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[-] Giblets4all@lemmy.world 38 points 1 year ago

You can buy a used mini PC for less than the price of a new Windows 11 license. I know there are cheaper license sites out there (unclear how legit they are) but this way you get a Windows license and a spare PC to run Linux!

[-] TheGreatFox@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago

Cheap license sites (windows, games, etc) usually use keys bought via stolen credit cards. Pirating it is much better than buying from those sites, including for the devs that get punished for chargebacks from those keys.

[-] jarfil@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

the devs that get punished for chargebacks from those keys.

Just to be clear... in the case of Windows, that would be M$...?

[-] dudewitbow@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 year ago

Tbh if you want gray area keys. Microsoftsoftwareswap has always had verified users selling business generated licenses keys. If you HAVE to buy a key, at least buy one from vetted people and not some rando on a seller site

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[-] vimdiesel@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Or just install Linux and never worry about that shit again lol

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[-] Johnpwrinkle@midwest.social 22 points 1 year ago

I have around 30 windows 7 pro COAs (used to work in a pc repair shop, pulled the COAs on every dead pc that came through). Most of them are from dells, but I haven’t had an issue activating on custom pcs. If anyone wants one, let me know

[-] Artaca@lemdro.id 7 points 1 year ago

If you're handing out free keys, I'd happily take one! Pretty smart to yoink em from scrapped PCs lol

[-] Johnpwrinkle@midwest.social 5 points 1 year ago
[-] drangus@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 year ago

I’d love one if you have a spare! Thanks so much

[-] Johnpwrinkle@midwest.social 2 points 1 year ago
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[-] Cysioland@lemmygrad.ml 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
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[-] ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

On 10 right now, but honestly have had enough of the whole Windows ecosystem. (Like today I ran across a look at these exciting Windows 11 September updates! woo! aren't you excited! video, and it was almost all embarrassingly cosmetic. Except for the part where they're finally adding native support for archive formats (.7z, .rar, .tar) that everyone else has supported for decades: how fucking charming am I supposed to find that announcement after all these years of using 3rd party apps, when the probability of the native support being buggy as hell is very high? And that was just one example; there's a full list in the description box.

No thanks. It's clear they did all this just to be able to simultaneously slather AI hooks all through the OS works, free for now but not forever, and I'm just not interested in that either. Nothing against AI, I just don't want it integrated into my OS. I also like my privacy, believe in keeping my own shit on my own computers, and enjoy not having a significant portion of my hardware computing load dedicated to the collection and sale of my data.

But MS isn't the only game in town anymore. I tried some hardware-light Linux distros on a 13 year old MacBook recently just to see what the fuss is about, and was gobsmacked at how well they ran with 4GB of RAM and a slow (by today's standards) processor. Holy shit. So I did a bit of hardware upgrading so I could run even more, and yesterday I installed Fedora 38 with KDE Plasma on that same MacBook with 16GB of RAM and a 1T SSD. It picked up every bit of that hardware on its own, too; I didn't have to configure a thing.

It's almost too easy, lol. It's Linux so I thought I was going to be overwhelmed with command line shit, but no, not at all: the few times I needed the command line, the exact syntax was a web search away, with plentiful discussion, documentation, and even demo videos to choose from.

And if I don't like it, I can try as many as I like off USB drives until I see something I like and decide to install that instead, and there are literally dozens, if not hundreds of distros now.

So Microsoft can keep that AI-ridden ad-ware Windows 11 shit. I'll keep 10 for now (installed on a 7 license, lol) until I'm fully comfortable with Linux, and then that's that.

Put it this way. I now have a screaming fast machine that runs on 13-year-old hardware where every software I could want for it is free, open source, and backed by a gazillion gurus both pro and amateur for whom no question is too arcane; why the hell should I give that up for the baggy, bloated, slow, privacy-invasive advertising delivery service that is Microsoft Windows?

I know there will be issues with Linux as I get to know it and use it, just because there are issues with every OS. There may even be things I find I can't get past, and if that happens I try other distros or suck it up, lol. But fuck MS if they think I am going to pay actual cash to help them serve up my privacy while they deliver unwanted ads to me every time I boot it up.

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk, lol.

[-] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 6 points 1 year ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

Windows 11 September updates!

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

[-] Johanno@feddit.de 19 points 1 year ago

You guys are using keys?

My first legit Windows Version I installed(not pre-installed) was when my university gave keys out for free.

