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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

#251

Post by arbitrary_name »

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.

As a privacy concerned individual who is more tech savvy than some (but by no means a technologist or even a dev) - NO. no freakin' way man. I tried to do a dual boot WIN/Linux setup once. What a shitshow - took me hours, multiple attempts, drivers not working, weird quirks trying to get peripherals to work, games not working. Recalling it now makes me angry all over again.

90% of this planet is not capable, nor will ever be capable, of dealing with something that is not a fully fledged, 'stable' mainstream OS, either Windows or Mac OS. That's not good, it's not bad - it just...is. Better get used to it, or come up with a better strategy for changing it.

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

#252

Post by MaulingMonkey »

NotSammyHagar wrote: post #16
aaomidi wrote: post #8

I just want them to let me pick my own god damned name for the home folder. I hate the weird shit they pick for me.

why do people still use windows? It's stupid and naive to ask that, but I keep wondering why devs aren't successful in getting changes made at their companies.

Both my previous linux install attempts resulted in effectively unusable machines. BIOS tweaks were required to even get usable software rendering on one, which didn't support my quad 4K monitor setup. Without the tweaks, I was dumped to a blank screen on boot. I might've been missing working audio drivers on the other - which I was using as a media PC.

As a gamedev, for my actual work machines, I rely heavily on windows-only tools, and I want to debug on the actual target platform customers would use (so, windows again.) Gamedev generally uses windows for even it's build servers. Maybe with a token mostly ignored linux box. Or a couple of mac minis if dabbling in mobile.

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

#253

Post by rocho »

mastazi wrote: post #89
snagglegaggle wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is bad, but I do not think you are stuck. But there are two fronts -- business offerings are going the same way. There is lots of pressure to use almost exclusively MS hosted services. And, in that market, not everything has a good replacement.

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…

If you have enough RAM you can run VirtualBox alongside your other programs on Linux. I used to run Android Studio in a Windows VirtualBox and it worked perfectly. Never had an issue.

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

#254

Post by xtracto »

brain5ide wrote: post #240
userbinator wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MS has been open-sourcing a lot of stuff in the past few years, which I see more as meaning that their IP has little intrinsic value anymore. MS used to sell software, so code was sacred and not meant for others to see; now it's more about services, so code doesn't really matter much anymore, and if it's code that can help people use their services, open-sourcing makes sense. You can see this with Google, Facebook, a…

Yes! This shift of business was somehow perceived by the public as the win of open source, but has actually amazingly been an actual loss on the control that you have with the money that you spend.

Embrace, Extend, Extinguish. People have short memories of Microsoft practices and for some reason have "drunk the kool-aid". Ballmer was better because his tactics were not "sleazy", they were straight and clear.

This new exec team is sleazy and trying to give a "good face" when the reality is that they are as bad as they have always been. But people get flashed with the new & shiny open source crumbs that are given.

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

#255

Post by dualogy »

JoshMnem wrote: post #147
andrerm wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In some cases, your ability to access or control your personal data will be limited, as required or permitted by applicable law. How you can access or control your personal data will also depend on which products you use. > Not all personal data processed by Microsoft can be accessed or controlled via the tools above. If you want to access or control personal data processed by Microsoft that is not available via th…

It isn't a trustworthy company. I uninstalled VS Code and am going to start recommending Spacemacs, Sublime Text, Doom Emacs, Vim, or anything else. That page is also VS Code's privacy statement. Linked here: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/supporting/FAQ

https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/ is being actively kept up-to-date with VSCode's rolling releases and takes care to remove "the corporate/privacy nasties" while still retaining the (rather useful) extensions marketplace. Not a fork or port, just a "filtered build" (or build script if you want to diy). Worked without hiccups for me for over a year now (Linux). Updates come in a few days to a week after the original.

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

#256

Post by arthurfm »

nickjj wrote: post #3

Seems like it's still there, just harder to access now. The "best" sorted comment says: > They have not removed it, it just is not visible by default if you are connected to the internet. Either run the setup without being connected to the internet, or type in a fake phone number a few times and it will give you the prompt to create a local account.

> They have not removed it, it just is not visible by default if you are connected to the internet.

That's not entirely true. When you get to the 'Let's connect you to a network' screen just click the 'I don't have Internet' link in the bottom left corner [1] and then choose 'Continue with limited setup' [2]. This will take you to the local account creation step.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3409788/how-microsoft-made-i...

Microsoft’s May 2019 Update (version 1903) appears to be much, much friendlier to local accounts.

[1] https://images.idgesg.net/images/article/2019/07/1903-wirele...

[2] https://images.idgesg.net/images/article/2019/07/1903-nag-sc...

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

#257

Post by phasnox »

xtracto wrote: post #250
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…

What about Dropbox? Also Nextcloud

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

#258

Post by daveheq »

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.

How do you deal with Broadcom WiFi drivers?

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

#259

Post by fendy3002 »

jchw wrote: post #156

I have long banned Windows 10 from my computers; I only use it in VMs now. If you desperately need Windows functionality for something but would rather use Linux, you may be in luck; there's quite a few options for GPU passthrough these days. If you're on a laptop you can even share your Intel GPU through GVT-g. For me, I am lucky. Wine and Steam Proton run basically anything I'd care to run anymore. I use only Linux…

What's worse is win 10 is slower than win7 on hdd, due to superindexing and cortana, making me stick with win7 or ubuntu. Hope we'll get alternatives in the future.

They can just enable these functions on free version, and make enterprise version configurable.

I guess if they still keep this practice, the office will start to change to mac instead.

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

#260

Post by PureParadigm »

xtracto wrote: post #250
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…

You can also try syncthing [1], which has been working well for me on Linux and Android.

1. https://syncthing.net/

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