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>But should we realize in a couple years that this was overhyped and desktop OS and apps won't go away, everyone will have migrated to OSX or Linux if Windows q

>But should we realize in a couple years that this was overhyped and desktop OS and apps won't go away, everyone will have migrated to OSX or Linux if Windows quality continues to decline at that rate. Windows still claims nearly 80% of desktop market share, while OS X has less than 15%. Linux is around 2%. Assuming people in any significant number care about having to use an online account is naive. Apple requires it. Google requires it. Amazon requires it. Xbox Live requires it. Facebook requires it. Sony requires it. People are used to this. If you think this will affect Windows in any way, you probably read too much HN.

gurkendoktor 7y ago
> Assuming people in any significant number care about having to use an online account is naive. Apple requires it. macOS does not require a cloud account. Technically you don't even need one for iOS, but most people will create an Apple ID for the App Store (and I hope this distribution monopoly on iOS will eventually be broken up).
- yellow_postit 7y ago
  MacOS also prompts incessantly trying to get you to create and/or link a cloud account. Neither Mac or Windows really requires an account but they make it an inconvenient path.
  - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
    > MacOS also prompts incessantly trying to get you to create and/or link a cloud account. Well, kind of. It seems to prompt me once per service, more or less. If I keep closing them, I've found that macOS does eventually shut up.
- LexGray 7y ago
  In a similar way for macOS enabling the offline root user has been under Network Account Server > Directory Utility forever. Microsoft is not alone in their logic here.
  - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
    In a similar way for macOS enabling the offline root user has been under Network Account Server > Directory Utility forever. Isn't that more for security reasons? Apple doesn't want users enabling the root account unless they know what they're doing, so they make it hard to find. (And, really—coming from someone who runs with SIP turned off—there's very little reason to enable that account.)
iforgotpassword 7y ago
I wasn't exclusively referring to the online account here. Every update seems to break something in very stupid ways or change things around for no apparent reason. Friends working as admins in companies can't stop complaining over the last two updates. On every family meet up there's someone seeking tech support and I can just shrug and tell them the last version of Windows I really used was 7 and then my current dual boot alternative is still 8.1 which I need like twice a year. Which is immediately countered with "oh yeah I wish things were still like in XP or 7". And yes the most valid argument currently comes from enterprise customers depending on some expensive and important Windows only software. But that argument will only be true until it isn't anymore and then what? Since when has it ever worked out for some tech company to just stop investing in a product and try to milk the cash cow forever? Luckily Microsoft has a lot of other things going on like azure so it won't be the end of them, but that just brings us back to my initial comment: Is it the right move to let Windows go over the next decade and refocus, our might they regret it?

gurkendoktor 7y ago

> Assuming people in any significant number care about having to use an online account is naive. Apple requires it. macOS does not require a cloud account. Technically you don't even need one for iOS, but most people will create an Apple ID for the App Store (and I hope this distribution monopoly on iOS will eventually be broken up).

yellow_postit 7y ago
MacOS also prompts incessantly trying to get you to create and/or link a cloud account. Neither Mac or Windows really requires an account but they make it an inconvenient path.
- Wowfunhappy 7y ago
  > MacOS also prompts incessantly trying to get you to create and/or link a cloud account. Well, kind of. It seems to prompt me once per service, more or less. If I keep closing them, I've found that macOS does eventually shut up.
LexGray 7y ago
In a similar way for macOS enabling the offline root user has been under Network Account Server > Directory Utility forever. Microsoft is not alone in their logic here.
- Wowfunhappy 7y ago
  In a similar way for macOS enabling the offline root user has been under Network Account Server > Directory Utility forever. Isn't that more for security reasons? Apple doesn't want users enabling the root account unless they know what they're doing, so they make it hard to find. (And, really—coming from someone who runs with SIP turned off—there's very little reason to enable that account.)

iforgotpassword 7y ago

I wasn't exclusively referring to the online account here. Every update seems to break something in very stupid ways or change things around for no apparent reason. Friends working as admins in companies can't stop complaining over the last two updates. On every family meet up there's someone seeking tech support and I can just shrug and tell them the last version of Windows I really used was 7 and then my current dual boot alternative is still 8.1 which I need like twice a year. Which is immediately countered with "oh yeah I wish things were still like in XP or 7". And yes the most valid argument currently comes from enterprise customers depending on some expensive and important Windows only software. But that argument will only be true until it isn't anymore and then what? Since when has it ever worked out for some tech company to just stop investing in a product and try to milk the cash cow forever? Luckily Microsoft has a lot of other things going on like azure so it won't be the end of them, but that just brings us back to my initial comment: Is it the right move to let Windows go over the next decade and refocus, our might they regret it?