What is also strange that I only found out about account after download. Like it was standard thing for the browser. (Sure there are optional accounts in others but login-walled browser?)
Hilariously (in the absurd way), this affects my girlfriend, who prefers and uses the Microsoft account feature AND onedrive exactly how Microsoft would hope she would, and STILL gets fucked by their stupidity.
Her laptop has a mediatek wifi card that doesn't have built in Windows drivers. Re-installing Windows requires you play the above game, so you can get into Windows, install the driver, and then immediately log into Microsoft.com.
>"Why does Arc require an account to use?"
The answer is:
>"Here's a link to our forum that explains the rationale behind requiring an account to use Arc: Why do I need an account?"
That link goes to here: https://resources.arc.net/hc/en-us/articles/19401542261911-B...
Which... Doesn't explain why you need an account!