Up yours Microsoft. We're THROUGH

[xchange]

Just finished upgrading Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 here, and I realized that my first mistake was to upgrade from Windows SEVEN in the first place. I should've had my hackles up when I saw all of the ways MS tries (and succeeds) to force you to tie your computer to a Microsoft account in Win8. I was very unhappy to see it's even worse in 8.1. The entire Windows 8/8.1 experience has been a sour mess. First they wanted a Hotmail account, then they said no more Hotmail, we're switching everything to Outlook (after they launched Windows 8. Thanks for that MS, you bloody idiots). Then they left a trail of old Hotmail breadcrumbs all over my account and PC that I've never been able to get rid of. Now everything I own and have paid for regarding Windows 8, including my Product Key is all tied to this friggin hotmail/outlook hybrid account soup mess they left me. Notice how I haven't even mentioned the whole ModernUI issue they've been criticized about? There's a reason I haven't. It's because MS F'd up Windows a bunch already before you even bring ModernUI into the equation. That's just icing on the cake.

And of course that's not enough. Now they want me to re-activate my OS using a verification code that - you guessed it - they never sent to the email address associated to my account. Now I can't activate and have to request an account reactivation that - wait for it - takes 30 days. Great job! What a Fing joke. What a Fing mess. I'm going back to Windows 7, and it's going to be the LAST windows operating system I ever use. Next machine will either be Linux or Mac OS.
F you microsoft. Hard, minus lube.

/rant

 

[sauce_a_poutine]

.... I'm going back to Windows 7, and it's going to be the LAST windows operating system I ever use.

Amen. That activation crap is silly, really. But by trying to close-off their eco-system to make it more like Apple, they are going to lose even more users to Google. The sad thing is that if they do, then Google's market share won't be endangered if Google also follows suit. In the end, we will be down to appliance-type devices where one has no control over anything, including his own data.

 

[Cozume]

AMEN hate those effers. But as far as tying everything to an email address, Google started that crap.

FYI - my hotmail address is effumcrosft or something like that.

You'll get me to give up my Windows XP when you pry my cold, dead hands off of it.

 

[Cozume]

lose even more users to Google.

well tying everything to an email address was google's idea.

 

[xchange]

Yeah I know, however I drew the line in the sand when it comes to my home pc. I already was keeping as much personal data off my mobile device as possible, but now this shi* is in my own home. I can lock down my pc far better than my phone, but Microsoft making it this difficult AND the lousy software are the final straw

 

[Cozume]

Yeah I know, however I drew the line in the sand when it comes to my home pc. I already was keeping as much personal data off my mobile device as possible, but now this shi* is in my own home. I can lock down my pc far better than my phone, but Microsoft making it this difficult AND the lousy software are the final straw

ITA. But how easy is it to get started with Linux? I would like to get rid of Windows, too.

 

[palandri]

You missed something on the installation. I never tied a Microsoft account to Win8 on my laptop or PC. When I sign in, my AT&T email is listed on the upper right hand corner of my tile page.

 

[xchange]

Not as easy as windows and mac unfortunately. I'll probably switch to a macbook pro for my next machine when they stop supporting windows 7. I formatted my machine back to 7 last night and all of the headaches of requiring a Microsoft account in order to activate are gone.

 

[Cozume]

You missed something on the installation. I never tied a Microsoft account to Win8 on my laptop or PC. When I sign in, my AT&T email is listed on the upper right hand corner of my tile page.

but we don't want to tie ANY email account to our home PCs.

 

[palandri]

but we don't want to tie ANY email account to our home PCs.

Ahhh. Got it!

 

[xchange]

Here is an excellent article about how the whole installation and use of Win 8 and 8.1 is tied to MS's intentions to place, and keep you online. There are detailed instructions on how to escape MS's attempts to do this, but the author asks a very legitimate and poignant question: Why should we have to jump through these hoops in the first place when we never had to before? And he answers that just as succinctly.

The bottom line for me is that yes, you can, after doing some research delve into the submenus of the installation process to not have your Windows 8 tied to any email accounts. But even after you eventually succeed in doing so, the entire structure of Windows 8, and even more so in 8.1 bombards you with areas where you're confronted with them wanting you to have a Microsoft account to do things. None of this should be there in the first place. What really ticked me off even more is that I originally installed Windows 8 using what at the time was a Microsoft Live ID (aka hotmail), and then shortly afterwords MS decided, hey we're discontinuing Live, and switching everything over to Outlook. Then after the conversion, My PC ended up riddled with hotmail leftovers and outlook account stuff too. When I tried to fix it with the upgrade to Windows 8.1, they then wanted me to reactivate windows. So I tried to do this using my outlook account. Not good enough says MS, we now want you to provide an activation security code. We're going to send it to your email address you originally activated Windows 8 with. They never did. In response I was left with one option by them, which was for them to reactivate my outlook account in order for me to be able to activate Windows 8.1. Here's the final kick in the arse: doing so - which was the only option they provide you - locks your account down for 30 days as a "security measure". So now my Outlook account is locked for 30 days, the very thing I need in order to activate my 8.1 upgrade. lol. What a sordid mess.

Anyway read the above linked article thoroughly, he really describes what a royal pain MS has made it in order to use Windows 8 and even more in 8.1 without being tied to MS online. Unless you really love the metro features for some unfathomable reason on a mouse and keyboard computer, the only single benefit switching from windows 7 to 8 is a slightly faster boot up time. The numerous cons outweigh that significantly.

 

[Cozume]

None of this should be there in the first place

Ugh. Thanks for letting us know. I will never go to Windows 8.

 

[Mooncatt]

I think that fact MS added an option to roll back to 7 without a full reformat and data wipe was very telling for Windows 8. W 8. W8. Wait!

I wasn't aware of the account linking issue, which is probably enough to keep me from a MS (or any similar linked machine) computer alone. I have tinkered with a WAIT machine in a store, but that's it. I did find that once you get out of Metro and to the true desktop, it actually was similar to navigating prior versions.

 

[someguy01234]

I went back to Windows 7 too since it's impossible to install certain ADB drivers for some of my Android devices on Windows 8. Also the Wi-Fi menu and access to Bluetooth settings are retarded. But I don't log into Windows much nowadays since I use Kubuntu mostly and "Wine" play most of my classic games.

sent via tapatalk

 

[xchange]

I think next time I do a reformat I'll set up another partition and finally get around to learning Linux with a dual boot setup

 

[palandri]

I think next time I do a reformat I'll set up another partition and finally get around to learning Linux with a dual boot setup

That's what I do. I have Win8 and Linux Mint dual booting on my laptop and Win8 and Ubuntu dual booting on my desktop PC.

 

[Cozume]

I'm still happily using Windows XP Pro.

Me, too!

I used to be a huge Microsoft fan (since Windows 95),

Windows 95 was an incredibly unstable OS.

I
tried Windows 7 but it was a death by a thousand cuts.

What is so bad about Windows 7? I have it on one of my laptops but don't use it much.

 

[anon8126715]

I've noticed you have had a lot of ranting posts of late. I'm going to share with you what works for me......

Take as many as you need.

 

[xchange]

I prefer a bottle of Wizers for a better whiskey fueled rage

 

[gollum18]

P.S. in the Linux world, we have everything windows does, minus the crappy ui and activation codes.

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