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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

#371

Post by saul_goodman »

probably_wrong wrote: post #241
GuB-42 wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google does that too.

That's how I lost my GMail account - they demanded a telephone number so I relented and gave them mine, but they refuse to accept it. They won't take my work number either.

Phone numbers have become the new SSN tied to your physical identity. In most cases you have provide extremely detailed personal info to get a working phone number. There are probably still some ways crafty folks can get a working phone number without it being tied to your physical identity, but you must go way out of your way to do so.

Privacy and freedom of speech are dead, long live the constitution.

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

#372

Post by teekert »

wiredfool wrote: post #261
teekert wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really need Windows? Our family laptop runs Linux, it does Teams for school, MineCraft, Netflix. You could do Office365 from a browser, although I admit, it is less than ideal. But it seems like you are almost at the emotional state make the jump... what's holding you back? I bought a Dell Latitude E5450 for 350 eur about 2 years back. It was used but looked new. It came with Win 10 Pro, which sits on my NAS a…

You're probably not going to be able to use that bit for bit copy later. I did something similar with my last linux laptop, and none of the workarounds to put the partitions back worked when I needed a quick windows test machine.

Actually I did the same with My wife's Asus, I dd-ed the whole drive, gzipped it and ran Linux for a year. Then I restored it. It worked fine. I guess I won't run into problems as long as the drive is the same drive, or perhaps a bigger one.

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

#373

Post by pjerem »

forgotpwd16 wrote: post #190
pjerem wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, Elementary OS is really a cool OS as long as you don't expect to be able to customize it. Its UI and ergonomics are really different from the Gnome/KDE/XFCE and is really consciously designed. The trade of is that you have to love it or hate it because you can barely change anything, but it deserves to be loved. I'm back to Windows for an undetermined span of time but I'll gladly reinstall Elemen…

How is it really different from GNOME? The interface looks like modified GNOME, the apps look similar to their GNOME counterparts, and they even refer GNOME in their HIG.

It's just simply not Gnome at all. It's not even a fork. Most of the base apps are developed by the ElementaryOS team (with their own framework on top of Gtk) and they are really impressive.

So, listing differences with Gnome would be like comparing Gnome & KDE.

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

#374

Post by kiawe_fire »

bserge wrote: post #347
HeckFeck wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a shame to watch the decline of Windows. There isn't much I can recommend to non-technical users looking affordable computing relatively under their control. Manipulation and user hostility is unacceptable. Any of these possibilities would be nice: * The market presents a kinder (and equally-affordable x86) solution and users follow. * ReactOS lurches leaps and bounds ahead. * Microsoft realises this trajectory…

Year of Linux on desktop, it's coming home boys! I'm joking but secretly hoping it happens.

Perhaps I’ve just become “one of those people”, but I honestly think if not for the buzz around the M1 from Apple, we would be seeing a lot more activity on the Linux side.

“The year of the Linux desktop” always feels like just a couple of bad big tech decisions (and an absence of good decisions) away.

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

#375

Post by gentleman11 »

nayuki wrote: post #285
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.

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

LinkedIn is so full of dark patterns that there is barely room for the site any more. I keep missing recruiter messages because my LinkedIn email just goes to spam because they send so much junk to try and boost engagement. It’s like being stuck in a room with a car salesperson. I’m thinking of deleting it

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

#376

Post by LightG »

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.

Increasingly Google also ... hate it.

Like, look, I don't want or need to give you my phone number, capiche? Try Tinder and get off my case. Thanks.

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

#377

Post by nickjj »

HeckFeck wrote: post #245
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…

It is a shame to watch the decline of Windows. There isn't much I can recommend to non-technical users looking affordable computing relatively under their control. Manipulation and user hostility is unacceptable. Any of these possibilities would be nice: * The market presents a kinder (and equally-affordable x86) solution and users follow. * ReactOS lurches leaps and bounds ahead. * Microsoft realises this trajectory…

Running native Linux for non-technical users ends up being a great move as long as the programs they want to run work on it. For example imagine a retired non-technical person who occasionally trades stocks. Even major trading platforms like Interactive Brokers have native Linux clients.

Non-technical users want a stable system that doesn't constantly change. Windows loves to hit you with popup notices or UI changes where if you take the "ok" route things about your system change, or you accidentally click a notification that comes up and suddenly your browser is changed or worse. They also don't want to turn on their machine and have to wait 30 minutes for an "important update". They just want to turn their machine on and have it be exactly how it was yesterday.

A non-technical person I know thought he was hacked and wanted to buy a new computer because a shortcut icon was moved from his desktop to his recycle bin and he thought someone wiped out his computer. Now in Microsoft's defense they didn't delete his shortcut, but that's the type of mindset non-technical folks have. The slightest change is a catastrophic event.

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

#378

Post by dkersten »

vageli wrote: post #317
tabulatouch wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am always surprised by the lack of a proper "Linux Wine" OS, binary compatible with Windows, but with linux under the hood..

These days there is Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).

Which is a subsystem of windows to run linux, not a subsystem consisting of windows to run on linux. Ie that doesn't solve the problem of "I don't want to run Windows but want Windows software", but rather it solves the opposite problem of "I'm on Windows and want to run Linux software".

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

#379

Post by gentleman11 »

croes wrote: post #277
dzdt wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twitter also. You can create an account without a phone number but in about 2 weeks it is locked unless you supply and verify one.

My Twitter account got locked in about a minute.

Took me a day

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

#380

Post by hk1337 »

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…

Albeit, it's not that obvious, you can create an offline account without failing to sign in. Maybe it's different with anything below Windows 10 Pro but that was my experience.
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