Microsoft asking us to buy new Windows 11 PCs is wasteful

I've been shouting at the void for years (https://gist.github.com/osy/45e612345376a65c56d0678834535166) about how TPM doesn't bring any practical security and was originally introduced for DRM then repurposed to sell "enterprise" security and now it's used as an excuse to force consumers to buy new PCs. TPM was designed by a committee who focused on designing the most secure gate without building a fence. There are many issues that Microsoft knew about for decades and never bothered to fix because security was never the goal.

I quite like Windows 11, and to me it feels like the most uniform and stable version of Windows thus far. The claims of it being bloated with ads surprises me, because it has less ads on a fresh install than Windows 10 and most Android phones.

It's still a highly customizable platform and overall backwards compatibility is unmatched. If I'm honest, I hated working on Windows in the 7-10 era as a developer. Doing anything from the command line was painful, you were forced to use clients like PuTTY, there was no built in package manager, and development tools like VS were so unstable. As a .NET developer that also does a bit of frontend work, the experience is completely different.

It’s just part of Microsoft’s plan to finally give some help to Linux on the desktop. I’ve already seen at least three PCs that’s aren’t Win11 compatible get the Linux treatment.

Pretty sure the reason people aren't upgrading is that Windows 11 is full of ads and crapware, not because of the hardware reqs. It sucks ass, why should anyone upgrade?

If you're a windows users this is really the least of your problems with the new "trusted computing" measures microsoft will implement with the new requirements.

One thing that was surprising to me, and might be a reason for quite a few people to upgrade without a reason, is that you might not know that your computer would be able to handle Win 11 (based on e.g. the checker), because of an old BIOS version.

In my case, updating my BIOS version let me enable firmware TPM on my CPU (without an update there was no such setting), which was a blocker - in practice I used Rufus to install it anyway, but some anti-cheat software fail on Win 11 if you don't have a TPM (e.g. Riot Vanguard).

I remember when Operating Systems were meant for you to control the computer... not the other way around.

Microsoft has a metaplan to take control of the entire path from server instance, to hardware chipset, and host all thier applications, leaving a tablet like device that rejects anything out of band with this secure chain.

This is looking close to last opportunity to migrate out, and participate in rebuilding a user centric ecosystem.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azure_Sphere

After 20 years of Linux, my only use for Windows is as a runtime engine for Visio and Project running in a VM. All I really ask for is a secure runtime with updates. What annoys me is when I start getting popups and ads in my start menu or desktop when going to launch said Visio or Project.

Hopefully it keeps driving people away to Linux or sadly even Mac, it isn't really needed for much these days, even games.

What’s the appeal of Windows now, is it primarily the productivity tools? So many Linux OS are user friendly to a fault, like Ubuntu, Fedora and Debian. I think if someone is setting up Windows for grandma to use Facebook on, then surely Ubuntu can serve the same purpose? Maybe some dedicated grandkids can try and report back.

A quick scan of the features available in Windows 11 vs Windows 10 tells me that there is no advantage to the user in an upgrade. It's just unnecessary (from the user side) additions that have no immediate meaning. From MS standpoint, it's great, but they need to do a much better job of explaining why we need to upgrade and do it in terms that are clearly understandable to users and that explain what the benefits to the users are.

This has been the general word on the street ever since Win11 came out. Why is it all of a sudden news now?

Microsofts moat is gaming. Not security, and not AI.

They need to accept it, and start focusing on the right stuff.

Ain't it partly about forcing laptop/pc refresh cycle?

Also higher HW requirements implies that Windows 11 may be better for many people because they'll finally drop their 15 years old HW, so W11 may have better UX

There is exactly zero reason to upgrade to w11. Everything will be running fine at least until 2027 (ltsc support date), or 2032 (server 2022 support date) by which point all incompatible PCs will be 10+yrs old

Just continue using your Windows 10 computer unsupported. Most people use Android phones, arguably a more important and personal computer, unsupported for years with no issues.

For the proprietary cravings, there is Blue Lion OS. There is a range of windows apps that work on OS/2 like NewLisp.

Very weird article.

First sentence: Despite Microsoft trying hard to get people to upgrade to Windows 11... Title: buy new Windows 11 PC

I mean, there is a clearly a difference, and XDA knows that.

So it brings up TPM 2.0 and says Microsoft "sends a signal" "old CPUs are useless". I don't think anybody, Microsoft or others, ever said or hinted anything like that. The "useless" thing is just completely made up. If we are talking about security updates etc, sure, that's a real issue, let's discuss that, but "useless" is just a meaningless yet very misleading word to tack on here.

Then, "big push for Copilot+". Sorry to point out that "Copilot+" as a concept has only existed for a few months, but things in the rest of the content were already happening long before this year.

I can't see how any of this is different from macOS Sequoia only supports MacBook Air 2020 or later, or MacBook Pro 2018 or later. A company only has the resources to support old hardware for that many years, after that it's all on your own. That's just how things have worked for a very long time.

But this is XDA, and I don't think people ever take XDA's "news" articles seriously. So never mind.

I'm glad I'm skilled enough for this to not annoy me. I'm using a cheapo CPU from 2010 and a $7 TPM 2.0 module plugged into my motherboard. Elden Ring runs fine on a GTX 970 from ebay for $30. Windows 11 has been happy for years. I might have also run some hack or trick or bypass, but I've long since forgotten since it was easy and widely published how to do it. The environmental impact of enterprise licence businesses throwing out good hardware in a year sucks though. But honestly any business paying for enterprise license was replacing hardware that frequently anyway. E-waste levels from corporate america IT departments has always been shocking. Hopefully the recyclers can refurb those.

Just donate to ReactOS it is so simple.

The spice must flow!

The day I never have to use MS for games, I will die happy. I’ll keep using Windows 10 for as long as games do not require it.

Fuck MS and their shit OS.