Microsoft’s insidious insistence on online accounts is the main reason I stopped using Windows. Even with a local Windows account, one time I accidentally opened Edge, and it started automatically importing browser info from Firefox and then syncing it to the Microsoft account that I was using for MS Office. From my point of view, that was some extreme bullshit. Too much to tolerate. I didn’t want Edge to import anything from anywhere - no matter how ‘convenient and easy’ it is. and I certainly didn’t want it to upload anything - no matter what assurances of ‘privacy and security’ are claimed. And until that point, I thought accounts for individual apps could be keep isolated to just that app.

They have to go through all these gymnastics because otherwise, there is no compelling reason for any given user to create a Microsoft account just to use their damn computer. So they resort to trickery, nagging, and now tacitly trying to force the issue. Most users don’t know any better so they’ll just click “ok” on whatever pops up in their faces when they first power on their new PC and take the first thing that’s offered, which in this case is to sign up for a Microsoft account and tie your entire identity to it. Non-nerds don’t know the difference between that and a local account, and that’s dangerous.

It’s become normalized that in order to use any given device or software you’re expected to set up Yet Another Online Account, and that normalization is dangerous, too. I actively try to avoid such things but it’s becoming harder and harder as time goes on.