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posted by martyb on Thursday May 11 2017, @12:36PM   Printer-friendly
from the what-security-issue? dept.

Microsoft's only choice to move forward is to throw the Win32 baby out with the bathwater. And that brings us to the introduction of Windows 10 S.

Windows 10 S is just like the Windows 10 you use now, but the main difference is it can only run apps that have been whitelisted to run in the Windows Store. That means, by and large, existing Win32-based stuff cannot run in Windows 10 S for security reasons.

To bridge the app gap, Microsoft is allowing certain kinds of desktop apps to be "packaged" for use in the Windows Store through a tooling process known as Desktop Bridge or Project Centennial.

The good news is that with Project Centennial, many Desktop Win32 apps can be re-purposed and packaged to take advantage of Windows 10's improved security. However, there are apps that will inevitably be left behind because they violate the sandboxing rules that are needed to make the technology work in a secure fashion.

"A casualty of those sandboxing rules is Google's Chrome browser. For security reasons, Microsoft is not permitting desktop browsers to be ported to the Store."


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  • (Score: 2) by jmorris on Thursday May 11 2017, @06:46PM (8 children)

    by jmorris (4844) on Thursday May 11 2017, @06:46PM (#508241)

    Read the license sometime. An OEM license is bound to the motherboard hardware ID and ends when it does. In theory, but after looking at the rest of the theory it becomes obvious it ain't the whole story.

    By the book if your motherboard dies the entire Windows install becomes trash, only fit to salvage your data from. Another OEM license is explicitly forbidden from being used to activate a copy already activated. If you let it to to "Not Genuine" status it is still a no go, that too is explicitly a forbidden use of an OEM license. The only thing that might save you is a full retail license and if you have Win7 it is a hard thing to find these days with eBay flooded with counterfeit copies from China that will fail activation. Btw, the "Get Genuine" program copies are gimped as hard as OEM but tend to cost as much as full retail, avoid. You can't even use an upgrade since you aren't currently in Genuine status. In reality we all know you can do the phone activation routine on the original code and it works. It just isn't by the book and Microsoft knows it in the bowels of their system and can bone you at will, especially if you are a small business. You would fail a BSA audit and would be liable to give them thousands of dollars if you don't just salvage the data and drop a fresh Dell on the desk.

    Corporate accounts are exempt from this mess because of Corporate Edition, another subtle message to get with the program. Your Microsoft Rep is standing by to take your call!

    WINE doesn't need a license and is by far the preferred upgrade path if your apps work with it. The number that do is growing.

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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Thursday May 11 2017, @07:15PM (1 child)

    by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Thursday May 11 2017, @07:15PM (#508251)

    The versions I have read say that you can tie it to the component of your choice. For desktops, I usually select the case.

    Of course, I am now technically in violation of the licence because I moved an old XP installation into a new case (board, disk, video card and all).

    • (Score: 2) by jmorris on Thursday May 11 2017, @08:06PM

      by jmorris (4844) on Thursday May 11 2017, @08:06PM (#508289)

      Perhaps that was so with XP, but that is ancient history.

      See Can I transfer my windows 7 to a new motherboard? [microsoft.com] for the authoritative answer, Because it doesn't really matter what your license text says, it only matters what Microsoft Policy says since they are bigger than you are, are a convicted predatory monopolist and have far more lawyers than you do. Which is why it is best to avoid dealing with them entirely, to the maximum extent you can manage.... predatory monopolist and all sometimes forces the issue. Good luck buying accounting software that doesn't tie you to them or the even more Evil Apple... or the ultimate horror of putting your entire existence at the mercy of a Cloud based system's continuing or being suddenly bought by greater Evil.

  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 11 2017, @10:02PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 11 2017, @10:02PM (#508353)

    An important wrinkle:

    If you are running wine and require the visual c++ redistributables for an application, OR directx, OR any other microsoft built application, module, or library, you are, by the click through license you accepted during install, required to have a valid microsoft windows license in order to operate that piece of software. As such, unless you are able to install with wine and NOT need any of those support modules (which is very rare nowadays, at least 1-2 apps will demand a visual c++ runtime that doesn't have emulation in wine.) then you are in violation of a microsoft license/copyright and in theory the BSA could come fuck with you just like with a bunch of undocumented copies of windows (notice I didn't say 'non-genuine'.)

    A few million dollars to push full time development of wine would go a long way to remedying this licensing issue, but in the short term, wine installed windows apps need to be carefully audited to ensure they avoid running afoul of microsoft submarine licensing.

    • (Score: 2) by Pino P on Friday May 12 2017, @12:21PM

      by Pino P (4721) on Friday May 12 2017, @12:21PM (#508576) Journal

      you are, by the click through license you accepted during install, required to have a valid microsoft windows license in order to operate that piece of software

      Where is the text of said license published on the web?

    • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday June 03 2017, @06:30AM

      by kaszz (4211) on Saturday June 03 2017, @06:30AM (#519754) Journal

      Set it up as a virtualization and full disc encryption + firewall. Whenever there's a "visit". There's nothing to find.

  • (Score: 2) by mhajicek on Friday May 12 2017, @05:01AM (2 children)

    by mhajicek (51) on Friday May 12 2017, @05:01AM (#508484)

    You can still buy windows 7 at microcenter. I just got another one a couple weeks ago.

    --
    The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
    • (Score: 2) by Pino P on Friday May 12 2017, @12:19PM (1 child)

      by Pino P (4721) on Friday May 12 2017, @12:19PM (#508575) Journal

      That might work until mid-2020.

      But after then, Microsoft will cease security updates for Windows 7, and intruders will inevitably discover and use a forever-day vulnerability to turn remaining Windows 7 PCs into botnet zombies. How will everybody else defend their networks from DDOS attacks from this sort of botnet?

      • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday June 03 2017, @06:33AM

        by kaszz (4211) on Saturday June 03 2017, @06:33AM (#519755) Journal

        Virtualisation and firewall. Whenever it's p0wned, reset.