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>disables their OS unless they turn on iCloud on their Mac -- then you can claim equivalence

What do you mean? Windows doesn't do that. Contrary to what the blog post claims, you can easily uninstall OneDrive (unlike iCloud).

And using Windows without an online account is possible, although the process is cumbersome enough to deter the average user.

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Wasn't there a post the other day saying they'd moved it from "Ballache" to "All but impossible" to use a local account in 25H2?

I tried installing the latest 25H2 (stable iso) and nothing has changed so far. You can still use "bypassNRO" to set it up with a local account, offline. The planned changes will likely only affect the Home edition (Pro/Ent/Edu have more options). Even with Home edition there's a good chance you'll be able to make a local account with an answer file[1][2] or an unofficial tweak.

I think Windows will always be able to work without a MS account, because there are many critical (offline) deployments out there. But they'll probably make it difficult if you're using a "consumer" edition.

[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufactu...

[2] https://schneegans.de/windows/unattend-generator/

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