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

18 pointsposted 5 hours ago
by akyuu
(techspot.com)

18 Comments

xfour

3 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?

amluto

7 minutes 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.

nhinck3

3 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.

Propelloni

an hour ago

> What is windows actually good at?

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

yuye

2 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.

BizarroLand

27 minutes 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.

quantumspandex

an hour ago

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

znpy

15 minutes ago

> What is windows actually good at?

running the Office suite, unironically

0x1d7

3 hours ago

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

vivzkestrel

2 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

Good4boothee

2 hours ago

Isn't that just the LTSC version?

doubled112

2 hours ago

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

hotsauceror

2 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...

wtallis

an hour 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.

serf

an hour 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...

Krssst

13 minutes 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)

sgalbincea

2 hours ago

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

kotaKat

2 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.