this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2024
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Microsoft has been pushing hard for its users to sign into Windows with a Microsoft Account. The newest Windows 11 installer removed the easy bypass to the requirement that you make an account or login with your existing account. If you didn't install Windows 11 without a Microsoft Account and now want to stop sending the company your data, you can still switch to a local account after the fact. Microsoft even had instructions on how to do this on its official support website - or at least it used to...

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[–] [email protected] 179 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Where's the fucking anti trust lawsuit US GOV

[–] ObviouslyNotBanana 122 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Also where the fuck is the EU at on this? Having to jump through hoops to use my windows pc is bothersome.

Yes, I'm also a Linux user, no, I don't use Arch.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] ObviouslyNotBanana 21 points 5 months ago (3 children)

It just doesn't work for my use. I can't keep up with it since my linux machine is used sporadically, and I prefer something more stable. I did like the experience when I tried it though.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I was just kidding about the "I use Arch, BTW" meme ;-)

[–] ObviouslyNotBanana 22 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Totally got that, but I like to talk about not using Arch btw

[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Oh no we’ve gone full circle

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago

Bribing the government is cheaper than following any sort of peaky law.

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[–] [email protected] 116 points 5 months ago (2 children)

"Welcome to GoogleWindows. Please lick the screen so we can have your DNA to track you globally. Your 30 minutes of ads will begin shortly while we install our spyware on your device. Thank you from the MicrosoftAlphabet Family."

[–] cheese_greater 24 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

❌▫️➖

🔔Please ~~allow us~~ wait patiently as we fuck your wife pending verification of your identity and biometrics followed by approval of your aggregated digital activities

✅ | ❇️

Noo?! | Yesss


—Microsoft

[–] [email protected] 35 points 5 months ago (2 children)

As if they would ask permission.

We'll be fucking your wife now while we install features on your computer that you didn't ask for. If you'd like to be notified when we're done, please go fuck yourself.

[–] cheese_greater 15 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Windows is such a good name for what they are and do

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

And there would be a clause that says; "We will also reset all the settings you changed that we want how we want. You no longer get to choose computer settings. Opt-in is now mandatory. Please show up at GoogleWindows headquarters to get your advertising ID Barcode tattooed on your writs."

[–] Aceticon 13 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Error!

You must wear your User Attention Validation Goggles ^TM^ during the device initialization period.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Where's the "please drink verification can" greentext when you need it

[–] kescusay 108 points 5 months ago (11 children)

Microsoft has become such a bizarre company. On the one hand, it's trying to be super developer-friendly, with tools like Typescript, VS Code, and DotNet Core being easy to use and multi-platform. On the other hand, they seem hell-bent on making Windows itself - their bread-and-butter offering - as hard to use and annoying as possible.

It just doesn't make any sense.

[–] QuarterSwede 46 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

Capitalism is the reason. They’re already at peak market share. Since they’re a publicly traded company, they have to do something to continue growing. Ads is probably the easiest, most obvious, but ultimately damaging idea. CEO doesn’t care since he probably has a fat golden parachute if ousted. The entire thing is rigged against shareholders and users.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I find it funny that you cite that the company is publicly traded as the reason it is following these dangerous paths, but also call it "rigged against shareholders." I think you mean that it is the company and CEOs job to generate real sustainable growth rather than burn credibility for temporary add ad revenue. However, it is still funny given that most shareholders don't understand or care why this is a bad move and would be pushing for the ads if they are not already.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago

I'd actually argue that most shareholders do know what a bad move it is but are willing to stay around for it because the average consumer has proven to begrudgingly live with adverts everywhere. Amazom gets away with it on Prime, mobile ads are even worse, and Youtube gets away with it despite the outrage… I wonder whether the ads would also lead to an ad-free Windows 365 subscription for consumers analogous to Youtube Premium.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

They only way to grow is fucking the customer harder and harder every year

[–] vanderbilt 40 points 5 months ago (2 children)

They are pushing hard on the developer experience because greenfield projects aren’t being built using Windows centric tooling anymore. If it’s server it’s Linux, and if it’s client it’s either electron or a web app. What will kill Windows is when there is no reason to buy Windows. MS recognizes this fact and has been pivoting to service offerings for that reason. They want users to make an MS account so they can herd people into their ecosystem.

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[–] tibi 16 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Microsoft is a conglomerate of many small companies that share infrastructure and a few other things like accounting and HR.

[–] johannesvanderwhales 11 points 5 months ago

This is true of a lot of large companies in general. The fact that they make money in spite of this shows how much the markets favor established players.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago

I work for a small dev company. We have no idea what other silos are working on. Only 1-2 people at the very top have some sort of inkling.... Maybe.

