this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2024
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My question is this: Do Microsoft ship crap-infested versions to people who could make their lives uncomfortable, like, say, intelligence agencies, or do those agencies take a crap-infested version and have their IT security strip all the crap out?
Because if I was in charge of an intelligence agency I'd be asking - with dangerous smile - for the crap-free version, turn IT loose on it anyway and then be, shall we say, horribly invasive to Microsoft if there's anything still left in it.
... and if I wanted Windows, I'd want whatever the end result of that is.
On the other hand, maybe this has already happened and that "horrible invasion" is the cause of all the spyware crap in the consumer release.
Sigh.
No.
For Enterprise users they offer LTSC versions (bare minimum version of the OS) with extended support, and national agencies are able to get the source code of Windows under the program Shared Source Initiative.
Network traffic can be monitored, so a private intelligence agency also could watch any unwanted calls made solely by the OS and block them accordingly.
Both. The enterprise edition has less crap, but most big companies will use custom images and group policy to decrapify it further. I do the same thing at home since I used to be the guy doing it at work. I don't get any of the copilot or recall bullshit.