Some Microsoft Insiders Fight to Drop Windows 11's Microsoft Account Requirements

The Hot Take: Windows getting beat up on Ai, bugs and privacy. I've been playing with the idea on Linux myself, when they keep ratcheting up the intrusiveness gets more enticing by the day.

Yes, Microsoft announced it's fixing common Windows 11 complaints. But what about getting rid of that requirement to have a Microsoft account before installing Windows 11? While Microsoft didn't mention that at all, the senior editor at the blog Windows Central reports there's "a number of people" internally pushing at Microsoft to relax that requirement: Microsoft Vice President and overall developer legend Scott Hanselman has posted on X in response to someone asking him about possibly relaxing the Microsoft account requirements,…

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Elon Musk wants to build 50 times more chips than the world currently produces, using 'new physics'

The Hot Take: Interesting new physics? He re-writing the laws of physics?

Like his promise to get a million robocabs on the road, this doesn't add up Elon Musk has put Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI in harness to build a chip fabrication outfit called "Terafab" capable of producing a terawatt's worth of computing power each year, then send most of it into space.…

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Samsung union votes to strike, risking Nvidia HBM4 supply disruption

The Hot Take: Only going to shoot costs up on Ai accelerators and RAM or Samsung Chips.

Samsung Electronics' labor union has voted overwhelmingly to initiate dispute proceedings following a breakdown in wage negotiations, raising concerns over potential disruptions to the supply of HBM4 memory for Nvidia's next-generation AI accelerators.

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Microsoft says it’ll make Windows 11 a calmer OS with fewer upsells or ads, as it tries to win back users

The Hot Take: Only after weeks of articles about Linux gaming coming for your piece of the pie?

Microsoft has now confirmed it’s scaling back “upsells” (or ads/recommendations) in Windows 11 as part of its efforts to make the operating system a bit “calmer.” On March 20, Microsoft announced a major update for Windows 11 that focuses on performance and quality-of-life improvements. Microsoft said it’s making File Explorer faster, moving the Start menu to WinUI 3 from React, adding an option to pause Windows updates for as long as you want, and even cutting back Copilot in apps like Notepad. The big release with the movable taskbar…

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Intel says Crimson Desert devs ignored offers of help to support Arc GPUs

The Hot Take: What happens when you have a dual-opoly between 3 major chip makers.

It doesn’t sound like Crimson Desert, the recently released prequel to Black Desert Online, will support Intel Arc GPUs anytime soon, if at all. On the game’s FAQ page, its developer Pearl Abyss advised players expecting Arc support to apply for a refund. “If you purchased the game expecting Intel Arc support, please refer to the refund policy of the platform where the game was purchased for available options,” the company wrote. Apparently, though, it’s not from lack of guidance from Intel. The chipmaker told Wccftech that it reached out to…

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Canonical brings Microsoft Defender to Ubuntu to tighten Linux security

The Hot Take: Microsoft is just consuming Linux one bite at a time for sure...

Canonical has announced a collaboration with Microsoft to integrate Ubuntu Pro security features with Microsoft Defender, improving protection for enterprise Linux systems. This brings advanced threat detection and response tools into Ubuntu environments, giving organizations a more unified way to secure critical workloads across platforms. Linux is at the center of many enterprise systems, from cloud infrastructure to databases and transaction platforms, so tightening its security is a clear priority. Canonical connecting its Ubuntu Pro…

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