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Comment by davemtl | Hacker News Reader

Couple of issues with this, the first being a "rudimentarily activated using a Generic Key" ISO that's not from Microsoft. Can you really trust this source and technically at this point, it's piracy. Secondly, once the Microsoft lawyer's get wind of this, expect it to be shut down rather quickly.

I'm okay with providing documentation, tools and scripts to remove the cruft and increase privacy within Windows 10, but the ISO linked from a Telegram channel is dubious at best.

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I think you are right, it's piracy;

However i had to chuckle at "is dubious at best", since all the spyware shipped with Windows nowadays... is perhaps equally dubious.

piracy? caring!

I personally don’t use questionable software because I worry about having ransomware installed but had to laugh at your comment. My question would be who gives a shit if it it piracy especially against Microsoft. They have become so hostile I would argue they no longer have the right to say I’ve taken anything after taking my money for a product then using that product against me to steal my personal information. I’ve given them enough money so I won’t feel bad using this and removing the unwanted stuff they are raping me with. One day I will move to Linux instead of complaining but until then me and Microsoft are not friends. I change a setting and suddenly it comes back. They don’t take no for an answer. Rapist mentality

Consider finding some interests other than having a strong opinion on 1 of 3 OSs. Life's too short man.

I prefer the old nLite approach of instead letting the user supply their own ISO to patch.

Isn't that what the second option does?

I looked over the second option and it's a pretty extensive patching process. The 2-3 hours they give for it is generous. Also it appears that they do do windows update manually, so it's still a fully up to date Windows 10 installation. I suspect you could get away with just running their script on a legit, fully updated, Windows 10 install, with presumably the UI modifications they want you to do (says the scripts need you to do that).

I never really looked too deep into Ameliorated Windows, just saw that they have their own ISOs. From memory, nLite came with a slick installer that you just supplied an ISO to and chose some options, and it did everything for you.

This. In light of the holiday weekend I'd say this will be gone by Tuesday the 19th at the latest.

This project has been around for years now lol

OK, I was wrong about today.

The ISO was merely made for convenience, and for those without the basic technical knowledge required to perform a manual amelioration. Also, Microsoft already tried without success to shut it down in the past, after Linus made a video on Windows Ameliorated.

There is detailed documentation for performing a manual amelioration, it uses fully open-source scripts. (https://wiki.ameliorated.info/doku.php?id=documentation_21h1)

> Secondly, once the Microsoft lawyer's get wind of this, expect it to be shut down rather quickly.

This already happened when Linus Tech Tips posted a video regarding Ameliorated [0].

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1243421-windows-10-ameliorat...

Yeah, my question was around legality too. The FAQ seems to imply that because it was educational or improves interoperability, that it's somehow legal. Not sure how that's supposed to work, but it would be interesting to learn about.

Sorry to beat a dead horse, but please use "copyright infringement" or "unauthorized copying" instead of "piracy". Actual pirates commit or threaten physical violence, so this meaning-slippage is just propaganda.

Language evolves. Trying to fight that is a losing battle.

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