Microsoft sent many of us to Apples and Linux computers in the early oughts. Bill Gates was no prize, as far as ruthless billionaire CEO’s go, but his fat pal Steve Ballmer pushed evil to new heights, presiding over the Vista fuster-cluck, and calling Linux a cancer.
But since the new guy has taken over, the main sign of evil was contented Windows 7 users going to bed and waking up to find they had Windows 10.
Well, Satya Nadella would like you to know that he’s every bit as evil as his two predecessors. Introducing S mode.
What’s the first thing you do when you boot up a new Windows 10 PC? If you’re a seasoned geek, you skip the network setup so you can set the machine up with a local user. No thanks, Microsoft, I don’t want my disconnected PC to depend on an online account for access, for a number of reasons. Besides not trusting you, I would rather control my own destiny, and user ID.
So I log in, and fire up Edge just long enough to get Chrome. Enter S mode.
S mode lets you ONLY install from the Microsoft store. And guess what’s missing? That’s right, rival browsers to Edge.
No worries, I’ll just turn S mode off. Guess what? You have to have a Microsoft login to do so. And you can’t create a throwaway, if you don’t use it to log on to your PC, guess what again? Back in S mode.
Microsoft is attempting to force you to (a) get a Microsoft account, and/or (b) use the awful, awkward, dysfunctional Edge.
Gates and Ballmer would be proud.
You home users are screwed. Resistance is futile. Get a Microsoft account, or use the world’s worst web browser.
Me? I’m wiping the hard drive of my mother-in-law’s computer and installing an unlocked version of 10. If you’re not geeky enough to do that, then you’re sadly on your own. It’s Edge or a direct connection to the most evil corporation in the tech world.
With competition like Facebook and Google, that’s saying something.
Right along with the rest of corporatism. At what point doThelma & Louise hit? We all know we’re already o er the cliff.