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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

#551

Post by sniglom »

acapybara wrote: post #133

When Windows 10 came out, the telemetry, MS account features, forced auto updates/reboots made my computer feel like it was no longer my own. Having used Microsoft OSes since DOS, this was the straw that finally broke the camel's back. After dabbling in Linux for years, this was motivation to commit 100% to using Linux as my main OS. It was mildly painful at first, but after sticking with it, I would never go back.

Exactly the same. I bought a new computer 2017, the telemetry, account nagging and forced auto updates + reboots became too much.

Updates could remove old Windows applications I had installed, change the default application association, or just break the installation. Every warning that I thoughtfully chose to dismiss came back with every update. Don't like to integrate your AV with the cloud? We will make sure you to warn you on every. single. update.

It felt like I didn't own the system nor that I was the administrator of it.

All this made me switch to Linux permanently. It made me take the steps from dualboot, VMs and experimentation.

For those few times per year when I need Windows, I connect a separate disk with Windows, boot it up and do my thing.

Usually the next time I come back to the computer, Windows has forcefully rebooted back to Linux. Thanks.

If Windows 11 requires an account, I guess I'll stick to my old Windows 10 installation until it stops working. Hopefully I won't need Windows for anything by then.

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

#552

Post by naikrovek »

sm4rk0 wrote: post #508
gentleman11 wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I've deleted my LinkedIn account the same day I found my data and trust were sold out to MS without my consent. And I don't feel I'm missing anything.

you may be shocked to learn that your consent is not required in order for one company to buy another.

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

#553

Post by donmcronald »

lbriner wrote: post #34

It is sadly part of a dark pattern called "stickiness". You can dress it up as functionally useful or even important but ultimately it is about companies wanting to create enough of a dependency that you have to continue using them, which is anti-competitive. Gone are the days where you bought something from a shop with no stickiness other than good service brought you back. Now there are far too many Marketing Manag…

I've always called it adhesive ToS. I hate it and I think it should be illegal. You set up an account and all you need is an email address. Then, all of a sudden, they need your phone number "for security." Then your name and DoB "for the security of your account." Soon it'll be a credit card for age verification.

And the whole time you better give them accurate information because if they ever lock your account you'll be expected to send photo ID so they can verify it.

The next step is subscriptions. The entire point of forced logins is because that allows them to build future features as subscription only. Think about how online SaaS works and how everyone eventually switches to a subscription product by keeping, but abandoning the existing service and building all new features on a subscription model. With everyone forced to log in Windows is essentially a SaaS. They're just not charging for it. Yet!

Remember when you could get a free custom domain on Outlook.com or GMail? Anyone on those services was allowed to keep their stuff, but huge effort has been made to devalue and de-market those historical accounts. Microsoft shut down the entire admin side of things and Google excludes them from most new features.

Get out your wallet. Prices are going up.

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

#554

Post by vel0city »

naikrovek wrote: post #529
dividedbyzero wrote: post #472

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like there's also Pro for Workstations. Also, full disk encryption seems to only be available in Pro?

Yes. Well, BitLocker is in Pro, Pro for Workstations and Enterprise. Same for Hyper-V, if that matters to you; not available in Home. Home edition is for non-commercial use. I don't know if that's in the EULA or not, but that's the use case that Home is meant for. Pro and higher are for work use cases, and features add on as you go up the line. Pro for Workstations and Enterprise support slightly different feature se…

The other benefits of Pro for Workstations is a higher RAM limit (2TB vs 6TB) and socket count (2 CPU sockets vs 4 CPU sockets), NVDIMM-N support, and SMB Direct. Not normally features that would be missed on a normal PC.

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

#555

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

cosmojg wrote: post #546
AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #394

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Non-technical users want a stable system that doesn't constantly change. ...and you're recommending Linux Desktop for that? An operating system famous for breaking compatibility with itself every 2 years or so? Not to mention between distros. I mean, I suppose you can just leave them on some arbitrary un-updated version of Ubuntu forever, but the same could be said for Windows 2000.

Lmfao, it's 2021. Stop parroting this tired meme. Linux runs beautifully if you aren't doing anything crazy with it. I say this as a sysadmin responsible for maintaining a small fleet, the majority of which are Linux boxes. I've wasted far more hours helping end users with OS-level problems on Windows and, to a lesser extent, macOS. This is in spite of the fact that, again, the majority of the machines I manage run L…

I've been using Linux Desktop on and off for 2 decades now, have contributed to open source projects on Linux, have built my own Linux distro, and was once president of a LUG. It is my personal opinion that it isn't a good desktop operating system. You're free to disagree, but don't assume that I have no idea what I'm talking about.

