bitzu101 wrote on 2026-07-16, 16:28:

if microsoft don t change their behavior soon , they will pay dearly in money lost. […]
Show full quote

if microsoft don t change their behavior soon , they will pay dearly in money lost.

there is a real reason why windows 11 walkarounds , patches and inserts exist. it s because people don t want the AI , dont want the account , the data permissions , etc.

we just don t want it.

the only thing that is keeping windows alive now is the fact that linux is also crap realistically. but it s not a solution. even if a linux os will manage to win over windows , they will do exactly what microsoft is doing now once they are in a position to do so.

pure capitalism is probably worse than pure socialism... albeit , both extremly harmfull...

and the sony thing , the microsoft thing is based on pure capitalism. where companies and govts will squeeze every last cent from the population in any way , shape , moral possible.

Microsoft make almost all their money from server and 365 and cloud services - to businesses. windows as a platform is a necessity/enabler for them, xbox is a "side hustle" that earns a lot for them too. all that keeps windows alive, Linux is a growing but small desktop presence (5ish %) and a big presence in web servers etc.

the big desktop story is the success of macos in last ten+ or so years as general OS for regular people. looks like their much criticised intel dalliance paid off, they bridged their way into mass market hardware, built market share, now going to apple hardware again. Desktop PCs are a very mature market and i think laptops outsell them, future is low growth or no growth at least while costs are high recently

there are workarounds etc for win 11 and lots of people would form part of the group of "we just don t want it. ", but the other 95+% of the population don't care, don't look at it, will take the defaults. I've never seen evidence of some significant groundswell movement against anything over the years that enthusiasts claim "we just don t want it.", it looks that way from the inside of enthusiast and tech circles but when taking a look at the populations at large, what i've seen are completely normal adoption trends over time - effectively patiently waiting for adoption by people who are used to whatever is the new way of doing things.

for that reason sony will probably be fine, maybe suffer a bit of a minor backlash and then carry on with others copying them

I think the end of product ownership ended with XP, a disc you need product activation via Internet to use meaning offline install isn't possible anymore.

gerry wrote on 2026-07-17, 07:50:

Microsoft make almost all their money from server and 365 and cloud services - to businesses. windows as a platform is a necess […]
Show full quote

bitzu101 wrote on 2026-07-16, 16:28:

if microsoft don t change their behavior soon , they will pay dearly in money lost. […]
Show full quote

if microsoft don t change their behavior soon , they will pay dearly in money lost.

there is a real reason why windows 11 walkarounds , patches and inserts exist. it s because people don t want the AI , dont want the account , the data permissions , etc.

we just don t want it.

the only thing that is keeping windows alive now is the fact that linux is also crap realistically. but it s not a solution. even if a linux os will manage to win over windows , they will do exactly what microsoft is doing now once they are in a position to do so.

pure capitalism is probably worse than pure socialism... albeit , both extremly harmfull...

and the sony thing , the microsoft thing is based on pure capitalism. where companies and govts will squeeze every last cent from the population in any way , shape , moral possible.

Microsoft make almost all their money from server and 365 and cloud services - to businesses. windows as a platform is a necessity/enabler for them, xbox is a "side hustle" that earns a lot for them too. all that keeps windows alive, Linux is a growing but small desktop presence (5ish %) and a big presence in web servers etc.

the big desktop story is the success of macos in last ten+ or so years as general OS for regular people. looks like their much criticised intel dalliance paid off, they bridged their way into mass market hardware, built market share, now going to apple hardware again. Desktop PCs are a very mature market and i think laptops outsell them, future is low growth or no growth at least while costs are high recently

there are workarounds etc for win 11 and lots of people would form part of the group of "we just don t want it. ", but the other 95+% of the population don't care, don't look at it, will take the defaults. I've never seen evidence of some significant groundswell movement against anything over the years that enthusiasts claim "we just don t want it.", it looks that way from the inside of enthusiast and tech circles but when taking a look at the populations at large, what i've seen are completely normal adoption trends over time - effectively patiently waiting for adoption by people who are used to whatever is the new way of doing things.

for that reason sony will probably be fine, maybe suffer a bit of a minor backlash and then carry on with others copying them

Yup the sheep keep on sheeping and consuming not caring at all that the Wolf became the shepherd. That the delicious grass they are eating is really just the Sheep that didn't fall in line and the Wolf killed.

