[highwaylights]

Windows 11 is the best it’s ever been.

I really don’t understand everyone’s issue. I get they try to push you towards a cloud account, but you don’t have to have one, and the ads can be much easier excised than the bloatware they used to install.

[eterm]

Every time I do a "big" windows update I get 4-5 nag screens telling me I should sign up and sign in, some of which have "skip" buttons and some of which don't so you have to click "cancel" instead which to most users would probably be scared to do since they'd worry it would cancel everything instead of just "cancelling" the sign in to cloud.

[highwaylights]

I agree, but you can move around those screens and keep your account offline.

Do I wish they wouldn’t try to funnel you? Sure, but every tech company does this and no-one bats an eye.

I’m not excusing it, just saying it’s standard behaviour in 2022 and objectively I’d rather click through those rare funnels than not if it gets me modern protections like memory isolation and secure boot.

Also I really like the new UI, but I realise I’m an outlier on this.

[amaccuish]

> but you don’t have to have one,

A simple Google search refutes this. Ok, if you count running some cmd magic as meaning they don't require you to have a Microsoft account, we're never going to agree. For Joe Bloggs, a Microsoft account is required and there is no way around it.

[highwaylights]

Fair enough. I mean it’s one line in CMD, but I do see your point.

That said, maybe Joe Bloggs is better off. If he’s not savvy enough to know the difference / be able to Google around it, he might be better of with an online account given he’ll probably not understand why certain things don’t work the same on his machine or care about the implications of taking his account online.