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

lzon.ca

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

#131

This is some real title gore, and I don't know who is to blame. As it appears: > Microsoft is employing dark patterns to goad users into paying for storage? That Microsoft is employing dark patterns is neither surprising nor a question. Can you explain this gross departure from the actual title jpmitchell[1]? Here is the original for reference: > How Microsoft abuses its users This is much more interesting and accura…

I have no idea what happened. I literally just copy and pasted my post title for the submission. I assume there's some form of active curation going on. I've only recently started posting my content to Hacker News so I'm not sure yet.

It's well-known that HN mods will edit submission titles to reduce chances of flamewars/axe-grindiness in the discussions. Not saying that's what happened here, but not a new thing.

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

#132
post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no idea what happened. I literally just copy and pasted my post title for the submission. I assume there's some form of active curation going on. I've only recently started posting my content to Hacker News so I'm not sure yet.

It's well-known that HN mods will edit submission titles to reduce chances of flamewars/axe-grindiness in the discussions. Not saying that's what happened here, but not a new thing.

I would love to hear the excuse that the mods have for this title change. Good luck to them!

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

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A system error on a file storage system makes it even worse! But easy to imagine after the recent report on Azure https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47616242

Sorry, what I meant by "system error" was more "notification system error". Not error as in "data loss", error as in "reporting".

Myself–and many redditors–got this erroneous notification too. I don't think Microsoft ever sent out an "Oops, sorry, you don't actually need to pay us" correction though.

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

#134
post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's well-known that HN mods will edit submission titles to reduce chances of flamewars/axe-grindiness in the discussions. Not saying that's what happened here, but not a new thing.

I would love to hear the excuse that the mods have for this title change. Good luck to them!

Excuse? They don't need an excuse, "How Microsoft abuses its users" isn't very descriptive. The edited title reduces the heat and gives more info.

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

#135

If you want to experience Microsoft dark patterns just install a fresh copy of windows. Last a checked there were seven adversarial prompts where they try to trick you into doing something they want but you don’t. Send us your usage data! (No) Sign in with an online account (I want a local account) And on and on. Fuck those guys.

I still have the old Win11 ISO that I used during my previous job. It still supported the 'oobe\bypassnro' command. I've read that Microsoft is phasing that one out in newer builds. I'll have to cling to that file with a death grip, lol.

I remember so many times offering to my customers a clean setup with a local account and automatic login. I can't remember a single instance of anyone preferring to log in with an MS account.

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

#136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After Onedrive uploads all of your data to the cloud without your consent it sets all files as online only. Meaning the file will not live on your computer unless you click on it, then it will download a copy of that specific file to your system. If we didn't have criminals in our government right now I would think that this would be a huge anti-trust violation worth perusing.

I had to completely nuke OneDrive from windows. With a 2 terabyte SSD I'm unlikely to ever run out of space. Automatically opt in and make the settings deliberately vague and obtuse- companies that have FAITH in their product don't need to do this.

And pray it doesnt get reinstalled and it automatically moves your data back to the cloud again. I had this happened to one customer of mine, not quite sure of the circumstances.

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

#137

I recently helped my mother-in-law configure a new Windows 11 laptop. I knew Microsoft did this, I was deliberately looking to avoid OneDrive, and it _still_ burned me. It silently uploaded all of her personal documents that I had transferred from an older computer. I was livid. Microsoft has permanently lost me as a customer. Every friend and family member who listens will upgrade to something else.

Same for me. It was slow but now I've fully joined the hate parade. I only use MS products as necessary to support my business.

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

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After Onedrive uploads all of your data to the cloud without your consent it sets all files as online only. Meaning the file will not live on your computer unless you click on it, then it will download a copy of that specific file to your system. If we didn't have criminals in our government right now I would think that this would be a huge anti-trust violation worth perusing.

I had to completely nuke OneDrive from windows. With a 2 terabyte SSD I'm unlikely to ever run out of space. Automatically opt in and make the settings deliberately vague and obtuse- companies that have FAITH in their product don't need to do this.

Why bother with windows though?

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

#139
post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to hear the excuse that the mods have for this title change. Good luck to them!

Excuse? They don't need an excuse, "How Microsoft abuses its users" isn't very descriptive. The edited title reduces the heat and gives more info.

That's a fair point. I enjoy being a _bit_ provocative, but that title might have been a bit much.

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

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't use the webui for that. Getting rid of onedrive in favor for a self-hosted nextcloud, I used the native client to download all the files on the machine and then moved them out. This also removed them from onedrive after acknowledging the "A lot of files have been deleted from your onedrive account" warning. Actually deleting the onedrive application was also not as straight-forward as some other users may…

I have seen one drive silently reinstall itself, I think it does this as apart of an office365 update.

This is a common dark pattern. Go through the hassle of disabling some 'feature' or service; and it just magically reappears at the next 'update'.

Microsoft is just one of the companies that routinely does stuff like that.

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