You can’t get rid of it, you can only hide it: Microsoft imposes controversial Windows Backup on users

"YouTube face" is annoying enough scrolling through videos, but it's even more unnecessary here!

Tbf that's my favourite kind of AI generated person

Could be real but filtered and low res. The lack of symmetry on the nose is unusual for AI. The teeth do look a bit weird though.

"Embrace Extend Extinguish"

I can't wait for the eventual warning pop-ups and emails, warning me that my onedrive is almost full (70%)

Honestly I hope, would be a big boom for Linux which I already use

You joke but this

Still $129 for the initial license key, too

It's been a thing for years already for enterprises

Probably an unpopular opinion, but I don't see a problem with subscriptions for commercial software. Fixing bugs and security issues after release is an ongoing effort that costs money, so a one-time purchase isn't really economically viable in the long run. I honestly wouldn't feel comfortable using unmaintained software that might contain known but unfixed vulnerabilities.

Imagine how much better the computing landscape would be today if we actually prevented MS from doing anticompetitive and often straight-up illegal stuff in the 90s to gain their monopoly

I know everyone hates the automatic response of “just switch to linux” in response to Microsoft’s BS. BUT, it’s really so true - more people need to just do it and get over their fear of linux. It has been a totally stable easy option for a long time now.

Install an easy distro like mint and you’re literally up and running in a gui environment in like 10 minutes. Your grandmother could run it no problem. For the gamers out there - a good chunk of your stuff just works these days, and you can always dual boot windows for that game that doesn’t perform well (even better just get a small cheap 2nd hard drive and you can’t screw it up).

Thank you to all the people who contribute to linux and have given us a totally viable alternate.

Linux doesn't have a backup option?

I'm aware of all of this, but most of the software I use is Windows only. Recommending GIMP/whatever seems like enough to a proud Linux user, but it really just doesn't cut it. I'm savvy enough to get rid of all the stuff I hate about windows or switch to Linux, but I'm comfortable enough to stay with wondoes

I just have migrated to using an untrusted Windows Gaming PC exclusively for that and Debian for everything else. Go ahead, harvest my wasted hours on steam and chat trashtalk, idgaf.

It's unfortunate that MMOs and competitive games generally have poor linux support. Mostly because of anticheats. It's the only reason I still have windows on my gaming PC.

it reminds me of twitter users were reduced to 100 tweets for a while so they'd follow a 30 step workaround to see that 101st tweet but would still say masto is "too complicated".

Lol, the thread below this one starts with "So? Sure you can't get rid of it but also you don't have to use it."

This is like if you're renting an apartment and your landlord shows up to clear a clogged drain and whilst they're in there they install a laundry chute to a room you don't have access to.

You don't pay for that room because you have no need for it and probably wouldn't use it, but could if you want to. Or you can just deal with it being there. Or you can put something in front of the chute to hide it. But it's an inconvenience having to do that and it wasn't there when you moved in so you weren't planning on having to deal with it.

Also, you've got no way of knowing if your landlord is in that room with their ear up to the bottom of the chute, listening to your conversations.

Yea, Windows users act like it's some kind of immovable object that you just have to deal with and that they're so smart because they spend hours applying some dodgy hack by wading through that god awful registry editor rather than just editing config files and having full control over their system. Oh no but then they'd have to open the terminal which is such a problem for them.

I don't remember Time Machine backing up to someone else's server.

Is that possible on Windows 11?

You could also use Linux. I mean you're starting to hack your machine just as much as a Linux user.

You also can't use a work or school account, according to Microsoft:

Important: You must use a personal Microsoft account with Windows Backup. Work or school Microsoft accounts won't work.

There is also no way to use the backup app with local storage, like an external hard drive; you can ONLY back up to OneDrive with this.

EDITED to clarify: for now, you can still back up to another drive, but it's a different process and the "advanced settings" needed to do so are buried several layers deep.

