Windows 10: Microsoft removes some policies from Windows 10 Pro

This is just the beginning, when they get around it, they will just continue removing policies at will, I expect Pro to disappear eventually. I think, that I will give Home version a try, it is slightly faster and subscription fees will be lower.

 

I think the more likely course of action would be that a person stays on Windows 7/8 or 8.1 instead of switching to 10. However Linux is really becoming more main-stream, here in Portland we have an outfit that teaches courses free for Linux. Believe me a lot and I mean a lot of people take advantage of that. Ubuntu and Mint has broken down a lot of barriers.

Face it, for most people browsing, emails, music and videos is the main stay of their internet use, no one needs windows for that anymore.

 

I use several of Linux flavors and distros too but that doesn't stop me from using 3 Windows versions. If there was any OS that can do it all I'd use it as only one.

 

They are removing "some" group policies. They didn't remove any programs. Nothing was removed except the option to turn a feature off. How does that equate to Pro disappearing? *Rolleyes Microsoft has actually added a new version, Pro Education. And Home does not have the Group Policy Editor by the way. You won't gain anything in relation to this issue by switching to the Home version. It's even more locked down than Pro.

 

What subscription fees? Home is cheaper to buy of course.

 

Most of my PCs are now running either Linux Mint or OSX with Windows only as a VM. I actually hardly ever find the need to fire up one of my Windows VMs anymore. It's a damn shame. In trying to "save" Windows Microsoft has overreacted and is pushing more users away from Windows.

 

I am an old timer with MS - starting with the DOS days and into the Win10 era. I have also dabbled with Linux. So - to make a long story short:

There is some software that does require the use of Windows products that is not available in a Linux flavor. Hence, I dual boot my primary machine. At initial boot-up I am asked to choose Linux or Windows - the computer will boot up to that which I choose.

In my case, Firefox, Thunderbird, and LibreOffice are only used on Linux and handle 95% of my computer usage. When I do require a program only operable under Windows, I restart and select Windows.

I do not use any program within a program such as a virtual device (running Windows inside of Linux or the opposite). I have experimented with same and decided I preferred different boot-ups (basically two unconnected machines).

My current choices are Windows 10 Pro and Linux Mint 17.3 - which I consider the best of both worlds.

As a side note, I have my drives located outside of the machine and physically remove and clone them to back-up drives weekly.

 

I've been using Microsoft OSs since before DOS. But I see us going our separate ways soon...

 

As far as I can tell, they are removing the group policy editing but you can still manually set these features. So this applies to orgs and not individuals (ie you can manually turn off the start menu ads like you can now)

 

It's not the removal of some group policies that bothers me that much. It's the sum of questionable measures MS has taken recently. And if MS continues on this course those questionable measures will soon outweigh the positive aspects of Windows. At least for me. And then I will be at a point where getting rid of Windows is just reasonable.

 

Yes, manual REG edits will "likely" still work. You'll just have to do it the hard way.

 

I really wish Windows would become more component based and customizable. Let us strip down Windows completely down if we want to, I should be able to have a command/powershell prompt and nothing else if I really wanted to. Also allow 3rd party GUI interfaces kind of like how Linux has different distros with different front ends.

 

I am not so sure about that. One of the news article said the registry key tweaks wouldn't work. I am not sure that person tested that.

Sorry about my grammar, didn't really know how to say that above.

 

I thought I had seen something like that too, that's why I said "likely". I didn't have time to do a good Google search when I posted. It wouldn't surprise me if they fixed it so that REG edit doesn't work anymore (in Pro). A lot of what the Group Policy Editor does can be done manually with REG edits. It how some get around there not being a Group Policy Editor in the Home version. Microsoft can easily recode it so they don't work though.

 

That's fine if you run only software that runs on Linux. There are a lot of programs written for Windows and/or Mac that don't run on Linux. Some of use are stuck.