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I've commented on this meme before. All I'm going to say this time is that OneDrive has redeeming qualities. The way that Microsoft pushes it, like many things Microsoft has pushed lately, is pretty shitty.
Quickly: good examples of shitty Microsoft pushes for what they want you to use: persistent pop-ups about upgrading to Windows 10/11 from earlier versions, making the default browser setting in Outlook/office/teams/whatever, to be separate from the system default, and that default is always edge, OneDrive.... I don't need to say more about the push to OneDrive, considering it's the point of the post.
Regarding OneDrive specifically, you can change the default save locations for MS apps to be not OneDrive. However, OneDrive does offer benefits that are great for the less technically savvy, specifically syncing user data (mainly desktop/documents/pictures).... If you don't need a crazy amount of storage for your images/documents, etc, then having the OneDrive backup/sync enabled is a good backup solution. The only thing you need to keep on top of is that OneDrive is actually still connected to the service (logged in) and working as intended. OneDrive seems to have this tendency to logout or expire your connection, so checking on it monthly just to ensure its still backing up is the best practice.
The benefit to this backup is that it's built into Windows, and almost entirely transparent to the user. "Saving to OneDrive" is just putting the information into a dedicated OneDrive sync folder (usually under "C:\usersusername)\OneDrive - (account name) ) which saves locally, then syncs to OneDrive in the background using something similar to the "BITS" service (background intelligent transfer service, also part of Windows).
Since this is normally very transparent to the user, it's good for less tech savvy people, in case they suffer a failure like a hard drive loss, system crash/failure/corruption, lost/stolen/destroyed hardware, etc. All their files are synced/saved to OneDrive and they lose nothing, all they need is a Microsoft account (Hotmail/outlook.com/live.com), and to take the 30s or so to set it up. Then use the computer pretty much normally and their data is safe from loss.
There's an absolute shit ton of alternatives, not just from cloud storage providers. I personally use both OneDrive (personal, on a Hotmail account - free tier, which IIRC is 100G), Google drive, and my Synology. OneDrive on my PC backs up documents/pictures mainly, which I use as a sync to my laptop, and I use "Synology drive" to back up my entire C:\users\username folder to my local NAS. Google drive is exclusively used on-cloud, mainly for shared documents that I collaborate with others on; mainly financial records (no credit/debit/bank info, just costs, etc), and other tracking type documents and stuff I need to share with others.
I won't get into other alternatives just due to the sheer number of them. Needless to say, I'm very contentious of my data and losing it. I am aware that my free/public account data might be anonymised and used to train some AI somewhere, so I tend to be careful about putting any password/account data/confidential data on a service that may have access to something I don't want it to. I use a password manager, so I don't generally keep login info anywhere except there.
Anyways, enough about me, I want to hear what people use for their backups!
- The main thing people are upset about isn't that OneDrive exists or that Microsoft is pushing it. It's that updates have made it so that OneDrive folder backup is automatically enabled without user permission. Backing up files to OneDrive without being asked to. That is a privacy nightmare.
  I personally host my own copy of Nextcloud and use that for anything I need to sync or back up. I have a regular back up job that snapshots the Ceph cluster it uses for storage and copies it to my own NAS box here in the house, which is automatically replicated via a Nebula network (like TailScale or Zerotier but fully self-managed) to an identical NAS at my parents' house across town.
  
  It does ask, but often the Yay, thanks for changing my setting that I didn't ask you to change button is much more prominent than the Wtf I didn't ask for this put it back how it was button, so people think they're being told rather than asked and just confirm it without realising they had a choice. Also, a lot of people just click the Next/OK button without reading and are surprised by the consequences. It's not a major difference than just changing the setting of people don't realise they're being asked to opt in and can therefore opt out, but it is a bit of a difference.
  
  New installations of windows do not ask, and simply enable it
  
  Hostile UX design. The "yes, make this change I don't want" is often highlighted in a brightly colored button, meanwhile the "no thanks" is often grey or a simple link looking option, not dissimilar to what you would find for help.
  They make it seem like you don't have a choice when you absolutely do.
  Having a choice in what software does is actually a big highlight for me with Windows, apart from being aggressively persuasive in getting people to do whatever they want you to do, in the end, you are given a choice.
  They're slowly eroding this away though, starting with local accounts, and I'm sure much, much more will follow.
  With Linux, the only option you get is to customize your experience. Often defaults are either not apparent or not given, so you kind of stumble around trying to figure out what to do, unless you really know what you want, it can be a terrible experience.
  Mac is customizable.... With one big asterisk on that. You basically need to be a very advanced user to really customize anything beyond whatever the mighty blue Apple wants you to be able to do. You're given a short list of "options" and if you want anything beyond whatever is sanctioned by Apple, here's the command prompt, good luck 👍
  Windows has been in this middle ground for a very long time. Not as free as Linux, with recommended settings across pretty much every piece of software, and defaults that generally work and provide a good experience in general. They might not be optimal, but they work. You have the option of basically doing whatever the hell you want, within reason, without having to get a PhD in computer science to do it.
  With Mac, you either fit into the Apple ecosystem box, or we'll make you fit.
  Linux has no box. No walls, no limits, no rules, not even a guideline. Figure it out yourself.
  .... At least, that's my take on it. I've used all three to some extent for various purposes. Mac is awesome when doing everyday things, a lot of what you need is abstracted away and "just works" (tm), so thinking is at an all time low. Windows is very meh, it does what you want, but it's like a moody teenager at times. It'll just go to hell and you'll be left to figure out wtf is going to fix it. I use Linux mainly for servers, but the UI/UX for it is essentially the aesthetic of Windows 9x/2000, but after you've taken LSD. When you need to get anything fixed, here's your console, good luck. Don't forget to sudo.
- Automated backups and synch is all fine... The way MS does it super inconsistently and unpredictably sucks
- "All I'm going to say this time is that OneDrive has redeeming qualities." Proceeds to say several more paragraphs.
  
  All are related to the original statement.

197 comments