Microsoft is using TPM chips to crack down on pirated Windows activations

Posted by akyuu 7 hours ago

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Comments

Comment by xfour 5 hours ago

What is windows actually good at? I bought a computer with it pre installed a copy a few years back and it seemed like just an upsell into Microsoft’s ecosystem and random other ads.

Everything was slow, barely responsive you could just feel the code bloat. After a few hours I just gave up and installed a Linux distro.

Are people really putting up with this en masse as consumers?

Comment by dpoloncsak 1 hour ago

>What is windows actually good at?

It's gotta be Active Dir, right? That's what keeps the businesses around + using Windows OS, which keeps users at home using Windows because it's familiar. It becomes the 'foot in the door' (or trojan horse, YMMV) for the O365 suite, for Exchange...

Plus, because it seems like almost everyone is using AD, you know you can send files in formats they can open and receive via the Office Suite. I've never once hesistated sending a .docx or a .xlsx .... I fully expect any vendor we work with to have the ability to open Microsoft's formats. Sure, Numbers and Sheets built it in, but I assume that's as a business requirement from their partners who needed the ability to open files in their own respective suites.

They've now just about replicated all of the on-prem essentials to the cloud as well, with Intune and Entra replacing most of AD, but just as 'sticky' as ever

Comment by amluto 2 hours ago

Windows is useful for running third-party software that, for whatever reason, requires Windows. There is a surprising amount of obnoxiously low quality but nonetheless useful things in this category.

Comment by nhinck3 5 hours ago

It's just momentum at this point. It had a massive advantage with games and office software but those are mostly gone at this point.

Comment by yuye 4 hours ago

>What is windows actually good at?

The only reason for me still running Windows is for games.

But even that is changing rapidly nowadays.

I'm still on Win10, even though it's EOL. I should upgrade, and if I do, I'll upgrade to some Linux distro, not Win11.

Comment by BizarroLand 3 hours ago

Microslop extended 10 for another year since so many people are still using it.

Lots of good distros out there, many that are gaming forward as well, though.

Comment by Propelloni 3 hours ago

> What is windows actually good at?

Domain control and group policies, unfortunately. Crucial for enterprises.

Comment by quantumspandex 3 hours ago

Stable environment for new hardware where everything works out of the box.

Comment by petra 2 hours ago

Also weird old hardware.

Comment by znpy 3 hours ago

> What is windows actually good at?

running the Office suite, unironically

Comment by dpoloncsak 1 hour ago

It's insane to 'crack down on pirated Windows activations' while doing nothing about massgrave. Even worse when it's open source and hosted on a website your company owns.

Long live massgrave though.

Comment by 0x1d7 5 hours ago

This is for KMS running on Windows Server. Doesn’t impact retail, OEM, or MAK.

Comment by deltoidmaximus 2 hours ago

Pretty obvious place to start. The purpose of the TPM is to prevent users from running unapproved software on the device.

Comment by vivzkestrel 5 hours ago

- can microsoft cut the crap and give us a windows optimal version already?

- no bloatware, no malware, no adware, no unnecessary tools, 4x the price

- am sure a whole chunk of people ll happily pay it to get their hands on an OS that runs at blazing speeds instead of the bloated crap we got in the name of windows these days

Comment by Good4boothee 4 hours ago

Isn't that just the LTSC version?

Comment by doubled112 4 hours ago

Perhaps, but how do you buy a copy for your family at home?

Comment by hotsauceror 4 hours ago

It's been a long time, but when I built my Win 10 machine (~2016) it was possible to purchase an "OEM" install disc on Amazon. I believe that's the LTSC version. I do see one for Win 11, but the product listing is several years old now, so who knows?

https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Windоws-Pro-OEM-DVD/dp/B09M...

Comment by wtallis 4 hours ago

OEM versions of Windows are just copies with license terms dictating that they are to be installed on and tied to a specific new PC, as opposed to a full retail license that is not tied to a specific PC and may be transferred to a different machine. What you have linked to is quite clearly Windows 11 Pro, not Windows 11 Enterprise and certainly not Windows 11 Enterprise LTSC.

Comment by serf 3 hours ago

cdw sells lot of diff key options, LTSC IoT used to be offered fairly reasonably, I don't know if they still do.

edit: replied to the wrong person, but leaving it here anyway, it's just about as visible I think.

https://www.cdw.com/search/software/operating-systems/window...

Comment by Krssst 3 hours ago

Tried to buy LTSC IoT from there a while ago, got rejected for not being a business. Normal people don't deserve Windows without the permanent disrespect of user choices apparently. (not blaming them, I assume that's just Microsoft's policy)

Comment by doubled112 49 minutes ago

Right. As far as I know you need to be a volume license customer, or resort to piracy.

Comment by xeonmc 32 minutes ago

From massgrave.dev

Comment by lurkerforawhile 1 hour ago

still not convinced TPM actually does anything useful for an end user.

Comment by ChrisArchitect 1 hour ago

Source: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/windows-itpro-blog/...

Comment by sgalbincea 5 hours ago

If you're ordering new servers without TPMs these days, you are doing it wrong.

Comment by kotaKat 5 hours ago

... But nobody's abusing KMS anymore.

Silly Redmond, we've been over here zeroing out the Confirmation ID to activate Windows for a while now. No pirate has time to queue up 25+ activations to get a KMS request to go out to Microsoft.