Daily Archives: 2024-12-04

No more EV app folders: Universal plug-and-charge is due to launch in 2025

Source: Ars Technica

Article note: "Trade legal tender for energy at any commoditized, standardized, vendor" is the most basic thing that needs to be worked out for EV adoption to really work, and the Snowcrash grade tech-bro-greed "Use our spyware-laden App to gain access to our charging network" that is the current state is an embarrassment.

To fill a car with gas, you generally just need a credit card or cash. To charge an EV at a DC fast charging station, you need any number of things to work—a credit card reader, an app for that charger's network, a touchscreen that's working—and they're all a little different.

That situation could change next year if a new "universal Plug and Charge" initiative from SAE International, a group of EV carmakers and chargers, moves ahead and gains ground. Launching in early 2025, the network could make charging an EV actually easier than gassing up: plug in, let the car and charger figure out the payment details over a cloud connection, and go.

Some car and charging network combinations already offer such a system through a patchwork of individual deals, as listed at Inside EVs. Teslas have always offered a plug-and-charge experience, given the tight integration between their Superchargers and vehicles. Now Tesla will join the plug-and-charge movement proper, allowing Teslas to have a roughly similar experience at other stations.

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UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson Fatally Shot in Manhattan

Source: Hacker News

Article note: This is so predictable it's a trope copaganda show episode plot. It'll be interesting to see what heinous thing precipitated it. Also, coming after the top of an organization to generate accountability in systems which are otherwise set up to avoid it is ...kind of the point of having a capacity for violence.
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Microsoft: we’re not lowering the Windows 11 system requirements

Source: OSNews

Article note: This is one of those slow-roll dumb scenarios that everyone has to know is a bad idea but the various technical and market stake-holders (...probably meaning people invested in the security/vendor control model and PC vendors looking to obsolete-and-sell-replacements for entirely adequate hardware) have made it impossible to get off the bus. If we thought the incredibly slow transition off XP because of misfeatures and hardware requirements was ridiculous, 10 is going to hang around _forever_.

If you were secretly hoping Microsoft would lower the system requirements for Windows 11 so you could upgrade your or your family’s Windows 10 machines to Windows 11, you’re going to be in for some bad news. In a blog post, Microsoft detailed that its most stringent Windows 11 requirement – the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 – is here to stay and crucial to the future of Windows.

By instituting TPM 2.0 as a non-negotiable standard for the future of Windows, we elevate the security benchmark. It allows you and us to better align with the growing need for formidable data protection in the modern digital sphere.

[…]

In conclusion, TPM 2.0 is not just a recommendation—it’s a necessity for maintaining a secure and future-proof IT environment with Windows 11. And it’s an important part of the larger Zero Trust strategy, alongside Secure Boot, Credential Guard, and Windows Hello for Business.

↫ Steven Hosking at the Windows IT Pro Blog

So no, if you had the hope Microsoft would lower Windows 11’s system requirements in the face of the oncoming end of support deadline for the 60% of Windows users still using Windows 10, your hope has just been dashed. A more likely outcome here is that as the deadline grows closer, Microsoft will extend the deadline by another year, and if needed another, because leaving 60% of users without security updates and little to no path to upgrade is not going to be a good look for the marketing and legal departments.

If you really do want to upgrade to Windows 11, there’s a few options. There’s the enterprise-focused Windows 11 LTSC 2024 release, which does not require a TPM 2.0, regarding it as an optional feature instead. On top of that, LTSC is much more bare-bones, shipping without much of the stuff many of us more nerdy users aren’t interested in anyway. The big downside is that getting your hands on a legal copy of LTSC will be difficult, as it’s only available to volume licensing customers, which you most likely are not. Of course, you shouldn’t give a shit about Microsoft’s rules, so you can always use unapproved methods of getting a license.

Another option is the one I took for my parts-bin Windows 11 PC which I only use for League of Legends: I bought a cheap TPM 2.0 module from eBay, slotted it into my motherboard, and was on my merry way. Due to League of Legends’ required rootkit, a TPM 2.0 module is needed, so a few euros and days waiting later, I was ready to go. Do make sure you get the right type of TPM 2.0 module for your motherboard, as they’re not universally compatible.

The final option is to use one of the few remaining ways to circumvent Windows 11’s system requirements, which are sadly dwindling with every major update. Right now that means using a tool like Flyby11, which uses the Windows Server installer to bypass Windows 11’s system requirements. We’ll have to wait and see for how long that trick remains possible.

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Microsoft: we’re not lowering the Windows 11 system requirements

Source: OSNews

Article note: This is one of those slow-roll dumb scenarios that everyone has to know is a bad idea but the various technical and market stake-holders (...probably meaning people invested in the security/vendor control model and PC vendors looking to obsolete-and-sell-replacements for entirely adequate hardware) have made it impossible to get off the bus. If we thought the incredibly slow transition off XP because of misfeatures and hardware requirements was ridiculous, 10 is going to hang around _forever_.

If you were secretly hoping Microsoft would lower the system requirements for Windows 11 so you could upgrade your or your family’s Windows 10 machines to Windows 11, you’re going to be in for some bad news. In a blog post, Microsoft detailed that its most stringent Windows 11 requirement – the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 – is here to stay and crucial to the future of Windows.

By instituting TPM 2.0 as a non-negotiable standard for the future of Windows, we elevate the security benchmark. It allows you and us to better align with the growing need for formidable data protection in the modern digital sphere.

[…]

In conclusion, TPM 2.0 is not just a recommendation—it’s a necessity for maintaining a secure and future-proof IT environment with Windows 11. And it’s an important part of the larger Zero Trust strategy, alongside Secure Boot, Credential Guard, and Windows Hello for Business.

↫ Steven Hosking at the Windows IT Pro Blog

So no, if you had the hope Microsoft would lower Windows 11’s system requirements in the face of the oncoming end of support deadline for the 60% of Windows users still using Windows 10, your hope has just been dashed. A more likely outcome here is that as the deadline grows closer, Microsoft will extend the deadline by another year, and if needed another, because leaving 60% of users without security updates and little to no path to upgrade is not going to be a good look for the marketing and legal departments.

If you really do want to upgrade to Windows 11, there’s a few options. There’s the enterprise-focused Windows 11 LTSC 2024 release, which does not require a TPM 2.0, regarding it as an optional feature instead. On top of that, LTSC is much more bare-bones, shipping without much of the stuff many of us more nerdy users aren’t interested in anyway. The big downside is that getting your hands on a legal copy of LTSC will be difficult, as it’s only available to volume licensing customers, which you most likely are not. Of course, you shouldn’t give a shit about Microsoft’s rules, so you can always use unapproved methods of getting a license.

Another option is the one I took for my parts-bin Windows 11 PC which I only use for League of Legends: I bought a cheap TPM 2.0 module from eBay, slotted it into my motherboard, and was on my merry way. Due to League of Legends’ required rootkit, a TPM 2.0 module is needed, so a few euros and days waiting later, I was ready to go. Do make sure you get the right type of TPM 2.0 module for your motherboard, as they’re not universally compatible.

The final option is to use one of the few remaining ways to circumvent Windows 11’s system requirements, which are sadly dwindling with every major update. Right now that means using a tool like Flyby11, which uses the Windows Server installer to bypass Windows 11’s system requirements. We’ll have to wait and see for how long that trick remains possible.

Posted in News | Leave a comment