[HN Gopher] Company offers unofficial security patches for Windo...
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       Company offers unofficial security patches for Windows 10 until
       2030
        
       Author : tgol
       Score  : 30 points
       Date   : 2024-07-01 22:05 UTC (55 minutes ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.tomshardware.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.tomshardware.com)
        
       | silisili wrote:
       | I'm guessing 0Patch doesn't have access to source - does anyone
       | know what method they're using to provide said patches?
        
         | conception wrote:
         | They do in memory patching. Most folks think it's as dicey as
         | it sounds.
        
         | constantlm wrote:
         | Just whip out W32DASM like in the old days.
        
         | thayne wrote:
         | It probably involves some level of reverse engineering. Which
         | last I checked violates the windows license.
         | 
         | Regardless of my feelings on whether such reverse engineering
         | should be legal (I think it should), this line of business
         | seems like it is inviting a lawsuit from MS, unless they have
         | some kind of agreement with MS (which is possible).
        
       | bongodongobob wrote:
       | Guarantee that's going to void your support contract with MS if
       | you have one (or worse).
       | 
       | I also cant imagine any win 10 software not working on 11. It's
       | not that different under the hood. You've also had plenty of time
       | to test with your vendors. And yes, legacy niche software blah
       | blah, been there done that, but win 10 -> 11 isn't like XP ->
       | vista. It's like win 10 to 10.5.
       | 
       | Terrible idea on a number of levels. Best of luck to anyone who
       | tries it.
        
         | TylerE wrote:
         | The problem with Windows 11 is that you have to run Windows 11.
        
           | bongodongobob wrote:
           | Which most businesses have to use. The idea that medium to
           | large businesses even have the option to drop the MS suite is
           | laughable.
        
             | Alupis wrote:
             | Except Big Business is exactly the type that does drop the
             | MS Suite. Using Microsoft products becomes a liability on a
             | certain level.
             | 
             | It's SMB's that are stuck with MS products...
             | 
             | If you think about it, most of us just tolerate Microsoft
             | products. They're often not amazing to use (Teams,
             | Sharepoint, etc), but we put up with them because they're
             | mostly sufficient and/or you just already know how to deal
             | with the warts. That's not a glowing review of MS stuff.
             | 
             | GSuite (or whatever they call it these days) is popular
             | with many smaller companies and startups because they don't
             | need traditional locally-installed office apps.
        
             | lmm wrote:
             | You can't drop Office, sure. But you can keep using it on
             | Win10, and MS probably can't get away with changing the
             | file formats again.
        
         | Alupis wrote:
         | Multiple patch vendors/service contracts is a well accepted
         | thing in the Unix world (Linux, BSD, etc). It works well for
         | those who need/want it.
         | 
         | > Guarantee that's going to void your support contract with MS
         | if you have one (or worse).
         | 
         | And, so what? If you are running a lot of Win10 systems you
         | will not or can not upgrade, then which support contract are
         | you breaking?
        
           | bongodongobob wrote:
           | If all you have is win 10, and not using Azure or AD, fair
           | point.
           | 
           | But they may then not want to service server/AAD/AD issues
           | "well your win 10 clients are no longer supported, the
           | behavior between these systems is then also not supported, we
           | can't help. Closing ticket."
           | 
           | They'll be salty about it for sure.
        
             | Alupis wrote:
             | I'd say, if you are big enough to have a Microsoft Support
             | Contract then you're probably going to pay Microsoft for
             | extended Win10 support anyway.
             | 
             | If you're looking to pay for 3rd Party Win10 updates, you
             | might not be running AD in Azure either. Local AD is still
             | a thing, and it should still support several versions of
             | joined workstations.
        
         | stavros wrote:
         | What does a support contract do for unsupported OSes?
        
         | da768 wrote:
         | Well the official system requirements for Windows 11 make a lot
         | of perfectly good systems non-upgradable
        
       | RedCardRef wrote:
       | If anyone is exploring options, Windows 10 IoT LTSC has official
       | support till 2032. Added benefit is that it doesnt come with
       | preloaded bloatware from MS.
       | 
       | I have recently installed W11 IoT LTSC on a 3rd gen Intel, the
       | TPM requirement in this version is optional.
        
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       (page generated 2024-07-01 23:00 UTC)