https://www.extremetech.com/computing/324134-i-will-never-use-a-microsoft-account-to-log-into-my-own-pc

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

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

  * By Joel Hruska on June 25, 2021 at 8:22 am
  * Comments

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This post is the sole opinion of the author.

According to Microsoft, Windows 11 will take a substantial step
backward relative to Windows 10. Specifically, Windows 11 Home will
now require both internet access and a Microsoft account in order to
set up the PC.

Speaking as a reviewer, this requirement is ludicrous. I build and
wipe testbeds on a regular basis. I am not interested in creating a
burner account to handle this task and I do not always need to
connect a testbed to the internet. If I am attempting to benchmark
the behavior of two specific versions of Windows, an OS that forces
me to update to the latest version as a condition of installation
literally prevents me from doing my job.

I recognize, however, that I'm a niche case. While I find these
strictures annoying, they aren't problems for your average PC user.
And they aren't the reason I will never log into a Microsoft account
in order to use my own PC.

My PC Is Not the Internet

I'm willing to cop to the fact that this may be an artifact of the
time in which I grew up. To me, my PC and "the internet" are two
entirely different things. I connect to the latter to download files,
read news, and watch content, but it is not the totality of my
personal computer. Using an online account to log into my personal PC
breaches the distinction between the two. Weird as it is -- because
I'm willing to admit this is a personal oddity -- I find that
distinction matters to me. It actually matters a lot. I don't want my
local Windows account to be synonymous with an online login.

But that's not my only reason.

The other reason I won't use an online account is that Microsoft
won't stop trying to force me to use one.

I'm not accusing Microsoft of having spied on users or abused its
data-gathering capabilities. While there were some telemetry concerns
with Windows 10 initially, the company addressed them in later
updates. There have been no privacy or security scandals caused by
the use of a Microsoft account instead of a local account. As far as
I'm aware, using a Microsoft account instead of a local account does
not risk your personal privacy or security.

My problem with Microsoft and non-local accounts is this: Since the
introduction of Windows 10, Microsoft has pulled every dirty trick in
the book. It has obfuscated the ability to create a local account by
hiding it in unclear language. It has deployed installers that hid
the option to create a local account unless you were offline when you
ran setup. It has deployed "Get Windows 10" tools that were so
aggressive, they acted more like malware than a product built by a
Fortune 500 company.

GWX-Nagware0 GWX-Nagware1 [GWX-Nagware2-810x527]
[GWX-Nagware3-810x527] [GWX-Nagware4-708x461]

I will not be browbeaten into adopting an online account as a local
login because Microsoft found it convenient to gaslight its own users
into submission. Had Microsoft offered the option as a feature with
Windows 10 and left the issue alone thereafter, I might have switched
eventually. But it didn't. It's important to Microsoft that you use
an online account.

That's why I'll never use one.

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. But I will not play
this game. I will not hedge and say "Well, you can actually create a
local account after you sign in for the first time and switch to
that." Defaults have tremendous power and Microsoft knows it.

The option to create a Windows login via an online account is great.
The requirement to do so is an unacceptable intrusion into what's
supposed to be the user's personal computer. I am uninterested in
joining the Greater Microsoft Data Conglomerate in any capacity
beyond the level I'm already forced to participate in and I'm will
not reward what I view as borderline abusive behavior with
compliance. Companies that intend to treat your data ethically do not
grasp for it like a slobbering ambulance chaser.

According to Satya Nadella, "Windows has always stood for sovereignty
for creators and agency for consumers." Maybe it did once. Today,
"agency for consumers" appears to mean "agency for consumers, so long
as they make Microsoft-approved choices, use Microsoft services and
products, do not wish to delay updates, and do not mind their PCs
rebooting out from under them without warning."

That's not the kind of agency I had in mind when I sat down to learn
MS-DOS 3.1 some thirty years ago. It's not the kind of agency I had
in mind when I bought my first PC running Windows 98 SE. It's not the
kind of agency I'm willing to accept today.

Now Read:

  * No New Version of Windows Can Turn Back the Clock, and Microsoft
    Doesn't Want To
  * Microsoft Introduces Windows 11: New UI, 64-Bit Only, Mandatory
    Accounts
  * Microsoft Will Unveil New Version of Windows on June 24

Tagged In

  * microsoft
  * security
  * windows
  * privacy
  * windows 10
  * internet
  * anonymity
  * Windows 11
  * OS updates
  * Windows 11 Home

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