And you might have been slightly more persuasive by not being a condescending ass, but that's asking a lot of a Linux Desktop evangelist in my experience.

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

#556

Post by vel0city »

chme wrote: post #116
SamuelAdams wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like comments like this gloss over the many UX issues many Linux distros have. For example the file picker. When you open a new file from the web browser (Firefox usually) you navigate to your file and pick it. Now if you open up another file, it forgot your last opened directory and takes you back to your home or default. On windows and Mac I believe it remembers your last directory. Also saving files in Debi…

Regarding file-picker dialogs. I always found the most annoying dialog was actually with Windows: The folder chooser. You only have a directory file tree, that is often not in the right directory, where the application was launched from. No really way to directly jump to a directory via a path, that you copied from a open Explorer, which you might have open next to it, because you started the .exe from there. So you…

The default Windows file-picker has let you paste in a path for decades. The address bar at the top can let you paste in a path and the "File name:" prompt at the bottom supports several different kinds of paths.

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

#557

Post by donmcronald »

sfgweilr4f wrote: post #368

From the opinion piece: "I don’t know why Microsoft wants everyone to use an online login. I don’t know why Microsoft felt it had the right to treat its customers the way it did with the Get Windows 10 campaign or its six-year battle to push everyone to use online accounts." I don't know the actual answer because I don't work for Microsoft but I'm lazy enough to assume it is about money. Its financially rewarding for…

> I don't know the actual answer because I don't work for Microsoft but I'm lazy enough to assume it is about money. Its financially rewarding for Microsoft to have hordes of Home users online. That telemetry is valuable. Those eyeballs are valuable. That level of engagement is valuable.

Knowing every user is signed in and authenticated means they can develop new features as a (connected) subscription service. They can attribute usage and bill you for it. That's what it's about IMO. All new features, even ones that should be part of the core OS, will eventually be subscription services. I bet anyone using a free account will be getting their last feature update when they install Windows 11.

I've seen the exact scenario play out over and over with SaaS. Windows with forced logins is essentially SaaS and they can use the same dirty tactics to make you pay forever if you want a usable product.

It could backfire with an OS though. I'd be pretty excited for a version of Windows that doesn't get any new features or have any "online" features.

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

#558

Post by cosmojg »

sounds wrote: post #477
arp242 wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both Android and iOS require an account to be practically useful for most people, and have for years. Microsoft is "only" following suit, and I'm afraid that a bunch of hackers here aren't enough to stop the tide :-/

There's a solution I put out there for my non-technical friends. I just tell them to buy two Android devices. Obviously with iOS this won't work, but then again, iOS devices aren't cheap enough for this to be a reasonable approach anyway. Device #1: Buy the cheapest device you can. I give my friends specific recommendations. Invent a new burner gmail account for it. Install whatever you want off the Play Store - obvi…

Why not just get a nice phone with good support for unlocking/rooting and run LineageOS instead?

Sent from my OnePlus 6T running LineageOS.

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

#559

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

michaelmrose wrote: post #486
AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #476

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, if you don't count all the software that no longer has a package in the latest version's repo and therefore is no longer available. Oh and whatever features GNOME decided to remove this time.

So don't use gnome and switch to something that isn't abandonware

So, deal with things changing all the time. Exactly the thing we were trying to avoid with this exercise.

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

#560

Post by vel0city »

xtracto wrote: post #398
xtracto wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Linux in my main PC, both to work on programming and to play games. I've been familiar with Linux and using it on an off for more th as n 15 years. Nevertheless, my days of advocating for others to use it are over (I even used to frequent comp.linux.advocacy!). People that are used to Windows will have a very hard time moving away of it. No matter how easy the migration path, there will always be something pain…

Just as an example of something that happened to me just today: I wanted to connect 2 monitors to my linux Home PC: 1 in the Nvidia GPU HDMI and another one in the integrated Intel HDMI. It doesn't work out of the box, and it is apparently not possible, at least not without thinkering with the BIOS and some config files (and the main response returned by google https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=265946 does…

Meanwhile on Windows, the setup for that is:

* Plug in monitor 1

* Plug in monitor 2

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