How do I opt users out of this "upgrade" ?

Some simple registry key ?

Install a FOSS OS. It works for me & mine (including corporate).

Note that Linux and BSD aren't the only options, I have quite a few people running Minix.

"Install a FOSS OS. "

Really? Fantastic.

OK that's done. Now to install MS Office all the software that actual businesses use to actually run (and maybe a few recent games) ...

Oh.

FOSS With LibreOffice is 95% of what everyone needs.

Sarcasm does not undermine the truth.

It is actually far more than 100% of what anyone needs, if you look at it objectively.

Note that the keyword there is "needs".

If you're in a business that's Microsoft based then you just hand the entire problem over to IT -- they provide the computer, they make everything work and they're responsible for dealing with any problems.

Meanwhile you use a more realistic system to get actual work done. There are programs that allow you to use your super-spiffy but generally useless Windows system as a terminal (preferably not VNC, though). Computers are cheap and these rollouts typically involve a lot of junking of older but otherwise perfectly usable kit so there's plenty of opportunity to get your hands on a spare system.

Obviously if the company's dumb enough to mandate using Windows despite everything then just find another job. Or just go with the flow, do what you can but make sure you systematically document any problems and interactions with IT so that when the schedule ordure hits the air mover you've got your rear suitably covered.

(NB -- I'm a developer of embedded applications so I have all sorts of needs that don't fit into the traditional IT model.)

Windows 10 with WSL is the way to go.

Corporate is happy that we use Windows for Office and all those Windows-only company tools. And for actual work we use Linux in WSL and ssh to the servers and other systems.

It was kindly meant.

Nothing stops you from staying and suffering with Windows. We're all friends here.

"Now to install MS Office all the software that actual businesses use to actually run"

None of the businesses I consult for run MS-anything. Why do you think MS is necessary, when it is quite clear that reality says otherwise? Is it a religious thing for you?

"(and maybe a few recent games)"

Playing games at work? You're fired.

> (and maybe a few recent games) ...

What games? There will be a Proton release, or Lutris extension which handles it. Linux will even running EA's shitty fucking Origin "service".

Just because YOU do not know how to do it, does not mean it cannot be done.

If you have a PC that meets W11 requirements but do NOT want it to automatically update to W11 but want to stay on W10 then the procedure is:

1. turn off Windows Update so that your W10 machine never updates automatically

2. manually download the W10 security etc updates each month or whatever from the Microsoft Update Catalogue and apply them manually.

You can't turn off Windows Update. You can block the servers in the host file if you want, or disable your TPM and/or secure boot.

If it's not used, see if you can disable the TPM in the bios?

Used for FDE via BitLocker

OK all the snark about FOSS, Linux, etc. is all well and good (and even expected, these are the El Reg forums, after all). And I actually do have Linux on my main machine. But my music machine requires Windows (well, the machine itself by no means requires Windows, but the applications that run on it certainly do). It is an 8th gen i5, and so may well be in the crosshairs of a Micros~1 forced-march into their revenue stream.

So let me rephrase Tom Chiverton 1's original question:

How do I opt users who must remain Windows users (may ghod have mercy on their souls) out of this "upgrade"?

Easy on the snark, and heavy on factual, useful info, please...

If you don't want the upgrade then switch off TPM or secureboot in your BIOS, or set your internet connection to be a metered one which then makes Windows only downloads security updates automatically and not feature updates.

Why do you think your music "requires" Windows? I have no issues[0] with music on Linux (including production), and haven't for a long time now.

[0] Other than the underlying code being aesthetically ugly ... if we ever have the time, my daughter and I might make it our job to pretty it up a bit as a learning tool for her daughter.

Professional music production of Linux ?

I wish, but no Pro Tools, Cubase, etc, no support for leading audio interfaces, no support for leading plug-ins, etc etc.

Cockos Reaper ( [1]https://www.reaper.fm/ ) isn't quite there yet with regard to natively hosting VST/i/s and other plugin formats, but progress seems to be good.

[1] https://www.reaper.fm/

I've grown tired of trying to get through to these people that, pretty much with the exception of video thanks to DaVinci Resolve, "Linux" and "content creation" DO NOT COMPUTE.

But they continue to live in denial. I'm gong to get downvoted hard, but these people don't DO hard-core content creation yet want to tell those who do that they, somehow, "know better".

Windows Server makes for a excellent DAW operating system.

Steinberg Cubase works a treat on Server 2016, 2019.

As does Reaper and Ableton.

Server doesn't have any of the latency sapping B/S you find in the W10/W11, plus you get ReFS which works well for a recording computer.

I've no doubt 2022 will be the same.

It's on the LTSC (or whatever its called now), so no feature updates, only patches + AV updates.

I have RME interfaces in my 3x DAW machines. They work a treat. Very low latency.

Disable your TPM module :)

Windows 11 has Secure Boot as one of its requirements. Windows 10 does not care.

If you disable Secure Boot in the BIOS then at least the first few rounds of Windows Update should not try to downgrade your system to Windows 11.

(M$ may find too many people use this escape route and remove the Secure Boot requirement sometime in the future.)

