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People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account

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Re: People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account

#301

Post by spogbiper »

kstrauser wrote: post #185
tonymet wrote: post #68

I’m a Windows fan, and I could see this being a pain for OEMs and installers / IT guys – but I don’t see why people are making a huge deal . Windows quality is a much bigger issue: latency, reliability issues, inconsistencies in the UI, etc. Windows account login provides decent value: Bitlocker recovery, device management, Onedrive sync (even the free version), simpler RDP & remote RPC authentication. You won’t even…

With it, can you use your laptop offline?

yes, as long as you signed in once while online. windows caches the creds locally and afaik they do not expire

Re: People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account

#302

Post by autoexec »

janalsncm wrote: post #154
chocochunks wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple wins on the perception of being a luxury brand. That's it.

It’s not just about perception. Apple doesn’t load your computer up with crapware and ads from the five different companies in the supply chain. They got away with it forever because at $600 there was no competition. I would say it’s more that Microsoft will make your $600 feel cheap, Apple will make it feel respectable.

> Apple doesn’t load your computer up with crapware and ads from the five different companies in the supply chain.

No apple prefers to have a monopoly on ads and crapware but they're still there. The internet is filled with annoyed apple customers who want to debloat their systems:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254337272

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/414682/how-can-i-r...

https://tech.yahoo.com/ai/articles/5gb-pure-bloatware-apple-...

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-debloating-thread...

Re: People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account

#303

Post by gruez »

anthk wrote: post #165
kipchak wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had good luck with the winutil tool, which is wrapper for a bunch of powershell commands and registry edits in a .ps1 to remove bloat. After using it on a fresh install I can't recall the last time I've had any of the mentioned issues. If you're (understandably) concerned about the security implications most of the changes can be done manually going off the docs. https://github.com/christitustech/winutil

Bloat will come back on every update. It's futile.

Use LTSC and you get 10 year support period, so you can update whenever it's convenient for you.

Re: People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account

#304

Post by Arainach »

mikkupikku wrote: post #272
Arainach wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Within the last week: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47463982 "But, a Raspberry Pi isn't supposed to be a replacement for your desktop; it is meant as a device for experimentation." "why couldn't you read the self-contradicting docs and pick the right option?" (paraphrased) "just because you don't know how to follow the instructions, doesn't make the OS bad." " By now, you should see that years of experience !=…

Half those aren't even remotely harsh. Saying the raspberry pi wasn't designed to be mained is totally reasonable, what possible objection do you have to somebody saying that?

That my complaints trying to install software have absolutely nothing to do with it being a Raspberry Pi and the experience is identical on any Linux machine.

> Half those aren't even remotely harsh.

....and the fact that people consider this to be the case is more evidence of the Linux community's hostility.

Linux is like Rick and Morty: I don't mind it, but I never want to be associated with its fans.

Re: People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account

#305

Post by hn_acc1 »

ryandrake wrote: post #255
Rapzid wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone with a sizeable background in Linux system engineering.. I prefer Windows to MacOS. It's IMHO a better desktop now with the edge snap tile layout and etc. Excellent device compatibility. And I get my linux environment needs satisfied via WSL2 these days. But damn if they don't get in their own way. I have my own Pro licenses, and even with Pro turning off ads and features is text book whack-a-mole: * Frequ…

This might be obvious, but all of those things have a single common denominator: Microsoft, over you, getting to decide what your computer is doing. This is the biggest generalized danger in computing today: That OS (and device) manufacturers have gotten it in their heads that it's OK for them to have a strong say in what your computer runs. User doesn't want X, Y, or Z running on his computer? TOUGH. We are going to…

It's more: you want to go to location A? Sure, but we're going to make a quick stop at locations B, C and D first, and the only available car is a known-to-be-dangerous self-driving robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals.

