lax4ever

The chart in the post appears to at least include 2020 through 2024...

Step 1: Don't collect ID info...

This exposes, yet again, what should be the most commonly acknowledge flaw to exist in AI;

It doesn't actually KNOW anything.

AI has no actual comprehension, and it never will. It can mimic, obviously, to varying degrees of success. But it doesn't actually KNOW what it is 'saying', and without comprehension there will forever be wrong answers or hallucinations.

Schneegans.de autounattend XML files generator

Even easier, Schneegans

Needs the date, seeing as this article is from 2021

Anyone who suggests otherwise needs to go back and relearn the basics of etiquette and politeness and treating fellow humans with common curtesy.

It doesn't excuse the issue, but it certainly makes it harder to step away from them solely on that argument.

I don't know about openly hostile. Definitely making moves that the user base openly disagree with and think are, at best, very bad decisions, but I don't think they have crossed the "hostile" line. And MS is not alone with those kinds of decisions.

Apple may not "force" you to use an iCloud account for their devices, but they sure push it hard.

As far as Linux communities go, Red Hat, Arch, Cisco, and even Ubuntu have also done their fair share of "bad decisions".

I understand the desire to get out from under the MS umbrella, as there are definitely legitimate gripes. But I also see the irony that if you have the technical ability to install a Linux distro, you definitely have the technical ability to use an autounattend XML.

You're doing that pretty much regardless of what OS you use. Yes, I agree MS has issues, but legitimate malware has not yet been a line they have crossed.

The simplest remaining way that I am aware of is actually an autounattend file. This is a Microsoft supplied method that has been around for a long time and something that I truly believe will stick around untouched because it is pretty much a requirement of any enterprise Windows deployment.

Not only does it allow you to create a local admin account, but you can also skip all the other setup screens that you want by pre-supplying values. Throw this file into your Windows boot media, do a fresh install (which you should be doing when you get a new machine regardless), and away you go. I use this both personally and my work environment. Not only are you then not relying on modifying OS ISO's or compilations, but an XML file is relatively easy to verify that only the settings you have set are the ones being input into the system if you utilize a third party tool like the one available at schneegeas.de

If you are getting your OS from some third party torrent packager you are doing it wrong. There are far easier ways to get around this without trusting that some mysterious third party hasn't embedded some malware in their custom Windows deployment.