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Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

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Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#41

Post by xeeeeeeeeeeenu »

I don't understand why so many people on HN praise Satya Nadella. I guess good PR is worth much more than actions.

Before Nadella, Windows wasn't nearly as user-hostile as it is now. There was no mandatory telemetry, there were no forced updates, end users weren't treated as betatesters and QA wasn't non-existent. And now they are taking away the ability to use Windows without Microsoft Account.

Of course there are also many other problems with Windows 10, like the UWP fiasco, but they're minor in comparison to what Microsoft is doing with user's freedom and privacy.

I always preferred Windows to Unixes, but at this point I think it's time to give up and switch to some Linux distribution. It's clear that the situation will only get worse.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#42

Post by tenebrisalietum »

Microsoft is clearly taking moves that enable "PC as a service".

I imagine the end game is something like you pay Microsoft so much a month on a subscription, receive hardware that is preconfigured with and tied to your Microsoft account details or your company's Azure AD configuration and locked down with InTune, unhackable with properly implemented Class 3+ UEFI and Secure Boot, etc. You then purchase additional software subscriptions, such as your Photoshop, etc., through the Microsoft store, with Microsoft taking a cut like Apple.

If your computer breaks, pay the $50 or $100 insurance and receive a new one from Microsoft, if it's not folded into your monthly "Microsoft Technology Subscription."

So when Microsoft completes its takeover of the PC, what's the platform and OEM landscape going to look like? This endgame clearly puts companies like Dell, HP, Asus, etc. and the companies that provide parts like Intel, AMD in a subordinate position to Microsoft. They probably won't like that.

Will they give up? Will they try to start to make hardware for Apple? Will these companies embrace Linux and provide a third way?

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#44

Post by JMTQp8lwXL »

xeeeeeeeeeeenu wrote: post #41

I don't understand why so many people on HN praise Satya Nadella. I guess good PR is worth much more than actions. Before Nadella, Windows wasn't nearly as user-hostile as it is now. There was no mandatory telemetry, there were no forced updates, end users weren't treated as betatesters and QA wasn't non-existent. And now they are taking away the ability to use Windows without Microsoft Account. Of course there are a…

Most people on HN, I would postulate, don't use Windows. We might use VS Code, we might use Azure, but we aren't using Microsoft's operating system.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#45

Post by behnamoh »

nickjj wrote: post #27
weikju wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it will end up being used by fewer people, after which their telemetry will indicate that fewer than X % of people are using the feature thus they will claim it's justified to remove it.

Yes, and I bet that data is what provoked them to start doing this already. Even before this change you have to navigate out of your way to pick an offline account. It would be easy to think "oh, a large percent of users don't want local accounts" just looking at the telemetry data. When really that's a given because the option is only going to be found by someone who knows beforehand that they want an offline accoun…

>> that's enough to cancel all of those things out to the point where die hard developers might just throw their arms up in the air and move to Linux even if it means making sacrifices for certain things.

And would those programmers develop software that's not written for Windows only? I don't think so. As much as I hate Windows and advocate the idea of moving to other operating systems (even macOS), at the end of the day, developers don't have enough discretion in choosing which platform(s) to write programs for; it's the management that decides it.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#46

Post by JMTQp8lwXL »

tenebrisalietum wrote: post #42

Microsoft is clearly taking moves that enable "PC as a service". I imagine the end game is something like you pay Microsoft so much a month on a subscription, receive hardware that is preconfigured with and tied to your Microsoft account details or your company's Azure AD configuration and locked down with InTune, unhackable with properly implemented Class 3+ UEFI and Secure Boot, etc. You then purchase additional so…

To the end user, what makes this model preferable to buying the operating system software? For some businesses higher up the stack, it makes sense-- e.g., people spend $X per month on the Adobe Suite, and people tend to enjoy that.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#47

Post by chank »

tenebrisalietum wrote: post #42

Microsoft is clearly taking moves that enable "PC as a service". I imagine the end game is something like you pay Microsoft so much a month on a subscription, receive hardware that is preconfigured with and tied to your Microsoft account details or your company's Azure AD configuration and locked down with InTune, unhackable with properly implemented Class 3+ UEFI and Secure Boot, etc. You then purchase additional so…

Deal is, big corps want it. Everything as a service. Easy to write off. Easy to ramp up and down as needed.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#48

Post by Stratoscope »

lostmsu wrote: post #18
aaomidi wrote: post #8

I just want them to let me pick my own god damned name for the home folder. I hate the weird shit they pick for me.

Ha-ha-ha, that's the only reason I do that too. E.g. create a local account first, then sign-in.

I always do that for the same reason. I do use a Microsoft account with Windows, but I want to pick my own name for my own user folder in C:\Users. So I install Windows with a local account, and then after logging in I connect it to my Microsoft account.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#49

Post by saagarjha »

aaomidi wrote: post #8

I just want them to let me pick my own god damned name for the home folder. I hate the weird shit they pick for me.

Interestingly, this is exactly the reason why I perform setup with a local account: I can control the username.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#50

Post by bitwize »

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #44
xeeeeeeeeeeenu wrote: post #41

I don't understand why so many people on HN praise Satya Nadella. I guess good PR is worth much more than actions. Before Nadella, Windows wasn't nearly as user-hostile as it is now. There was no mandatory telemetry, there were no forced updates, end users weren't treated as betatesters and QA wasn't non-existent. And now they are taking away the ability to use Windows without Microsoft Account. Of course there are a…

Most people on HN, I would postulate, don't use Windows. We might use VS Code, we might use Azure, but we aren't using Microsoft's operating system.

Then explain all those "Windows with WSL is the only Linux desktop I'll ever use" posts.
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