I've grown up with windows (started with windows 95 in elementary school) and have been a Linux user since 2009. Watching windows decline and the Linux desktop grow and mature has been quite the ride. I've been distro-hopping for years and have finally settled on Debian Testing. It does exactly what I tell it to do. It helps me accomplish whatever task I'm doing and then gets out of the way.

Windows on the other hand is the polar opposite of that. Constantly nagging you to use OneDrive. New panels and "experiences" popping up out of nowhere. Unskippable OOBEs after a major update that force you to navigate some dark pattern if you have the audacity to resist using a Microsoft account. The telemetry that you know is running under the hood 24/7. Hands and knees begging you to use Edge to open PDFs?!?! Using windows today is like using Clippy - the operating system.

Linux has come such a long way, and outside of some proprietary edge cases, I can no longer imagine using Windows as a daily driver

It's another way of trying to force users into using OneDrive, Microsoft's cloud service, and paying for the privilege. It's not a big deal for the tech savvy, but it's a great way to capture subscriptions from those that are not. Using it also requires a Microsoft account.

The thing is, if you can't uninstall it, then Windows will repeatedly try to shove the feature into your face, until you enable it again

I think you’ll find a number of… specific OS users, let’s call them, who will tout that they can uninstall anything from their OS without complaint or warning. Same response as being unable to completely uninstall internet explorer back in the day.

It sounds like people are grumpy that they’re being shown a feature that they can’t use or don’t want to use,

That's the problem right there. They're trying to sell you a new feature. That's an ad. Ads have no place in an operating system.

Windows bad. Linux good. Now go find a study with content that fits this narrative.

It’s nothing like the old backup apps. They were useful this is more forced cloud spyware which at this point is the entire OS now

I have not used it nor have I seen prompts for it yet. But if it follows their usual pattern it'll be very in-your-face about it and give every indication there is no choice but to use it which will be the same as required or forced for most users. It's evil/deceitful practice in my opinion. I'm irritated every time Microsoft teams updates I have to disable and block it with Simple Wall firewall app.

Why should I waste hard drive space that I paid for to store a component that I neither require nor utilize? If I'm already on a machine that is pretty close to my drive limitations (and I am), why should I simply accept further reduction in my computer's capabilities?

This was the same argument Microsoft made about Internet Explorer during the antitrust lawsuit. Yet somehow, when faced with the possibility of a forced split, they managed to find a way.

It might be a preview of whats coming though, MS would conceivably at some point move to a cloud based OS completely at some point

You should read EULA every once in a while.

“We will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to”, for example, “protect their customers” or “enforce the terms governing the use of the services”.

With Windows10 you already accepted that they will collect and share data. What is good faith to them remains to be seen but as a rule of hand I don't trust them for anything. In short, yes... Microsoft is seeing your information.

Spoken like a true Stockholm syndrome Windows user.

Not masochists, just people with very different needs, privacy concerns and overall tech knowledge than you. Not sure why this is hard to understand by some folks.

I’m waiting for the inevitable Lemmy comment from an engineer or sys admin that tells me to install Linux.

Same people who already use OneDrive since that's all "backup" means here.

I wouldnt call it backup. It is keeping versions of a file. Its keeping deleted files for a while, in the recycle bin. But you have to use the web interface to access those. Nor can you restore entire folders in one go, like File History could. File History works still, but one cant manually run the "delete all but the latest/last month/last year" job anymore. It just fails. The restore function works (well, I havent tested it after the new patch though).

Also, cloud copying the entire Documents folder? Theres so damn much crap and cache files put there. You gonna double your internet usage when playing some games, just for the cache files that is added, downloaded, changed, uploaded again and again. I'm glad I aint on a limit, but a lot of people in the rest of the world are.

The new backup tool ONLY backs up to OneDrive, and you MUST use a personal Microsoft account, not even a work or a school account.

Seriously, look at the link. If you want to use an external drive, for example, or a different cloud account, it's a different process and the settings are buried several layers deep.

If the new app were like the old versatile backup tool you picture here, there would be no issue.