Gravity of Chill: Windows Weekly 731

Leo, Mary Jo, and Paul discuss the first incredible week of dealing with the controversies surrounding Windows 11.

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Tips and picks

Tip of the week: I’m going to cover the hell out of Windows 11

Yes, I’m writing the Windows 11 Field Guide, of course I am. But if you want the lowdown on new features before that, I’m writing a series of “Feature Focus” articles. Starting with Snap Layouts. More each week.

App pick of the week: WhyNotWin11

Want to find out whether your PC is compatible with Windows 11? Microsoft can’t help. But this tool can.

Developer pick of the week: GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot is a Visual Studio Code extension (which has very little to do with GitHub) that’s meant to give programmers a smart AI assistant to help them code. It’s just in tech preview right now, but likely to become a commercial product at some point.

Enterprise pick of the week: Microsoft’s 5G support in Azure gets a boost

Microsoft and AT&T are expanding their existing partnership. As part of it, MS is going to acquire some AT&T 5G tech, people, and intellectual property. Azure for Operators is getting more robust.

Beer pick of the week: Grimm Gravity of Chill

In honor of Windows 11’s “calm” messaging on launch day, here’s Grimm’s Gravity of Chill DIPA. Yes, it’s 9%. No, it’s not too hoppy, too hot or too anything. It’s very mellow, like Panos Panay rolling out Windows 11.

 

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Conversation 7 comments

  • justme

    Premium Member
    01 July, 2021 - 11:13 am

    <p>On the two-factor login – sorry, but I dont need multi-factor security to play a single player non-internet-enhanced game on my local machine. I dont believe in the ‘security benevolence’ (my phrase) of Microsoft – though I have no doubt that is how they will attempt to spin it eventually. I see the requirement for an MSA in the Home edition as a pure money and data grab – Microsoft are going to try and monetize the OS by feeding us advertisements and getting us to subscribe to more and more ‘recommendations’. Widgets (currently) wont work without an MSA – so they have your location, weather at your location, the types of news stories you read – all to build a profile to either market to you or sell on. They are also trying to subtly force you to be more and more reliant on the cloud – which in turn feeds subscription revenue. </p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      01 July, 2021 - 3:15 pm

      <p>And it’s also much more secure. </p>

      • justme

        Premium Member
        02 July, 2021 - 5:31 am

        <p>Yes sir, its more secure, you are absolutely correct. When coupled with 2-factor authentification, the MSA is more secure. That really isnt my point. To me, the MSA requirement is not about security – its about monetizing the OS. If this were about security, they would be trumpeting it in a similar way to Apple when they talk about privacy. They arent, which sends the message that the MSA requirement is not about security at all – an afterthought or by-product, maybe, but certainly not the raison d’etre. They dont want to talk about the MSA requirement because at the heart of it is your data. If Microsoft would allow me to turn off telemetry, that would be one thing – even if I didnt like it. But they wont.</p>

      • justme

        Premium Member
        02 July, 2021 - 7:50 am

        <p>Out of curiosity – when you setup WIndows 11 Home with your MSA – does it force 2-factor authetification?</p>

    • Maverick010

      02 July, 2021 - 1:04 am

      <p>No doubt Microsoft has subscriptions and would like you to sign up for them, but the MSA account goes deeper then that I believe. I work within fraud for a bank and one of the number one issues, is customers getting scammed. Banks have been pushing for more security and 2 factor authentication and were working with various companies including Microsoft to head towards a password less future. These scams picked up heavily in the last 18 months from this pandemic and I can see Microsoft may of learned enough, and aiming for security and accessibility first. As Paul and MJ said, the communication was bad in the way they went about it. </p><p><br></p><p>MSA does add that extra layer of security, and my guess why they are saying the average home user will need it. Pro is seen more for the prosumers and business users, which I am guessing Microsoft trust those users to know enough, plus being a business oriented, and not make it a requirement for an MSA and online at install.</p>

      • justme

        Premium Member
        02 July, 2021 - 8:25 am

        <p>I understand the security needs, and as I mention to Paul above – it is more secure with 2FA enabled. I simply think that you are giving Microsoft too much credit. I feel that if this requirement was about security, they would tout it as such. They arent, and they wont. Its not about their lack of ability to communicate, its about Microsoft making a play for your data. They wont say a word about the MSA requirement unless they are pressed. They might make the security argument for it if there is backlash about the requirement, but it will be half-hearted (and probably wont mention 2FA) and after the fact.</p>

  • ken10

    02 July, 2021 - 9:10 am

    <p>So much to unpack here. </p><p>Hardware: Apple does this all the time – re: change of hardware and always in the "interest of security". I have an iMac that will no longer take OS upgrades. Also, most machines in the last 5-7 years will support Win11 with the Intel/AMD embedded security (e.g. PTT) features. Intel has included some PTT in their 5th gen + … but it’s inconsistent. I want to say that 8th gen might be the first time they ALWAYS included it, but I have not done the research.. This feels like a Y2K problem – everyone is predicting problems – then when the day comes, the majority are not really impacted. I do agree – communications by MS – consistently horrible. As mentioned, people have until 2025 to figure this out. So if you’re on a 7th gen CPU – they gave people about *10 years* on a single PC. </p><p>Security: </p><p>I was horrified to see the argument *in favor* (24:45) of connecting to MS as the most secure method of an administrative account for a local PC. The arguments that were made were about convenience (e.g. password reset/ recovery) and not security. This assumption is flat out wrong. There are 2FA options for local admin accounts (re: Yubikey). Once you delegate any level of access and authority (part of IAAA) control to a third party, you now have a shared responsibility model in play. Shared responsibility models increase your risk by their very nature. Now, your IAAA can be influenced/ changed by a third party (MS). I can not tell you how many conversations like this I have with people at work (bank) where they confuse convenience and compliance with actual security.</p>

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