Comment by giancarlostoro
2 years ago
I was able to suck it up from 8 till 10, but 11 is starting to piss me off.
I bought a gaming computer a year ago, it was fully pre-built. Somehow a 2 thousand (or whatever) computer comes with Windows Home instead of Pro (wtf Microsoft, you should really make sure OEMs are giving out Pro versions for gaming systems). This is where the fun begins, and I've posted it before on HN. I couldn't install Windows 11 offline in order to avoid making a Microsoft account. I don't like all my personal shit automagically being uploaded to Microsoft's cloud, especially when they default to on, and companies will reset settings on a whim.
So what happened next is I had to literally login, and then when I was finally on Windows, I wanted to add a new account because I don't like that Windows doesn't let me set the *username* local to the OS, if you're going to make me login, please let me set the username, I don't want my Windows path to be C:/Users/gianc/Documents or whatever. I rather set that myself, re-configuring all of that after the fact feels like it will break something, and it is not worth it.
So I go to create a new Windows offline account only to be told by the modern Windows 11 UI that I'm on Home edition of Windows, and cannot add users from that software, go to software XYZ from Windows. So I go there... guess what error I got? The same exact error telling me to go back to the previous program. I wound up installing Linux in frustration.
The only reason I don't use Linux is if the drivers stop being supported OOTB by the installer, which has happened to me before. Linux might have its own issues, but at least it's not completely FUBARd despite one of the largest companies pouring millions into its development.
My MIL got a Windows 11 laptop for Christmas and it is ridiculous.
They lock down executables by default, only allowing web sites and their app store.
Guess what company doesn’t have an app? Zoom. The main thing my MIL uses her laptop for!
So I need to change advanced security settings to install one of the most popular apps in the world.
Can't she make the zoom calls through Chrome?
She can, but why should she have to? It’s a PC, it supports applications!
Its a 2nd grade experience at best.
What are the benefits of Windows 11 home vs pro for a gaming system?
Best feature of Pro is Windows Sandbox, which I use to test/trial app installs in a VM. It's basically a disposable OS that spins up as fast as most apps. Sandbox runs on Hyper-V, which along with domain networking (for business) are the two main differentiators as far as I understand.
My point was moreso that its silly paying thousands of dollars for a computer and only getting a basic version of Windows, considering they give OEMs an insane discount on licensing (I really doubt ASUS paid $100+ for my Windows license). By comparison my Surface Book 2 had Windows Pro, granted that was a Microsoft system yes, but it would have been insane if it only came with Windows Home edition after spending over a thousand dollars on a laptop. I buy gaming systems because it meets my hardware requirements for dev work. Visual Studio consumes all available memory. Windows Home has strange limitations which I just don't care for as a literal pro user.
> its silly paying thousands of dollars for a computer and only getting a basic version of Windows
It very well may be but this one is not on Microsoft. Using their power to force decisions onto others is one easy way to land in hot(ter) water. This would probably be an abuse of dominant position which everyone wants less of.
OEMs have more negotiating power than regular users so it's no easy or cheap feat to force them. Arbitrarily defining which licenses can work with what hardware makes everything complicated for everyone, it needs constant updating as the hardware changes, it needs a lot of assumptions on how the user uses the PC, would probably create the garden variety loophole hunt for tricking the system.
The sensible choice here is to go for a product that really fits your needs especially since that market is very well served by competition. You have dozens of competitors and even the DYI option. You're not buying a black box. It can be a gaming PC with Windows Home just as it can be a gaming PC with a 4060 GPU. Nvidia or MS should have no say in what a vendor can sell.
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If you're doing more than exclusively gaming, you get hyper-v, but if all you want is WSL2, you don't need pro... Even though it uses hyper-v ...
in theory, you can disable all the ads
in practice MS will just keep injecting new ones in new ways and you're stuck wasting your time in a never ending battle against a user-hostile OS.
Microsoft has decided to use their OS to collect people's personal information and use it against them as a ad platform and no amount of registry edits or setting changes will make that untrue.
I didn't even bother trying, but yeah Windows Home edition is severely locked down, they might as well call it the Childlock version of Windows.