Icon for what should happen to the M$ staff who keep tinkering with the UI rather than trying to fix the myriad of bugs in every windows release. ========>

"Scrap a PC that otherwise works well, or stick with Windows 10"

Or perhaps put up-to-date and modern Slackware or BSD on it and just use the bloody thing until it falls apart, and THEN scrap it. Unless you enjoy throwing away perfectly good tools just because a multi-billion dollar international marketing company's advertising tells you to, of course, in which case carry on, consumer.

Won't run on 7th gen Intel Core? I write on a perfectly serviceable 3rd generation Intel machine. But then I got to choose what OS I put on it, and it hasn't been Windows for many a long year.

A lot of my day-to-day business is easily handled by a near 18 tear old HP laptop running Slackware-current and the recent LibreOffice. The rest is run from a similar era desktop. Neither machine has ever given me any trouble.

To you nay-sayers: How much money has running Redmond products cost you in the last nearly twenty years? Make sure you include the cost of waiting on updates, recovering from crashes, unnecessary reboots, hardware upgrades (or replacements) when MS rolls a rev., malware problems, and all the other bits and bobs that waste your time and money.

It continues to amaze me that the Corporate World still lets the thing in the door ...

How many IT managers actually know anything about IT? Buzzword bingo and vendor lunches is all they know.

This is good. It means hardware I use for operating systems I care about will be much cheaper (and possibly found for free in a skip round the back) once everyone else gets dragged over to Windows 11.

Hurray for (blind) progress! :)

Let the salvaging begin!

What is the main advantage of upgrading to Windows 11?

The advantage is for Microsoft who will be laughing all the way to the bank with people buying new hardware that meets their stringent requirements. Advantage for you? None, you don't matter.

Realistic advantage; for most users none, a few specialized situations there might an advantage (key word is might). Truthfully, W7 would be a reasonable option if it was updated support newer hardware protocols.

So is it Windows 11 or just Windows ME-2?

well, as far as Lenovo goes, some models that were announced around Jan 2021 and supposed to become available in spring. This was moved to 'looks like June / June', which was then moved to "September, hopefully". So... good luck with October :)

Remember how xp just kept going? Out lasting it''s supposed successor? M$ just made that happen again.

Windows 7 as well, it outlived Windows 8/8.1 by many years.

My one remaining Redmond computer runs Win2K, which is in my mind peak Microsoft.

The only reason I run it is because I used AutoCAD2K to document this place and a couple others, and have seen no need to "upgrade" ... like Win2K, ACAD2K is peak AutoDesk. On the rare occasion that I need it, the twenty year old box runs LibreOffice adequately.

The system is airgapped.

I know of several other businesses that keep Win2K around for various reasons.

Windows 11 was announced in late June, and it's already out in October? I understand that it's actually little more than Windows 10.1 under the hood, but this is still unexpected when compared to previous releases. I guess they think they'll iterate on stuff when feedback from their testers (and by testers I mean their users) reaches critical mass.

It's exceptionally fast when you remember that Borkzilla swore left and right that Windows 1 0 was going to be the last version.

Goes to show how much you can count on their word.

"swore left and right that Windows 1 0 was going to be the last version"

You have a source for that statement?

Or are you refereeing to that one statement one Microsoft employee made once that probably was just badly worded and should have meant "latest Windows" but that certain Media people are referring to over and over again?

Unfortunately, we didn't see Microsoft come out and deny it either. They let the rumour circulate without issuing a clarification.

Just about every company will issue a clarification or response to rumours, particularly if they could be seen as damaging to the company. Even NASA was forced to respond to the truly fucking ludicrous rumour that they were operating a child sex/torture/cannibalistic-death camp on Mars for the Democrats.

The fact they didn't do this, means MS share as much of je blame, as the media quoting the one guy repeatedly.

Best explanation that I could find quickly:

https://www.theverge.com/2015/5/7/8568473/windows-10-last-version-of-windows

The developer preview seems pretty stable, and not at all like pre-release software.

You may have criticisms about the UI, I certainly do, but does appear to work as it is supposed to.

"but does appear to work as it is supposed to."

"Supposed to" is relative. According to who? Microsoft's financial department? Their advertising department? Their "collect as much info about the users as possible" department?

It certainly doesn't work the way I think an OS is supposed to work ...

Supposed to, as in, when you click on something labeled "Network Settings" it comes up with a Network Setting Page, and when you click on some of those settings, it opens up a completely different control panel window with a complete set of settings.

It does what the programmer intended it to do rather than crashing.

Congrats, Borkzilla, on shutting yourself out of a rather large portion of the market.

I don't know if you've heard, but people don't upgrade every year anymore. And with the amount of computers that were sold due to COVID, you're not going to see much headway before 2026 the way you're going.

I doubt they see it that way.

Your trusty PC won't run W11? No problem, just buy a new one and that means a new licence. There's no point in seeing money drain away on free upgrades. That's the way they'll be looking at it.

Most of us had to be dragged/forced to windows 10, and now a new OS that requires a stupid chip because 0.0001% of people stupidly click on things they shouldn't.

Every review I find of windows 11 talks about their new "like MacOS" thing..

Great, android apps, that's just what everyone needs on their desktop pc...

More xbox related crap....

I think I'm just getting too old for this....