Before that I used sketchy tools to activate my Windows. Since I am using Linux only my vms don't get activated. Windows 10 runs fine without activation.

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[-] Kushia@lemmy.ml 17 points 1 year ago

I wish we could just get back to an updated version of 7. Everything since has sucked.

[-] altec@midwest.social 8 points 1 year ago

If you don't use any software that requires Windows, you should give Kubuntu a try. I've found it very easy to use, as someone coming from Windows.

[-] Drbreen@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 year ago

I've had the same Win8 Pro key that I purchased for $40 when it released 12 years ago. I've used it for Win10 and 11. Is this saying if I format my drive and reinstall Win11 that I won't be able to activate using this key anymore?

[-] PotjiePig@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

If I'm not mistaken your key is linked to your motherboard as well as your Microsoft account. So I think you should be fine. I just formatted my drive yesterday and it didn't even ask me to type it in, I skipped that step and it verified once I logged in.

[-] Drbreen@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 year ago

OEM keys are linked to motherboards I believe. Mine is a retail key and I've used it across many different builds over the years.

[-] tleb@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago

Retail keys can also be linked to the hardware or Microsoft account

[-] Capitao_Duarte@lemmy.eco.br 2 points 1 year ago

That on laptop or desktop? I had a laptop and always did like you said. For the first time I have a desktop and don't know how things go now

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[-] danielfgom@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

It had to happen eventually. To be honest I'm surprised Microsoft still charges for Windows when Apple, Google Chrome OS and Linux offers their systems for free.

In my case I run Windows 10 in a VM on my Linux machine just to use the Canon printer which the box said supported Linux but after I bought it, their website says they no longer support Linux.

So I'm forced to use Windows.

Btw, if you use Linux ain't buy a Canon printer. If you can, get Brother.

[-] whofearsthenight@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

tbh I wish they'd charge for their OS and they would charge a little more instead of filling it with bullshit and privacy nightmares that I (and probably no one) wants. I don't main on Windows, but goddamn is it annoying when I do update having to get rid of some new bullshit every single time.

It's also a bit funny because used to be you bought a new key for each OS version. This could be a positive for Windows, but they bungled it because they decided Windows 10 was going to be the "last" version of Windows, until they didn't.

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[-] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 year ago

Install Linux and don't have to deal with any of the shit Microsoft software

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[-] pikachus_ghost_uncle@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

No problem. I’m still staying on 10 though.

[-] brsrklf@jlai.lu 4 points 1 year ago

Yeah, same for me.

Getting rid of the automated 11 upgrade was a pain already, took me months to finally find what was making it resurface all the time.

Thing is, I wasn't even opposed to it originally. It just didn't work and failed systematically. And my PC wasn't even supposed to support it, since I don't have TPM 2.0, so no idea why it even tried.

Now with all the reports of new ways to fuck with privacy I don't even see any reason to upgrade.

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[-] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Wym man I pacman -Syu 20 times a day with no problem. You guys need keys?

[-] Rocha@lm.put.tf 11 points 1 year ago

You guys need keys?

Yeah, sometimes if I haven't booted up my laptop in a while, I'll run pacman -Sy archlinux-keyring to get the keys I need.

[-] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

Haven't happened to me yet. I'll keep this in mind. My arch devices are constantly in use.

[-] altima_neo@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Not like I wanted to, my older PCs running windows 7 aren't eligible for Windows 11 anyway

[-] The_Mixer_Dude@lemmus.org 5 points 1 year ago

Try installing fresh from USB. Typically works for me on any machine that says it couldn't install on

[-] UnculturedSwine@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Jumped the windows ship long ago. So glad I don't need to deal with this nonsense anymore.

[-] PeachMan@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

To be fair, nobody actually NEEDS to deal with this nonsense. Windows works just fine without an activated key, literally the only downside is the "Please activate Windows" bug on your desktop. That's it, everything else works fine.

But yes, using Linux is also a great option.

[-] HeyJoe@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Not exactly, can't customize it either or change certain settings. I know this because I just built a new PC and the key I had didn't work for 2 days while I had support figure it out.

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[-] Kowowow@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago

Ya I'm thinking I'll just try some version of linux on my old laptop

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[-] Lemminary@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

So I can't upgrade my sistem that works perfectly fine because it doesn't meet one of their frivolous requirements. And now I can't use the key that I legally purchased? Sounds like MS doesn't want me to use their products.

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[-] cy_narrator@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 1 year ago

I have some trusty KMS activator that I have to use every year once, so far no problems

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this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
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