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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

#241

Post by mastazi »

ViViDboarder wrote: post #129
mastazi wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason why I feel like I’m stuck is based on my personal use case. Basically I need two things: A. Being able to use some proprietary software not available on Linux B. Being able to self build so I can select the HW that works for me With Linux I lose A and with Mac I would lose B. I’m thinking that a combo Mac Mini + Tower PC with Linux could work, but using two OSes at the same time, even with shared NAS, KVM…

You could go the hackintosh route. Though I haven’t tried it in a decade or more, I’ve seen some people with pretty cool setups. Certainly more work to maintain than just Linux or an official Mac.

Thank you, yes I’ve actually tried that route in the past and I’ve enjoyed it but, as you said, it was a bit of a chore to maintain it

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

#242

Post by oefrha »

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…

Yep, and last I checked (earlier this year I believe), there’s still a 14-character length limit on the MS account password. My bank’s better than that for crying out loud. Forget diceware or any other sane scheme, say hello to random hard-to-type punctuation characters.

And now you’re forced to use that as your computer password too, which you probably have to type multiple times a day.

(Okay, thankfully local account is still possible.)

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

#243

Post by jammygit »

lone_haxx0r wrote: post #154

Meanwhile, the Linux world is wasting its biggest opportunity to take over the desktop space. IMO, Unintuitive interfaces (e.g. Gnome shell), forced package management (as opposed to decentralized distribution of apps) and lack of care for graphic design are the biggest things keeping the masses away from the Linux desktop, because in other areas (speed, robustness, privacy, control) it just blows Windows out of the…

I love gnome personally. It’s really easy to avoid using the mouse. Linux desktop certainly has problems, but I’m excited how usable it’s been for me the last couple of years for everything but certain games

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

#244

Post by cable2600 »

I can't wait until ReactOS is out of beta: https://reactos.org/

There needs to be an alternative to Windows out there that actually uses Windows apps and drivers. WINE in Linux is not good enough for me yet.

They just released a new version of ReactOS and I haven't checked it out yet. If it can run Google Chrome and run MS-Office and Visual Studio I might just switch to it.

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

#245

Post by rasengan0 »

When I use ChromeOS, Windows 10 or MacOS El Capitan

I guess I'm trading convenience for ...?

Is there any computer vendor that does not call the mothership or need these special vendor accounts?

ChromeOS Where do I buy a decent computer these days that respects user privacy without jumping through legal hoops?

Or is the last operating system, GNU/Linux - Linux that respects the user?

System76? ZaReason? puri.sm? Back in the day, my Apple //e never used to do that. Times have changed.

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

#246

Post by [deleted] »

wayneftw wrote: post #208
lone_haxx0r wrote: post #154

Meanwhile, the Linux world is wasting its biggest opportunity to take over the desktop space. IMO, Unintuitive interfaces (e.g. Gnome shell), forced package management (as opposed to decentralized distribution of apps) and lack of care for graphic design are the biggest things keeping the masses away from the Linux desktop, because in other areas (speed, robustness, privacy, control) it just blows Windows out of the…

As a long time Windows user, I switched from Windows to XFCE (Manjaro) and it was pretty seamless. Most of the keyboard shortcuts are the same (or, easily configurable to be the same). I had to hunt down one xdotools script and bind a shortcut for moving windows from one display to another for it to work the same. There are many things that XFCE does even better or just as good. Window snapping works great. The start…

[deleted]

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

#247

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

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.

And it's that kind of arrogant computer nerd bullshit thinking that will forever keep Linux from success on the desktop.

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

#248

Post by minedwiz »

thrower123 wrote: post #146
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…

I'm almost certain that you were not talking to a real Microsoft employee. Most Fortune 500s have their helpdesks and customer service outsourced to the Tatas and Wipros, Cognizants and HCLs of the world, who may or may not further subcontract the actual bodies filling the roles. Quite frankly, first-level support is useless and ignorant; at best they have scripts for common issues, but to do anything you need to def…

Forget customer service, not even Microsoft's internal IT helpdesk is staffed by FTEs.

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

#249

Post by jacquesm »

jammygit wrote: post #235
pxc wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seconded. I've been using Plasma since the KDE 3.4 days, although I've dabbled in other desktop environments. I love it. I honestly miss the experience when I'm using other operating systems on machines other than my own personal ones. And other Linux desktop environments are also honestly pretty good. Plasma's just my favorite, not the only good one. I hope some people do try Linux on account of stuff like this and…

If I was going to set up an older person who struggles with computers, would you say plasma is decent, or should I stick with cinnamon?

I'd go for lubuntu in that situation.

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

#250

Post by xtracto »

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.

> With Google's docs/drive, everything works cross platform

What do you use instead of Google Backup and Sync client? I haven't found something that works like that. The "best" thing I've found is the FUSE Ocaml filesystem (https://github.com/astrada/google-drive-ocamlfuse) but still it is a "mounted" over network filesystem and not a sync-on-change solution. I tried InSync but could not make it work and it is not free, and also the Gnome "mount Google Drive" option, but it is also a "mounted" over network solution.

Other than that and some of the rough edges (random bluetooth issues, random issues after updating, completely broken Android ADB support), I like Linux Mint a lot. I do all my work and play (CS:GO, NFS, Cities Skylines, Hitman) on it, even for games that are not supported by default.

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