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People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account

windowscentral.com

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

#481

Post by debazel »

zadikian wrote: post #209
taeric wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fundamentally, I think you are driving at a legitimate complaint and it should be a concern with Apple products. The direct answer, though, is largely one of execution. Microsoft isn't just pushing this heavily. They are doing so poorly.

Mac doesn't require an Apple ID to use. iPhone only needs one for installing apps, and my only complaint is it's the strictest auth check on the entire phone besides disabling the account. Shouldn't need to input the Apple ID password just to install a free app, shouldn't even ask for passcode.

An iPhone without an Apple account is about as useful as brick because you can't load your own software onto it without the store.

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

#482

Post by aurareturn »

longislandguido wrote: post #381
aurareturn wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Swap on macOS is incredibly good. Not sure how Apple does it. Maybe hardware compression?

> Not sure how Apple does it. They do it by prematurely wearing down the soldered SSD just in time for you to buy a new laptop.

As far as I know, there is no M1 8GB SSD wear down complaints in 2026.

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

#483

Post by fortyseven »

TheDong wrote: post #175
john_strinlai wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I hope they realize that Windows is in significant danger, the majority market share for Desktop OS is not guaranteed anymore. i agree with most of what you said, but this is borderline fantasy. the majority of home market share is not guaranteed, sure. with how good gaming is on non-windows machines now, there isnt much for a home user to get locked-in with (except games that require windows-only malware i.e. anti…

> with how good gaming is on non-windows machines now, there isn't much for a home user to get locked-in with The options for the average user are not linux or windows, but only macOS or Windows. Gaming is abysmal on macOS on any of the current hardware. That said, I agree with you that there's less-and-less gaming lock-in on windows, but that's because the majority of gamers are gaming on iOS and android.

> the majority of gamers are gaming on iOS and android

Majority of mobile gamers. A very distinct category.

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

#484

Post by asutekku »

debazel wrote: post #476
LeoPanthera wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> cover most common use-cases. It absolutely does not.

Most common use cases (bar social media): - Navigating - Emailing - Texting - Browsing internet

All this is available without an account.

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

#485

Post by CalRobert »

autoexec wrote: post #346
kstrauser wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You didn't read any of those, did you. They're asking about things like, literally: How can I delete the Chess app? How do I disable Spotlight? How do I remove Siri? Those are not in any way comparable to ads or Candy Crush in the start menu.

What is the difference between a chess app and a candy crush app exactly? They are both "Games I didn't ask for, but were preinstalled" Ads aren't as intrusive or annoying on a mac yet, but they aren't not intrusive or annoying either ( https://discussions.apple.com/thread/256235494 )

I haven’t used chess, but does it have IAPs?

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

#486

Post by LtWorf »

MrDrMcCoy wrote: post #438
LtWorf wrote: post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of this in the name of being able to run proprietary malware like you do on android.

What on earth are you referring to?

That the security model on Unix (and Linux) is to trust your applications and mistrust other users of the same machine.

While now the security model is that your applications are closed source and you cannot trust them, which is why you need wayland.

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

#487

Post by LtWorf »

john_strinlai wrote: post #193
olyjohn wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people dont even use the operating system. They look for the apps menu, then click what they want to run. Most people can switch between OSes easier than you think because there really isn't that much difference in how they work on the surface.

users are one component, but you are still ignoring/forgetting the rest. user management, file management, security, windows-specific software, auditing requirements, required capital investment, lack of competent linux sysadmins compared to windows sysadmins, and so on.

> lack of competent linux sysadmins compared to windows sysadmins, and so on.

Wasn't this a microsoft marketing campaign like 20 years ago? Are we still on it?

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

#488

Post by smackeyacky »

ctoth wrote: post #319
ryandrake wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

All true, and yet: Windows accessibility actually works. I use a screen reader daily. Linux a11y is complete dogshit — AT-SPI2 is unreliable, Orca is barely maintained, Wayland broke what little existed. I need something that actually works. When Linux goes off and decides it'll rewrite its working desktop stack and it's still, ten years later, not useable? ADHD-Driven development might be fine if you can see your sy…

What can be done to address this? Which project needs the most help do you think?

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

#489

Post by LordDragonfang »

Rapzid wrote: post #64
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…

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…

If you're on Pro, Group Policy tends to be more stable than plain registry tweaks.

In particular, I advise everyone to turn off web search in the start menu, it makes it so much faster and more useful:

   Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search > Don't search the web or display web results in Search

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

#490

Post by user34283 »

Rapzid wrote: post #166
varispeed wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget the search that doesn't work. You have app "X" installed? You type X and it doesn't find it, but gives you irrelevant results about X.

At one point (last year?) internet search results would load in first so quickly typing and pressing "enter" from muscle memory would often result in opening some internet page instead of the app you wanted.. Then also in the past year or two the internet search results were lagging the entire search UI causing type jank and stutters. I disabled internet results in the registry but a recent update seems to have cause…

I heard people talk about registry hacks for the internet search results on here many times.

Windows has a "Search" page in the Settings app. You can also reach it via the kebab menu on the search results.

There you can simply disable Bing.

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