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Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

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Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#211

Post by huntie »

wvenable wrote: post #196
klingonopera wrote: post #101

As someone who uses Windows for industrial PCs, I'm pretty appalled. We've been hanging on to Windows 7, including side-loading drivers into the installation image for modern hardware, because this kind of stuff that Windows 10 does is in these cases simply unacceptable (random tip: Go for AMD, their Windows 7 support is way better than Intel, do not use Intel chipset series 300). I can't have PCs bogged down downloa…

Why are you using a consumer level OS/setup for this? PC's setup in a corporate environment are tightly controlled, even with Windows 10.

Windows is pretty common for control systems in factories. One factory I worked in used a web application, the one I'm in now uses VB applications. One of the control systems I use is running Windows2K. These computers have Internet access too.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#212

Post by wetpaws »

cwojno wrote: post #203

I've switched to Linux + Mint in part because I don't want to be using Windows any more. Many of my games work with Steam on Linux now, actually. With Google's docs/drive, everything works cross platform. I really have no productivity loss by not using Windows any more.

Same story there

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#213

Post by crankylinuxuser »

sukilot wrote: post #94
nickjj wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd be surprised about this. A ton of developers use Windows even if they are developing software that runs on Linux servers (myself included). Especially so in the last few years with WSL being quite good and Docker being available. 2019's Stackoverflow report for OS usage put Windows at 49.3% for "Professional developers" with MacOS at 29.2% and Linux at 25.3%. I happen to have a few tech courses on programming a…

WSL is interesting and fun, but too uncanny valley for Linux development. I stick with VirtualBox.

I stick with VMM. I won't touch oracle with my friend's 10 foot pole.

And if I have to run Windows, its from a Qubes DispVM, with whitelisted network configuration.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#214

Post by orev »

tzs wrote: post #151
GlenTheMachine wrote: post #100

...and from what I can tell, their online account security is craptastic. Here’s a true story that happened to my family. My son is the only person in the house who uses Windows. For his game machine. He set up a Microsoft online account. It got hacked - someone set up a fake family and managed to get my son’s account listed under it as a child. As a consequence, he couldn’t install any new software. I’m not sure wha…

> ...and from what I can tell, their online account security is craptastic. I'm not convinced that their offline security is good, either. I sometimes will pick up my Surface Pro 4 and disconnect it from the charger. Disconnecting from the charger usually (but not always...not sure what determines it) wakes it. It then turns on their equivalent of Apple's Face ID, and tries to log in. Sometimes I don't actually want…

Face logon takes some seconds to initialize, and if you interrupt it it gets confused. But the solution to your issue is to have the type cover closed when you unplug it.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#215

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

jmkni wrote: post #87
xeeeeeeeeeeenu wrote: post #41

I don't understand why so many people on HN praise Satya Nadella. I guess good PR is worth much more than actions. Before Nadella, Windows wasn't nearly as user-hostile as it is now. There was no mandatory telemetry, there were no forced updates, end users weren't treated as betatesters and QA wasn't non-existent. And now they are taking away the ability to use Windows without Microsoft Account. Of course there are a…

I use Windows on a day to day basis, and you might sometimes find me defending that. However, I hate stuff like this. You are right, it is user hostile. Windows 10 under the hood is solid, but this kind of thing really pisses me off. It’s the same issue with ads or bing in the start menu, you literally can’t turn it off anymore (you used to be able to with the Registry Editor or GP). I use MacOS as well regularly, an…

Yep. I am an unapologetic Unix diehard, but the core NT system is nice. Flexible, portable, supports multiple personalities (even if they barely use it like that; WSL1 being an example of leveraging it), parts are borderline microkernel-ish, by all accounts very nicely designed. Then... There are the user-facing parts of the system. The GUI, the licensing, the telemetry/spyware, ads, forced updates, WHY IS XBOX ON THE SERVER BUILDS, just... All of it. So, I live on Linux and the odd BSD... well, really just "Not Microsoft". Because a beautiful kernel under that userspace is still a loss.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#216

Post by viraptor »

tanr54ok wrote: post #204
viraptor wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about C: use Linux for the main desktop, use Wine for things that require Windows, use a VM with windows exclusively to launch that one annoying app which won't work under wine?

There isn’t just one app, there are plenty. Excel and adobe cs are the obvious ones. If you’re not in programming (exclusively) you’re stuck on Windows or Mac.

Latest excel has gold level support: https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iI...

I know there are plenty of things that don't work with wine, but realistically, how many of them does each person need to work, and how many are "defaults"? For example if you spend 90% of your time in illustrator, do you need excel specifically, or "an app with text in cells"? And if you're crunching market data in excel all day, do you need Adobe, or just something to draw an arrow on a screenshot?

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#217

Post by spsful »

tzs wrote: post #151
GlenTheMachine wrote: post #100

...and from what I can tell, their online account security is craptastic. Here’s a true story that happened to my family. My son is the only person in the house who uses Windows. For his game machine. He set up a Microsoft online account. It got hacked - someone set up a fake family and managed to get my son’s account listed under it as a child. As a consequence, he couldn’t install any new software. I’m not sure wha…

> ...and from what I can tell, their online account security is craptastic. I'm not convinced that their offline security is good, either. I sometimes will pick up my Surface Pro 4 and disconnect it from the charger. Disconnecting from the charger usually (but not always...not sure what determines it) wakes it. It then turns on their equivalent of Apple's Face ID, and tries to log in. Sometimes I don't actually want…

Happened to me all the time when I used SP4. However, biometrics can be disabled through settings or group policy!

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#219

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #109
blahedo wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they though? My friends that work IT in corporate settings seem to tear their hair out every time MS (or anyone ) tries to auto-push an update that they haven't had a chance to rigorously test for compatibility and security with their existing stuff. Some of them have fiduciary responsibility to not add/change/upgrade software without carefully testing it first. That doesn't seem compatible with the trajectory Win…

> Some of them have fiduciary responsibility to not add/change/upgrade software without carefully testing it first. While that makes a lot of sense will it remain a requirement if/when it's simply not a choice with any major vendor? Can smaller vendors still provide that choice and meet all the necessary certificates that such industries often also require? (Serious question, not trolling.)

> if/when it's simply not a choice with any major vendor?

I am reasonably confident that RedHat will continue to cover this ~forever, if it comes to that.

Re: Microsoft has removed the “use offline account” option when installing Windows

#220

Post by crispinb »

allset_ wrote: post #143
manigandham wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What else is any average user going to switch to exactly?

Linux? Basically everything an average user does is in the browser.

Only delusional ideologists even entertain the notion that the primary reason Linux hasn't caught on widely as a desktop OS is lack of preinstallation or marketing (or pick your corporate crime du jour).

Desktop Linux has many uses (it's my main OS right now). But the reason it hasn't caught on widely is perfectly obviously that as technology for the regular consumer, it's bloody awful. Many Linux enthusiasts admit this perfectly readily, but for obscure reasons some insist on clutching Linux to their chests as an identity totem. This is probably less harmful than nationalism, so I guess I shouldn't object too much.

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