Trashbytes wrote on 2026-07-23, 00:57:

gerry wrote on 2026-07-17, 07:50:

Microsoft make almost all their money from server and 365 and cloud services - to businesses. windows as a platform is a necess […]
Show full quote

bitzu101 wrote on 2026-07-16, 16:28:

if microsoft don t change their behavior soon , they will pay dearly in money lost. […]
Show full quote

if microsoft don t change their behavior soon , they will pay dearly in money lost.

there is a real reason why windows 11 walkarounds , patches and inserts exist. it s because people don t want the AI , dont want the account , the data permissions , etc.

we just don t want it.

the only thing that is keeping windows alive now is the fact that linux is also crap realistically. but it s not a solution. even if a linux os will manage to win over windows , they will do exactly what microsoft is doing now once they are in a position to do so.

pure capitalism is probably worse than pure socialism... albeit , both extremly harmfull...

and the sony thing , the microsoft thing is based on pure capitalism. where companies and govts will squeeze every last cent from the population in any way , shape , moral possible.

Microsoft make almost all their money from server and 365 and cloud services - to businesses. windows as a platform is a necessity/enabler for them, xbox is a "side hustle" that earns a lot for them too. all that keeps windows alive, Linux is a growing but small desktop presence (5ish %) and a big presence in web servers etc.

the big desktop story is the success of macos in last ten+ or so years as general OS for regular people. looks like their much criticised intel dalliance paid off, they bridged their way into mass market hardware, built market share, now going to apple hardware again. Desktop PCs are a very mature market and i think laptops outsell them, future is low growth or no growth at least while costs are high recently

there are workarounds etc for win 11 and lots of people would form part of the group of "we just don t want it. ", but the other 95+% of the population don't care, don't look at it, will take the defaults. I've never seen evidence of some significant groundswell movement against anything over the years that enthusiasts claim "we just don t want it.", it looks that way from the inside of enthusiast and tech circles but when taking a look at the populations at large, what i've seen are completely normal adoption trends over time - effectively patiently waiting for adoption by people who are used to whatever is the new way of doing things.

for that reason sony will probably be fine, maybe suffer a bit of a minor backlash and then carry on with others copying them

Yup the sheep keep on sheeping and consuming not caring at all that the Wolf became the shepherd. That the delicious grass they are eating is really just the Sheep that didn't fall in line and the Wolf killed.

reality its either you rent or lease for the rest of your lifetime, (I guess when you own a home you dont really own a home since you pay property taxes every year and if you forget to pay the subscription they will come in and take it and youll be homeless.) Its a fee simple serfdom thing from the old middle ages. You dont own this and that and if you did you'd face massive repair costs looking for the right person to fix it.

Trashbytes wrote on 2026-07-23, 00:57:

gerry wrote on 2026-07-17, 07:50:

Microsoft make almost all their money from server and 365 and cloud services - to businesses. windows as a platform is a necess […]
Show full quote

bitzu101 wrote on 2026-07-16, 16:28:

if microsoft don t change their behavior soon , they will pay dearly in money lost. […]
Show full quote

if microsoft don t change their behavior soon , they will pay dearly in money lost.

there is a real reason why windows 11 walkarounds , patches and inserts exist. it s because people don t want the AI , dont want the account , the data permissions , etc.

we just don t want it.

the only thing that is keeping windows alive now is the fact that linux is also crap realistically. but it s not a solution. even if a linux os will manage to win over windows , they will do exactly what microsoft is doing now once they are in a position to do so.

pure capitalism is probably worse than pure socialism... albeit , both extremly harmfull...

and the sony thing , the microsoft thing is based on pure capitalism. where companies and govts will squeeze every last cent from the population in any way , shape , moral possible.

