A simple Google search refutes this. Ok, if you count running some cmd magic as meaning they don't require you to have a Microsoft account, we're never going to agree. For Joe Bloggs, a Microsoft account is required and there is no way around it.
That said, maybe Joe Bloggs is better off. If he’s not savvy enough to know the difference / be able to Google around it, he might be better of with an online account given he’ll probably not understand why certain things don’t work the same on his machine or care about the implications of taking his account online.