Microsoft has made OneDrive slightly more annoying for Windows 11 users. Quietly and without any announcement, the company changed Windows 11’s initial setup so that it could turn on the automatic folder backup without asking for it.
Now, those setting up a new Windows computer the way Microsoft wants them to (in other words, connected to the internet and signed into a Microsoft account) will get to their desktops with OneDrive already syncing stuff from folders like Desktop Pictures, Documents, Music, and Videos. Depending on how much is stored there, you might end up with a desktop and other folders filled to the brim with shortcuts to various stuff right after finishing a clean Windows installation.
↫ Taras Buria at NeoWin
Just further confirmation that Windows 11 is not ready for the desktop.
Just more confirmation that Microsoft no longer cares about home & small org users beyond those that will take any level of abuse and be guinea pigs & bug testers for their larger customers while being farmed as product to Microsoft’s business partners. Consider this in tandem with removing visible options in Win11 install for (home) users to use a local account, and recently removing documentation on how to convert from MS account to a local account with Win11. MS wants all your data, and you won’t get a chance to say no in advance. Then you’ll be jumping through hoops to limit or disable the collection after the fact.
The frog-boiling will continue.
I might be biased, but unless you are gaming (than maybe an Xbox), or need a very specific software, moving to another platform like Linux, or even Chrome/Chromium OS is desirable.
At least you’d know what is going on, and have overall more control of the system.
I agree as a 30 years MS user who uses MS Office and a few windows-only applications for work.
It’s time to move on, because the water is getting obviously hotter and hotter, and it will obviously be too late a few years later.
At this point, I gave up any hope with Microsoft, and I only hope I can make linux mint work for me.
Of course you can!
So, let’s be real.
There are multiple ways Microsoft could have gone.
1 – The current path, forcing all of us to do what you want.
2 – No changes. Keeping their tools as add-on only. Slimming down Windows. What a world that would be.
3 – A little more benevolent. Like, if you are going to default to OneDrive syncing documents, make it super useful. Like, hey if you have Windows, your entire system is backed up FOR FREE by us. (No charge and no limit on size.) Because we love you as a customer. You can download a backup if something goes wrong. That’s who we are.
The third option is a little more Apple-like, and you may want to disable it. But gosh, wouldn’t it make your stupid OneDrive more useful? I can’t stand OneDrive. It’s so… not useful in its current state.
I’d love option #2!
It doesn’t really matter, it’s about what works best for Microsoft. End users might complain for a while but won’t do anything about it. Decades back there was this meme ongoing, that’s it we are moving to GNU/Linux, today not even this meme is circulating around any more. Microsoft can do whatever they want to do and that won’t change much, so it woudl be stupid of them not to do it if it suits them best.
For 90% of the users, that is what they want. We, the nerds, are the other 10%, and if it happens, we disable it. That is the 90% that never change the defaults. Those are the ones that still have whatsapp in normal and not dark mode even though it is killing your retinas.
Actually it’s been like this for quite a while now.
That’s why I use Tiny11, which gets rid of most of this crap. And may God have Mercy on you if for work you need to install Office (2021 Pro, no online crapware). M$ Orifice installs a *completely* different version of OneDrive, though the process name is the same. To disable it you have to manually edit Group Policies. If anyone ever thought that changing a couple of things in the Registry was scary…
Windows is a sinking ship.
One thing I don’t get with “features” like onedrive-backup or recall:
They are in essence espionage.
Even only planing such a thing should land you in prison for many years.
Why are our courts not acting?
Because the corporations own the courts. It’s that simple. More precisely, the people who own the corporations through the money system own the politicians and the courts.
I wonder how many people that regularly visit this site are using Windows on their personal computers, as opposed to work machines? I only use windows at work, where it’s on everyone’s desk. I would have thought that most people on here were in the same boat, using something other than windows for their own computing needs.
There was a time when online backup of files seemed attractive to me. It seemed a good safe place for important files and treasured photos. I never really got into it, however, and these days entrusting my important stuff to one of these a-hole corporations couldn’t be further from my mind. I’ll take responsibility for my own backups. On the other hand, I used to want to escape my investment in gmail until I realised there was nowhere better to store the tens of thousand of spam and marketing emails I have recieved over the years. Google services is a great place for all the detritus of the digital age. Thank you Google! (haha)