Microsoft make almost all their money from server and 365 and cloud services - to businesses. windows as a platform is a necessity/enabler for them, xbox is a "side hustle" that earns a lot for them too. all that keeps windows alive, Linux is a growing but small desktop presence (5ish %) and a big presence in web servers etc.

the big desktop story is the success of macos in last ten+ or so years as general OS for regular people. looks like their much criticised intel dalliance paid off, they bridged their way into mass market hardware, built market share, now going to apple hardware again. Desktop PCs are a very mature market and i think laptops outsell them, future is low growth or no growth at least while costs are high recently

there are workarounds etc for win 11 and lots of people would form part of the group of "we just don t want it. ", but the other 95+% of the population don't care, don't look at it, will take the defaults. I've never seen evidence of some significant groundswell movement against anything over the years that enthusiasts claim "we just don t want it.", it looks that way from the inside of enthusiast and tech circles but when taking a look at the populations at large, what i've seen are completely normal adoption trends over time - effectively patiently waiting for adoption by people who are used to whatever is the new way of doing things.

for that reason sony will probably be fine, maybe suffer a bit of a minor backlash and then carry on with others copying them

Yup the sheep keep on sheeping and consuming not caring at all that the Wolf became the shepherd. That the delicious grass they are eating is really just the Sheep that didn't fall in line and the Wolf killed.

X86 equipment and os sales to consumers is almost dead compared to years ago.
The console space is more niche and
The people who got tired of the nonsense left the modern computer hobby but likely have something at work or a toy cell/tablet that probably isn’t windows based.

To say sheep keep consuming when the home computer space is a dead corpse is a bit ingenious.

I’m guessing most everyone would fall all over themselves to have hardware sales like 1998-2006. Instead around 90% of electronics industry veterans went under and we are left with producers of the product and most of the resellers online or off are ready to go under. The amount of selection is mediocre compared to years past and we are pricing equipment like it’s 1991.

Computer as a service will further concentrate modern device ownership into the corporate and .gov spaces consumer be damned and honestly reseller/support as well.

rmay635703 wrote on 2026-07-23, 20:19:

X86 equipment and os sales to consumers is almost dead compared to years ago. The console space is more niche and The people who […]
Show full quote

Trashbytes wrote on 2026-07-23, 00:57:

gerry wrote on 2026-07-17, 07:50:

Microsoft make almost all their money from server and 365 and cloud services - to businesses. windows as a platform is a necess […]
Show full quote

Microsoft make almost all their money from server and 365 and cloud services - to businesses. windows as a platform is a necessity/enabler for them, xbox is a "side hustle" that earns a lot for them too. all that keeps windows alive, Linux is a growing but small desktop presence (5ish %) and a big presence in web servers etc.

the big desktop story is the success of macos in last ten+ or so years as general OS for regular people. looks like their much criticised intel dalliance paid off, they bridged their way into mass market hardware, built market share, now going to apple hardware again. Desktop PCs are a very mature market and i think laptops outsell them, future is low growth or no growth at least while costs are high recently

there are workarounds etc for win 11 and lots of people would form part of the group of "we just don t want it. ", but the other 95+% of the population don't care, don't look at it, will take the defaults. I've never seen evidence of some significant groundswell movement against anything over the years that enthusiasts claim "we just don t want it.", it looks that way from the inside of enthusiast and tech circles but when taking a look at the populations at large, what i've seen are completely normal adoption trends over time - effectively patiently waiting for adoption by people who are used to whatever is the new way of doing things.

for that reason sony will probably be fine, maybe suffer a bit of a minor backlash and then carry on with others copying them

Yup the sheep keep on sheeping and consuming not caring at all that the Wolf became the shepherd. That the delicious grass they are eating is really just the Sheep that didn't fall in line and the Wolf killed.

X86 equipment and os sales to consumers is almost dead compared to years ago.
The console space is more niche and
The people who got tired of the nonsense left the modern computer hobby but likely have something at work or a toy cell/tablet that probably isn’t windows based.

To say sheep keep consuming when the home computer space is a dead corpse is a bit ingenious.

I’m guessing most everyone would fall all over themselves to have hardware sales like 1998-2006. Instead around 90% of electronics industry veterans went under and we are left with producers of the product and most of the resellers online or off are ready to go under. The amount of selection is mediocre compared to years past and we are pricing equipment like it’s 1991.

