Talk:Microsoft

Section formerly known as Dark patterns

I cannot deny, the "dark patterns" section definitely feels a bit inflammatory, though I'm curious to know if other seconds are a bit inflammatory JamesTDG (talk) 15:30, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

Agree, I added the ToneWarning because the whole page seemed 'off' -Keith

Any ideas on how to tone the rest of the page down? I know we'd need to get the attention of the "dark patterns" author to know the intent before we clean that section up. JamesTDG (talk) 16:06, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

As an aside - the dark pattern is no longer as much a problem as latest ISO images of the installation media don't even allow for creating a local account, even without internet access, and will happily inform you that you need to connect to the internet to create or link your MicroSoft account.

It's now necessary to open a powershell window and execute a command to skip the Out-Of-Box-Experience, sequence-breaking the onboarding process and restart the installer in order to create a local account without having to log into a microsoft account first.

Initially, you could install windows and a local account was a freely selectable choice. After 22, you had to start the installer with no internet availability and it would then offer you the choice of a local account, albeit hidden behind a couple of clicks. Now, it's not even an option without some hackery.

I think I have some old ISO images around that I could try, to better demonstrate the dark pattern that was present, though. SwervingLemon (talk) 21:13, 29 May 2025 (UTC)

I reached out to Ixus directly by e-mail. Hoping to get some more information, as IMO the issue isn't tone but a lack of details. Skatche (talk) 00:19, 27 January 2025 (EST)

As far as I could tell, the section titled "Dark patterns" was really about Microsoft account requirement in Windows. I was starting to add section on MS Account, then realized that was what this section was about, so renamed it.

I think the section should stay, since MS Account requirement is important.

• Increasing force applied to require MS accounts.
• MS accounts and TPM credentials and encryption are all tied together and not well explained how to use them safely (backing up credentials). The default experience seems to be if you lose the MS account (it gets hacked, or MS disables it), or if your hardware fails (so you can't log in with this machine) you lose your data. (I don't know how this affects things like onedrive or subscriptions, if you lose those as well when TPM goes blooey without backup.) Drakeula (talk) 18:36, 11 October 2025 (UTC)

Just to clarify, though I think the section should stay, the content I added to the section is still very rough draft. Important topic worth a good clear explanation. Drakeula (talk) 18:39, 11 October 2025 (UTC)

Dark patterns section

Is it even worth keeping tbh, I was looking for sources and its a barely talked about topic, could just be worth scrapping altogether even after I fixed some of the language.

Perhaps remove most of the text from this page, and spin it out as a stub incident page?

Banning LibreOffice dev

From the article suggestions, don't know if it should fall under anticonsumer behavior due to its automation randomly malfunctioning, or if it is malice meant to harm LibreOffice's development; from the actual suggestion description:

Mysteriously banned the developer of LibreOffice from his Hotmail Account; Automated systems handled the appeal process and refused to restore access to his account, potentially harming LibreOffice's development. JamesTDG (talk) 14:08, 11 September 2025 (UTC)

Refactor Windows coverage

Much of the material on Windows 11 better covered in Win 11 article, just leave a few highlights or a listing of issues here. Might make sense to add a Win 10 article also? Or just move Win 11 article to MS Windows and cover them both? Drakeula (talk) 01:50, 12 October 2025 (UTC)

Integrate small section on Windows for Advertising Overload

I only just noticed this, but we mention Windows having AO in the related article (Advertising overload), but it doesn't have a small section summarizing it here, please make sure to add it! JamesTDG (talk) 12:08, 17 October 2025 (UTC)

Discovered useful things to cover

Accidentally came across a few useful lists we should reference for a dedicated page on Microsoft deprecating software people use.

https://www.versionmuseum.com/history-of/discontinued-microsoft-products

https://www.alltechnerd.com/10-programs-and-services-abandoned-by-microsoft/

Additionally, reference this page for more things to add!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Microsoft

(See Also section has a few potential theme articles that can be written. I especially encourage EEE since it is closely related to Microsoft, and Wikipedia's coverage has been solely on them) JamesTDG (talk) 13:31, 8 November 2025 (UTC)