You are right, it is the control we face these days and sadly it is seems to be everywhere, with other companies including supermarkets wanting to grab as much info as they can, Getting a bit fed up with it to be honest.

I would have gone to Linux, but hassle, i loved using it on my laptop i was going to set up my old desktop for Linux, but awful problems getting my printer to work with any distro I have tried, so I have given up for a while. Worked ok with my old Canon printer.

anyway, for a laugh, I decided to download the latest version of Windows 11 dev, using Uudump, the version that is supposed to force people to use a MS account, but it don't, go other sign in options and it is possible to get a local account, looking at the write up by Ms about this version, they seem to have taken the you must have a MS account off, so maybe MS have listened. It does have the system requirements not met message in the bottom right of the desktop.

The ability to group icons on the star menu is nice, the only problem is, no ability to label them, from what I can see, so that is a bit naff.
I only just installed it, but now have to go to bed as i have to go to work in the morning, I will look a bit more when I get home tomorrow.
I will have a muck around with this for a week, but then I have to put the machine back to working condition. I want to try and get back into video editing stuff, if I stop being so shattered from work.

They might as well continue with the local account option even if you need to look around to find it, as anything else will end hacked anyway.
I agree printer has long been a pain with Linux, but founs my Cannon runs happily on the Q4XP, a Debian Q4OS based XP clone.
Adding the complete Q4OS printer subsystem in terminal should allow your printer to be recognised and installed.
$ sudo apt-get install foomatic-db printer-driver-all cups

A few shots here. https://www.reddit.com/r/debian/comments/ja7dql/q4xp...

https://q4os.org/downloads1.html

Edited by professor973 (Mon 28-Feb-22 01:11:26)

just as i was having coffee this morning before work, i thought I would try to install Windows 11 dev again, but without the internet connection, did not like that at all, wanted the connection. connected it and then it would not move past the we want you to have a MS account, not sure why it was fine the first time I tried it.
I eventually press shift and f9 i think and it came up with a command prompt, went to control panel and made another local account ands then after a while it allowed me to use a local account, I don't know if that was a fluke.


I am typing this in Edge at the moment as it is on the machine.

I will try it again, when I get home from work while waiting for food.
I love experimenting, but as I said at some point I need to put this machine back to normal.

now sadly i have to go to work.

The only copy of W11 I'm running is a dev copy (sorry insider preview) virtualised on Mac Silicon. Seems pretty snappy even though its technically not supported by MS.

Anyway, perhaps there's something that MS are tweaking or toying between iterations of the the dev versions which may explain why you are seeing these differences?

Seeing that that your copy of Windows 11 is virtualised, makes me think, why the hell did i not do that , like it makes not much difference as my main Windows set up is backed up as an image. Maybe a bit of wear and tear on the SSD.

Windows 11 is pretty snappy to be honest, well most of the time.

the third time I installed Windows 11, it decided to allow me to make a local account with ease, well as much ease as MS will allow.

Still running W10 natively on other windows boxes for the time being. I use Parallels for virtualisation on Mac and have done so for as long as I've been running them at home, so since version 3 or 4. They are now at version 17!

I am still looking towards a Mac mini later on in the year, depending on what Apple does and depending if I feel like updating and spending the money.
if I went for another x64 based machine, I would have to spend a fair bit of money to get something that is a lot better than this ryzen 7 1700, so maybe it is the best just to get a Mac mini.

I have now installed the normal version of Windows 11 on here and will keep to it for a while as long as they have solved the file explorer bug
Easy enough for me to go back to Windows 10.

I installed windows 11 on 2 of my laptops when it launched. I've had no real issues with it so far. The only niggle I had was the new interface for file explorer. After a quick online search I was able to put this back to the older (win 10, 8, 7) file explorer.

The requirement for the microsoft account for windows 11 pro is just for insiders at present. However I can see where they are going with this as windows 11 is going to be more intergrated with the cloud so having a microsoft account will simplify the integration with microsoft products online (including ones that way still to be launched). I admit I could be completely wrong here.

I've not seen anything re Windows 11 home edition see the potential issue with this as most "home" users might not need all the additional potential features/products

I installed the leaked version, the version that MS tried to keep hidden before Windows was officially revealed, but we all knew it was coming?

I have Windows 11 running on this machine now again and to be honest it seems to be ok, none of the explorer crashing I did have. Easy enough for me to go back to Windows 10, all my files are stored on a different drive, so I just restore windows 10 from an image.

Windows 10 was supposed to be based in the cloud, I remember when it was launched, that some of it was cloud based, Windows 11 is the same to be honest, just bits in the cloud, but no all of us want to use the services or we may use other providers. Like email, I have no interest in using hotmail, outlook or what ever Ms calls it these days, I have my own domain and pay for an email service and most people I know use Gmail or what ever Apple provides on their phones, I even had a email today from someone using Yahoo, don't get that very often. I don't really do cloud storage and I have no interest in using Office online or any other service MS offers, so what is the point in trying to push someone like me to have a MS account? Even if they succeeded with forcing me to have a MS account, I would put the computer back to a local account a get rid of anything to do with a MS account on it. but I suppose they are looking at people who have no idea what they are doing and will just do what they are told to do, happens a lot to be honest.

I don't like being pushed and the more I am pushed, the more I will rebel, they have found that out at work with the constant nagging about us using Teams and yammer. If they have just said about it and left it, I may have at some point decided to use them, but keep nagging me about using it and I will refuse outright to use it.

Are you not forced to pay tax and national insurance?

If a company you work for uses a particular product then you are required to use that product.