OneDrive automatically backups folders in Windows 11 without users' permissions

Submitted ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://windowsreport.com/onedrive-automatically-backups-folders-in-windows-11-without-users-permissions/

According to the latest reports, Windows 11 has made an independent choice by automatically turning on OneDrive folder backup for Desktop, Pictures, Documents, Music, and Video folders without your permission. This signifies that, whether you approve or not, everything is becoming coordinated with the cloud.

This action from Microsoft fits into a larger pattern where big tech companies cleverly (or not so cleverly) promote their services and subscriptions to users. It isn’t only about Microsoft; there have been instances of Google doing something similar with Google Photos and its storage plans.

Keep an eye on your settings, particularly when you have just finished setting up a new device or updating your operating system. Companies such as Microsoft constantly seek methods to link users with their environments—sometimes without permission.

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Comments

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NegativeLookBehind@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
When you download something without permission, you’re a criminal

When MicroShit does it, it’s a feature

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- refurbishedrefurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Well you see, they put it in page 69 of their EULA that got updated last week that they emailed directly to your spam folder. Since you didn’t opt out of that clause my sending a registered letter to their offices in Uganda, Japan, Washington, and Ukraine, it is considered that you agreed to the EULA.
  
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terminhell@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Gotta get scrapping all that data to train copilot+++

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- octopus_ink@lemmy.ml ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  This one never really gets old anymore.
  
  Image
  
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- frezik@midwest.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Vote this up higher. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if everything ends up in their models.
  
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- lynx@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  This is probably the only reason microsoft recall exists, as it is completely useless for anything else.
  
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- werefreeatlast@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Oh it was your data? Oops! Embarrassing! Anyway, introducing MAIS! Microsoft AI system!
  
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SexualPolytope@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Rapist mentality.

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- neo@lemy.lol ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Your honour, I asked her if she wanted to have it and she said no. I wasn’t sure what that meant so I asked again. And to make things clearer I told her that “yes” and “maybe later” where the only options. She still didn’t say yes, but after some time I decided that “later” had come. So I Azure you, I did nothing wrong.
  
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- MataVatnik@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Yes, this. That’s essentially the attitude of all of these corporate exec. They know it’s wrong and do it anyways.
  
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  - TheDarksteel94@sopuli.xyz ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I’m pretty sure they don’t think it’s wrong.
    
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- r3df0x@7.62x54r.ru ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Louis Rossman is a far right extremist who promotes unfounded conspiracy theories against technical corporations.
  
  I’m wondering how many people won’t know if that’s serious or not.
  
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  - WallEx@feddit.de ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    You could say if you’re serious or not, but hey
    
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  - Miyabi@lemmy.zip ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Yes, he does talk a lot about “what ifs” but a lot of his “conspiracy theories” are in the realm of reality. If you do your own research, I think you’ll see that most companies are getting shittier as time goes on.
    
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sylver_dragon@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Every new “feature” I hear about in Windows Privacy Invasion Goes to 11, the happier I am that I switched to Linux. It’s been mostly smooth and games have just worked. Though I know that much of that is because of Proton.

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- pufferfisherpowder@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Funnily, or sadly enough, OneDrive integration is one of the things I miss from my windows days. It’s just extremely convenient how it’s integrated into explorer and office. And how well the smart/ on-demand sync works. I can’t find a setup to replicate this on Linux.
  
  That being said I don’t intend to go back and this move is insane.
  
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  - sylver_dragon@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    If you are willing to self-host, I’ve found Nextcloud integrates well in Linux. I had been using it before I made the switch and it worked out just fine afterwards. I originally set it up to have a cloud-sync option for my phone, which didn’t mean passing everything through Google first. But, it also proved to be a handy way to sync files on my desktop as well.
    It just shows up as another folder on my system and Libre Office is happy to work on files from there (with some permissions fiddling due to flatpak).
    
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  - GreatBlueHeron@lemmy.ca ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I’m in a similar situation - I’m a (retired) Unix admin and have Linux servers at home but I’m still on windows for my desktop because of OneDrive. If you use it as intended, it works really well. I can login to my laptop, my phone or either of my wife’s PC’s and all my stuff is just there.
    
    Yes, I’ve tried nextcloud and it’s close, but the windows sync client is (was?) broken - the upload speed throttling logic is broken and it was going to take ages to sync my data. I went to the nextcloud community and it seemed to be a known issue that know one cares about because the sync just happens in the background and it’s done when it’s done.
    
    As I typed this I realised that if I move to Linux desktop I don’t care about the windows sync client :-) So now I’ve just got the issue that I won’t get my wife off windows and if we’re paying for 5TB of cloud storage, I might as well use it. Yes, I know there are ways to use OneDrive on Linux, but it doesn’t look as seem less and I’d be always concerned that Microsoft will do something to break it.
    
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  - cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I’ve been using next loud with my Nas for years. I sync things to it. Linux Windows Mac, doesn’t matter. Even my phone.
    