Computer as a service will further concentrate modern device ownership into the corporate and .gov spaces consumer be damned and honestly reseller/support as well.

Consuming can apply to anything really that the corporate wolves roll out to the sheep every year or other year. Yes the sheep will keep on consuming because at this point they don't know of anything better.

Here is an interesting read...
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/07/the-pl … ulled-the-plug/

Aui wrote on 2026-07-24, 02:41:

Here is an interesting read...
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/07/the-pl … ulled-the-plug/

What a coincidence that this data was released now, and that several prominent websites are suddenly pushing the same narrative. Almost like some large company is using them to mitigate a recent PR disaster. And people have already pointed out that the picture is incomplete, as it only shows US sales.

Worldwide, things are quite different, especially in the UK and Japan. This article has some data for FY 2025. It does show that digital sales are in the majority, but that's because Sony (by their own admission) counts DLCs and microtransactions as sales. Even so, Sony still shipped 70 million physical discs last year. So the demand is still there.

For a more reliable comparison, it would be interesting to see the worldwide sales data per game. No DLCs, microtransactions or PS+ free titles. Sony should take a best selling PlayStation title (e.g. Resident Evil Requiem) and just give us the physical vs. digital split for the base game. That would be much more representative.

In today's news: PSN Down for 6+ Hours, PS Store Still Being Repaired

Not a great experience for people who just wanted to relax with some gaming on a Friday afternoon.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2026-07-24, 19:19:

In today's news: PSN Down for 6+ Hours, PS Store Still Being Repaired

Not a great experience for people who just wanted to relax with some gaming on a Friday afternoon.

That will be the norm for anything made into being available online only, be it software as a service on your ipc toy computing device software, be it .gov, Sony or online banking/shopping.

The more that becomes non-accessible via physical means the worse the availability and service will become, cause what other option will you have?

Enjoy the turd sandwich of nothing working or being available

I find this whole conversation interesting and a little ironic, especially as someone who hasn't owned anything even remotely resembling a console in decades. I distinctly remember articles, letters to magazines and discussions with other console fans that would always present the "advantages" of console gaming, versus my insistence on using a DOS PC, with all of its add-on hardware, configuration headaches, memory managers, etc. Granted, many of the people singing the praises of console gaming understood little or none of those things, but they always said that one of the great attractions of console (and arcade) gaming was simplicity. You inserted your cartridge and turned the machine on, put your CD in the tray or inserted your coins and played the game; no configuration, no installation, no updates, no modems or downloads and little or no waiting. Curious how times and attitudes have changed, isn't it?

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2026-07-24, 19:19:

In today's news: PSN Down for 6+ Hours, PS Store Still Being Repaired

Not a great experience for people who just wanted to relax with some gaming on a Friday afternoon.

Out of all the console manufacturers, Sony has the most downtime and data leaks for it's online services.

640K!enough wrote on 2026-07-25, 06:32:

Granted, many of the people singing the praises of console gaming understood little or none of those things, but they always said that one of the great attractions of console (and arcade) gaming was simplicity. You inserted your cartridge and turned the machine on, put your CD in the tray or inserted your coins and played the game; no configuration, no installation, no updates, no modems or downloads and little or no waiting. Curious how times and attitudes have changed, isn't it?

Yup, console gaming during the 90s and early 2000s was simple, straightforward and fun.

Nowadays, when someone fires up a PS5 they often need to: 1) update the console's firmware, 2) update the controller's firmware, 3) update the game. That entire process can take an hour or two, depending on one's internet connection. The joys of modern tech!

4/a. Make an account.
4/b. Log in to an account because the console randomly logs you out.
5. Create or log in to an account for the publisher's service.