In a company that large.. I don't doubt that projects get filed under a very large encompassing epic (or the equivalent for what ever scrum software they are using) and not overly discussed with the business majors / marketing people that are the c-level people now.

[–] DacoTaco 9 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

As somebody who has worked a bit with a few microsoft bound teams : it has to do with the teams and their managers.

Some teams were a treat to work with and are completely open to my comments or questions, and ready to serve the user's needs.

Other teams are terrible. They dont respond, they do whatever the fuck they want or what their managers tell them and pump out garbage that makes no sense to the users.

Dotnet clr, refit, fluint ui blazor, ...
All nice teams.
Fluentui ( webcomponents ), wpf, parts of windows teams, ...
Not so much

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Windows is not nearly as profitable as platforms like Azure, 365, and business sales like Visual Studio. And most people don't buy Windows licenses, they get them bundled from the OEM. So Microsoft can monetize the user by collecting and selling their date instead.

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[–] Cornelius_Wangenheim 7 points 5 months ago

Microsoft has always been like this. They're a giant company with a bunch of silos that act independently and often undermine what each other are trying to accomplish.

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 5 months ago (1 children)

For privacy reason. local account is the best

[–] [email protected] 112 points 5 months ago

For privacy reasons, not using Windows is best.

[–] 555_1 27 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Convert your Microsoft account to a Linux account

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)
[–] [email protected] 25 points 5 months ago (2 children)

The only reason I even have a microsoft account is to play Minecraft. Other than that, most of their services have perfectly good alternatives that are a lot better IMO

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Minecraft also has an alternative - VoxelLibre

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (3 children)

There's also minetest which you can basically build your own game out of

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Microsoft stole my copy of minecraft during the migration. A company I didn't purchase the product from stole it from me.

[–] NutWrench 24 points 5 months ago (1 children)

"Why won't our human assets appreciate being exploited? Creating a worldwide, distributed surveillance network is hard work!"

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

Why wouldn't you purchase expensive hardware and allow some dudes to use it as they please?

[–] extratone 22 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I appreciate all of the privacy and ethics-associated reasons why it is preferable to start a Windows 11 installation with a local account, but if I could just add one more...

When you use a Microsoft account to do so, the operating system still requires a fucking username for the name of your user directory (because a local account must be created regardless, yes,) and all it has to go on is the email address you used to set up your Microsoft account.

A few years ago when I first installed Windows 11 on my home PC, the email address still associated with my primary account was [email protected].

So, what do you think my user account folder was named? You'd probably assume it'd be ihadtopee, right?

No. Through whatever process they set up to decide upon this, Windows 11 came up with ihadt.

Perhaps it makes me a superficial person, but that shit bugs me far more than anything else about the whole thing.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

It can be more than superficial. If you're restoring files from your old PC to your new one, it could make a mess of things if the user account is in a different path. Probably not a lot of people write scripts for their windows PC, but those could break.

Sure it would be a janky restore or janky script if it was explicitly specifying the path of the home directory instead of the environment variable. But environment variables have been janky in the past on windows, so it's best to just keep the paths as consistent as possible when migrating to a new system.

Kinda shit they just wouldn't prompt you for what you want your home director called tho.

Also, LOL at your email address.

[–] RelativeArea0 18 points 5 months ago

Im really glad that most distros nowadays are somewhat user friendly

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I installed Linux Mint last week. I was waiting until I had a 2nd drive to install it on so I could still have windows if needed.
It was easier to install than windows ever was, and easier to find help to do the things I want. It makes a world of difference when your OS isn't actively fighting you all the time. I even had an easier time connecting to my media tower over the network (which is still on Windows) and accessing its files than I ever had trying to connect to it from a Windows machine.

I haven't touched my windows drive once since I installed Mint and I'm planning on taking it off to free up my SSD.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I'm 6 months into fulltime OpenSUSE Tumbleweed and love it. KDE is amazing. The Steam Deck converted me. Linux users rise.

Linux users rise

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago

I suspect it’s not dissimilar to the way spam emails are full of typos and grammar errors. You may wonder why they don’t just get those fixed, but they’re specifically to filter out the people who notice them and dismiss the spam, as they (the spammers) are far less likely to successfully scam someone who is offended by the way the spam is written. They are a kind of first level filter.

MS are filtering out the vocal, knowledgable people who will cause problems next time they have some security breach or do something shady around privacy. Convert that relatively small number of people to Linux, and you’re left with a compliant and fully tracked customer base—far more use in the long run.

[–] Sam_Bass 5 points 5 months ago

Cant have the proletariat conspiring unfed

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The accounts started out optional with benefits to entice

They're now mandatory for Home and hard to bypass

How long before they extend this to Pro and Enterprise? To Server? To Active Directory itself?

They're not done yet, not by a long shot.

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