4 ms·

From the opinion piece: "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 custome

From the opinion piece: "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." I don't know the actual answer because I don't work for Microsoft but I'm lazy enough to assume it is about money. Its financially rewarding for Microsoft to have hordes of Home users online. That telemetry is valuable. Those eyeballs are valuable. That level of engagement is valuable. Its telling that Pro and Enterprise versions operate without the same level. Home users always online is worth Microsoft either enforcing or in the very least "encouraging" this state. That is a sufficient theory for me. I might not have the full picture but its accurate enough to form opinions and predict Microsoft's future behavior. I'd expect multiple pathways around leveraging that online presence even further. You haven't seen anything yet. This is just the beginning.

donmcronald 5y ago
> I don't know the actual answer because I don't work for Microsoft but I'm lazy enough to assume it is about money. Its financially rewarding for Microsoft to have hordes of Home users online. That telemetry is valuable. Those eyeballs are valuable. That level of engagement is valuable. Knowing every user is signed in and authenticated means they can develop new features as a (connected) subscription service. They can attribute usage and bill you for it. That's what it's about IMO. All new features, even ones that should be part of the core OS, will eventually be subscription services. I bet anyone using a free account will be getting their last feature update when they install Windows 11. I've seen the exact scenario play out over and over with SaaS. Windows with forced logins is essentially SaaS and they can use the same dirty tactics to make you pay forever if you want a usable product. It could backfire with an OS though. I'd be pretty excited for a version of Windows that doesn't get any new features or have any "online" features.
stubish 5y ago
My take is it reduces friction. It gets you signed in and authenticated once, at start up. From then on, you never have to see a signup box or login box or TFA token again for services in the ecosystem. At the moment this would be the MS Store, Gamepass, and via Gamepass Electronic Arts. I imagine it will end up in the Edge browser as well... when a header identifies a Windows browser, automatically start the OpenID authentication dance with the Microsoft servers without even giving you the option to 'login with Google/Facebook/3rdPlace'.

donmcronald 5y ago

> I don't know the actual answer because I don't work for Microsoft but I'm lazy enough to assume it is about money. Its financially rewarding for Microsoft to have hordes of Home users online. That telemetry is valuable. Those eyeballs are valuable. That level of engagement is valuable. Knowing every user is signed in and authenticated means they can develop new features as a (connected) subscription service. They can attribute usage and bill you for it. That's what it's about IMO. All new features, even ones that should be part of the core OS, will eventually be subscription services. I bet anyone using a free account will be getting their last feature update when they install Windows 11. I've seen the exact scenario play out over and over with SaaS. Windows with forced logins is essentially SaaS and they can use the same dirty tactics to make you pay forever if you want a usable product. It could backfire with an OS though. I'd be pretty excited for a version of Windows that doesn't get any new features or have any "online" features.

stubish 5y ago

My take is it reduces friction. It gets you signed in and authenticated once, at start up. From then on, you never have to see a signup box or login box or TFA token again for services in the ecosystem. At the moment this would be the MS Store, Gamepass, and via Gamepass Electronic Arts. I imagine it will end up in the Edge browser as well... when a header identifies a Windows browser, automatically start the OpenID authentication dance with the Microsoft servers without even giving you the option to 'login with Google/Facebook/3rdPlace'.