The signup you need is a Microsoft account. This is the same account you use for Xbox Live, hotmail/outlook, etc. We have found most people already have these accounts. It also works with organizational accounts so a good number of college email addresses work if your university has taken the time to set it up. Plenty of university professors have been trying out our platform with their classes. They have had little issues with the login barrier.
The user that posted before me is correct that this is a calculated decision. Some of it is for security considerations but also just so we can return a user to their previous content and not have to field questions on 'where did my files go' when they weren't logged in before and so they didn't persist.
Having taught after school programs for kids, it definitely is a barrier to entry. I'd not say it's a show stopper, but it's definitely a hassle. Even more relevant when the folks needing to sign up, "can't" easily (due to COPPA).
[msft] Understood. Note that you can view notebooks w/o login. If you want a truly no login experience, try the awesome https://tmpnb.org service. But note that these are temporary (tmp-nb...) and will go away. The login we require is to show you your notebooks next time you're back. If your school has office365 the existing creds should just work.
I fully understand you can view, but "running" code is the entire point of an after-school computer programming class. As these are after school classes (but done in collaboration with the school), some resources the school has aren't available.
Also, how many middle school and high schools (especially title 1 schools) do you know have office365 for the teachers, let alone for each and every student?
Please don't regard this reply as being critical of the offering, it's certainly not and I applaud what you're doing, I'm more responding to the person who couldn't understand why login was a barrier.
[msft] Fair points jsjohnst. I don't have a good solution for you. Perhaps the teacher can setup one Microsoft account (eg school.outlook.com) and multiple ppl can use it? (but that comes w issues too sadly).
Thanks! Azure Notebooks Dev