Microsoft says there are now >900m Windows 10 users

[sinhaomar]

Sure. With a billion users windows will change to Skynet))

[azrael-]

TBH, the proper headline for this article should've been "Microsoft says there are now >900m Windows 10 casualties", although the actual figure probably exceeds that by a huge margin. I'm including innocent bystanders here.

[Tabbykatze]

I could build and operate a chip factory with amount of salt in this short thread

I kid...

[Corky34]

If you did Microsoft would know all about it.

[peterb]

“Microsoft says..”. Any independent verification?

[Ttaskmaster]

“Microsoft says..”. Any independent verification?

Not under current GDPR!

[Tabbykatze]

Not under current GDPR!

I know you're joking but metrics of use are not restricted by GDPR because it's not personal data being violated...

[Ttaskmaster]

I know you're joking but metrics of use are not restricted by GDPR because it's not personal data being violated...

I am indeed joking, for it is Friday...

But does each copy of W10 not have to be validated by some confirmation of personal ID, like how signing petitions often require your name and address?

[Tabbykatze]

I am indeed joking, for it is Friday...

But does each copy of W10 not have to be validated by some confirmation of personal ID, like how signing petitions often require your name and address?

No, they operate based on the number of systems registered as active. There are effectively no personal details in the cloud activation process and if they use the number of unique systems access Windows Updates, that is just based on the incoming validated OS ID and Version.

You can set up Win 10 without ever placing any of your personal details in at all.

[Saracen999]

....

You can set up Win 10 without ever placing any of your personal details in at all.

Unless it's changed since I last looked, you can do that, and without having an MS account at all but MS are making it less and less clear that you can, and less and less onvious how you go about doing it. You almost have to know that you can before you start, which the typical member of a forum like this will (whether they choose to do so ir not), but .... Joe or Joanna Public? Not so much.

It reminded me of the Vogon construction fleet commander's reply to Arthur Dent (in Hitchhiker's Guide) that of course Earth could have objected to the planning permission, jyst file the obiection in the local planning office, in the offices in the capital of the 3rd planet of a minor star in the Pleiades system, sub-basement level 3, behind the door marked "Beware of man-eating carnivorous dragon". (a paraphrase).

[Tabbykatze]

Unless it's changed since I last looked, you can do that, and without having an MS account at all but MS are making it less and less clear that you can, and less and less onvious how you go about doing it. You almost have to know that you can before you start, which the typical member of a forum like this will (whether they choose to do so ir not), but .... Joe or Joanna Public? Not so much.

It reminded me of the Vogon construction fleet commander's reply to Arthur Dent (in Hitchhiker's Guide) that of course Earth could have objected to the planning permission, jyst file the obiection in the local planning office, in the offices in the capital of the 3rd planet of a minor star in the Pleiades system, sub-basement level 3, behind the door marked "Beware of man-eating carnivorous dragon". (a paraphrase).

It clearly has at the create user stage a "Use Microsoft Account" then has "Skip this step" a reasonable amount below it.

Now, if your complaint is Microsoft is maliciously/actively engaging in subterfuge-like practices to force cloud integration i would argue you're wrong. But i know you want a big red button that says "put me on an isolated island all on my own" but the general user doesn't follow your draconic data privacy needs.

[Saracen999]

It clearly has at the create user stage a "Use Microsoft Account" then has "Skip this step" a reasonable amount below it.

Now, if your complaint is Microsoft is maliciously/actively engaging in subterfuge-like practices to force cloud integration i would argue you're wrong. But i know you want a big red button that says "put me on an isolated island all on my own" but the general user doesn't follow your draconic data privacy needs.

No, I don't want a big red button saying anything. What I would like is a simple option, like "Use MS Account" or "Use local account", next to each other, perhaps with a 'help' popup on hover which simply and clearly explained the difference, both in advantages and drawbacks. In other words, a little straightforwardness in what's going on, and giving the user genuine informed consent.

If that "Use MS account" and "skip" options are close together, and equally prominent, then job jone, but the non-MS account variant used to be a "use local account" link buried right out of the way.

But it's not what I want anyway. My "draconian" privacy expectations are simply .... don't harvest my personal data without my genuine, explicit and informed consent. That's it. The end.

The "draconian" measures I have had to employ are solely because so many big companies gathered as much as they could, by subterfuge and without any consent, let alone informed or explicit.

That most emphatically doesn't refer just to MS, or even primarily MS, but many of these companies are now rapidly back-pedalling and trying to pretend they've always been up-front, not least because huge fines have been getting dished out (and the EU has been front and centre in that, hugely to their credit) and because these companies appear to have finally recognised that they had to change before regulators and/or legislators did it for them.

If those companies now trying to pretend to be data-considerate hadn't been taking flaming great liberties for years, my "draconian" measures would not have been necessary in the first place,

My stance is actually pretty simple. I don't want data about me or my life, habits, shopping patterns, etc, stored by ANYBODY, for any commercial purpose, unless I give permission. Which I won't. I don't care what incentives are offered, what cash-back is on offer, what discount codes might be available.

I don't have any problem with schemes that offer such benefits if you sign up, because I won't. But many people gladly trade data for discounts, etc. Fine, no problem - because you actively sign up to get them. And I won't sign up.

I was paying for some shopping in a supermarket a few weeks ago and was asked if I had a "card". I said no. The lady behind me said "You ought to get one, you get discounts". I pointed out, I knew that, but don't want my shopping habits tracked. "Yeah", she said, "but .... discounts".

Her priority was price. Mine wasn't, and isn't. Whether that card would save me £10/year, or £1000/year doesn't matter to me. £10k/year wouldn't do it, though that would pretty much mean free shopping for the year, and a few grand on top. I'd still say no.

All I want is to not be tracked. How is that expectation unreasonable?

And do you not get why companies that have, until recently, done everything in their power to deny me that simple choice, forcing me to be draconian in avoidance, earn my disdain?

I don't want to take such a draconian stance, or steps. It's a right pain in the proverbial. It's just been the ONLY way to even get close to being left the hell alone by these companies.

So a simple clear choice of MS account or no-MS-account, fine. But if it's clear and simple now, it sure didn't used to be.

[spacein_vader]

In the 1903 build a local account is in smaller writing at the bottom of the screen. Which is better than 1809 which wouldn't give you a local account option at all unless it was disconnected from the internet first.

[Tabbykatze]

In the 1903 build a local account is in smaller writing at the bottom of the screen. Which is better than 1809 which wouldn't give you a local account option at all unless it was disconnected from the internet first.

I did not know that about 1809 and that is a bit stupid considering it asks you to connect to internet first before the user creation process, i normally build using domain accounts and sysprep. The last time I fully rebuilt without a local account was 1703.