Re: People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account

#306

Post by sieabahlpark »

grujicd wrote: post #12

This "make Windows better" push is far more political than technological. It's a fight with other divisions about using Windows as a marketing and sales channel for other products and services. It has to be a decision from the very top. I hope they realize that Windows is in significant danger, the majority market share for Desktop OS is not guaranteed anymore. It's not just 10% of revenue, it's a foundation for how…

[dead]

Re: People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account

#307

Post by fodkodrasz »

weaksauce wrote: post #196
sidkshatriya wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've used macOS for years and still don't understand their windows minimize/restore logic. I'm always hunting for my minimized window. Yes, the fault probably lies with me. OTOH the Windows UI is far better well designed and intuitive. But yeah... I'd rather fumble around in macOS: Windows is always trying to upsell a service that I don't need. If I say no it will helpfully keep reminding me (my answer is never going…

reading all these comments about windows having better shortcuts and window management features makes me feel like i'm taking crazy pills. windows for me was hands down the worst experience in ux. the shortcuts in macos are so well thought out and consistent. now i'm using kde in linux land and it's the best and most customizable experience. I can't imagine going back to windows ever and would be missing a lot from l…

I give you a well thought out macos shortcut for example. Ok, it is for a niche feature people rarely use... Screenshots, put straight to the clipboard.

On windows you have 2 options, bot pretty unintuitive:

1. You can either press PrintScreen button... (OK boomer, who uses a full size keyboard? My RGB clicky-keys 57% keyboard doesn't even have backspace, return, escape or delete, I don't even know when I saw a keyboard with Printscreen. My Neofetch-fork does save the screen, and otherwise no need for screenshots...)

2. Or you may press Win+Shift+S. Ok it is hard to memorize, how does S even relate to Screenshot?

Meanwhile on the intuitive MacOs to do this you only have to press Command+Option+Shift+4. So intuitive and easy!!! Also way easier to press, just try it! Only 4 keys to press at the same time, in a very convenient layout, way better than that illogical windows shortcut.

Sarcasm aside: It is clear why Microsoft is well known for the fact that in the 1990s they put a lot of effort to usability research, and why Apple is famous about Steve Jobs being the BDFL, and things had to fit his personal taste.

Re: People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account

#308

Post by torginus »

grujicd wrote: post #12

This "make Windows better" push is far more political than technological. It's a fight with other divisions about using Windows as a marketing and sales channel for other products and services. It has to be a decision from the very top. I hope they realize that Windows is in significant danger, the majority market share for Desktop OS is not guaranteed anymore. It's not just 10% of revenue, it's a foundation for how…

The weird thing about this is old Microsoft understood that ordinary users are not cash cows, companies are.

Microsoft built its empire because of SMB and Active Directory, and other enterprise features, where actually these things are important.

Ironically orgs hate MS Accounts just as much, as they have to give up a degree of autonomy, control and security compared to how Windows used to be.

Re: People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account

#309

Post by gundmc »

john_strinlai wrote: post #159
jerf wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Suddenly" in this case does not mean tomorrow. It means that, today, a lot of enterprises begin pondering the question, and then about a year from now, they start seriously studying and prototyping it, and then "suddenly" in 2029 Microsoft starts seeing a deluge of defections. It means a whole bunch of peopling finishing the conversion all at once, relatively speaking, even if that "all at once" is 3-4 years away. T…

> 20 years is way too large a minimum estimate. i disagree. unless intuit is also rewriting quickbooks, dassault systèmes is rewriting solidworks, every bank is rewriting their custom windows-only software, every government branch is rewriting their custom windows-only software, etc. and every company is willing to retrain 95% of their employees on a new operating system, have increased support requirements for a few…

In 20 years I expect basically all of these to move to web-based interfaces and away from thick clients. You're already seeing graphics heavy use cases like CAD do this (Onshape has been hugely popular and is cloud native on Linux). Even behemoths like SAP are increasingly web enabled through fiori.

Re: People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account

#310

Post by beart »

Krssst wrote: post #257
Someone1234 wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows' search has been broken for multiple generations now. Some people inside Microsoft seemingly even know , that's why the PowerToys team created "PowerToys Run." A Windows Search that actually basically functions correctly. People act like it sudden was broken in Windows 11 when in reality it never worked correctly in 7, 8, 8.1, or 10 either. Instead of fixing it, they've only made it worse. It seems like nobod…

As far as I remember it was working well in 7 and 8 (deterministic and shows programs that you expect it to show). From 10 it started behaving erratically (same time it got binged but maybe unrelated).

It had problems in 8. I would frequently type my search term, see it was the number one result. I would then attempt to arrow or tab down and hit enter to launch that result. Between arrowing down and hitting enter, the result list would update/reorder and suddenly I'm launching some unknown program. Happened all the time.
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