Re: Microsoft Flip-Flops on Win11 requirements

On 11/12/2024 16:57, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

 Microsoft's Windows10 operating system was one of its most popular
products. Windows 11, however, has seen a much slower uptake. This is
in part because it requires built in TPM, a hardware encryption
processor that not all computers have built in. While most new PCs
come with the device, many older computers are left in the lurch. This
severely curtails the upgrade options for those users, and instead of
moving to the new OS, a lot of them have decided to stay with Windows
10.
 Microsoft has been fairly adamant that Windows 11 users must have TPM,
and have in fact gone out of their way to disable hacks that allow the
OS to be installed on computers that don't have the module. It's not
entirely without merits; several core features of the OS --including
SecureBoot and the Bitlocker Hard-drive encryption-- rely on the
hardware. Just from a support perspective, it's understandable why
they'd not want users to install the OS on unsupported hardware. All
the more since it is inevitable that were they to relent, some
hardware manufactures /would/ skimp out on the cost of the TPM module
and while all the savings would go to the OEM, it would be Microsoft
that would get the blame.
 So it's somewhat surprising that Microsoft has finally relented* even
a little bit on the issue. It's still against recommended procedure
(and doing so will get you warning messages and a not-easily-removed
watermark on your desktop reminding you of your foolhardiness) but
now, if you really want, you CAN install Windows 11 on unsupported
hardware.
 Which overall I think is a good thing. With Windows 10 falling out of
support next year, it would open up a lot of PCs to hacks through
unpatched vulnerabilities. It also keeps a lot of computers that are
otherwise perfectly usable from getting junked just because they don't
meet up to Microsoft's approval. And, let's face it, with the world
economy likely to hit the shitter because of America's looming trade
war fiasco, new computers aren't going to be must-have purchases for a
lot of people for the next few years. So keeping older PCs running is
a net benefit to all.
 It's interesting that Microsoft blinked, though. I guess it just shows
how much of their income is now dependent on income from outside the
OS division --be it advertising, data-harvesting, or subscriptions to
OneDrive or Office365-- that they're willing to sacrifice the goodwill
of OEMs (who were hoping the Win11 TPM requirement would drive sales
of new computers).
 That said, I actually don't like Windows 11 that much; it's feels a
lot less polished than Windows 10 (which felt less polished than 7,
which was less polished than 2K, etc. etc. Maybe one day the world
will all come to its senses and finally just migrate to Linux? ;-).
But if your old-but-functional PC is still running Win10 and you were
wondering what to do when Microsoft finally pulls the plug on that old
OS, well... there's another option available now. Maybe not the best
one, but it's an option you didn't have until now.
 >

I put it into the category of good intentions but bad implementation. So for the users whose hardware doesn't support TPM at all then you're better off moving to a supported OS even if it doesn't support all the more secure implementations of security functions. Then you have users (me included) that have a PC that does support TPM but it's not enabled by default so fails the Win 11 compatibility check. How many users will just see that and say, well I'll stick with Win 10 then. Maybe the health check app could do more to look at the motherboard version and determine whether it is compatible.
Having worked in security for a long time one thing you learnt was that functionality sells but security is generally just seen as a hindrance as it doesn't actually help you do you job but instead is at best neutral. Oh you've included encryption, excellent what does that allow me to do, errr ... absolutely nothing.