- cross-posted to:
- hackernews
- cross-posted to:
- hackernews
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.
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microsoft kills official
was gettin excited there
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 never used the one on the CD case, I just used all ones. Or 123451234512345, etc. for Windows 98.
“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.
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.
This garbage makes me so glad I switched to Linux Mint. Gaming has been just fine. Sure there have been a few hurdles, but they were well-worth spending time on as Microsoft continues this foolishness.
I’ve been perfectly happy on Mint since switching over a year ago. The few games I play run just fine (FO4, FOLON, Portal, and such), and the other apps work too, GIMP, Inkscape, LibreOffice, Blender, etc.
In spite of the recent post about which Linux distro to recommend, and seeing many no longer recommend Mint, I’ll stick with Mint. It just works.
SteamOS Desktop can’t come fast enough.
Cachy will do if I need to jump ship, but I would like to only make one distro hop and be done with that for at least a decade.
I’d switch off windows but most of the games I play won’t work on Linux due to “anti cheat”.
Gta, bf6, rainbow 6, cod, none of these run because the game studios hate giving linix users anything and its not worth their time.
Most of them are made by horrible companies we shouldn’t be supporting anyways.
@ClydapusGotwald @1984
Can you give some more inside of what you game and specially why ?Not the original commenter, but my current ones are, EAs WRC it doesn’t work on Linux and the clubs feature is used by a couple of communities and is a great way to have current rallies.
Raceroom is not great on Linux, very crashy. But it can work at least.
I am also deep into Le Mans Ultimate, which just added EAC, and Devs have said they will not support linux. Currently it still works, but I am expecting that to end sometime soon.
For my hobby there isn’t really alternatives, iRacing doesn’t work, AC Rally is just too early and doesn’t have anything outside of leaderboards (and that doesn’t even have friend filtering). In terms of Sim racing there isn’t much that works really well on Linux and can’t exactly get the same experience in other games, like a 24hr race with driver swaps, ranked racing with multi class.
thanks for the answer. i remember there was a scene for sim racing at one point, but i am completly out of this one. Maybe @gamingonlinux has some ideas about racing.
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.
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
You must not play most of the top 5 fps games then lol.
Literally everything a “normal” gamer plays is not supported on linux.
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 would still like to know which and why. Usually there are alternatives out even for those multiplayer games. Example -> all the Valve Games / Blizards Games are good too ;)
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.
Then enjoy windows (unfortunately). You have no other option unless you buy those games again on a Xbox or PlayStation console.
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.
Activation scripts can be put onto a USB drive, so if nothing else, there’s always a way to keep using the hardware you paid for (assuming you want to stay hostage to these fucks)
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.
Adobe is sadly the only thing that still requires windows.
Fuck Adobe and everyone there, they were the OGs that started the subscription bullshit for software and they had such dominance no business could say no, thus no schools could say no.
And they’ve just been buying up competition since, so no one can challenge them.
Adobe and Oracle are the software equivalent of cancer.
This alone is enough for me, to consider Windows a bad choise.
I’ve said that line so many times.
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.
Who wants a computer which might not work after an upgrade and not because there’s an actual problem but because a corporation says no? It’s more stress and more work out of nowhere. Corporations should never be allowed to brick devices, but since they are, I choose “not corporation” as my permanent fix. It’s a good move!
For me its that and the other 20 reasons. :)
Only 20?
I‘ll stay with 10 until I figured out Bitwig.
Bitwig on Linux is amazing and was the final thing which let me ditch Windows for good after years of using Linux for everything else.
You won’t regret it!
What’s your current DAW of choice? If it’s Ableton, Bitwig should be a breeze to figure out.
Also aside from that, most DAWs and VSTs work great in WINE.
And with that any chance I’ll ever buy a Microsoft product ever again.
look fuck microsoft, but - who is trying to activate windows without any internet access at all?
I’m not, but unless I call the phone support I can’t get my windows to activate.
You’re asking the wrong question. You should be asking “who is trying to use Windows without any Internet access at all?”
Which is definitely some people/situations. It’s not the standard user-centric use case that Microsoft expects, but it does exist.
no, that’s not the question. you can still use windows without internet access, you just need some other device to get to the activation website. like a phone or another computer.
Me.
me
Well, I’ve never done it because it’s not part of my tasks, but for example industrial PCs used for SCADA usually run Windows, and they are never allowed on the internet, so…
We have our clients switch to Linux now. Ignition works well enough and it’s so much cheaper. It has drawbacks compared to wonderware, or the Siemens stack though. But I’ll take those issues over logging into their systems still running on winXP.
Nah, they’re run by the laziest chucklefucks you’ve ever met - they’re plugged right into a broadband modem with no firewall running bog standard teamviewer or RDP awaiting any connection (no filtering) because the people setting up and using these systems have no concept of infosec. They know how to set up their industrial system, plug it into the ‘computer thingy’, and hand it off the the municipal water dude who is a flat earth, anti-fluoride, moon-landing hoax, J6-denialist who knows nothing about technology, but wants to run the town’s water treatment from his cell phone.
