[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

> Windows group is living in the 1990's and still thinks you can make money on a desktop operating system.

I can't speak for others but I'm more than willing to pay good money for a version of Windows that isn't actively user hostile and full of garbage. Like, give me a Windows 2000 UI on top of modern Windows underpinnings and I'll give you $500/year. They can even keep putting out the shitty version of Windows and just make it explicitly ad/creepy-data-harvesting supported. That might still not be enough to actually make them money, I can't say.

What I can say is that I feel like Window's current strategy is less about making money and more about actively trying to kill off personal computing for the sake of pushing everyone to subscription services.

[at_a_remove]

I typically get downvoted for mentioning this, no idea why: This is basically Windows Enterprise LTSC/LTSB.

That is what I use and that it what I set up for my less technically competent friends and family who are not good at navigating the ever-shifting sands of the Windows UI, the situation changing on them, a game they had not remembered installing appearing in their Programs. Working on the simple rhythm of muscle memory and repetition, they draw the Worm.

[lotsofpulp]

> I typically get downvoted for mentioning this, no idea why: This is basically Windows Enterprise LTSC/LTSB.

In the context of a discussion about Microsoft’s intentions, it is very clearly asshole behavior by Microsoft to have a perfectly good product that people want, but then put up artificial barriers like having a friend who knows how to get it and install it.

I would not downvote you for mentioning it, but it makes Microsoft look even worse than if they did not have LTSC at all since it removes their plausible deniability.

[benjamir]

I was able to use LTSB/LTSC legally for years: forget it. A lot of stuff won't run anymore. Even third-party software (e.g. nextcloud client).

[shmde]

I am a power windows user and its such a shame ( on my end ) that I did not have a clue that Windows 10 LTSC existed till recently. I was quite happy with the Windows 10 PRO version, wanted to check out WIN 11, installed it, it started giving me the dreaded memory leak issue ( on AMD currently ) when opening windows explorer. Tried to revert back to windows 10 but the option was greyed out ( 10 days is the max time to revert back to Windows 10 ). Got to know about Windows 10 LTSC version, activated it with KMS and its snappy as f, no Ads, no Microsoft Store, no cortana, no bullshit. Basically the version people should've gotten in the first place.

[asmosoinio]

> 10 days is the max time to revert back to Windows 10

What, why?!

[shmde]

Yes, after upgrading to windows 11, you get a 10 day period during which you can revert back to windows 10. After that it greys out automatically. I was forced to do a fresh install because of how laggy windows 11 was.

[asmosoinio]

What's the purpose of this?

Means it's TECHNICALLY possible, and Microsoft actively takes away the option after 10 days?

Do people not hate this?

On macos the only way to revert is through full machine backups. That at least lets me think the upgrade is irreversible without backups, and then I am fine with it. :)

[andi999]

While I love LTSC, I think it is not possible to use the windows subsystem for linux on it.. which is my only pain point.

[xaduha]

Sure is, on a new 2021 one.

[Nextgrid]

Obtaining Windows Enterprise legally is tricky if you're not a big corporation. It's not even a money thing, it's that they outright won't sell you a license directly, instead you have to go to a reseller and then pad the order with cheap client access licenses to reach the minimum amount of licenses required for an order.

[rsync]

Here is a relevant thread that goes into how complicated it is to purchase:

https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/2167558-explicit-inst...

[rsync]

What if you subscribe to technet (or whatever they call it now ? MSDN ?) ... don't you get one license to everything ?

The last time I paid for MSDN was 2011 or 2012 but I was able to download and use everything ...

[dragonwriter]

Visual Studio (formerly MSDN) subscriptions come with purpose-specific (for software development and/or testing, depending on the subscription) licenses for lots of things (exactly what also depends on the tier, IIRC).

The usage constraints are mostly social/legal rather than technical, of course.

[skrowl]

Visual Studio subscription is effectively $200/yr if you use Azure at all. It's $800/yr, but you get a $50/month Azure credit. It's not hard to use $50/month worth of Azure stuff.

[Xylakant]

You can license the enterprise upgrade if you have an o365 subscription.

[errantspark]

The problem with LTSC is that newer games won't work, other than that it's a pretty reasonable experience. I put vanilla Win 10 on computer recently and it's bad. Luckily the games I'm trying to run are better supported on linux via proton than they are on LTSC, and there's no way in hell I'm installing win 11, I already find the lack of proper programmatic file-association support infuriating.

I think at least personally I've finally reached the tipping point where dealing with the annoyance of running windows apps on linux is going to be worth not having the huge host of annoyances microsoft is intentionally pushing onto me.

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

LTSC still contains a hefty chunk of bullshit, in my opinion, including all the god awful unnecessary UI changes they only ever half implemented and the laggy apps that take ages to launch and use up entirely too much memory.

[at_a_remove]

Oh, it isn't perfect by any means. I still have to do a lot of tweaks, but the whole forced update thing ... makes me insane.

[mschuster91]

> I typically get downvoted for mentioning this, no idea why: This is basically Windows Enterprise LTSC/LTSB.

Because it's incredibly hard to outright impossible to get a legal version of this. AFAIK it's only available for MSDN subscribers, OEMs/ODMs/embedded device manufacturers and large-volume customers and illegal to resell; on top of that unlike regular Windows ISOs there are no public download links that you can then either activate with a key you happened to find somewhere or run one of the usual activation cracks.

No matter what, unless you are in a highly privileged position you do not have a way of obtaining LTSB without exposing yourself to legal or security risks.

ETA: Just had a look on a well-known torrent site - "LTSB" yielded no usable results (> 10 seeds), and "LTSC" only one that matches the seed count, and it doesn't even ship supposedly virgin ISOs but modified ones, so no way to know if at least the install media is free of malware (by comparing it to known MS hashes). Jesus, I didn't know the situation was that bad.

[at_a_remove]

That's weird, because I have used Bittorrent once, about a decade back, just to see what it was like, for a few movies but no software because, well, malware. I downloaded ISOs from a MS site and bought a key off of a reseller. So, no, I don't feel highly privileged.

[mschuster91]

> I downloaded ISOs from a MS site and bought a key off of a reseller.

The latter part is the problem. LTSB/C keys are illegal to resell and MS regularly bans keys they suspect of having been sold.

[oAlbe]

Can you install and play video games on LTSC? Is there any multimedia limitation in that regard?

[marcosdumay]

The fact that they are killing Office just so that they try to push people into the cloud should be enough evidence that they have this strategy.

Compared to MS Office, Windows is nothing.

[tomnipotent]

> they are killing Office

There is no such plan.

[AniseAbyss]

The paid pro version still has the ads and upselling tricks.

Its almost comical.

[notriddle]

Aren't you asking for Windows Server?

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

No. Windows server w/ Desktop Experience contains pretty much all the same bullshit as Windows 10. Even LTSC only cuts out a relatively small portion of it.

[letitbeirie]

Sounds like Windows Server... 2008