Microsoft Says New Processors Will Only Work With Windows 10

Scum rises to the top of the pond.

Microsoft has reached the pinnacle of the art of blackmail.

......only work with Windows 10, or Linux.

...or Android...

You do realize, do you not, that:

Android is a "port" of Linux

Android is designed by Google (who own Android) to NOT be run in "host" mode

(which is/would be required in order to support keyboards and mice, as well as external hard drives).

If I'm wrong about that, please inform me, as I know the "pad" on which I run Linux is NOT setup to run Host Mode, and I don't know how to make it do so. I can manage the power requirements for my external drives (how I'd LOVE to be able to use them on my pad) via a USB hub with external wall-wart plug in, but the problem so far is that my fat fingers cannot adequately process data onto/out of my pad, since I have to use that little tiny virtual keyboard and no mouse.

I used to have a working laptop, till the power input module fried. Now I have to use my tower, to get keyboard/mouse access, and my pad for any portability. Putting data directly on the pad and manipulating it with a normal I/O devices would be wonderful.

BTW, the pad is a NextBook. I will provide the version of Android I'm running and any particulars needed if any of you have an answer.

Interesting. The value of previously-loved computing equipment is bound to rise. Anyone for eBay (usual disclaimer - rhetorical question - NNTR)?

My Linux software won't know the difference. To me, it seems like Microsoft is shooting itself in the foot, a little more each day.

http://cr4.globalspec.com/comment/1132978/Re-Caption-This-for-1-15-16

No surprise to those of us who didn't trust Microsnot and Bill Gates to begin with. I think our "paranoia" was described as "hilarious" in another post. I castigated the poster there and called him a shill for Microsoft. I wonder how he feels now? Paid? Maybe. Or maybe a little chagrin, if he hasn't sold out body and soul to them?

I still hate Bill Gates with the white hot fury of a thousand suns!

That's two of us. If we form a club, you can be President, I'll be VP, and then we only need a Sec/Treas to incorporate. I'll bet our membership would be viral tomorrow!

Sign me up for Sec/Treas and let's get it rollin' ;-)

Three!! Do I hear FORTY (thousand, million)? Bids are on. What's next, Pres.?

Social media!.

We'll incorporate in the Bahamas, as soon as I'm done with lunch.

I'll put my lunch on our new expense account, including the alcohol.

Can ya kickstart a corporation? I volunteer to manage the slush fund...

Sounds right to me, although I'll just take an Iced Tea (I'm a tee-totaller, but you do your thing). Next item of business. Two actually. How much do we charge for dues?

And can we get someone on the crew who can hack MicroSnot's accounts? After all, we hate his products, and keep getting told he is the richest guy in the world because of those products, or some such. Let's let him share with the rest of us.

BTW, someone said this move on his part will backfire. I seem to remember Bonn, Germany rebelling against one of his "oh, your government-wide licenses have expired and we need to re-license you" schemes, and moving in the direction of an enterprise Linux solution. According to the articles, as Bonn goes, IT-wise, so goes most of Germany. Susi Linux won the competition, last I heard, but does anyone else have any more info on it? I lost track.

Maybe the rest of the government/corporate world will leave him, too. THAT would fall under the heading of "Delicious Irony", no?

"And can we get someone on the crew who can hack MicroSnot's accounts?"

I've heard it said, that the more sophisticated the system, the more vulnerable it is to "brute force attack"

Will this do?

So, we still have two problems, even should we merrily buy into the New World Order of Micro...

1. Old pre-10 software/apps of as far back as MS-DOS for which we have CD's or whatever that we can install all day long on XP without difficulty so that we can bring up ancient files for review, refreshing, etc., but such software/apps slams into a stone wall with 10.

2. The three's the limit crew who require on-line activation, even if we are reinstalling on a wiped clean or new hard drive on the same computer with the same (old) operating system reinstalled, meaning that even were we using XP or whatever of bygone era, we are screwed by the guys to whom we paid full retail price for their software, and who demand that we upgrade just to use that with which we have been quite contented for a decade or two.

In the case of 1., above, we have just the Micro...obstacle. With 2, above, Micro...and their greedy developers are in bed together. How do we mount a guerrilla operation to deal with 1. and 2.?

Support Linux and demand that software developers create versions for it.

BINGO!

And I note, ironically, that while I was reading IanR's question (Rhetorical, I hope?) the latest "I am Java, update me now" message just arrived again, with the statement that "Well (audible sniff of disdain), if you must, you CAN do this, but I'll only work correctly with Windows 10".

Java the Hut developers already got in bed with MS, I guess.

Linux time!!

I'm leaving on a week's vacation today. When I get back, I suspect installing Linux is the first order of business. Dual boot for now, but only for now. Anyone like to recommend a particular Distro/Flavor of Linux for me?