[sf-lug] seeking advice re running Windows (on a Linux OS)

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Ian Sidle (ian at iansidle.com):

> Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:
> 
> > Out of curiosity, if/when your machine's hard drive or SSD fails, do
> > you have a means of reinstalling MS-Windows...?
> 
> A Windows 10 iso can be easily and legally downloaded from microsoft's website.
> https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Without objection, I'll note that I asked Ken Shaffer, and not you.

I don't know about Ken, but I have a strong inclination to ensure that I
have everything required to have full reinistallation abilities, and
ability to reapply customisations, for any software I rely on -- and
that includes reinstalling the OS and app _versions_ I rely on, as well.

I haven't run MS-Windows on a personal machine since Windows for
Workgroups 3.11a, but my understanding is that, currently, there are
several MS-Windows releases people like and rely on; they might or might
not be happy with a forced migration to MS-Windows 10.  Also, in their
shoes, I would be particularly _unhappy_ with an OS whose installer
functionality expires after ~12-18 months.

Nor should such a user be happy with being obliged to 'login to your
Microsoft account to activate it'.  The minor problem is that this makes
offline machines difficult or impossible.  The major problem is that it
amounts to needing to get vendor permission every time you do
reinstallation to use the software you paid for.  


Anyway:

Over the decades, I've observed MS-Windows users get maneouvered into
ever crazier and more perilous situations as to ability to reinstall:
first, OEM-licensed media that will not work after a change to a
different motherboard, then 'recovery discs' that cannot do a custom
installation at all, only bulk-copy a predefined binary image to disk,
then omitting _all_ optical (and other) installation media, and grabbing
a bunch of reserved disk space for a 'recovery partition'.

After many decades of this nickle-and-diming compromise to users'
ability to reinstall the product they paid for, I observe that
MS-Windows users pretty much reliably have no clear plan for what
they're going to do when/if their SSD/HD fails.

E.g., when I worked at Cadence Design Systems in the 2000s, and found it
convenient to install WinXP Pro in a VM on my Debian-driven ThinkPad T42p
(the easiest way to use corporate MS-Exchange services and some
haplessly MSIE-dependent intranet sites), I was able to just use the
company site-licensed copy with no Product Activation nonsense.  In my
view, that (or something like that) is the only tolerable way to go.
Fortunately, the company paid for it, not me.

If I _were_ still willing to run MS-Windows on one of my own machines
(which stopped being the case in 1993), it appears to me that the price
of entry for a no-bullshit full retail copy, these days, is about $190
for a download copy (you supply your own master-copy media to store it),
or $200 on a USB flash drive.
Reference:
https://www.newegg.com/microsoft-windows-10-professional-full-version-32-64-bit/p/N82E16832588507
https://www.newegg.com/microsoft-windows-10-pro/p/N82E16832350412