What is the point of your comment? Just use the downvote button.

Edit: see? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45155975

herbst• 11 months ago

A lot of cool music software is running natively it not better on Linux like reaper. After some config pain I am also surprised to see mixxx being a serious alternative to Rekordbox. It's not impossible, and everything is better than booting into windows just to be surprised with a new updated and new bloatware, every fing time.

scns2• 11 months ago

Bitwig too. Pain point for me is hardware support. My Native Instruments interface works great, due to the in kernel drivers supplied by NI. My other one with loads of IO sadly won't.

jmclnx2• 11 months ago

You forgot Slackware :)

t0bia_s2• 11 months ago

Now try be windows free when you need Adobe software for living... Impossible.

codedokode• 11 months ago

If you have enough USB host controllers, you can pass one into a Windows VM and it will have direct access to the connected audio interface (no latency issues). And if on top of that you have two GPUs, you can pass one into Windows VM as well. If you have only one GPU, passing it around will be tricky (you need to terminate all apps working with GPU before taking it away).

If you plan to run a single application in VM, you can allocate just 3-4 Gb to it.

GuB-42• 11 months ago

If Maschine offered official Linux support

That's exactly the reason why people use Windows. Hardware and software support.

beefnugs• 11 months ago

Once already I got an automatic update start the next day with a full screen unskippable SET UP A MICROSOFT ACCOUNT. I dont even recall what i did in the haze of anger, but i think just restarting a couple of times, eventually removing the internet cable, it eventually just went away?

These animal fucks are going to force people away

wao0uuno• 11 months ago

I achieved the same and more by installing Linux. Highly recommended.

KyleBerezin• 11 months ago

"Bypass windows telemetry with this 1 cool trick!"

resonious• 11 months ago

I recently decided to try running Windows as a daily driver. WSL is pretty good but just feels wrong. It has a slow cold start and sometimes just completely crashes or freezes for a few seconds. Basic operations in general (outside WSL) often take several seconds. The Copilot button feels forced but I decided whatever I'll try it - the copilot window takes almost 10 seconds to start up on first press. What is going on? It's just a chat interface..

Then there's that super old problem where the settings app opens in a tiny window and cannot be resized.

What's interesting is the feedback app once asked me about how long things take and if I'm satisfied. So it seems they're kind of aware. But the problem is probably too deep to dig out of.

ndsipa_pomu3• 11 months ago

Then there's that super old problem where the settings app opens in a tiny window and cannot be resized.

It still amazes (and infuriates) me when I try to use Windows for something and see a non-resizeable window pop up. Often it's for things that really need to be resized (e.g. iSCSI LUNs) so instead you have to scroll around lots and maybe write things down as the GUI is so old and unusable.

arresin• 11 months ago

seconds to start up on first press. What is going on? It's just a chat interface..

It might be an electron app. Which would be strange but I wouldn’t put it past them.

delta_p_delta_x• 11 months ago

Windows is technically very interesting. It offers a very different approach to operating systems compared to the UNIX-like competition. I genuinely like it because unlike Linux, it's quite nice to develop desktop applications for, because the vendor supports everything.

It's such a pity that said vendor is a giant American megacorp that decided to throw all that in the bin and stuff Windows with ad-infested light Web apps. It irritates me that the user-mode applications and experience is so cancerous, because everything below is pretty decent to work with.

fsflover• 11 months ago

Unofficial Windows 11 requirements bypass tool allows disabling all AI features

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