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Microsoft is employing dark patterns to goad users into paying for storage?

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Re: Microsoft is employing dark patterns to goad users into paying for storage?

#31

Post by Herring »

dijit wrote: post #9
Bratmon wrote: post #4

Email scammers often make their initial emails intentionally full of red flags to automatically filter out anyone smart enough to avoid the scam, and leave them with a pool of people willing to accept any amount of scummyness and abuse. Windows is the exact same thing but for operating systems. If you're still using it in 2026, it's because you want to be a mark.

99% of people don't choose their OS. They buy "a laptop" and it has an OS on it. Or they go to work and are provided "a computer" and have very little say (or ability to change) what it's running, even if they had the impetus, know-how and knowledge that other things even exist.. you're always running the risk that things will break for you. This is the moat Windows has. Not Games like people think, that's a strongho…

[dead]

Re: Microsoft is employing dark patterns to goad users into paying for storage?

#32

Post by wtallis »

selectively wrote: post #16
Fabricio20 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dont know if it works like macOS since I dont use macOS - but it's not a simple copy-to-cloud. It actively replaces file handling in those folders, which breaks a bunch of applications like games that save stuff in Documents/My Games..

The way iCloud Desktop works is that it uploads your stuff to the cloud, using your iCloud Storage quota. The way that OneDrive works is that it uploads stuff to OneDrive, using your Microsoft 365 storage quota.

Is the "Desktop & Documents Folders" sync option in iCloud on by default? I've never used that feature, and it's a bit buried so it's hard to enable accidentally, but I haven't set up a new Mac from scratch in a long time so I don't know if it is a trap for new users the way OneDrive is.

Re: Microsoft is employing dark patterns to goad users into paying for storage?

#33

Post by geophile »

From perusing reddit, I see some Windows users tempted to consider Linux, often because of Windows 11. But then, many of them won't move because: it doesn't work just like Windows; there is some Windows application they must have, or maybe they just don't want to learn the alternatives. Or they use word/excel/powerpoint and have to interact with others who do also.

The brainwashing, high tolerance for pain and misery (and expense!), and lock-in makes it close to impossible for ordinary computer users to escape.

Re: Microsoft is employing dark patterns to goad users into paying for storage?

#35

Post by selectively »

wtallis wrote: post #32
selectively wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way iCloud Desktop works is that it uploads your stuff to the cloud, using your iCloud Storage quota. The way that OneDrive works is that it uploads stuff to OneDrive, using your Microsoft 365 storage quota.

Is the "Desktop & Documents Folders" sync option in iCloud on by default? I've never used that feature, and it's a bit buried so it's hard to enable accidentally, but I haven't set up a new Mac from scratch in a long time so I don't know if it is a trap for new users the way OneDrive is.

It is on by default as of the last time I went through new Mac user setup, which was during....Sequoia, I think.

Re: Microsoft is employing dark patterns to goad users into paying for storage?

#36

Post by dwayne_dibley »

jmcphers wrote: post #24

Google is no better. My family mostly uses iPhones, and on a big extended family vacation, I suggested we use Google Photos to create a shared album to document the trip. Everyone installed the Google Photos app on their iPhone so they could contribute... which resulted in all of them having their email accounts disabled . What happened? Google Photos on the iPhone backs up all your photos by default, and, like Micro…

Drives me insane that to see my existing Google library and shared albums I must allow Google photos access to my phones photos - at which point it turns auto back on.

Re: Microsoft is employing dark patterns to goad users into paying for storage?

#37

Post by fhn »

Morromist wrote: post #28
kn100 wrote: post #20

I got caught out by exactly this, and I'm not exactly tech illiterate. what made it even more annoying is by the time I'd realised what had happened, it was practically impossible to get the files back out of OneDrive (since I decided that this was enough Windows for me, and went back to Linux), since the webui does NOT handle downloading lots of small files well, and you just end up getting a partially complete zip…

I too have seen onedrive do this to people who aren't super-heavy computer users. Onedrive is a menace.

you mean Microsoft is a menace. Microsoft has been tricking generations of people into using OneDrive. I hope nobody is dumb enough to pay for it and I'd create a ton of fake emails and fill it up with junk.

Re: Microsoft is employing dark patterns to goad users into paying for storage?

#38

Post by bsder »

geophile wrote: post #33

From perusing reddit, I see some Windows users tempted to consider Linux, often because of Windows 11. But then, many of them won't move because: it doesn't work just like Windows; there is some Windows application they must have, or maybe they just don't want to learn the alternatives. Or they use word/excel/powerpoint and have to interact with others who do also. The brainwashing, high tolerance for pain and misery…

> maybe they just don't want to learn the alternatives. Or they use word/excel/powerpoint and have to interact with others who do also.

If they're on Office 365, they could be on Linux.

Re: Microsoft is employing dark patterns to goad users into paying for storage?

#39

Post by antisthenes »

jmcphers wrote: post #24

Google is no better. My family mostly uses iPhones, and on a big extended family vacation, I suggested we use Google Photos to create a shared album to document the trip. Everyone installed the Google Photos app on their iPhone so they could contribute... which resulted in all of them having their email accounts disabled . What happened? Google Photos on the iPhone backs up all your photos by default, and, like Micro…

It also doesn't help that Google's free tier (15GB) is laughably small in 2026.

HDD capacity and Google's profits grew many-fold since that was last increased (in 2012-ish?).

Re: Microsoft is employing dark patterns to goad users into paying for storage?

#40

Post by bsder »

jmcphers wrote: post #24

Google is no better. My family mostly uses iPhones, and on a big extended family vacation, I suggested we use Google Photos to create a shared album to document the trip. Everyone installed the Google Photos app on their iPhone so they could contribute... which resulted in all of them having their email accounts disabled . What happened? Google Photos on the iPhone backs up all your photos by default, and, like Micro…

Apple does the same thing with iCloud. I had to go through a lot of hoops to get my wife's photos back down locally on the computer.
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