Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) = Control (& Money)

How's that for a title? Seriously, look at this recent article:

"As Windows 10's end-of-support edges closer, users will be forced to upgrade to Windows 11. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) released a petition asking Microsoft to extend support for Windows 10 beyond October 14, 2025, indicating the move would lead to "the single biggest jump in junked computers ever."
windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/microsoft-seals-tpm-20-loophole-again

There is no forced upgrade, nor tossing out of old hardware. Your only requirement is to *ignore* Microsoft's (and anyone else's) Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) tactics. If you paid for a license, you can indeed use it forever. Virtualization allows this, and new hardware these days enables this (multi-core CPU's, 16GB or more of ram is near standard, ever-larger SSD storage).

The only thing holding you back is a lack of knowledge with regard to the *ability to run an OS indefinitely*. The knowledge you need:
1. install a HostOS on your existing computer; for example, a Windows 10 64-bit variant (use Rufus).
2. install a virtualization platform; for example, VMware Workstation or Oracle Virtualbox (both free)
3. create VM's (running Windows 10, or whatever you prefer) where you do your real daily work activity.
4. install the virtualization platform's "guest tools", and each VM now has access to all services of the HostOS, and the outside world.

Now, your computer is running safely, securely, and problem-free. The HostOS is near immutable, and you choose what is running on it, and when it gets updated. The VM (or VM's), where you do your daily work activity, are easily recovered with a snapshot (a virtualization feature), to the point before the catastrophe.

I've run this way for years ... and I test dozens of OS's in VM's ... DOS, old Win, OS/2, Unix/Linux, and every modern version of Windows to make an appearance. They are still doing work for me today. Sometimes they blow up (because I've tested them in a way the vendor didn't intend), and a snapshot brings them right back. Never a "problem update", never a virus, on the HostOS side of things ...

Think about it for a minute ... who "really" owns the OS and the computer it runs on ... *you do*! Others may want you to upgrade every 18 months or so, but that is a control and money thing, not a real *requirement*, unless it is couched in enough FUD that you start to think that it is required.

You can do this ...

50ShadesOfDirt said:

How's that for a title?

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It should be... "Gloom, Despair and Agony".

Youtube

50ShadesOfDirt said:

Think about it for a minute ... who "really" owns the OS and the computer it runs on ... *you do*! Others may want you to upgrade every 18 months or so, but that is a control and money thing, not a real *requirement*, unless it is couched in enough FUD that you start to think that it is required.

You can do this ...

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Well, thinking about it....legally according to the EULA that you agreed to, you do not own the OS....you just have a license allowing you to use it.

Nothing is going to actively prevent you from using it. I still have a Windows 7 machine tucked in a corner that is EOL with no support. It's not used to access the Internet, and there is no ingress through my firewall allowing outside traffic to access it, so i'm comfortable enough with it.

so yeah, you can continue to use it how you want and nobody is going to force the issue.

"It should be... "Gloom, Despair and Agony"."

That's a good title as well ... If it refers to the OP scheme, I've never had gloom, despair, or agony with the virtualization scheme, whereas with everyone and their dog wanting to reach into the OS to "secure, control, and monetize" it, I can see where those particular words would come into play.

I'll save that title for the latest Microsoft, Crowdstrike, or other update that just blew up one's (non-virtualized) OS, or the latest revelation of one's loss of privacy, or the latest (insert your gloom, despair, and agony moment) ...

The hardware of a computer is ours, until someone gets around to writing some silly EULA that purports to say "you're just granted a license to use it".

As for software EULA's (more of a FUD tactic), yes, it's ours *to use* (interestingly, forever in virtualization), and the OP scheme is yet another way to use it ... possession *is* ownership.

Subscriptions of any kind seem to be the new way to take away your ownership of something ... but that would be a choice that they sold to you, and you bought into.

@50ShadesOfDirt, I wonder if you're the same person who was banned a few weeks ago for spouting the same nonsense?

TraderGary said:

@50ShadesOfDirt, I wonder if you're the same person who was banned a few weeks ago for spouting the same nonsense?

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I’d guess that there are many people who are propping up VPN services to register here. I’ve come across a few.

50ShadesOfDirt said:

Subscriptions of any kind seem to be the new way to take away your ownership of something ... but that would be a choice that they sold to you, and you bought into.

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Yes, it’s crazy how companies these days want to make a profit. Whatever is the world coming to?

"spouting nonsense ..."

Really? No words to back up your claim, just a "label"?

If one doesn't like the virtualization scheme described in the OP, just don't reply ... it's to help others in the forum, not draw folks out to compete for slamming a thread with the intent of helping.

"banned ..."

What is this nonsense? Prove something, don't just toss out words to slander/derail the subject OP.