RandomStranger wrote on 2026-07-25, 09:29:

4/a. Make an account.
4/b. Log in to an account because the console randomly logs you out.
5. Create or log in to an account for the publisher's service.

sony account
microsoft account
uh some drm account

baloney ill stick with halo 1 for the pc

scratch that... for there are no pockets in a shroud

Not to be outdone by Sony, the folks over at Xbox had their own server disaster: 16-hour Xbox outage even stopped physical games from working

Tom's Hardware wrote:

For part of that window, Microsoft's status page warned that players might have trouble launching disc-based games, leaving a physical copy sitting in the tray no more useful than a digital one. Discs on Xbox One and Series consoles carry encrypted XVC packages with attached licenses, rather than acting as bootable media, per Microsoft's documentation.

The always online digital future sure looks great.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on Yesterday, 04:46:

The always online digital future sure looks great.

These companies need to be "encouraged" not to do this sort of nonsense. How do we encourage them, you ask? Simple: with consumer-protection legislation with teeth. By deciding to introduce such products, they are committing to keeping the relevant services running indefinitely. Even with later generations of products, some level of compatibility for the older products must be provided, such that paid licenses can continue to function, and no, they can't simply edit their user agreements to say that the product has some sort of time-limit.

So, for example, Microsoft decided on product activation starting with Windows XP. According to the requirements of such a law, those activation servers would still be allowing activations of that old software to this very day; no weaselling out of it. The alternative is that they're not allowed to require "activation" beyond some pre-determined EOL date, say five years. Similar policies would apply to DRM-encumbered products.

Failure to comply or to keep server up-time within acceptable limits would require payments to any customer who tried to use such a product, but was unable to do so, due to the inability to reach the relevant servers. Such payments could go as high as the original licence cost; effectively a full refund.

With legislation such as that, I think the companies would start singing a different tune. Right now, especially if we read their terms of service, it's all benefit to them, with no obligations.

640K!enough wrote on Yesterday, 05:24:

These companies need to be "encouraged" not to do this sort of nonsense. How do we encourage them, you ask? Simple: with cons […]
Show full quote

Joseph_Joestar wrote on Yesterday, 04:46:

The always online digital future sure looks great.

These companies need to be "encouraged" not to do this sort of nonsense. How do we encourage them, you ask? Simple: with consumer-protection legislation with teeth. By deciding to introduce such products, they are committing to keeping the relevant services running indefinitely. Even with later generations of products, some level of compatibility for the older products must be provided, such that paid licenses can continue to function, and no, they can't simply edit their user agreements to say that the product has some sort of time-limit.

So, for example, Microsoft decided on product activation starting with Windows XP. According to the requirements of such a law, those activation servers would still be allowing activations of that old software to this very day; no weaselling out of it. The alternative is that they're not allowed to require "activation" beyond some pre-determined EOL date, say five years. Similar policies would apply to DRM-encumbered products.

Failure to comply or to keep server up-time within acceptable limits would require payments to any customer who tried to use such a product, but was unable to do so, due to the inability to reach the relevant servers. Such payments could go as high as the original licence cost; effectively a full refund.

With legislation such as that, I think the companies would start singing a different tune. Right now, especially if we read their terms of service, it's all benefit to them, with no obligations.

They would just find a way around it ...or lobby to have the law not pass or have loop holes included so they can just skirt around it.

It then becomes a numbers game and they have more namely money talks and bullshit never gets passed into law.

I know you think we can win this battle but when a Trillion dollar company doesn't want to do something they will simply buy their way out of or around it or even worse simply take the fine and carry on doing what they were doing ...Just like the memory cartel boys do.

Other recent news related to the "ownership" of digital games: 3 Xbox Games Permanently Removed From the Libraries of Everyone Who Owns Them

Three Xbox One and Xbox Series X games have been hard delisted, which means not only are they unavailable to purchase on the Xbox Store, but the option to download them from your library is also being removed. Even if you purchased any or all of the games, you can no longer download the games and play them.

So yeah, digital game purchases are pretty much glorified rentals.

I feel like a happily vindicated Steam gamer. That said, while I trust Steam to do the right thing *now* I don't expect Gaben to live forever. At the same time, I am also going to acknowledge that 90% of my library has been bought at $10 or below so there is also that. Regardless, I have been moving over to GOG for the last few years for most of my purchases. I can at least download and backup my entire library on GOG, which is an amazing benefit I only recently came to appreciate.