Comment by vivzkestrel
13 hours ago
Imagine a new version of Windows being released called "Windows Optimal" In addition to Home, Professional and Pro you get to buy Optimal. The catch is that it is priced 4x the home version. You wonder why? Optimal is exactly what you think it is. A ground up 0 bloatware, 0 telemetry, 100% easily tweakable privacy and performance settings from a single screen with 0 AI features, 0 Edge and 0 games. Imagine getting your hands on this OS and then running your favorite programs on it. It is so minimal that you literally have to install notepad on it if you want to or you can always install notepad++. Dear employees and managers of Microsoft reading this comment, can you greenlight something of this caliber? like for once?
You are describing Windows 11 LTSC which is a product that exists because Microsoft knows people want to turn this crap off.
It is of course only available in volume licensing to keep it away from normal users. Only businesses get to control their computers.
Does LTSC comes with respectable default settings or that's still a matter of setting up system?
I'm replying to you from Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC courtesy of massgravel (or massgrave... not sure wth it's actually called now!) and it's activated until 2038.
The only thing it didn't have out of the box that I wanted was Microsoft Store (so that I could install Winget and Terminal) but you install it from an elevated powershell command with "wsreset -i" and that's it done.
It also has the original version of Notepad, not that abomination with the tabs and Copilot!
Oh, no Copilot whatsoever in fact.
All the instructions for IoT (including where to get it... legitimately) are on the massgrave github page and website.
And before I am accused of sailing the high seas... I'm not! The activation script just activates complicated processes built-in to Windows: it doesn't "hack" it or anything!
I moved all my home LAN Windows machines to LTSC IoT in February; cost me about 90 euros for each license. You can buy individual licenses from online stores that will connect to MS and validate correctly. You'll have to install the MS app store from GitHub (!), and there are some other issues, but at least you're years away from what hit everyone else this October.
You can find some licenses sold online; it costs about 3x the price of Home. But I am not sure if it's legal; I have already bought some and then realized it's just keygenerated.
Normal, reputable websites never sell single LTSC licenses. So go figure
which shows that only businesses care about that stuff.
normal people don't give a fuck, they actually like the things HN bitches about - online account, data storage and services
Normal people don't want a Microsoft account (indeed, many don't have one), nor do they want ads in the Start menu.
It shows nothing. Normal users dont even get the option. They probably dont give a fuck, based on a ton of other things, but there is no option to even choose the no bloat option.
Word on the ground is this is turning around
You're just describing a Linux distribution[1]. With the added benefit of being 0x the price.
[1]: Assuming you're not married to some Windows only software that you can't get working using Proton/Wine, or don't want to run a Windows VM.
primary use case: gaming. needs to support everything from 90s to cutting edge modern games without hiccups
https://bazzite.gg/
Should work out of the box, no configuration needed.
The only caveat is games with kernel based anti-cheat, but I don't play many of those. Arc Raiders works just fine, for example.
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Well, guess you're married to Windows if those are your requirements. Proton runs most games these days[1] (but not all). Apparently older Windows app/games run better on Proton/Wine than Windows (better citation needed) [2].
[1]: https://www.protondb.com/explore
[2]: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1kjib0y/is_th...
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So not modern Windows, right ? ;-)
Should work without issues, except when an "anti-cheat" rootkit is needed by the game.
Source: Someone using Debian to play games from the 90's (Master of Orion 2, HoMM 2&3, etc) to recent games like Helldivers 2
This is a great idea. However, roughly 10 seconds after the first reports showing market penetration, a PM will suggest 'further monetisation'.
Well you can get closer with custom build tools and tools to gut features. Ms is acutely aware of these third party efforts and they are working diligently to stop them from working in each release. They are not interested in making a prosumer release, but harvesting the customer. One of you is the matrix and the other is the human battery. I leave it to the reader to determine where they fall in those categories.
You have just described Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC Edition. See the MAS website for more info.
You can try playing with WinPE.
It already exists (any Open Source OS).
Honestly, if it ran Affinity photo and SilverFast, I'd be happy to pay that. Same goes for Linux, whatever can run those!
I've been running Affinity Photo on Fedora for a while by running this installation script[1]. Works flawlessly and they recently upgraded the script to install Affinity 3.0. I haven't encountered/solved your second use-case, but I'm /sure/ someone has.
[1] https://github.com/ryzendew/AffinityOnLinux