(And outside of work, Apple punted on games, which means I will always buy a Windows or Linux computer.)
Apple has consistently made choices that make having a Mac less palatable to me -- killing all 32-bit binaries destroyed most of what was available on Steam for the Mac. Hassling me to logon is another unforced error. Eventually I dumped my Macbook Air and bought a Windows laptop.
Apple hardware is really good. I probably spend more on Windows laptops because I replace them more often. But it's a better experience. (And I can get a more adequate amount of memory.)
Sorry, but Macs require an online account only if you want to use optional online services offered by Apple, just as is the case with Microsoft and something like OneDrive or Office 365.
You aren't required to use the optional services on either platform.
The difference is that Microsoft wants to force you to use an online Microsoft account to log into your own local computer. Macs do not require that.
I have no OS or tech giant loyalty, but I think the pushiness is wash between MacOS and Windows. I still haven't found a way to stop my mac from nagging me to log into iCloud, I currently am dealing with a bug where the iCloud login modal shows up immediately after I dismiss it, in an unceasing cycle, and I have to launch the App store and the quit before the nagging stops.
I recently set up a Windows 11 laptop over the holidays and found out (from Google) esoteric "oobe*.exe" command I had to run on the CLI on first boot (pre-setup) that showed the option to create a local account in the UI. I didn't get any nags post set-up.
As far as annoying reminders go, Microsoft takes the lead by using repeated full screen ads.
> Though this is a fresh wave of full-screen update reminders, it's far from the first time Microsoft has used this tactic.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/11/microsoft-pushes-ful...
At any rate, Microsoft has made multiple changes over the years designed to hide the option of using a local user account in Windows, which is a bridge too far.
I recently tried Linux as my primary desktop after 10+ years. It’s amazing. It just works and there is no slop, no advertising, no ecosystem to log into, no notifications. So nice. I can actually get work done! And games often just work.
(Pop_OS on a System76 Adder)
Only Microsoft has actively hidden the option to use your own computer without a Microsoft account.
And people always say that we risk our accounts being locked out, but when was the last time Apple was heard closing Apple Accounts?
That's your point of view. I see access to so many services because I have a phone, laptop, watch and headphones. Apple doesn't use accounts only to track you, it uses accounts to do things like seamlessly switch your AirPods between devices.
It's really not. Of all the devices I own, the only one that really wants a centralized account is a Chromebook on its way out. Even Android is willing to work without a Google account.
The plague was a given in 1666 too, doesn't necessarily means its a good thing.
It's basically required on a chrome OS device, although my MIL was using the guest account for months when she changed her password instead of referencing her password book and then later couldn't log in from her book. Chrome OS isn't awful with no persistent storage.
Blessedly, I haven't had to use a mac in many years, but a local account didn't seem to impact anything of note --- you could login to the app store in the event you needed something from there, but there wasn't much that needed it other than Xcode; maybe that's changed.
The iPhone with no app store is fairly useless, so yeah, you've got to login to that. An Android with no google play is a little bit less useless, depending on what apps you want to run, some of them distribute apks directly.
For shared computers its really nice. I log in with my account, my wife logs in with hers, regardless of whatever computer we have handy. If I'm lounging on the couch I might grab her Surface, if she wants to sit down and work on a bigger project she can hop down at the bigger gaming PC, if we're on a trip and want to sync photos just grab the laptop. It's our same accounts, same username and passwords, same customization settings we like, regardless of whatever computer we use. The NAS at home has its permissions tied to our Microsoft accounts so our accounts log in seamlessly regardless of what computer we're on.
Meanwhile all our devices are encrypted and have our backup keys to decrypt synced there.
I probably would never want to have any personal Windows machine use a local account going forward.