Upcoming Windows 11 builds cannot install without internet and Microsoft Account

> I'm also 100% convinced Microsoft will introduce mandatory code signing at some point and make it so that you can only ever install software from Windows Store

2017 called. It wants Windows S Mode back.

Needless to say it still isn't very popular. But this has been around for <checks notes> 8 years now

Yep, the technology is already there.

Just a question of time before they flip the switch for good and force it down everyone's throat and call it "enhanced security and user experience".

I actually would consider S Mode if it supported steam and it's games. For serious computing I boot into Linux anyways.

Windows S failed hard so they have a new strategy. Every new CPU ships with M$'s Pluton root of trust. For 'security' everything will have to be signed. They consider the user to be the threat actor. Eventually they will charge a percsnt fee for using their signing service.

Where is the EU when you need it?

It’s only a matter of time before Microsoft forces everyone with local accounts to switch to a Microsoft Account just to access their own machines. I wouldn’t be surprised if, in the future, local accounts are completely disabled, except maybe on specialized enterprise versions of the OS.

I'm exhausted by the anti-consumer behavior of American companies, constantly restricting user choice and access, undermining privacy, and hiking up prices, all in the name of "profit".

Profit?

You mean "enhanced security and user experience"? /s

Have you met my mother in law? She really is.

It's been near a decade of them trying and failing (or over a decade, if one'd look at windows 8 and its apps as part of some plan), that at some point this 'what if they lock everything down!!' thing just sounds like a FUD, which is kinda ironic. And the 'they're locking down installs!!' thing too, every time they make a change it gets to the front page here, and yet it still remains circumventable (just use Rufus). Years have gone by and the actual "locking down" of it still hasn't arrived.

For serious gaming, I use my Linux powered Steam Deck

This sounds like the UEFI Secure Boot FUD from > 10 years ago. That also didn't turn out like they predicted.

There are so many legacy apps being used in the corporate world, I don't see this realistically ever happening.

The desire for control never went away.

So just make that feature exclusive for enterprise versions and reduce the ease for private individuals to obtain one.

The moment they roll it as mandatory - people would stop updating.