The very idea that Microsoft would force users to install apps ONLY via the Windows store is on the same level of ridiculousness as the 9/11 attacks being an inside job.
It's the exact policy implemented on all Xbox consoles as well as Windows Phone devices.
If a publisher refuses to add support for GNU/Linux, either natively or through Wine, a business relying on that publisher's proprietary software ought to plan a migration now to a different publisher that is willing.
If application developers have to wait in line for their applications to be reviewed and deemed worthy of publication in Windows Store, then it's also "queue".
developers can still sign code with their key when selling other ways, including boxed retail.
Then how can a developer sign code when distributing software through non-commercial means, particularly free software? Though price competition has made the cost of a domain-validated TLS certificate trivial, with Let's Encrypt offering 90-day certificates to domain owners without charge and SSLs.com offering 3-year certificates for $5 per year, there's as of yet no counterpart to those for code signing on macOS or Windows.
The right thing, is a) to never let users run as admin
Ransomware can do a lot of damage to the data in a user's account even without elevated privileges.
There's no reason for 99% of apps out there to actually need administrator privileges
Even to install? Or should operating systems allow per-user installation of device drivers in order to support applications that need a specific device driver? For example, iTunes installs an iPod/iPhone/iPad driver, and Fitbit Connect which installs a tracker receiver driver. Or do only 1 percent of applications need such a driver?
Did you build a desktop PC from parts with Linux in mind? Because a lot of home users don't have that luxury. They need a laptop in a size System76 doesn't offer, or they can't afford more than an existing hand-me-down PC. Last night I was in a chat room with someone who tried five different WLAN cards he already owned of which Ubuntu successfully detected zero, but Windows let him load a driver from a USB flash drive.
Do these "business critical" computers happen to be laptops in odd form factors, which would rule out building your own desktop or using a System76 laptop? Or does the "extra software" require a device driver or have some other good reason not to run in Wine? If not, use GNU/Linux.
Yet Apple and Google appear to be able to get away with it....
I'm not entirely sure to which phenomenon you refer. True, Apple locks iOS devices down to use apps from the App Store, but Apple's market share is nowhere near large enough to have "market power" over smartphone apps. As for Google, except for about the first year of AT&T-branded Android devices, practically every Android device with Android Market (now Google Play Store) has offered a checkbox to let users choose to install applications from unknown sources. In fact, last time I checked, Google required a working Android Debug Bridge with adb install as a condition of licensing its copyrighted Google Play Store application.
If there's something you want to install that's not in the windows store(apps already vetted by MS), simply disable it!
Provided you even can. The forthcoming Windows 10 Cloud Edition is rumored to ship with this feature forced on. Besides, let me know when even something like Visual Studio is available as a UWP application.
By which you mean "there is Apple." Otherwise, which national brick-and-mortar chain in Slashdot's home country carries more than a token selection of laptops in its showrooms that are warranted to run anything but Windows, macOS, or an OS designed to run only web applications?
But with how (physically) small a phone's screen is, what's the point of more than 480p or so if you're viewing it on a phone? Or are you using a full-size TV as the phone's monitor?
How is Hotmail exploiting a vulnerability in your non-Windows PC?
It isn't. The vulnerability to which I refer is in Microsoft software that runs on a device other than my PC.
Hotmail goes through Microsoft's server. If the Microsoft software running on Microsoft's server has a vulnerability, the data stored on said server on behalf of its users is affected, even data stored on behalf of users who do not run an Windows operating system. Therefore, shunning Windows will not protect users from all vulnerabilities in Microsoft software.
Hotmail, really?
Unlike Google with respect to Gmail, Microsoft promises not to use the text of emails stored on a Hotmail user's behalf as part of Microsoft's interest profile on a user.
Microsoft is trying hard to solve this problem by migrating to an app model which is used by Android and iOS but it just cannot work with Windows for far too many reasons
Probably the same reason it doesn't work with iOS. You can't develop apps on an iPad Pro with keyboard and Apple Pencil because Xcode works only on a Mac. Likewise, you can't develop apps on a Surface 1 or 2 because Microsoft never released Visual Studio RT. (You can on Surface Pro and Surface 3 because those run full Windows.)
I have my dad set to a general user account [...] On those occasions something needs installed or updated, I log into the administrator account, take care of it, then log off. Not a single issue so far.
Can you do that remotely on the home version, or do you need to be physically present? Because if it's Saturday evening, and your city doesn't run buses on Saturday evenings or Sundays (as Fort Wayne, Indiana, doesn't), it might be a long wait before you can be present at dad's computer.
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In cases like those, would it be worthwhile to contribute developer time or money to the Wine project?
Buying an inferior product to "stick it to" a competitor who actually is better and infinitesimally more expensive
Keeping a competitor in business helps the market leader remain "infinitesimally more expensive" rather than Daraprim expensive.
The very idea that Microsoft would force users to install apps ONLY via the Windows store is on the same level of ridiculousness as the 9/11 attacks being an inside job.
It's the exact policy implemented on all Xbox consoles as well as Windows Phone devices.
What about software that can't run in Wine?
If a publisher refuses to add support for GNU/Linux, either natively or through Wine, a business relying on that publisher's proprietary software ought to plan a migration now to a different publisher that is willing.
