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Microsoft: You need to fix your Skype and Microsoft account issues, this is insane

kolemcrae.com

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Re: Microsoft: You need to fix your Skype and Microsoft account issues, this is insane

#61

Post by badthingfactory »

josefresco wrote: post #54
badthingfactory wrote: post #5

It looks like [email] is used with more than one account. Which account do you want to use? - Work or school account - Personal account I get this prompt every time I try to log into Azure with my work email. If I choose the work account (the most intuitive option) my azure subscription list is empty. I have to log out and select the other option. Why is there a difference and why isn't this transparent? I am authent…

Google does the same thing when a customer previously used their own "branded" email for Google services, and then switches to use G Suite (formally Google Apps). Every login will prompt to select the organizational account, or the personal account. Not sure why only MS is being called out for it ... they probably modeled their system after Google.

If Google had the same terrible UX, I would rant about that as well, but I've never had a single problem with any of my Google accounts. I cringe every time I have to do any type of maintenance on one of my MS accounts because I know it's going to be terrible, and it always is.

Re: Microsoft: You need to fix your Skype and Microsoft account issues, this is insane

#62

Post by inopinatus »

To some extent I think this is a user category error. Similarly, one of my platform's most frequent support requests is account recovery due to a change of employment. The number of people who use their work email for personal accounts, without thinking about the long-term consequences, is staggering.

Protip, don't name anything expecting you can change it later. See also: S3 buckets.

Re: Microsoft: You need to fix your Skype and Microsoft account issues, this is insane

#65

Post by mevile »

Microsoft should fix this, but I have learned to never link my personal accounts with work accounts after the Dropbox enterprise debacle that led to users losing their personal files! after having their Dropbox linked to enterprise Dropbox and then leaving the company.

These situations where you mix personal and enterprise/job accounts become edge cases that can be catastrophic for users stuck in them after they leave companies.

Re: Microsoft: You need to fix your Skype and Microsoft account issues, this is insane

#66

Post by balabaster »

badthingfactory wrote: post #5

It looks like [email] is used with more than one account. Which account do you want to use? - Work or school account - Personal account I get this prompt every time I try to log into Azure with my work email. If I choose the work account (the most intuitive option) my azure subscription list is empty. I have to log out and select the other option. Why is there a difference and why isn't this transparent? I am authent…

I just went through this exact thing last night when I had to remove an old Azure and Outlook 365 subscription that I stopped using months ago. It literally took me 4 hours to figure out how to get into all the correct accounts to remove the active directory users from Azure, remove all the user subscriptions for Outlook 365, remove my Azure subscriptions so I could stop being billed and then finally delete my domain from GoDaddy.

Coupled with the fact that I'd enabled 2FA made for a ridiculously poor user experience. By the end of the process I was so pissed off, I'm not sure if I'll ever use Azure or Office 365 again... we'll see.

Re: Microsoft: You need to fix your Skype and Microsoft account issues, this is insane

#67

Post by [deleted] »

badthingfactory wrote: post #5

It looks like [email] is used with more than one account. Which account do you want to use? - Work or school account - Personal account I get this prompt every time I try to log into Azure with my work email. If I choose the work account (the most intuitive option) my azure subscription list is empty. I have to log out and select the other option. Why is there a difference and why isn't this transparent? I am authent…

[deleted]

Re: Microsoft: You need to fix your Skype and Microsoft account issues, this is insane

#68

Post by jameshart »

wyldfire wrote: post #49
jordache wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but as a consumer I don't care about that differentiation.. Just make it transparent.. merge my authorization rules or something... Gawd.. You're microsoft, you can create a whole new security protocol. Don't have this half baked persona solution. If you can't figure this out, it really reinforces the reason for every time we come across something in Azure where we're like wtf isn't this feature supported?

I'd wager there's something enforcing that distinction such as licensing rules for products you might have access to. But, ultimately, those licensing rules may be under MS's control as well. Even if they aren't, it sounds like it has a significant impact on their service's design and usability, so it's in their interest to make a change somewhere.

Your 'work/school account' is managed by your work. They can close it at any time, and you would no longer have access to it. Your personal account via the same email address is an account you created with Microsoft. Even if your work/school take away your email address, that account will still exist (just that if you no longer have access to that email you won't be able to retrieve password resets or whatever for it).

Re: Microsoft: You need to fix your Skype and Microsoft account issues, this is insane

#69

Post by Neliquat »

iamthepieman wrote: post #23

I love that I can't sign up for Azure services because i need a "real" phone number and no, VOIP numbers like google voice, Microsoft's own Skype or even my actually land line (which is through my ISP and apparently classified as VOIP) won't work. I don't have a mobile phone so that's fine, I can get texts on Google Hangouts or Skype but their account software refuses to send the verification texts to those numbers.…

How dare you try to be a customer without complying to their idea of technical social norms. Shame.

/s

Re: Microsoft: You need to fix your Skype and Microsoft account issues, this is insane

#70

Post by kolemcrae »

inopinatus wrote: post #62

To some extent I think this is a user category error. Similarly, one of my platform's most frequent support requests is account recovery due to a change of employment. The number of people who use their work email for personal accounts, without thinking about the long-term consequences, is staggering. Protip, don't name anything expecting you can change it later. See also: S3 buckets.

Or, you know, let us unlink accounts or change the username, two pretty normal and reasonable things to request.
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