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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

#421

Post by theclaw »

moontear wrote: post #362
mastazi wrote: post #63

This is incredibly bad. In general I have a positive opinion about what MS is doing lately, but Windows is a glaring exception, it’s getting worse and worse at an alarming rate. In the last two months we had two consecutive updates that broke basic functionality for users who disabled web results in Windows Search (which is a very common setting among those who care about privacy) https://www.zdnet.com/article/window…

Thanks for that search problem link I am exactly one of those users and start menu search just isn’t working. I have switched to Launchy as an alternative after years of being happy with the start menu search. I can finally look for a solution now, nice.

May I recommend Keypirinha [1] over Launchy? I recently tried all of the launchers I could find for Windows and KP was by far the best, and does not get enough recognition in my view.

[1]http://keypirinha.com/

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

#422

Post by e12e »

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…

If insync doesn't work, maybe one of the solutions for mounting the Google drive combined with unision?

https://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/download.html

Personally, I have the stuff I want synced in git (at work, mostly just text files) - and look to combine that with zfs and zfs send - with the new pricing at rsync.net that is looking very attractive.

But that's different from Google drive sync.

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

#423

Post by pbhjpbhj »

EugeneOZ wrote: post #114
saghm wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's been that way for a while? Maybe six months ago I wanted to add Windows to a Linux box I had, and I ran into this

No, last time I was installing Win10 was 23/09/2019 and there was an option to use offline account. Although, some system settings already require ms account.

It's been obscured though, IIRC, isn't there small text on a same colour (darker shade) background outside the edge of a box. I've only done a handful of Win 10 installs, I just remember being confused "how do you do it without an account again", it has not been clear.

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

#425

Post by hrktb »

iforgotpassword wrote: post #397
m0zg wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> getting worse and worse at an alarming rate That's because Windows Division does not exist anymore as a separate business unit within MS. It's now a part of Azure. And Azure doesn't really care all that much about making desktop excellent. It'll just keep it good enough for you to buy more Azure, but not more than that.

I'm wondering if this is really the right move as in "desktop is definitely going down and everything will be web based". In that case sure, why bother throwing money at it. But should we realize in a couple years that this was overhyped and desktop OS and apps won't go away, everyone will have migrated to OSX or Linux if Windows quality continues to decline at that rate.

The contention might be on the time frame.

Desktop OS and apps won’t go away for the next 10 or 20 years by sheer inertia of the corporate market, and the halo effect on home users. And I guess the past month/years issues don’t affect business users (corporate managed desks will have any problematic feature disabled from the start)

“Everyone” migrating to OSX/linux won’t happen for many many years, even if they keep screwimg up home and hobbyist market. Corporate market is also their strong point, so money wise they’ll be fine with that.

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

#426

Post by cycloptic »

jammygit wrote: post #226
cycloptic wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not trying to diminish your situation, but it seems a bit hyperbolic to suggest that anyone is forced to use Windows. If you really are being physically forced to do so against your will, that seems like even more reason to avoid them as much as possible.

The standard for “being forced” doesn’t have to be “gun to the head.” It can also be “is unemployed”

I'm confused, is this not a website for hackers and entrepreneurs whose response to unemployment is starting your own business? Or am I in the wrong place?

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

#427

Post by Spearchucker »

xtracto wrote: post #254
brain5ide wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

How are Microsoft bad? The topic is about a change Microsoft made to benefit their online services. This isn't a great development by any stretch, for sure. And yet when compared with companies that collect and traffic in personal data Microsoft is in my opinion relatively(!) benign.

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

#428

Post by ElCapitanMarkla »

theclaw wrote: post #421
moontear wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for that search problem link I am exactly one of those users and start menu search just isn’t working. I have switched to Launchy as an alternative after years of being happy with the start menu search. I can finally look for a solution now, nice.

May I recommend Keypirinha [1] over Launchy? I recently tried all of the launchers I could find for Windows and KP was by far the best, and does not get enough recognition in my view. [1] http://keypirinha.com/

Just started using keypirinha a couple of weeks ago. Love it

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

#430

Post by adwn »

G4E wrote: post #177
bsder wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In general I have a positive opinion about what MS is doing lately, but Windows is a glaring exception, it’s getting worse and worse at an alarming rate. Ayup. Win10 finally broke the camel's back and I started the process of figuring out how to transfer as much as we can to Linux. The hardest part is that our embedded development stuff is all Windows. :( I've been trying to get VSCode, Segger, and embedded boards…

As a fellow embedded software engineer, I made the migration from Windows to Linux some time ago. You'll see that except for old targets (or highly proprietary ones like fpga) most if not all tools used today are actually open source ones (ide based on eclipse, gcc toolchain, jtag debugger...). Once you understand how they all play together you'll see that it's actually easier to work on Linux, as those tools are in…

> You'll see that except for old targets (or highly proprietary ones like fpga) [...]

Your overall point is stronger than you think: Xilinx's FPGA toolchain [1] has official Linux support, and their embedded software toolchain (based on yocto and gcc) actually depends on Linux!

[1] Xilinx is the market leader for general purpose and high-performance FPGAs. The situation is slightly different for space-grade and very low-power FPGAs, although Microsemi has been supporting Linux for many years as well.

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