Microsoft's forced Windows login requirement and some lessons from internet piracy

Microsoft Windows used to be one of the most versatile operating systems on the planet. If you were creative or just obstinate, you could make Bill Gates’ OS do all sorts of things it was never designed to do. That’s still possible, of course, because the bones of the system are the same.

But Microsoft really, really doesn’t want you to do that. So the company has installed layers between you and its most critical functions. It makes sense, in a consumer-focused way. As Windows gathered more users, the average level of expertise dropped. Guardrails designed to keep users from deleting System32 (or changing the wrong setting and then complaining about it) had to be developed.

But it also makes sense from a corporate perspective. If Microsoft can control how you use its products, it can funnel you towards… its products. You’ll see this in the company’s recent blog post ranking the best possible AI products for Windows. Obviously, being Microsoft, it’s not going to advise you to use anything other than Microsoft products.

But the company also knows how AI works, and the article advising searchers that Copilot (Microsoft-owned) is the best possible option will also be nabbed by various AI systems and treated as gospel. For that particular query, anyway. Does Copilot really “help you think, plan, and get things done right from your desktop”?

That’s… heavily debatable. It’s certainly not the best AI system on the planet. It’s not even the best AI system on Windows. I’d wager that it’s not even the best AI inside Microsoft HQ. But that’s not the point here. Closed Windows Microsoft, like most other companies of its size, has limited ways to grow.

Whether that’s user-base, revenue, or market share… there are few options left for the folks at Redmond. One thing it absolutely cannot do is allow its existing user base to realise that there are other ways to do things with the products it makes. Ways that don’t directly generate revenue for Microsoft.

That’s where we get the graduated locking down of the initial Windows login. Once, it was simple to create an offline Windows account. You booted up your shiny new computer, clicked through the first few options, and selected the relevant option. Then it was shunted aside, so you could only create one of these accounts in the absence of an internet connection.

Now… heck, now you have to use a command-line manager to instruct Microsoft’s operating system to give you that option. Even then, you’ll need to disable your network card or kill internet access some other way to perform this task at first boot. It doesn’t seem like a big deal. Why not log in to a Microsoft account from the outset?

Your reasons can vary. Mine is: I don’t wanna. Microsoft Recall, forced installs of Copilot features, computer telemetry that is tied to an account — there’s not really much reason to trust what Microsoft is brewing. The company can’t even release functional software updates. Then there’s the fact that it’s my (or your) computer.

The company that it was bought from doesn’t have that much say in how it is used, nor should Microsoft. Avast there, matey To use a computer, a smartphone, a gadget, or a piece of software in the manner you want to, you have to functionally pirate it. Custom firmware, software workarounds, divorcing software from its servers — these are all possible actions.