Windows Central readers overwhelmingly want Windows 11's forced Microsoft account requirement to go away
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We asked our readers what they think of Windows 11's forced Microsoft account requirement, and the answer is clear. Too bad it's not on the official list of improvements coming to the OS in 2026.
  • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    23 days ago

    If by “complicates… basic PC ownership” they mean “infringes on your property rights as a computer owner,” then they’re finally catching on to what I’ve been saying for damn near a decade.

    You should not accept having an abusive relationship with your operating system, and that’s what Windows has been since at least 8 (when they started infecting it with “telemetry”), if not earlier. Have some goddamn self-respect, people! Kick Microsoft to the curb!

  • joelfromaus@aussie.zoneEnglish
    0·
    23 days ago

    Since all of the “Linux is easy” folk are here I’ll ask a question even though I’m not near my PC:

    I’m dual booting W11 and ZorinOS, I have 3 drives and only the OS drive mounts at boot. The other 2, games SSD and a storage HDD, have to mounted manually. An online search yielded that this was “expected behaviour” and “how it’s designed to work” but unfortunately it confuses Steam each time I boot because as far as Steam is concerned the drive ceases to exist.

    Has anyone else had the same issue? I think I could use crontab to mount the drives at boot but it seems like something that shouldn’t be happening at all.

    • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      22 days ago

      You can mount your drives on boot in fstab (/etc/fstab). This is only a low-key pain in the ass, and it’s probably a good thing your internally installed drives won’t change very often.

      If whatever method you use to mount them outright requires using the full mount command, possibly with a shitload of parameters attached, you can also do it on boot as a cron job that fires on boot (crontab -e) by prefacing the command with @reboot rather than the usual set of time parameters. This is how I handle e.g. mounting complicated network shares on my servers. This will fire before you even get to your login screen, so the drives ought to be accessible by the time Steam has to do whatever it does.

    • the_riviera_kid@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      22 days ago

      I had to figure this out the hard way because everywhere I asked the question I’d get told how I was wrong and it’s good actually. So good luck finding anything helpful for your specific install. I will share with you some links that kinda got me there. I had to figure out most of the steps individually and piece them together from multiple sources.

      https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/mounting-permanently-a-storage-unit-in-fedora-kde-automount-at-boot-no-password-all-users-can-see-and-edit-files/148030/15?replies_to_post_number=16

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eoq_cgAWMmQ

      https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/auto-mounting-secondary-drives/970

      I’m not sure sure how relevant those links will be as I was trying to do the same on bazzite and not zorin but hopefully they help. If you are able to install gnome disks (if you haven’t already) there is a checkbox to do it for you but I forget where it is. I have a little document typed up on my PC at home that I can share with you as well when I get there later on the off chance that it is helpful. If you have questions, ask away I’m not sure I will be helpful but I’ll do what I can.

      FYI, linux seems to hate NTFS partitions and that may be a contributing factor here.

      • Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        0·
        22 days ago

        It gives us 6 years to grow the Linux user base so that software devs, game devs, etc. make their products with Linux specifically in mind instead of creating poor ports or excluding the OS entirely.

        Linux adoption is only going up.

      • kazerniel@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        23 days ago

        Gives 6 more years for Adobe and my online games to start supporting Linux D: (or the Adobe alternatives to become more suitable for professional use)

        • zewm@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          23 days ago

          I can’t help you with the games. You could vote with your wallet and just not play those specific ones. Start hitting that backlog of games you got on sale and never opened.

          Regarding Adobe suite in a professional manner, I’m pretty sure they work on MacOS.

          You always have choices. They may not be perfect but they do exist nonetheless. These companies will never stop being invasive if users keep giving in. Until “number go down” in board meetings, nothing changes.

          • kazerniel@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            23 days ago

            You could vote with your wallet and just not play those specific ones.

            Oh I’m not paying for them, but still one of my main daily drivers is Genshin, and I haven’t found such an enjoyable open world exploration in any other game I’ve tried. (I’m PC-only so haven’t tried Breath of the Wild.)

            Regarding Adobe suite in a professional manner, I’m pretty sure they work on MacOS.

            I would never touch a Mac, it’s way more of a walled garden than Windows.

            Also I was talking about Adobe alternatives like Inkscape for Illustrator or Scribus for InDesign. From what I’ve read they are really not there yet. (Tried Inkscape a few times, but the UI is so unintuitive for my brain used to Adobe’s UI/workflow 😭)

              • kazerniel@lemmy.worldEnglish
                0·
                22 days ago

                Thanks, I’ll check out Where Winds Meet! :)

                (Edit: according to their Steam page they use genAI dialogue and art, so that’s a pass :/ )

                Dunno about current adobes, but don’t they also run fine via wine? Have only one single tool so far that makes a bit trouble (mediamonkey).

                From the reports I see on WineHQ, they are all various levels of broken, though the last versions tested were from 2024.

      • dovahking@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        22 days ago

        I play heavily modded games and it’s a hassle to make some of them work in Linux. Ltsc helps me give some time until modding in Linux gets better support.

      • Railcar8095@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        23 days ago

        It gives you 6 years to transition to a better OS. Or to become CEO of Microslop and improve things.

        It’s honestly great, even for me who only boot into windows once every few months.

          • Autisti4@sopuli.xyzEnglish
            0·
            23 days ago

            But who needs 6 years of transition?

            I’m hoping someone manages to make surface pro’s fully compatible with linux in that time… (or that something that’s compatible and serves SPs purpose becomes available)

          • Railcar8095@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            23 days ago

            Great in the sense I don’t have to bother for 6 years for a partition I will use less than 24 hours over that period of time haha.

            So far I’ve used it to scan once (for some reason that day skan decided to not work) and to make a windows install USB for my SO.

            I tried Expedition 33 thinking performance issues were a Linux thing by no, it’s just like that.

            So it’s a long term unlikely to be used OS, and for that long support is great.