RBAC rules should be used to lock a user out from running any executable whatsoever from their home directory.
If that's on by default, then how will a high school student do his computer science 101 homework?
That doesn't help when there's a second resolver inside Windows Store and Windows Update that uses different DNS servers.
Or you could switch from Steam to PlayStation Store and leave Windows behind.
If application developers have to wait in line for their applications to be reviewed and deemed worthy of publication in Windows Store, then it's also "queue".
developers can still sign code with their key when selling other ways, including boxed retail.
Then how can a developer sign code when distributing software through non-commercial means, particularly free software? Though price competition has made the cost of a domain-validated TLS certificate trivial, with Let's Encrypt offering 90-day certificates to domain owners without charge and SSLs.com offering 3-year certificates for $5 per year, there's as of yet no counterpart to those for code signing on macOS or Windows.
The right thing, is a) to never let users run as admin
Ransomware can do a lot of damage to the data in a user's account even without elevated privileges.
There's no reason for 99% of apps out there to actually need administrator privileges
Even to install? Or should operating systems allow per-user installation of device drivers in order to support applications that need a specific device driver? For example, iTunes installs an iPod/iPhone/iPad driver, and Fitbit Connect which installs a tracker receiver driver. Or do only 1 percent of applications need such a driver?
Microsoft To Introduce a New Feature In Windows 10 Which Will Allow Users To Block Installation of Desktop Apps
Windows 10 doesn't block you from installing desktop software, so I don't really see your point.
It will.
Did you build a desktop PC from parts with Linux in mind? Because a lot of home users don't have that luxury. They need a laptop in a size System76 doesn't offer, or they can't afford more than an existing hand-me-down PC. Last night I was in a chat room with someone who tried five different WLAN cards he already owned of which Ubuntu successfully detected zero, but Windows let him load a driver from a USB flash drive.
Do these "business critical" computers happen to be laptops in odd form factors, which would rule out building your own desktop or using a System76 laptop? Or does the "extra software" require a device driver or have some other good reason not to run in Wine? If not, use GNU/Linux.
anit trust issues! with going app store only.
Yet Apple and Google appear to be able to get away with it....
I'm not entirely sure to which phenomenon you refer. True, Apple locks iOS devices down to use apps from the App Store, but Apple's market share is nowhere near large enough to have "market power" over smartphone apps. As for Google, except for about the first year of AT&T-branded Android devices, practically every Android device with Android Market (now Google Play Store) has offered a checkbox to let users choose to install applications from unknown sources. In fact, last time I checked, Google required a working Android Debug Bridge with adb install as a condition of licensing its copyrighted Google Play Store application.
If there's something you want to install that's not in the windows store(apps already vetted by MS), simply disable it!
Provided you even can. The forthcoming Windows 10 Cloud Edition is rumored to ship with this feature forced on. Besides, let me know when even something like Visual Studio is available as a UWP application.
there is Apple, Linux, BSDs, and Hurd.
By which you mean "there is Apple." Otherwise, which national brick-and-mortar chain in Slashdot's home country carries more than a token selection of laptops in its showrooms that are warranted to run anything but Windows, macOS, or an OS designed to run only web applications?
In the later stages of that progression, how will testing applications in Visual Studio work?
Repair is part of Reuse.
The market values the time of college students and others with little full-time professional experience less.
If there's one multinational corporation I trust to keep a promise, it's Microsoft.
Unless Microsoft wants to stop doing business in Europe, there's at least one organization with the power to hold Microsoft to its promises.
But with how (physically) small a phone's screen is, what's the point of more than 480p or so if you're viewing it on a phone? Or are you using a full-size TV as the phone's monitor?
How is Hotmail exploiting a vulnerability in your non-Windows PC?
It isn't. The vulnerability to which I refer is in Microsoft software that runs on a device other than my PC.
Hotmail goes through Microsoft's server. If the Microsoft software running on Microsoft's server has a vulnerability, the data stored on said server on behalf of its users is affected, even data stored on behalf of users who do not run an Windows operating system. Therefore, shunning Windows will not protect users from all vulnerabilities in Microsoft software.
Hotmail, really?
Unlike Google with respect to Gmail, Microsoft promises not to use the text of emails stored on a Hotmail user's behalf as part of Microsoft's interest profile on a user.
Microsoft is trying hard to solve this problem by migrating to an app model which is used by Android and iOS but it just cannot work with Windows for far too many reasons
Probably the same reason it doesn't work with iOS. You can't develop apps on an iPad Pro with keyboard and Apple Pencil because Xcode works only on a Mac. Likewise, you can't develop apps on a Surface 1 or 2 because Microsoft never released Visual Studio RT. (You can on Surface Pro and Surface 3 because those run full Windows.)
Games don't require admin.
Unless they use third-party digital restrictions management.
I have my dad set to a general user account [...] On those occasions something needs installed or updated, I log into the administrator account, take care of it, then log off. Not a single issue so far.
Can you do that remotely on the home version, or do you need to be physically present? Because if it's Saturday evening, and your city doesn't run buses on Saturday evenings or Sundays (as Fort Wayne, Indiana, doesn't), it might be a long wait before you can be present at dad's computer.