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I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

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Re: I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

#281

Post by mavhc »

nix23 wrote: post #247
alpaca128 wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft really is one of the worst examples in the dark pattern department that I've ever seen. Same with their email service, where you can register an account without issues and after a few weeks of use I was presented with an unskippable input field for my phone number. Don't want to give MS your phone number? Too bad, better hope you don't need those emails anymore.

I really don't get it. Microsoft has an OS and a Cloud (Azure and Windows) and make pretty much good money with it, but both have a great need for privacy. I really don't get what Microsoft is thinking.

They're thinking they need to make it 1 click to buy things from Microsoft

Re: I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

#282

Post by einpoklum »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #248

After watching this fiasco unfold I have a hot take: We need to stop judging these decisions based on our needs and consider the everyday computer user. Yes, these decisions annoy myself and most users on this site, but we are in the minority here. Most people do not care and just want to be up and running. They want security/configuration to be easy. They don't want to have to think about it. I think that a lot of t…

You yourself just explained how this is not a need of the everyday user: Most people do not need to have their PC/laptop account be the same as their account on some Microsoft services/apps.

Also, and to generalize - we need to stop judging these decisions based even on everyday single computer user's needs and consider the needs of the computing using _public_.

... and the public definitely does not need Microsoft to remotely control access to all Windows machines.

Re: I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

#283

Post by tssva »

andrewnicolalde wrote: post #67
tssva wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great. The workaround is much worse battery usage, screen tearing and a horrible trackpad experience.

Regarding screen tearing and trackpad issues, these are largely gone. Wayland has more or less solved the screen tearing issue and I have yet to encounter a poor trackpad experience using a modern machine, in my case an XPS 15 9570.

Neither of these issues have been resolved by Wayland on my modern Thinkpad 490. There is still awful screen tearing when watching videos and trackpad multitouch gesture support is still a mess on Linux. Gnome 40 added some gestures for navigating the desktop but beyond that the situation is horrible.

Re: I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

#284

Post by DrBazza »

If it's true that Windows 11 (home or pro) requires me to create an online account, then I'm finally done with Windows at home. I really hope that it isn't, but it does seem like this has been coming since Windows 10.

I can understand from a company perspective that this kind of thing reduces piracy (and losses for a $2tn company), potentially improves the Windows upgrade route in future, and has minor benefits to some customers (cloud storage + 'take your account anywhere').

But there's exactly zero technical reasons to push this onto customers.

I mostly use Linux all the time now so it won't be a problem to completely ditch Windows, but it's a shame that it's come to this.

Re: I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

#285

Post by nayuki »

alpaca128 wrote: post #149
nickjj wrote: post #117

I know the post is about Windows 11 but I installed Windows 10 for someone on a laptop about 2 months ago and it had the most crazy dark pattern I've ever seen to be able to proceed past the installation screen without a Microsoft account. Short of not connecting to the internet first the only way I saw where it was possible to create an offline account was to first attempt to sign in using an incorrect password with…

Microsoft really is one of the worst examples in the dark pattern department that I've ever seen. Same with their email service, where you can register an account without issues and after a few weeks of use I was presented with an unskippable input field for my phone number. Don't want to give MS your phone number? Too bad, better hope you don't need those emails anymore.

This makes Microsoft's purchase of LinkedIn a good fit as another master of dark patterns.

Re: I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

#286

Post by colejohnson66 »

ioulian wrote: post #217
rootusrootus wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely the 'professional' versions don't have this requirement? I'm quite far from a Windows expert, but at the company I work for the IT folks control all aspects of authentication and maintenance (e.g. patches all come through our own servers, not MS or Apple). They'd tell MS to piss off if they tried to require employees to have MS accounts.

I've only installed PRO versions of Windows 10 and you CAN setup a local account even if internet is plugged in. It is however, hidden behind a few clicks so you must actively search for it. EDIT: maybe I'm wrong now, as other comment says they changed it a few months back. My last install was somewhere in Dec/2020

I just installed a copy of Pro last week, and was able to make a local account just fine. It’s hidden in the corner under what looks like regular text, but is actually a link (versus the big button to use a MS account). And a few more screens in, they’ll ask again with the same small link in the corner. And I think it asked one more time before finishing.

Dark patterns abound. It’s horrible, but there are ways around it. For reference, this is in the US (if it matters).

Re: I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

#287

Post by CSMastermind »

nix23 wrote: post #247
alpaca128 wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft really is one of the worst examples in the dark pattern department that I've ever seen. Same with their email service, where you can register an account without issues and after a few weeks of use I was presented with an unskippable input field for my phone number. Don't want to give MS your phone number? Too bad, better hope you don't need those emails anymore.

I really don't get it. Microsoft has an OS and a Cloud (Azure and Windows) and make pretty much good money with it, but both have a great need for privacy. I really don't get what Microsoft is thinking.

In the case of requiring a phone number for emails it's to try and cut down on spam / bots abusing their service.

Re: I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

#288

Post by BLKNSLVR »

brushfoot wrote: post #73

This makes me want to move back to Linux, but last time I tried Ubuntu (2020) there were lots of little annoyances. Off the top of my head: - Screen tearing. I Googled around and installed the Nvidia drivers for my laptop, but it never went away. - No detection of tablet mode. - No auto screen rotation. - Slow Blender rendering. Probably a PEBKAC with my driver setup, but it just worked in Windows and it was easy to…

I've found WPS Office to be pretty good after trying LibreOffice and having some compatibility issues.

I use Ubuntu, but don't do anything heavy graphical, so don't have those issues you're mentioning and it works great for me.

Re: I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

#289

Post by null_object »

jahller wrote: post #185
null_object wrote: post #59

Almost crazier than this is the need to have a Microsoft account in order for your kids to be able to play certain games together on their Nintendo Switch that have been bought for 50-plus dollars, and have no indication on the package that having a Microsoft account is a prerequisite for collaborative play.

could you tell me which games so i can avoid them

> could you tell me which games so i can avoid them

In this case it was the Switch version of Minecraft.

No indication whatsoever that (what I consider to be) a totally unrelated signup would be needed to collaboratively play the (very expensive) Switch game.

In my case, a bunch of kids needed to wait while I attempted to create a Microsoft login with my private email address (yes I buckled - unfortunately explaining privacy to an expectant and impatient crowd of eight-year olds isn't realistic).

But then I found halfway through the process, that I'd somehow used the same email for Skype many years ago, and the password was naturally long-forgotten - blowing that signup attempt.

Not fun to need to create a new email account, and go through the whole signup and login flow all over again, just to play a game that's been sold as a self-contained entity for a totally different non-Microsoft platform.

Re: I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC

#290

Post by cesarb »

This reminds me of the "Desert Island test" (https://people.debian.org/~bap/dfsg-faq.html). Suppose you are on a desert island with a solar-powered computer, and no connection to the Internet. The original question was whether you could legally share modifications to the software in these circumstances, but it seems we unfortunately need now to ask an even more basic question: are we able to use the software at all?
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