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

extremetech.com

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

#81
post #72
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…

> bought something from a shop with no stickiness If you want this you can still have it, you just need to follow a simple rule: Absolutely no non-free non community maintained software ever period.

That rule is simple to state, but damn near impossible to actually execute. I can't imagine the hoops you'd have to jump through to have a cell phone following this simple rule. I appreciate the push towards open source -- obviously a lot of good has come of it, but I'll happily take stickiness for convenience in many situations.

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

#82
post #53

Every stupid mistake by Microsoft is yet another great day for linux.

Except for Ubuntu Core which requires Ubuntu SSO account. https://ubuntu.com/download/raspberry-pi-core The requirements doesn't list internet... and I was pretty sure my friend pressed some button or something that asked him for online login, when he tried to install Ubuntu for raspberry (because I'm not hardcore linux guy and I use Ubuntu and I will be able to assist him better in that OS), but after some googling…

Not really sure what the Core part means but it looks like the SSO part is specific to it. You can just download the regular ISO for ARM/RPi...

Also Canonical/Ubuntu seems just have a particular bad track record of stuff like this. Most Linux distorts are better.

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

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fedora, Ubuntu, Mint, PopOS, Manjaro/Arch. Spend the time to get acquainted, soon you will see you can do almost everything you need on linux (and more) that you can on Windows/macOS, but with less mental overhead (after you are used to linux, it really is simpler).

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…

I find that compared to the the UX issues of Windows it is fantastic.

Obviously this varies from person to person but I have verified already a more than a decade ago that it worked very well with ordinary users as long as they didn't need MS Office or anything like it.

And true: Netflix doesn't work but for that I use my phone/tablet that I cast to my TV.

You may say: not everyone has a PC and a phone but as far as I can see the overwhelming majority who has a PC also seems to have a smartphone.

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

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But also a challenge. Linux also has to introduce purely Microsoft/Google/whatever-account log-on (without explicit local user log-in preceding it) as an option because this is what many zoomers expect. You just give them a new computer, they sign-in with their account and start doing their job. Businesses they run also expect this when ordering computers/integration from you. The open source world actually needs to…

> You just give them a new computer, they sign-in with their account and start doing their job They can start doing their job without signing in with any accounts, one step fewer.

nah the problem is the bovine masses have everything synced to their microsoft account now. they dont even really know how the file system works

just log in to your ms account on a new laptop and wait a few hours while everything syncs up via onedrive and its like every computer is your home computer

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

#85

This requirement just does not make sense to me. Why would Microsoft even have this requirement? Do they want to force users into an account so it is easier to lead them into Office packages? It can't be for greater data profiles on users since they could do this in other less explicit ways. Microsoft just doesn't have the ecosystem like Apple to make this worthwhile from their point of view or the users.

To be honest, I think it’s as simple as it being a better experience for the type of people who would buy the Home edition. Forcing them to log in with a MS account allows MS to provide a lot of the services people expect using Android or iOS as their primary devices. For one thing, both those devices pretty much require an online account as well. And they contain far more sensitive data. But more importantly, they a…

Password recovery seems like another big reason to push this. Many consumers don't really have any tech support, aside from vendors like Dell or HP. With an MS account, Microsoft can manage this process.

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

#86
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it is not. Apple does encourage setting up/associating an Apple ID account, it is not a requirement.

I don't know about windows, but the comment you're replying to says microsoft encourages you to set up a online account (which I suspect most people outside of a domain would actually want), but allows you to set up a local account. Yes it's a Dark UI pattern, but I have a feeling Apple do the same thing (I haven't set an apple laptop up for 8 years so my memory is vague) Is that incorrect?

It's possible to use the iCloud password instead of your local account password, but it's very opt-in and not at all suggested by default. Signing into iCloud doesn't replace anything about your local accounts besides that.

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

#87
post #64

Every stupid mistake by Microsoft is yet another great day for linux.

I keep reading it since Vista.

I've been using Windows on the desktop since 3.1. I dabble in linux on the desktop from time to time, and I use it on servers, but I've never made the switch.

I was recently spurred to action by two things.

1. The forced news widget in my taskbar. 2. Being forced to sign into a Microsoft Account to setup my father's laptop. The onscreen prompts promised me that I could disable the account later if I wished.

We all see what's coming here. We're experiencing different levels of it all over the place.

My work machine (as in, the device I use to make my living with and the only device I can't actively "play with") is now running Arch.

I'm out. You guys can do what you want, but there is zero chance this nonsense doesn't continue and get worse.

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

#88
post #72
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…

> bought something from a shop with no stickiness If you want this you can still have it, you just need to follow a simple rule: Absolutely no non-free non community maintained software ever period.

He said, on a non community maintained forum.

---

Do you mint your own hardware as well? The problem with hard rules is there's numerous exceptions when it doesnt make sense to follow, invalidating the "rule" all together.

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

#89
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.

Wayland is great, however it also makes screen recording more difficult.

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

#90
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, you don't need an iCloud account to use a mac. Neither do you in order to use an iPhone.

But you do lose a lot of functionality. Especially on the iPhone as there is no real way to add apps without it.

App Store and iCloud accounts are separate.
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