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Microsoft won't let you close OneDrive on Windows until you explain yourself

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191–200 of 277 posts

Re: Microsoft won't let you close OneDrive on Windows until you explain yourself

#191

Anyone here work at Microsoft that can explain how anyone at the company thought this was a good idea? Seriously. I'm genuinely confused. MS never had the best UI (hello MS Word toolbars) but those happened over time through attrition and added features. This is one of many intentional user-hostile experiences.

I don't work at Microsoft (anymore) and never worked on this project, but I can pretty confidently say it went like this... Some exec: "Why are people quitting OneDrive?" Some PM: "I don't know." Some exec: "We should do an exit poll." ...time passes Some exec: "Why are people quittin OneDrive?" Some PM: "Those that answer say ____, but a lot of people don't answer the exit poll." Some exec: "We should force them to…

Any time I am forced to reply to one of these, it is never pleasantly worded.

Re: Microsoft won't let you close OneDrive on Windows until you explain yourself

#193

Times like this I am happy I am mostly Windows free with my work as a Linux kernel developer. Still need Windows for a few things. Like playing my GOG.com games. No, Heroic or Lutris do not work well. With the exception of playing the rebuilds of Diablo I. My next gaming machine will likely be Linux only if I ever get myself to finish the OG Baldur's Gate I and II. You can buy the Enhanced Edition on GOG and put in a…

I'm earnestly surprised that the compatibility efforts GOG has went through on so many titles hasn't made playing most, if not all, of those old titles playable through WINE. So many of the old DirectDraw / legacy DirectX games have been made capable to play by translating to DirectX 9 that I would imagine WINE would work swimmingly in those cases. I imagine though that you've put in the legwork to try and get those to work though, so I trust your experience, but my surprise remains all the same.

Re: Microsoft won't let you close OneDrive on Windows until you explain yourself

#194

Times like this I am happy I am mostly Windows free with my work as a Linux kernel developer. Still need Windows for a few things. Like playing my GOG.com games. No, Heroic or Lutris do not work well. With the exception of playing the rebuilds of Diablo I. My next gaming machine will likely be Linux only if I ever get myself to finish the OG Baldur's Gate I and II. You can buy the Enhanced Edition on GOG and put in a…

Proton works well and you can add non steam games to steam

Re: Microsoft won't let you close OneDrive on Windows until you explain yourself

#196

The article notes the items in the dropdown: Here are the options the app lets you pick: I do not want OneDrive running all the time I do not know what OneDrive is I do not use OneDrive I am trying to fix a problem with OneDrive I am trying to speed up my computer I get too many notifications Other Sadly, there is no "none of your business, let me quit" option. Actually, the "Other" option encompasses "none of your b…

Are all options "valid" answers, or is it like trying to cancel a subscription with an American corporation where most options just lead to explanations of why the customer's opinion is incorrect?

Re: Microsoft won't let you close OneDrive on Windows until you explain yourself

#197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't work at Microsoft (anymore) and never worked on this project, but I can pretty confidently say it went like this... Some exec: "Why are people quitting OneDrive?" Some PM: "I don't know." Some exec: "We should do an exit poll." ...time passes Some exec: "Why are people quittin OneDrive?" Some PM: "Those that answer say ____, but a lot of people don't answer the exit poll." Some exec: "We should force them to…

Any time I am forced to reply to one of these, it is never pleasantly worded.

"Huh, seems like 97% of the freeform text entry boxes contain profanity."

Re: Microsoft won't let you close OneDrive on Windows until you explain yourself

#198
The onedrive integration is one of the most annoying things about windows for me right now. Not just the constant nagging, nor the "Adverts" pasted over my computer, but one day I woke up and something had decided to move all my documents to a new "onedrive" folder, despite never signing up for anything. (Or at least "asked me" in some super easy to miss clickthrough)

This naturally broke a stack of apps and scripts,and my expectations. And as explorer seems to do some magic to make it /look/ like everything is in the same place, but then causes inconsistency with other ways of accessing folders, breaks decades of learned experience on how the model of files and folders work.

And this was still on windows 10 - at least if there's an upgrade migration you /expect/ some things to work a bit differently, and then have the option of not upgrading if that behavior is important. But what's the point of having "versions" if you just backport all the breaking changes anyway?

Re: Microsoft won't let you close OneDrive on Windows until you explain yourself

#199
post #185

Anyone here work at Microsoft that can explain how anyone at the company thought this was a good idea? Seriously. I'm genuinely confused. MS never had the best UI (hello MS Word toolbars) but those happened over time through attrition and added features. This is one of many intentional user-hostile experiences.

I used to work at Microsoft, so I can field this one: The answer is that they want to gather data about how to improve OneDrive so people continue to use it. The PM who owns OneDrive adoption probably has to talk to a slide in a regular status meeting, and someone up the chain keeps asking pointed questions about why the curve is less than exponential. The fact that they disabled the button until you pick an answer i…

No, it's malice. No one who gets into such a position can be that unaware. Malice comes in small ways too, not caring how your shitty design impacts people is a form of malice.

Re: Microsoft won't let you close OneDrive on Windows until you explain yourself

#200

Anyone here work at Microsoft that can explain how anyone at the company thought this was a good idea? Seriously. I'm genuinely confused. MS never had the best UI (hello MS Word toolbars) but those happened over time through attrition and added features. This is one of many intentional user-hostile experiences.

I was sure the answer would be "most/all of the options don't actually quit OneDrive, but bring you to some 'help' page where it explains why you don't need to quit OneDrive", and MS wants you running OneDrive all the time for reasons".
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