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.
I wouldn’t say “great”. But great in comparison to 11 😁
But who needs 6 years of transition? The run-of-the-mill-user with office and Firefox could just switch and not even notice it. Despite libreoffice loading much quicker.
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)
True true. Can’t hurt to have. I went through great hassles to set up Linux besides my old win install and also made a VM out of it for those “I don’t wanna boot again”-moments.
Turns out, I never actually needed either. And I was surely deep into win and half of my tools were self made and now obsolete. Everything just works and works better, more comfy and even faster.
Actually, one more use case is my SO. Can’t/won’t use Linux, and I’m not fighting. But needs an up to date OS on the ancient lappet laptop, so 10 IOT it is.
Unless she’s a pro, why does she even care?
My wifey would just want her browser, mails and is already using libreoffice.
Browser looks the same as win, so could the whole OS if one prefers.
But yeah sure, wouldn’t force her to any OS either,I’m not suicidal 😁
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.
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 😭)
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.)
I’m Linux only and I’ve played Breath of the Wilds (works on Windows too).
Go to your favorite torrent site (1337x to) and search for Breath of the Wild. It’ll be packaged with the emulator so you don’t need to do anything. It’s a better experience, higher framerate, antialiasing, 4k upscaling and reverse tonemapping (Windows calls this autoHDR) (and basically anything that you can do with ReShade)
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 😭)
A few months ago someone made a patch which makes the Adobe CC 2021 and 2025 installer work in Wine.
Thanks, that’s good to know! From what I’ve read a few months ago when I last looked into it, it only worked with a fan-made launcher that posed a ban risk and also broke every few updates.
I always thought of Macs as not a good value before, but nowadays for laptops at least they seem to be relatively good.
I still find them annoyingly unintuitive, but that’s probably due to lack of experience. At least they come with some (old) version of bash and support standard stuff like ssh out of the box from my understanding.
Not played genshin yet, but you might like where winds meet? Incredibly beautiful, good combat, exploring is rewarding. And totally free.
And runs wonderfully on Linux, even with HDR.
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).
It delays the problem for six more years, and it also gives me the satisfaction of pirating testing the only decent version of Windows free of Microslop bloat and vibe coded react.
Exactly. It just delays the inevitable (maybe even sooner if something denies to run on “this old unsupported version”).
As an old win-lover I never thought I’d say this:
Better switch to Linux, most of everything windows still works, everything else is just better and faster.
And what does that accomplish? Delaying the actual problem to 2032?
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.
I wouldn’t say “great”. But great in comparison to 11 😁 But who needs 6 years of transition? The run-of-the-mill-user with office and Firefox could just switch and not even notice it. Despite libreoffice loading much quicker.
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)
Probably rather the latter 😁 But yes, sure. Valid point. Nice devices but too locked
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.
True true. Can’t hurt to have. I went through great hassles to set up Linux besides my old win install and also made a VM out of it for those “I don’t wanna boot again”-moments.
Turns out, I never actually needed either. And I was surely deep into win and half of my tools were self made and now obsolete. Everything just works and works better, more comfy and even faster.
Actually, one more use case is my SO. Can’t/won’t use Linux, and I’m not fighting. But needs an up to date OS on the ancient lappet laptop, so 10 IOT it is.
Unless she’s a pro, why does she even care? My wifey would just want her browser, mails and is already using libreoffice. Browser looks the same as win, so could the whole OS if one prefers.
But yeah sure, wouldn’t force her to any OS either,I’m not suicidal 😁
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)
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.
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.)
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 😭)
Genshin Impact works on Linux: https://lutris.net/games/genshin-impact/
I’m Linux only and I’ve played Breath of the Wilds (works on Windows too).
Go to your favorite torrent site (1337x to) and search for Breath of the Wild. It’ll be packaged with the emulator so you don’t need to do anything. It’s a better experience, higher framerate, antialiasing, 4k upscaling and reverse tonemapping (Windows calls this autoHDR) (and basically anything that you can do with ReShade)
A few months ago someone made a patch which makes the Adobe CC 2021 and 2025 installer work in Wine.
https://www.xda-developers.com/someone-finally-got-the-adobe-cc-installers-working-on-linux-with-wine/
Come on in, the Linux water is fine :)
Genshin is playable on Linux? I play it on my Steam Deck.
Thanks, that’s good to know! From what I’ve read a few months ago when I last looked into it, it only worked with a fan-made launcher that posed a ban risk and also broke every few updates.
I just add the official launcher as a non-steam game and ran through the install as normal.
Granted I haven’t done it in a couple of months, so not sure if that method still works…but I don’t see why not
I always thought of Macs as not a good value before, but nowadays for laptops at least they seem to be relatively good.
I still find them annoyingly unintuitive, but that’s probably due to lack of experience. At least they come with some (old) version of bash and support standard stuff like ssh out of the box from my understanding.
Not played genshin yet, but you might like where winds meet? Incredibly beautiful, good combat, exploring is rewarding. And totally free. And runs wonderfully on Linux, even with HDR.
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).
It delays the problem for six more years, and it also gives me the satisfaction of
piratingtesting the only decent version of Windows free of Microslop bloat and vibe coded react.Please stop romanticising Win 10 just because it’s less shitty than 11. There is no decent Windows.
Reminder: Win 10 introduced
Reminder that they backported the Windows 10 telemetry to Windows 7 as well.
Yup. That’s what made me ditch Win 7 long before EOL and switch to Linux. Been here for ten years now. Life’s good. 🌱
The last good Windows was Windows 98
Exactly. It just delays the inevitable (maybe even sooner if something denies to run on “this old unsupported version”). As an old win-lover I never thought I’d say this:
Better switch to Linux, most of everything windows still works, everything else is just better and faster.