(not that I’m jaded by small town dynamics or anything)
Other side of the same coin: I work for a municipality, and I can’t even connect my phone to the intranet because they use MAC whitelists for the entire network. The only thing non-whitelisted devices can even connect to is the (really shitty) public WiFi. Many cities used to be pretty lax about cybersecurity, but a few high profile attacks have made most of them (at least anything larger than a small town) rethink that stance. Hell, one city a few miles away had a ransomware attack that left their city services entirely unavailable for like three weeks. That was actually studied by lots of the local cities, to see what they can do to prevent similar attacks.
I hope that’s not the only thing they do. MAC addresses are easily spoofed.
Uhm… You and I have had vastly different experiences. Fortunately.
Sorry souls who don’t want to create a MS account if they just need to reimage a PC or only need a local account. Such a blatant attempt at locking folks into their ecosystem. Same as Apple.
this isn’t about microsoft accounts or local PC accounts. this is just about activating the OS which you can do on a provided website (without an account).
Use Pro edition and you aren’t locked into an account.
Yeah. Owning the thing you pay for is a premium feature.
That doesn’t make sense.
Yeah, but that’s apparently how Microsoft rolls, as you noted.
💯 this. Yes, you can still create a local account from the Out of Box Experience with the Pro version when selecting “Domain Join”. But my original statement still stands as this feature had to be added back in after many folks complained. Whereas the Home version has been slowly losing the methods to just make an account and go about your day. Pretty pathetic if you ask me.
People who live in third world countries like the US who don’t have Internet at home/internet isn’t available to them because it’s not profitable for the company providing for that area.
And before you say phone, you have to have service to receive or make a phone call. There are places in this country that don’t have either.
Some years ago, I was using an ancient (even then) Dell laptop that I took with me to my grandparents summer camp for two weeks vacation. Northern Vermont, landline phone service only. My dad had sent me Win 7 Ultimate and I installed it sitting on the camp deck. I called in the activation.
Not Windows, but I’ve reinstalled my Mac laptop OSes many times when I’ve swapped out a SSD. Also at camp. I did a full - unsupported no less! - install of Mojave macOS on an ancient MacPro that my aunt and uncle used to run their music and movies on. They had no internet and rented DVDs and ripped their own CDs. Once I showed my Uncle how to edit the track info in iTunes, he was off and running.
I know lots of people - older mostly - with computers that only have internet access on their phones. FFS, my mom only has text on her flip phone, (her phone provider switched over to 4G and they sent her a smartphone of some kind which she could not use, so she sent it back and they got her a 4g enabled flip phone) and I’ll mail her big USB sticks with movies and tv shows on them so she uses her laptop. No internet, no electricity even, unless it’s from their solar panels.
Pretty much anyone off the grid would phone in activation or roll with an OS that doesn’t require it (like macOS and Linux).
Owning a summer camp, but ripping CDs?
Grandparents owned the summer camp.
Grandfather was a union electrician for over 40 years. Retired in 1994. Made fantastic coin and bought the camp in the mid-70’s, for less than $20k. Landlines only that far north into Vermont. Grandparents were both in their late 70’s early 80’s when the internet took off, so it meant nothing to them. Both were gone of old age by 2020.
Aunt was the black sheep of the family and her husband - the uncle - were old alcoholic hippies that lived hand to mouth. Welfare recipients with drug and alcohol problems who both died - one of alcohol fueled dementia (Koursakoff’s Disease) and the other of sepsis (bone infection in the foot) from unmanaged diabetes - at the start of 2024.
Your point is?
If you have no internet but want your music as a file, that’s how you go about it.
Indeed! Of all things, uncle turned me on to higher bitrate 320k VBR, highest quality .mp3 rips.
I got his CD collection after he died (his own music was lost as the drive had failed while he was in the nursing home) and took a few weeks and re-ripped everything for him. Gave him a junker MacBook and loaded up it and his iPod with his favorite music.
The last day I saw him - 3 days before he died, he was already seeing people that weren’t there and talking to them, which is part of the dying process I’m told…
I put his iPod on him and played him his favorite artist - Miles Davis and he stopped when the song Générique (go listen to it, it is a beautiful song) came on and he looked at me - SAW me - and smiled and said it was his favorite Miles tune.
We chatted for a few minutes more and he fell asleep and I told him I loved him and gave him a kiss and left for work. Passed away the day after the Eclipse in 2024.
Beast gift I got was that jazz library from him.
I know lots of people - older mostly - with computers that only have internet access on their phones.
exactly. you can use your phone to go to the windows activation site. you don’t need the PC you’re activating to have internet.
When i’m saying “Older mostly” am talking about people in their 70’s and 80’s that don’t use their phones for much more than texting and email.
NGL, at 61 I can’t use my phone for much more than that. I just cannot SEE it well enough for it to not be a massive frustrating ordeal.
Just wait until presbyopia strikes. It’s a bitch when the collagen breaks down in the body and the lenses in the eyes start to stiffen. Hit me in my mid 40’s. Fuck.
Where do you find the Internet on a flip phone?
The 4G one she’s got from her service provider offers some form of limited access. Not sure, maybe the fancy ones have it? My mom will occasionally text me links to news items she’s found.
10s of nerds on a Linux forum who definitely were messing with Windows 🙄
