What To Do After Jan 2020

tetraps · 01 Mar 2018

Barman58 said:

The Microsoft account or Microsoft ID is a reasonable requirement for Microsoft to provide free Cloud Storage - There are other free services such as google which also requires an appropriate Google ID or Account.

There are other options that do not require a specific email or account but they do need you to provide certain details if only so they know how to bill you for use of their Cloud storage.

There were many more free access cloud sites in the past , which also required an email address to use - unfortunately most, if not all, have been closed due to their use by the users to store pirated media and software

I think you misunderstood or I wasn't clear in my previous post. Allow me to clarify. :)

I do have a OneDrive/MS account. I just don't want to use my MS account for logging into 8.1. I prefer a local login for a variety of reasons. For example, a couple months ago users who have MS logins were locked out of their systems after the monthly security updates. I have no need for things like the Windows Store, either.

The only way I can access my OneDrive outside of the web interface on 8.1 is to map it as a network drive, which I have done. That's obviously slow and not ideal for accessing big files.

I don't expect to be able to use such a service without a login. I just wish I could use a local account on 8.1 but still install or use OneDrive. As it is I'm locked out of the OneDrive desktop app unless I use my MS account to log into 8.1. Unless I'm mistaken this is not the case on Win 10 - you can use a local login with Win 10 but still install the OneDrive desktop app and use it as you would on 7.

I mainly use Dropbox for files I access every day, whereas I use OneDrive for less frequently accessed materials or longer-term backups. Also heavily depend on Google Drive and manage way too many sheets and docs in there. Still, it would be nice to be able to use the OneDrive desktop app on 8.1 without needing to use my MS account to log into the OS itself.

Barman58 · 01 Mar 2018

As far as I am aware the major difference between use of a Microsoft Account to a local account is ...

With a Microsoft account when you sign in you are automatically signed in to any other service that requires signing, This includes Windows Apps and Cloud services.

With a local account you can still use the same apps and services but you will need to log in separately in each one, so it should be possible to use a local account and login to Onedrive using a microsoft account

I always use a Microsoft account so cannot confirm or deny this but it is as I say my understanding.

The other thing that logging in with a Microsoft account gives is the ability to Re-activate a system with major hardware changes, (Motherboard replacement), automatically

tetraps · 01 Mar 2018

Barman58 said:

With a local account you can still use the same apps and services but you will need to log in separately in each one, so it should be possible to use a local account and login to Onedrive using a microsoft account

It's not the case on 8.1, at least for OneDrive which is integrated with the OS in such a way that if you don't use an MS account to log into Windows you cannot use the OneDrive app. If you try to install the OneDrive desktop app separately in a local account, you still won't be able to access it. The OneDrive app in 8.1 is walled off unless you use an MS account to log into Windows.

onedrive wont install on windows 8.1 - Microsoft Community
Two big shortcomings of OneDrive on Windows 8.1 - Microsoft Community

Barman58 · 01 Mar 2018

I've just checked - signed in with a local account (I always create one on all systems as a backdoor access), this had never been used so it went into the setups and then "Introduced me to Onedrive" - iI then signed in as Me using my Microsoft account credentials and it worked fine

This is on Windows 10 Pro FCU 1709 Fully patched

tetraps · 01 Mar 2018

Barman58 said:

This is on Windows 10 Pro FCU 1709 Fully patched

I've already explained this is an issue on 8.1 only, not 10. Your result is as expected because you are using 10.

tetraps said:

this is not the case on Win 10 - you can use a local login with Win 10 but still install the OneDrive desktop app and use it as you would on 7.

The integration with OneDrive and 8.1 is different - see the links I posted above. You cannot use the OneDrive desktop app on 8.1 unless you sign into Windows with your MS account.

RoWin7 · 01 Mar 2018

How does Linux compare in the number of programs it can run?

Lady Fitzgerald · 01 Mar 2018

RoWin7 said:

How does Linux compare in the number of programs it can run?

Nailing it down to numbers would be kind of tricky. There are a lot of programs available for Linux but how many would depend on what kind of programs. For example, professional music engraving programs (programs used to professionally create sheet music for publishing), such as Allegro or Sibelius (actually, those two are the industry standard), are available for Windows and Mac but not for Linux. The same is true of some other professional programs. However, equivalents for more mundane programs are usually available, some of which also work in Windows and or Mac.

mrjimphelps · 02 Mar 2018

RoWin7 said:

How does Linux compare in the number of programs it can run?

If you are asking, "How many can Linux run at the same time?", I think that depends on how much memory your computer has. I have Linux Mint 18.2 64-bit, with 4 GB of RAM in my computer, and I have never had any problem running a whole lot of stuff all at the same time.

My guess is that you could run more in 64-bit Linux than 32-bit Linux, but that is only a guess.

I haven't tried to push the envelope here by loading everything plus the kitchen sink all at the same time, so I don't know how far I could go with this. But so far, so good...

RoWin7 · 02 Mar 2018

No, I was just wondering if Linux has substitutes for the most common Windows programs. I've never used it. But Lady Fitzgerald already replied.

I'll concern myself with it in 2020.

Lady Fitzgerald · 02 Mar 2018

RoWin7 said:

No, I was just wondering if Linux has substitutes for the most common Windows programs. I've never used it. But Lady Fitzgerald already replied.

I'll concern myself with it in 2020.

Some you may want to look at now include PDF Studio Pro 12 to replace Adobe Acrobat Standard and LibreOffice to replace MS Office. Both have versions that work in Windows and Linux.

I'm still using Win 7 but I've already completely divorced me from Adobe, using PDF Studio in its place (along with Foxit Reader to regain PDF reading capability in IE11). I haven't removed Office 2010 from my computers yet but I'm already using LibreOffice pretty much exclusively. LibreOffice, with some limitations, can work with MS Office files and save work as MS Office file but I'm using LibreOffice files and PDFs with the LO files embedded to make editing easier to save my work. I've also experiment with VueScan to replace the native Windows software in my two scanners. VueScan is also compatible with Linux.

Using these programs in Windows gives me the chance to learn how to use them before I switch over to Linux, reducing the sudden learning curve I will have to deal with.

Other programs that work in both Windows and Linux include Plex media Server and FreeCad. I haven't had time to fool with either one...yet.