If only you could put linux on them so they get security updates and give those to poor kids. Shame that is not possible. /s
this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2023
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It's not possible. I need software that runs only on windows, so as much as I'd like to I can never switch. The only thing I can do is maybe do a vm passthrough thing - except I don't want to spend a couple of grand on a new pc. People have jobs, real jobs, we have to work instead of fucking around distro hopping. A whole bunch of people could possibly switch to linux, but it's still such a major pain in the ass that nobody will do it unless they are forced into it. Expect hacked win 11 installs
The "give those to poor kids" part was such a foreign concept you failed to even acknowledge the words existence. wow.
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While I agree with you that some software isn't capable of running on Linux (even through wine), there is another aspect that's important to remember. Want and choice. The software that doesnt run on Linux is developed only for Windows because of market share. If more people used Linux, and more importantly, demanded Linux support, more software would support it. I WANT to use Linux instead of windows, so in order for that to become a reality, I push companies to support it and I talk to people and encourage trying Linux out. Can everyone make the switch? No, but some can; and the more that do the more Linux will be supported.
Your voice and opinion and choice matters. Don't let a big corporation steal that from you. Even if you want to use Windows, you should still have the choice.
So,
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you're called an exception, not a rule. Just because YOU need windows doesn't mean literally no one would have have use for ewaste revived through Linux.
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I run programs made exclusively for windows on Linux using wine daily. And
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maybe you like to fuck around distro hopping when you use Linux, the rest of us just fucking use our computers like a normal person. (See, I can be condescending too).
I'm called the vast majority. I can't use my software on wine because it's not supported by my vendors. It's nice that you use things, but try working in architecture, civil engineering and construction and let me know how that works for you.
Let me be even more condescending - I use things I need to do my work. I don't jerk off to linux or windows. If there was an option to move to mac I would do it. That's using a thing like normal person, you use thing get money
I disagree, the vast majority just need a browser, your use case may be quite common, but definitely not the majority.
Wow, I didn’t know poor children were allowed to be civil engineers, that’s so progressive! /s
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Since all the."but you can disable this", "just switch to Linux that" posts are already going strong, I'd like to remind everyone that many, many of those devices will be from businesses and are on some sort of leasing agreement. Since.the business needs to safeguard itself against IT fault related costs, they will not circumvent TPM, not because there would be anything wrong with doing that, but because they do not want to provide a target for insurers and lawsuits when they use their PCs in "an unsupported configuration". Businesses see their PCs very differently than private ppl do and "just switch to Linux" will be so much more expensive that they will not do that. They'll just get delivered new stuff from their leasing partner and that'll be that.
In all honesty. Most business laptops will have recent TPM anyway. Simply because if you give employees laptops you damn well want bitlocker on them. Where I work they're changed every 2 years anyway. People lose laptops. It's just a fact of life and you want some protection for the data on there.
Desktops, not so sure. For home users, there are of course very simple tools to make customised Win 11 boot USBs removing the fake requirements. But I'd say that the majority of users still couldn't install an operating system at all. So if windows cannot upgrade itself, they'll sit on unsupported win 10 or have to buy a new one.
If you can install windows, you can install the customised one I'd wager. The skill level is about the same.
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Linux can breathe life into older laptops (if the HW is supported). It's not for everyone (and downright infuriating in some ways) but it it does work very well for many things.
It is only frustrating for folks used to a different os.
FWIW, I used it as a daily driver for many years. And that was back in the days when things weren't as easy.
Unfortunately, to run the stuff I need to run, I'm pretty much stuck with Windows and WSL. (But with Linux on my old laptop.)
I'm probably not the audience that needs convincing, though.
So, "give those to poor kids", and use your proprietary software in the OS you are allowed to use. Not seeing the issue.
use your proprietary software in the OS you are allowed to use. Not seeing the issue.
The OS they are able to use is Windows 10. They likely don't meet the TPM requirements to update to Windows 11(as if you'd wanna use it anyways); so when W10 goes EoL, they will be SoL(shit out of luck) on getting future security patches. Which is y'know, bad, especially on the machine you do actual work on.
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Someone should open a business taking free perfectly good laptops people were going to throw out, putting Linux on them, and reselling them.
Goodwill could do this with anything they get donated.
I've seen this done. Store lasted for a bout a year, which is longer than I would have expected given the obsolete e-waste they were selling for extortionate prices. This was only a few years ago, but most of the laptops they were offering still had 4:3 displays and disc drives, that's how ancient they were. Hell, one of them had a floppy drive.
That’s wild. There’s a place here in Melbourne that sells refurbished Dell Optiplex’s. They’re ~8yrs old and still perfectly functional machines. For $100 you can get a full setup with a 16:9 monitor, keyboard and mouse. If you’re on unemployment they’ll sell it to you for $50 so you can look for work online.
That seems like a much better way of doing things.
The I.T. firm I run does this except we donate them to nonprofits.
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Linux. linux. linux. linux. linux. linux. linux. linux. linux. linux. linux. linux. linux. linux. linux. linux. linux. linux. linux. linux. linux.
When I read the title I was like "How would you torrent ewaste?" I'm going back to sleep.
Why would 240 million devices be scrapped? Just install Windows 11 or Linux on them. If you have a PC built in the last 6 years, you can probably run an OEM version of 11 if your settings in 10 is saying you don't qualify.
This post just highlights just how woefully technologically unsavvy the average person is.
Windows 11 actually won't run on all of them due to inconsiderate and arbitrary system requirements... but otherwise yes.
Windows 11 officially requires Secure Boot and TPM 2.0, but can easily be run with just TPM 1.2, and with some effort even without TPM. All the other system requirement increases (like single to dual core, 2 to 4 GB RAM, etc.) don't really play a role for any recently built PC anyway.
In the case of business's, liability reasons, real and imagined, mostly prevent just "switching" OS's freely.
In the case of home users, think of how many people you know that have a windows computer. Now how many of those people can you confidently say could install ANY OS, let alone handle setting up Linux or bypassing TPM requirements for W11?
Personally, out of the hundreds of people I know with a windows computer, I can count on my fingers how many I'm confident in being able to install an OS. Most people are really not tech savvy. They will just ride it out with no security patches until it becomes Jenn's laptop from the IT Crowd, and then they'll chuck it in the garbage.
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Microsoft promised Win 10 to be the last version and failed
They're plan to move everyone onto a subscription plan by locking everyone in failed.
it was a false/inaccurate quote, afaik, but my thinking after hearing it was..
yea, last one we'll buy, everything after will be a subscription.
might be 'postponed' a few versions (my guess is whatever's after 12), but i'm certain that's still microsoft's end goal: subscriptions and only subscriptions.
At the 2015 Ignite conference, Microsoft employee Jerry Nixon stated that Windows 10 would be the "last version of Windows", a statement reflecting the company's intent to apply the software as a service business model to Windows, with new versions and updates to be released over an indefinite period
Doesn’t seem like a false quote
But incorrectly quoted as "Microsoft promised...". It was one low-tier Microsoft employee who said it once, in a side note of a conference talk that was not about the future of Windows.
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