19
votes
Microsoft's got a new plan for managing Windows 10 devices for a monthly fee - "Microsoft Managed Desktop"
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- Authors
- Mary Jo Foley
- Published
- Jul 27 2018
- Word count
- 597 words
Remember the saying "If you're not paying for it, you're the product"? Well, with Windows 10, you pay AND still get data mined!
And get adverts shoveled into your face any way possible
Microsoft has displayed ads in the start menu, in the file explorer, on the taskbar, their default apps (Edge, Mail, etc), and even in the lock screen (before you log into the OS!). It's terrible. These ads aren't even shown in just the basic Windows Home package; they're everywhere, in Pro, Education, and Business!
Lucky you can remove them for the most part, but funnily enough Microsoft manages to show the ads again after major version updates.
Are there ads in LTSB?
Not that I'm aware of, but there are some serious caveats. This generally comes up every time people complain about Windows 10. For one, in order to get Windows 10 LTSB, you need to have enterprise licensing. If you have enterprise licensing, this implies you can get Windows 10 Enterprise which offers a built in functionality to disable most of the crap people associate with other versions of Windows 10. That being said, enterprise licensing is way out of scope for most SMBs, let alone a home user.
The updating methodology is different, this can be both good and bad. Good, feature updates are not deployed to LTSB installations. These feature updates are some of the most troubling aspects with Windows 10. Bad being that LTSB is only supported to be deployed on a current generation system as when that LTSB version was released. For example, a LTSB OS released while Intel Skylake CPUs are the current generation, is only supported on Skylake (or AMD equivalent) CPU based systems. If you want to upgrade LTSB you need to buy new hardware. (This is different from basic security updates and patches, LTSB still gets those, but even those will stop after Microsoft decides it doesn't want to support your version of LTSB anymore.)
According to Microsoft, LTSB is not meant for "general use", i.e. as a desktop OS or daily driver. For one, Microsoft Office is not supported to run on Windows 10 LTSB. So if you have a problem with Microsoft Office and call Microsoft Support, they will most likely blame the fact you are running LTSB, and cease assisting with your issue.
Using Windows 10 LTSB as a daily driver is not an option for people without enterprise licensing, and it is not officially supported by Microsoft.
Not too sure, I've kicked LTSB around a bit inside a VM and can't remember anything jumping out at me, I'm sure they have the balls to shill Edge/OneDrive/etc in that as well though.
I really don't like LTSB because it's so behind in updates. It still doesn't have Windows Subsystem for Linux - by the time that rolls out, I think it would have been available on a "normal" Windows package for around two years.
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3293429/microsoft-windows/with-daas-windows-coming-say-goodbye-to-your-pc-as-you-know-it.html
This opinion piece explained things a lot more clearly than that main article.
So... on top of expecting me to install an operating system that logs everything I do and sends all that data back to Microsoft, and expecting me to use an Office suite that stores all my data on Microsoft's servers, they also want me to rent the operating system that's monitoring everything I do? Fuck off, Microsoft.
This just further confirms my decision to stay on Windows 7, and is making it even more likely that I'll switch to Linux when you withdraw support for Windows 7 in 2020. You do not get my data. No fucking way.
It's bad enough that Google gets to see everything I do on my phone, but at least I can use my desktop computer when I want privacy. Now you want to take that away from me as well. No. Just fucking no.
I've been using Debian derived distributions as my daily driver for about 8 years now. Not a single regret, I'm not a big PC gamer though. I got sick and tired of Microsoft's shenanigans with Windows 10 almost the same day it came out. Anyone with two eyes could see what was coming down the road.
Ironically this is exactly what a lot of enterprises want. Most businesses are not tech companies and almost completely view IT as a cost center and not an investment (yes, I know I’m preaching to the choir a bit here)
The first opportunity they get to NOT have IT themselves, they’ll jump on it and hard. It’s just a matter of time before Microsoft is doing everything that doesn’t require a physical presence- and what does will be contractor-only. I can’t wait to see how long it takes for that to do a 360. The shit show that is patching, feature updates, and app management for Windows won’t vanish just because there’s no local IT support and Microsoft is on the hook.
More like a 365, amirite?
Shitposting aside, Microsoft's services have been dropping in quality pretty much consistently. Their servers in particular are unbearably slow. Worse still, I've looked at some of their source code and network calls and it's clear that their software is unnecessarily bloated and over-engineered for the most basic functionality.
I'm looking forward to the day someone makes GPU passthrough setup idiot-proof so I can just drop Windows altogether. I'm only sticking around for the sake of gaming compatibility. Once that becomes a non-issue, I'm going 100% Linux for my base OS.