Good grief ... many folks ask how to run their OS better, how to fight privacy incursions, update issues, and more. I've offered a way to do so, and folks are coming out of the woodworks to shoot it down with "labels" ...

At the very least, thanks for self-identifying.

50ShadesOfDirt said:

not draw folks out to compete for slamming a thread with the intent of helping.

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Then you should of stuck to the point and maybe left out the political commentary.

"... stuck to the point ..."

Wait a minute ... others can slam, and I can't respond? Interesting ...

50ShadesOfDirt said:

"... stuck to the point ..."

Wait a minute ... others can slam, and I can't respond? Interesting ...

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In your original and following post, you made this thread political. I don’t care if you respond, but take ownership of your method re “helping others”
Political commentary will always attract political commentary. This is an open forum.

I'm old and consider myself a set-in-my-ways old dinosaur on a good day.... until I read stuff like this. Heck, I ain't no contrary old dinosaur. I'm a flexible visionary compared to some folks.

50ShadesOfDirt said:

Subscriptions of any kind seem to be the new way to take away your ownership of something ... but that would be a choice that they sold to you, and you bought into.

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Some subscriptions are great. For example, Office 365. I have a desire to have cloud storage space. My subscription with an at work discount for office 365 is $69 a year. That's for 6TB of OneDrive space and unlimited installs of Microsoft Office. And I have PC's and Mac's, so that's installs for both of them, it's a great deal. I cannot even get 6TB of space for $69 anywhere else, and then they basically throw in office for Free.

My son has an Adobe Photography subscription. It's $10 per month for photoshop and ligthroom. He's always current on the latest versions. You can spend $10 a month for a very long time before you get to the price points that Photoshop used to sell for. And if you use it for 3 months and find it's not for you, just cancel and you aren't out the money you would have spent on the software outright.

Was there any particular reason that this was a virtualized install? You could just as easily run it on bare hardware and keep an image of it as well.

pparks1 said:

My son has an Adobe…

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Adobe is the only subscription that I have, it makes me money. $15 a month or whatever I pay is both tax deductible and a fraction of what I make from it.

Re the ownership of Windows, the OP is wrong.
This is from the current licensing terms for Windows Operating systems. It can be found at c:\Windows\System32 and is named License.rtf.

See the screenshot below and in particular the highlighted section. These odd nostrums about who owns software in particular Microsoft software is like a smelly old canard that never seems to go away no matter how many times it is debunked.

I've redacted Section 1 out as it was only the overview.

Sure ... the EULA says "licensed, not sold". Not a problem ... you still "own" it, and can use it forever. Virtualization enables it. The FUD from everywhere (including article in original post) leads folks to believe that it has to stop being used, or risk death and destruction. The method described in OP lets you use it forever. Anything else is nit-picking, and does nothing to stop the FUD which makes folks think they have to throw something away (OS or hardware).

Anyone is welcome to claim a thread is political ... I'm just getting my info (the method) across, and I see nothing overtly political in the way I described it.

For anyone who doesn't like the intent of the OP method, nothing is stopping you from doing things in your preferred manner ... if you can't think of any gain from this or any other method, no problem ... just move along, nothing to see.

If the OP method helps another who might see a benefit from it, then it's good in that regard. This method frees one from update misery, FUD that says you have to throw an OS (and hardware) away, and so on ...

That's what a forum is about ... the exchange of ideas & methods, hopefully snide-remark free.

50ShadesOfDirt said:

Sure ... the EULA says "licensed, not sold". Not a problem ... you still "own" it,

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Have you ever read anything about intellectual property rights, patents or copyright? Somehow, I doubt it.

"Somehow, I doubt it ..."

You don't know anything about me, nor what I've read and experienced, but, sure, go ahead and assume that I don't know about EULAs, patents and IP. If you want to debate a EULA, then by all means, start a new thread ...

Ownership, as defined by one side only (the EULA owner), has quite a (shady) history. You are welcome to consider that you don't own the OS (because their EULA says so, and you clicked it, which is what 99.99% do), and then let someone scare you into a cycle of endless upgrades ...

I'm still using licenses that I purchased from 30 years back, and they still work just fine (in a VM). No police have stopped by to say "hey, isn't that license a little old? Let's discuss this further at the DA's office, when you are done posting bail". I don't get caught up in endless upgrade cycles, because someone wants more money from me, and thinks they can "force" or FUD me into it ... but, if I agree to give away more money, that is a good thing (for sales).

But others are welcome to entertain the FUD, and give out more money ... or, use my OP method, and avoid all that.

50ShadesOfDirt said:

the EULA says "licensed, not sold". Not a problem

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You would have to do something monumental to have your license void. Otherwise you're a spec of dust, not even that, like the rest of us.

Do your worst.