Disabled or pirated are not the only options:
this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2026
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^ This. Easy to get, easy to install, works like a charm and the license is "perpetual" you won't need bother with it ever again.
Victim-blaming is the real stupidity here. Microsoft harasses its customers (again) and now the customers are the idiots?
This is the same type of propaganda Nvidia is trying to push. Jensen Huang saying "people should have planned better, the rising prices of hardware was imminent" is the exact same tactic of being the cause of the problem and still putting the blame of everyone else.
I'd argue trying to avoid yet another subscription by paying upfront was an honest and good faith strategy. The problem was assuming Microsoft also acts in good faith, and wouldn't just take the money and run like they have just 7 years in.
Honestly for things like this, I would struggle to be convinced that these folks aren't entirely within their right to take back what they already bought in good faith by pirating it.
Not sure why they’re idiots, trying to go the non-sub option is smart, doesn’t vote for subs. Microsoft is the asshole here.
Idiots?
I'm not one of them, but what makes them idiots? Seems kind of uncalled for.
It just wouldn’t be a lemmy post without a smug sense of superiority.
I suppose you're right, in certain communities.
That’s what I’m thinking
I bought the win version, because I have a five year old win 10 computer I’m using until win 10 is no longer supported, and I can’t get office for free anymore.
When win 10 is no longer supported, that’s a Linux computer.
Would I be an idiot, if they cancelled support for mine? I guess so. I’m waiting for some edgelord to tell me I am, probably accompanied by y0u sH00d jUsT g0 LinUx n0w
Yeah, no rush.
Come on over to the Linux side when it suits you. You're welcome to the family when you're ready and that computer is ready. 🤟
Certainly will be, this is definitely the last windows I’m running. Cheers.
It was my sons school computer and it’s running education which for win 10 I have been happy with. One son has ditched win 11 and is running Bazzite now. The other is wound back to win 10 I think, but he’ll move
I’m in the process of deciding which distro to move on; I manage my sons NDIS so that’s front and centre; security of federal government records and claims.
I suppose they call them idiots because they trusted microslop's "eternal" definition and even paid for it when there are FOSS alternatives?
A: gets scammed by company
B: You're so stupid, you should have known that company was going to scam you.
As if Microsoft was founded just yesterday and wasn’t scamming everyone at everything for like decades, right?
They don’t have a history of undoing perpetual licenses though. I mean, I know people who still use a licensed copy of office 2000
Now they have. The point is, if you trust that company for whatever reason, it’s your problem. What makes you believe they’re to be trusted? That they changed? There’s nothing that indicates that, yet people keep not just using their ~~unprofessional~~ incompetent code glued stack, they pay money for it.
I'm not defending this action from Microsoft, but for most people, they buy a Microsoft product and then happily use it for years, none the wiser to any of Microsoft's other nonsense happening in the background.
Coming from a background where software is usually pirated and not paid for (which I don’t support now), it’s a special kind of weird to pay for that shite. I mean, who could have guessed? Me personally, I have no empathy for those. Go buy the next license from Microsoft, I guess. Till they screw you again.
If you pay for something, pay for quality. I understand people who buy Apple stuff, it’s not even overpriced when you consider all the factors. Windows people are fooling themselves, and it’s really fun to watch. ‘Idiots’ is the right word in my book. So I vibe with the title, it’s more correct than the Verge’s one.
Not saying that I agree with the title, just explaining what I think was the reason.
Although one could say that trusting microslop to keep their word after what we've seen them do in the last years is... foolish to say the least.
I’m not one of them, but what makes them idiots? Seems kind of uncalled for.
It's obviously a play on the common phrase that the honest guy ends up being the idiot. Not because the honest guy is stupid but because the honesty ends up backfiring. It's used all the time in video game DRM contexts.
They probably still came out ahead with 7 years of use without paying subscriptions to Microsoft.
Still not what they paid for though. 😐
Anyone who pays to install software from a spyware company is incredibly naive to say the least
Must be like the vast majority of everyone alive that uses some kind of tech these days, then. 🤷♂️ I just felt like the title is over the top a little bit. If it had been in a comment it would've made me react less for some reason. 😄
I get it. You're absolutely right it doesn't make them idiots. Even I'm being hyperbolic to an extent. The real issue is much bigger and doesn't stop at Microsoft. I get why people feel so powerless and end up going along with the status quo. Really, the fact that we've allowed it is more of a reflection on our collective Idiocracy.
It's only morning here but I feel like this comment is the best interaction online I'm gonna have today.
Great response. And not because you agree with me but because it was even way more insightful than what I said.
Have a good one, friend. 🫶
I was activating office installs for customers from the early 2000s not that long ago. Wtf happened that they are now disabling 2019?
All 8 users.
Microsoft constantly punishes any idiot who ever bought anything from them.
Spicy headline.
It's not the headline.
Dunking on tech giants is the only kind of spice that makes modern life palatable.
Yeah, but dunking on tech giants AND their customers.
The Verge: “You fool! You fell for one of the classic blunders!”