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Imagine being CISO or any other high level manager doing information security, and your entire corporation runs Microsoft workstations. Every week there's a ne

Imagine being CISO or any other high level manager doing information security, and your entire corporation runs Microsoft workstations. Every week there's a new headache to keep you awake at night; did you pay those leeches enough for an enterprise license that doesn't silently exfiltrate all your employees' data? Will they roll out the latest greatest data vacuuming feature to your install base? Fun times!

_cenw 3y ago
This behavior is in fact limited to "consumer" Windows 11 SKUs (so Home and Pro), and also disables when using Pro domain-joined. But bet on it migrating to the business SKUs eventually.
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  Bingo. Microsoft is careful to only screw consumers who don't know any better (they already surrendered their personal data and ownership of their digital purchases and devices to Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple, Sony, Samsung, etc. what's one more?) and to not fuck over their most loyal cash cow (businesses).
  - HPsquared 3y ago
    The home versions being "untrustworthy" also could help push sales of the business version. Especially with things being done more in the browser, the "business features" of the OS are less of a draw. So they need to instead put anti-features in the home version to deter business users from "cheaping out".
    - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
      >The home versions being "untrustworthy" also could help push sales of the business version. How so? Consumers don't have easy access to the Business version AFAIK, and businesses will always buy the Business version anyway.
      - vetinari 3y ago
        Consumers can easily get the Pro edition instead of Home. There used to be even a update purchase link in some control.exe applet. It is the Enterprise and LTSC editions, that consumers do not have access to. But for the purposes above, Pro is enough (and most popular in business).
        FirmwareBurner 3y ago
        Pro edition is not the same as business edition, it's still consumer edition with same dark patterns.
        vetinari 3y ago
        There's no business edition. There's Home, Pro, Enterprise (E3, E5); with variants for N (no media) and Education. That's it. Enterprise doesn't have Appstore crap preinstalled, and has some features that you wouldn't want at home anyway (it is enteprise-oriented crap instead). Not every business runs Enterprise edition.
        _cenw 3y ago
        They name install media accordingly - if you have access to MVS or VLSC you can check it yourself. Consumer includes Home and Pro. Business includes Pro, Education, Pro for Workstations (which is Pro without dark patterns even when not domain joined) and Enterprise. These ISOs also usually include all N variants.
      - Stranger43 3y ago
        There is a large segment of crossover where small non-IT centric companies will run it on whatever was on sale at their local reseller and a couple of Cloud services for CRM and accounting and no IT staff/policy. For those to sign up with a Microsoft partner and buy into the full packet could be an significant market, Though it could end up a net loss for MS if this segment start to go Chromebook in a major way the way a lot of school districts did.
alibarber 3y ago
I think Microsoft is one of those 'no one got fired for buying...' companies. A Microsoft data breach is a Microsoft data breach. Your boss - the CEO, won't know what else you could have done, it's Microsoft, right? Something goes wrong with your 'weird Linux-whatever-that-is-mumbo-jumbo', that you dragged the company into? Well then yeah it's your neck on the line. Sadly.
- vmfunction 3y ago
  This is kind of corporate politics that is ruining the tech industry.
SebFender 3y ago
When you're in a O365 deal, it's all built in.
jeroenhd 3y ago
There's a good chance your company already enforces Edge as the only browser in the first place if your company is all-in on Windows. It's fully integrated into existing Group Policy management tools and is secure and compatible enough to be used for web browsing, unlike Internet Explorer 11. Also, in general, Windows Professional is a lot more respectful towards users. Edge still nags you all the time, but it doesn't do most of the terrible shit that happens to the consumer version.
devnullbrain 3y ago
My experience working at companies using Linux machines to target Linux devices is that IT treat Linux as a headache or a toy OS. They like Windows. They like being able to give you an antivirus that cripples any compilation. They like being able to ignore fine-grained resource management - everyone needs to be a superuser to get anything done, anyway.

_cenw 3y ago

This behavior is in fact limited to "consumer" Windows 11 SKUs (so Home and Pro), and also disables when using Pro domain-joined. But bet on it migrating to the business SKUs eventually.

FirmwareBurner 3y ago
Bingo. Microsoft is careful to only screw consumers who don't know any better (they already surrendered their personal data and ownership of their digital purchases and devices to Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple, Sony, Samsung, etc. what's one more?) and to not fuck over their most loyal cash cow (businesses).
- HPsquared 3y ago
  The home versions being "untrustworthy" also could help push sales of the business version. Especially with things being done more in the browser, the "business features" of the OS are less of a draw. So they need to instead put anti-features in the home version to deter business users from "cheaping out".
  - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
    >The home versions being "untrustworthy" also could help push sales of the business version. How so? Consumers don't have easy access to the Business version AFAIK, and businesses will always buy the Business version anyway.
    - vetinari 3y ago
      Consumers can easily get the Pro edition instead of Home. There used to be even a update purchase link in some control.exe applet. It is the Enterprise and LTSC editions, that consumers do not have access to. But for the purposes above, Pro is enough (and most popular in business).
      - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
        Pro edition is not the same as business edition, it's still consumer edition with same dark patterns.
        vetinari 3y ago
        There's no business edition. There's Home, Pro, Enterprise (E3, E5); with variants for N (no media) and Education. That's it. Enterprise doesn't have Appstore crap preinstalled, and has some features that you wouldn't want at home anyway (it is enteprise-oriented crap instead). Not every business runs Enterprise edition.
        _cenw 3y ago
        They name install media accordingly - if you have access to MVS or VLSC you can check it yourself. Consumer includes Home and Pro. Business includes Pro, Education, Pro for Workstations (which is Pro without dark patterns even when not domain joined) and Enterprise. These ISOs also usually include all N variants.
    - Stranger43 3y ago
      There is a large segment of crossover where small non-IT centric companies will run it on whatever was on sale at their local reseller and a couple of Cloud services for CRM and accounting and no IT staff/policy. For those to sign up with a Microsoft partner and buy into the full packet could be an significant market, Though it could end up a net loss for MS if this segment start to go Chromebook in a major way the way a lot of school districts did.

alibarber 3y ago

I think Microsoft is one of those 'no one got fired for buying...' companies. A Microsoft data breach is a Microsoft data breach. Your boss - the CEO, won't know what else you could have done, it's Microsoft, right? Something goes wrong with your 'weird Linux-whatever-that-is-mumbo-jumbo', that you dragged the company into? Well then yeah it's your neck on the line. Sadly.

vmfunction 3y ago
This is kind of corporate politics that is ruining the tech industry.

SebFender 3y ago

When you're in a O365 deal, it's all built in.

jeroenhd 3y ago

There's a good chance your company already enforces Edge as the only browser in the first place if your company is all-in on Windows. It's fully integrated into existing Group Policy management tools and is secure and compatible enough to be used for web browsing, unlike Internet Explorer 11. Also, in general, Windows Professional is a lot more respectful towards users. Edge still nags you all the time, but it doesn't do most of the terrible shit that happens to the consumer version.

devnullbrain 3y ago

My experience working at companies using Linux machines to target Linux devices is that IT treat Linux as a headache or a toy OS. They like Windows. They like being able to give you an antivirus that cripples any compilation. They like being able to ignore fine-grained resource management - everyone needs to be a superuser to get anything done, anyway.