Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Windows 11 Pro will soon require a Microsoft Account during initial setup

theverge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 469 posts

Re: Windows 11 Pro will soon require a Microsoft Account during initial setup

#91

Post by aerovistae »

I hate it, not because it requires an account, but because Microsoft is nightmarishly bad at account management and has been since I was a little kid in the 90s. They somehow make it possible to have multiple different unsynced accounts across different services, so you constantly forget which is which, and resetting or gaining access is always an incredible hassle. I find myself having to reset my password literally anytime I want to log in to something owned by Microsoft.

If they could get their act together, I wouldn't mind. Most software these days requires a log in for full use, including most major web apps (even HN, you can't comment without an account of course) and services like gaming consoles, Steam, Spotify, etc etc. It's normal. The only problem is Microsoft sucks at it.

Re: Windows 11 Pro will soon require a Microsoft Account during initial setup

#92

Post by 55873445216111 »

amanzi wrote: post #62

Using Windows with a Microsoft account introduces all sorts of issues that only power users tend to come across, and power users are who Windows Pro is targeted for. For example, RDP'ing to a Windows Pro computer with a Microsoft account becomes a lot more difficult. Another example is that Windows still needs a local username and password, even if you've logged in with a Microsoft account, and this can get out of sy…

I could never get my RDP to work until I switched to using a local account. Now I know why I was pulling my hair out trying to get it working.

Re: Windows 11 Pro will soon require a Microsoft Account during initial setup

#93

Post by moogly »

A few months ago, I had a non-feature update to my laptop running Windows 10 Pro (OEM) kick me to an OOBE-looking "finish setting up your computer" screen where the only way I was able to move forward and log on was to add an online account. Believe me, I spent an hour trying various things, and googling like a madman but I didn't manage to get around it.

So I did it with a temporary email address. Then I removed the account. Still on Windows 10.

Now and then I do a web search to see if other people ahve had this happening to them, but I've not been able to find anything. Then again, .

Re: Windows 11 Pro will soon require a Microsoft Account during initial setup

#94

Post by Terry_Roll »

amanzi wrote: post #62

Using Windows with a Microsoft account introduces all sorts of issues that only power users tend to come across, and power users are who Windows Pro is targeted for. For example, RDP'ing to a Windows Pro computer with a Microsoft account becomes a lot more difficult. Another example is that Windows still needs a local username and password, even if you've logged in with a Microsoft account, and this can get out of sy…

The main problem with a MS account is if you have alot of documents and you log onto a new machine, you better have good internet speed otherwise you will be waiting hours for the documents to come down. Its not so noticeable with windows server (at least since server 2000) and workstations because office network speeds are good but if you also had exchange, then local copies of exchange mailboxes also tied up office networks for ages especially if users had exchange/outlook mailboxes in excess of a several Gb in size. Usually at least 10/100 speed but usually faster, you dont get that over the internet hardly anywhere.

Re: Windows 11 Pro will soon require a Microsoft Account during initial setup

#95

Post by antaviana »

causi wrote: post #69
fortyseven wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You couldn't be more wrong. I made the leap to Ubuntu 20.04 late last year and haven't regretted it. This after a quarter decade of being a Windows guy. There's a couple rough edges, but overall? I'm home.

A quarter decade? So you were a Windows guy for a couple of years?

I believe he meant 25 basis points of a millennium.

Re: Windows 11 Pro will soon require a Microsoft Account during initial setup

#96

Post by Underphil »

grishka wrote: post #34
larrik wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's one: Linux is better. A lot better. If you are worried about gaming or other apps, Win7 won't be much better than Linux (won't have latest DirectX or anything), and may end up far worse by then.

Desktop linux is as much of an incoherent, barely working mess as it has always been.

Absolutely false. It may not be for you, but it is not remotely a mess. I do everything from DevOps work, to gaming, to audio production in desktop Linux. It absolutely is a viable alternative for millions of people.

But I concede, not for everyone. But your hyperbole is plainly false and likely to deter folks who would otherwise thrive in Linux.

Re: Windows 11 Pro will soon require a Microsoft Account during initial setup

#97

Post by brimble »

m463 wrote: post #72
nemacol wrote: post #52

Can you use Apple products without an account? If not*, what version of Linux should I get setup with. Casual web development. I mostly use my personal machine for gaming. Edit - Typo

> Can you use Apple products without an account? yes and no ios devices must hook to internet to activate. they must phone home. That said you can navigate the dark patterns and don't need to use apple id (but you also can't install apps, etc) for mac you can say this device doesn't connect to the internet. but as soon as you do it phones home.

> for mac you can say this device doesn't connect to the internet. but as soon as you do it phones home.

Yes, but to clarify the specific point, you still do not need an Apple account to use a Mac, even if it's phoning home.

Re: Windows 11 Pro will soon require a Microsoft Account during initial setup

#98

Post by Underphil »

grishka wrote: post #47
larrik wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly disagree.

https://itvision.altervista.org/why.linux.is.not.ready.for.t...

Posting someone else's single opinion to back up your own is no less anecdotal than your original post.

Whilst I'm not accusing you of this specifically, I have noticed a trend toward folks being so ingrained in the 'Windows way' that anything else is broken if it doesn't act the same. I was the same way for a long time. Started using Windows in 1994 and when I found Linux for myself, I just got angry that it wasn't working the same way Windows did. Took 10 years or more to realise that is a good thing.

Either way, I don't need to read that article. It works well for me and countless others, better than Windows ever did. Can it improve? Of course it can, drastically. But so can Windows, MacOS, BSD and everything else.

Re: Windows 11 Pro will soon require a Microsoft Account during initial setup

#99

Post by Terry_Roll »

nemacol wrote: post #52

Can you use Apple products without an account? If not*, what version of Linux should I get setup with. Casual web development. I mostly use my personal machine for gaming. Edit - Typo

I'm tied over this because noone can predict how future govts will go, so having a manufacturer account could be useful, but at the same time when that happens who can you trust, you dont know who is accessing your data at the manufacturers, privacy is the biggest loser eitherway.

Re: Windows 11 Pro will soon require a Microsoft Account during initial setup

#100

Post by dustinmoris »

For the last few years I've been trying to change the billing address of my Microsoft and Office 365 account and it's still wrong. Microsoft account management is so feckin' stupid that I feel sorry for all Windows 11 users who will be forced to use it.

BTW before people come and try to tell me how to change my billing address, I know how to do it. I did it everywhere. It shows correctly everywhere on the websites, but as soon as Microsoft creates the PDF invoice that I need to send to my accountant it has the old address on it, despite it being updated EVERYWHERE. I gave up on it. I basically doctor the address myself and then take a screenshot of the pdf with the corrected address and send the image to my accountant so he stops annoying me that the billing address is wrong.

Post reply on HN