People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account • Hacker News Board

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

#461

Post by hacker_homie » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 7:02 AM UTC

judah wrote: post #361

OliveMate wrote: post #277

I think the decreasing fondness of Windows can mostly be blamed on Microsoft forcing their internet services on users; with the need for Microsoft accounts being the most recent & damning of the bunch. You had gadgets in Vista & 7, but they could easily be disabled. 8 had live tiles for things like the news (effortlessly removable) and introduced the Microsoft Store (which increasingly needs an account). 8.1 added Bi…

FYI, Microsoft Store doesn't need an account. You can install apps without being signed in to the Store. Source: I work on the Microsoft Store.

Yeah but it really looks like you need to, are they still showing the login modal dialog that you have to close before it installs?

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

#462

Post by cyberax » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 7:02 AM UTC

Krssst wrote: post #256

guilamu wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use LTSC. It'll fix all the issues you are mentioning here.

LTSC cannot be bought as a regular customer unfortunately. Legally, regular customers are only allowed to use the enshittified version.

You can get access to it, but it's a quest. You need to buy a volume license, and this requires at least 5 licenses (about $300). Then you'll be eligible to buy an LTSC version.

It doesn't require a corporation or anything, you can do that as a private person. But it IS annoying.

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

#463

Post by guilamu » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 7:05 AM UTC

Krssst wrote: post #256

guilamu wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use LTSC. It'll fix all the issues you are mentioning here.

LTSC cannot be bought as a regular customer unfortunately. Legally, regular customers are only allowed to use the enshittified version.

That's true indeed, but Microsoft is not giving us any other option so why not use the good version at home? I mean what is the risk really?

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

#464

Post by hacker_homie » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 7:06 AM UTC

PeterStuer wrote: post #145

I have used Microsoft operating systens for 30 years. I started moving servers onto Linux 5 years ago. The desktops on laptops stayed on Windows (10). I have started converting those ss well. Windows had a good thing going (if you ignored some bad releases), but them pushing it too far with 11 and the Linux desktop making great strides, sort of put the nail in that coffin for me. Not sure what they can do to make me…

replace Satya Nadella?

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

#465

Post by Atlas26 » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 7:06 AM UTC

pdpi wrote: post #336

malfist wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you say that? A lot of shortcuts are shared between windows and linux and fairly consistent across applications. Mac is the one that takes a decided "we're different" approach to shortcuts. I.e., Alt+L for address bar instead of Alt+D, Command swapping with Control, Q instead of W for closing tabs, Command+Control+Q for locking a computer instead of Super+L, etc

Many of those shortcuts already existed in macOS before they were added in Windows. Inversely, a lot of desktop Linux stuff was designed specifically to mimic the Windows behaviour. So, really, it's Microsoft that decided "we're different". Also, as somebody who sort of lives in the terminal, the lack of the Command/Ctrl distinction is one of the things that really bothers me about Windows. In default GUI application…

This is definitely a Mac-apologia to the extreme argument. Microsoft isn’t event the one that came up with the layout, it was the IBM compatible PC keyboard layout that was specifically designed as a keyboard standard to be used across the whole industry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PC_keyboard

And then Windows gained critical market share mass long, long before macOS did, and when it did they simply adopted the already popular IBM keyboard layout, which is common sense. Common sense would be for Apple to do the same when their mass market PC OS came along later down the road, even if technically neXTSTEP Classic macOS had their own layout, that OS was essentially irrelevant in the computing industry until Apple used it as the basis for modern macOS (and thus their macOS keyboard layout was not known to basically any normal person). macOS/OSX as we know it didn’t launch until well after windows was already very popular and thus had continued the already cemented IBM PC keyboard layout.

I’m all for Apple being unique and using their own layout if that’s what they wanna do/design around, but there’s exactly zero arguments available that actually they had the standardized and popular keyboard layout first and IBM/microsoft were the weird ones. That’s simply not accurate whatsoever.

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

#466

Post by LeoPanthera » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 7:09 AM UTC

TheDong wrote: post #171

Are people inside apple fighting to drop the mandatory apple account for iOS and various core apple features? I can buy a thinkpad and install linux on it without once creating a microsoft account. I can buy an android phone supported by GrapheneOS, and use it as a perfectly fine phone without ever creating a google account. I cannot buy an iPhone without creating an apple account, without getting ads shoved in my fa…

> I cannot buy an iPhone without creating an apple account

You can both buy and use an iPhone without creating an Apple account. You are limited to the built-in apps, but those built-in apps cover most common use-cases.

Most people wouldn't want to do this, of course. But you can.

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

#467

Post by leonidasv » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 7:12 AM UTC

Using Windows these days feels like "you're the product" in a way that's really annoying.

Like, I know that "I am the product" when I open Instagram or Facebook, but the overall experience makes me not think about it; using Windows I get constantly remembered that I am the product: ads, forced Copilot, telemetry making things slow/showing up in the Task Manager, more ads, mandatory account (more telemetry, yay!), Edge begging me to use it... I'm just trying to do my work and the OS gets in front of it!

This is (technically) a paid operating system. Ubuntu is free and doesn't do 1/100th of that (and Ubuntu isn't even the best distro in that regard). I tolerated Windows 7, tolerated 10 a little bit less, but Win 11 is impossible to use. And I haven't even touched the performance issues...

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

#468

Post by saltyoldman » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 7:14 AM UTC

Macs are cheap now.

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

#469

Post by Zenul_Abidin » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 7:21 AM UTC

I had to set up a Windows laptop for work... and you guessed it, it badgered me for a Microsoft account. No bypasses working since it was in S Mode.

Ended up just logging in on my personal account and then scrubbing it after. I also got rid of S Mode.

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

#470

Post by quyse » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 7:22 AM UTC

Atlas26 wrote: post #453

ewoodrich wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve used this Powershell script on every Windows 11 machine in the last four years (5+ devices) and have never needed to re-run it after an update. It’s the first thing I do on a fresh install, and with my selections I see fewer ads (0, more or less) than I do on my MacBook for iCloud products so I’d hardly say it’s “futile” in actual use and only takes like 5 minutes to run once. I always hear people say nothing st…

> I always hear people say nothing sticks after an update but have literally only encountered that with Microsoft Edge and the default search engine. Not any of the Windows features disabled or configured by the script. Not sure if it’s just outdated or a meme being repeated by non-Windows users but in any case it is not at all what I’ve experienced exclusively running debloated Windows 11 installs for years. Yup. Fr…

I had Windows on a Lenovo laptop, and Windows update installed and/or re-enabled Lenovo system services almost every time (those included things like popups helpfully telling you that you pressed CapsLock and crap like this). I ran debloating scripts, tried fiddling with policies, etc, but Windows Update would inevitably bring those services back.

Another thing is Intel drivers. There's official Intel driver assistant software which installs latest drivers for Intel things (graphics, network, and so on). Only for Windows to re-install their "stable" outdated graphics driver next time it sees it. Again, I couldn't stop it. How hard is it for Windows to see that the driver already installed is newer already? Why even Intel cannot talk to Microsoft and decide between themselves a solution for this?