Windows 10 and mandatory Microsoft account

On trade fairs, I've used a monitor and my laptop for presentations. Usually I have somewhat related slideshow running, and when I need to present something I bring out other windows like browser.

Laptop there is not great. It has relatively small screen and takes up some space on the table, so when a new fair-like event was coming up now, I checked if I could find something better, remembering that I had somewhere seen small PCs that attach directly to back of display.

Instead of those, I found Intel Compute Stick. Not cheapest option, but since it's very small, the simple ease of plugging it in is hard to ignore so I ordered one.

Yes, I could get new Raspberry Pi and used that, but since I haven't used those that much, there would have been some learning curve involved with that option (including building it up with enclosure and everything else required) and here I was under time constraints here so this was the easier option.

This one came with Windows 10, unsurprisingly. When first starting Windows, it prompts you to create an user. It used to very heavily suggest "online" (networked, be it Outlook or Microsoft or whatever) account and make "offline" (local computer only) account creation kinda unobvious, so Microsoft very obviously wanted you to make a hard connection between your identity and the computer. This is very, very seriously something I absolutely refuse to do.

I've done Windows 10 install a few times now and it seems that in every release Microsoft has made the offline install a bit more difficult to do.

This time I almost couldn't. The option for local account creation just wasn't there. Only options presented were (IIRC) Outlook account or phone number.

After some attempts, it eventually occurred me to cut the wireless access (that was the previous step in installation, set up internet access) and tell the installer to "create new microsoft account" (or whatever it was). And what do you know, when it couldn't access the internet for that, I was finally presented the offline option. Victory was mine!

Only few days later I find this on hacker news. So many others have also run onto this issue and many - but not all, unfortunately - have found the same solution.

For now.

The unpleasant thought is, since Microsoft seems to be hell-bent to make every user to register to their services, at which point they try to make this mandatory. Not at once, of course. I imagine that there will be one feature update where windows will start presenting you with a nag screen every login or every few weeks to register if you're on offline account. But not until you're online, of course.

Then update or two later it will throw that screen on your face every few days. Then hours. Then it will just not go away until you do register.

I have to wonder what will my pain tolerance be when they do this... Fortunately at this point I have very few 'strings' holding me in Windows, so I could just make the leap and go Linux-only.

And kid will be getting PS4 (not that I'm happy with Sony's behavior either), so no xbox in our house either.

Make my day, Microsoft. Just try to make my day here. Do you really want me - and many others - to pull that proverbial trigger, especially since it's getting easier day by day to make that jump?