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Security updates up to 2026? If I knew this I wouldn't have upgraded to Win11 recently :)
And it downloads at ADSL speeds for the full experience (although Cloudflare in front of the ISO kind of breaks character).

https://imgur.com/a/HEjIEVn

For me the torrent file currently is coming down at 26MB/s
Infinite captcha loop for me. Not using a VPN/proxy/1.1.1.1/anything like that.
> Bob Pony, a known enthusiast in the Windows community

I am 100% sure this guy has all the good intentions, but from a security perspective, I don't know if it is any better than a completely unpatched Windows 7 ISO.

I have 24h left on the download. Is anyone who has the file willing to create a torrent to share? I can't click on the twitter link for some reason.
(comment deleted)
Windows 7 was the last really good Windows. MS lost sight of the goal after that.
Satya Nadella became CEO in 2014, mainstream Windows 7 support ended in early 2015. The dark ages continue.
I find Win10 to be a much more refined and polished experience, only ruined by telemetry.
I really wish MS had stuck with the Windows 8/Phone direction - bright square blocks that didn't waste space, which felt like it was a full refutation of the transparent everything of Vista that was still there to some extent in 7.

Looking at macOS 26, it's hard not to compare it visually to Vista given the transparency emphasis. Hopefully in a few years an Alan Dye-free Apple will move in a different direction.

Funny enough, the awful UI in Windows 8 (especially the start menu) drove me to become a mac daily driver.
Oh, the initial screens in Win8 were quite awful and offputting for most people who used earlier Windows versions, but the actual UI widget designs felt good.
Microsoft CHANGED the goal. Cloud makes bucket loads more than consumer - it also has awesome vendor lock-in and juicy monthly fees!

MS didn't lose sight of anything. They've been after the money for a while, and they just followed the money.

I don't like what Microsoft has done, but I annoyingly admit they're doing what's in the best interest of their bank balance.

Piracy is allowed on HN now?
Maybe a nit, but this isn't piracy. Windows has been officially free to download and install since Windows XP. That was when Microsoft switched to their Product Activation DRM, and the license key became the bit you paid for.

Tangent: I miss MSDN AA

Going to get this and install it on my old Asus core2duo laptop from circa 2008 - damn thing still is going strong, despite plastic becoming so brittle it has not one single panel left without cracks in it. Currently it has XP on it, but that is missing whole bunch of drivers, like touchpad not working and BIOS AHCI has to be in compatible mode otherwise it will bluescreen. It's going to be nostalgia machine where all the games I used to play back in the days are installed.
From a security perspective, I'd really really like not just a pre-baked image, but also instructions on how to replicate that using only files and tools with known-good hashes and/or digital signatures.

I too distinctly remember the times I earned my money cleaning up malware, and a few times the root cause was someone using pre-cracked install media from some shady torrent.

Windows Vista technically got to live to see Frutiger Aero come back