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Comment by lstamour | Hacker News Reader

This might be old news. The “Offline Account” link appears in Windows 10 Pro but not Windows 10 Home. It’s unclear which version this is.

https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/222344/microsoft...

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Agreed, what they say Microsoft is "starting to export outside NA" is already the norm here in France since at least this summer.

If the computer is connected to the network in anyway, there is absolutely no way to install with an offline account. Removing all rj45 and not connecting to the wifi until that step is passed allows to use a local account like before.

Still not a path I like to see them take

This almost sounds like they're trying to force a subscription model for Home users at some point. Give away the OS for free for a good while then charge a buck a month to use it. Most will cave to the model to keep using it then they can slowly turn up the fire.

At the moment, it's clear what the direction of travel is.

True, and even in Pro you are prompted to “finish setup” (attach a Microsoft account) according to the Thurrott article.

All I can point to is that every other operating system with cloud backup services has gone the same way. It’s hard to backup a local account to the cloud when it’s not synced and once synced, why force users to remember different passwords? Combining accounts does make life easier for most folks...

Also its brilliant business because when cloud goes out fashion(as it does cyclically) they can sell the same software again 'redesigned' for standalone/local usage.

The first an article about this article appeared, they had changed the button name. I've recently setuped another Windows, Pro edition, and they did revert the button name to "Or make an offline account". This button is available when they ask you to connect or create a microsoft account in the setup.

Last year I ran through all the old versions of OS/X from 10.1 up to current. It's surprising how many internet services it relied on that were no longer available.

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