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  - paridoxical@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    ExpanDrive is not free (as in libre or beer), but it’s great for OneDrive integration with the filesystem. Been using it for this for a few months now with no issues. Just my two cents.
    
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  - Impromptu2599@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Have you played with NextCloud
    
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partial_accumen@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
…only if you HAVE onedrive account it can reach.

This is a fantastic use case for NOT using a Microsoft account and instead a local account. No Microsoft authenticated account, no Onedrive.

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- ra1d3n@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Good thing they are phasing out local accounts, then.
  
  /s
  
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- derbolle@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  until you can no longer log on with just a local Account. or your Data gets backed up for you anyway. Enshittification is one exec decision away
  
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- r3df0x@7.62x54r.ru ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  When I use Windows 11, I use a second local non admin account.
  
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frezik@midwest.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I wonder about Microsoft’s liability on this one. People store all sorts of things in there, some personal, and some corporate things that are at least non-public, if not outright sensitive. Yeah, people should be using an encrypted drive for especially sensitive info (not that this would stop Microsoft when they own the OS), but they don’t, and it’s not for Microsoft to force the issue.

Did their legal department actually sign off on this? Or did someone in MS legal just shit a brick?

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- AeroLemming@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  If Microsoft was a smaller company, this would completely ruin them and the next headline would be them declaring bankruptcy after failing to fight off 50,000 lawsuits. Fortunately for them, laws don’t apply to companies their size.
  
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  - poorlytunedAstring@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Yeah, this is akin to Disney deciding to do some pretty clear cut theft of some smaller company’s IP, the kind of shit they’d unleash the lawyers for. But how many lawyers do you have? None? One? That’s what we though. The revenue must grow, peasant, give it up.
    
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SkyNTP@lemmy.ml ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Looks like I’m installing Linux tonight.

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- ripcord@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Did you?
  
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- r3df0x@7.62x54r.ru ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I finally installed Linux Mint along with Windows 11.
  
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- TurdMongler@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Yeah. Which one did you go with?!
  
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  - aStonedSanta@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I’d say try Nobara if you wanna game.
    
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Audacious@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Even on windows 10, Onedrive uploaded random crap you don’t want and then yells at you that the space is full and buy a subscription. It has to be the worst cloud service of them all because of the bullshit integration. It was easier to disable and remove it than to work with it.

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- viking@infosec.pub ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I have disabled and uninstalled it, but office 365 still enforces it as the default save as location, so now when I use the dialogue, the system hangs for 30 seconds. Even disabled it in the policy management, but no dice.
  
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cheese_greater@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Apple does it too if you sign in in the Settings. iCloud gets booted up the moment you sign in and everything goes to the iCloud

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- DJDarren@thelemmy.club ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Not everything. By default the contents of your desktop and documents folder, both of which are easy to switch off if you want.
  
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  - cheese_greater@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I was thinking if iOS haha, my bad.
    
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  - Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    True, although their OSes don’t really disclose what is and is not being stored in the cloud by default. I like iCloud syncing, so it doesn’t bother me, but I could see how this would annoy others who want everything local.
    
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- 11111one11111@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I thought part of the apple agreement was that all your data is on their servers. Isn’t that why my media messages from Android to Apple phones look like shit, because Apple only sends shit through their servers and refuses to adapt the industry standard for mobile data?
  
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  - cheese_greater@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    They turn iMessage on by default when you sign in because signing into your account and signing into iCloud purposefully conflated. Its very sneaky and arguably just as bad as the whole Microsoft local accounts lol.
    
    To sign into your account locally and avoid iCloud, you have to sign in in the AppStore on both iOS and MacOS. Its fhe only way. On Mac, iCloud is activated by signing in the Settings place (same as iOS) or that Apple Media Account/Services they pester you with constantly.
    
    Tap for spoiler
    hidden content
    
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phoenixz@lemmy.ca ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Install Linux already, just get it over with.

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- teamevil@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I’m still learning but it’s so much less aggressive in Linux land.
  
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- vinyl@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Make VR work on Linux
  
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  - Alatain@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    My understanding is that it is working much better now than a few months ago. I haven’t actually put it to the test yet, but it is on my list of things to try once I have time to set up my index again.
    
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  - phx@lemmy.ca ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Literally one of the very few things keeping me with a Windows partition, though it doesn’t get used very often
    
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  - Sabata11792@ani.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I have it somewhat working on Nobara after SteamVR updated a few weeks back. It works, but is rather unstable and you got to reboot any time it craps out. 6/10 technically functional.
    
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- Mwa@thelemmy.club ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  People usually don’t use linux because or app compatibility ik wine exists but it just doesn’t not work with all apps
  
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  - Zetta@mander.xyz ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    To really switch to Linux people need to accept that for a good experience you may need to switch off some software to alternative software.
    
    This wasn’t a big deal for me personally and I’m happy I use more open source software now, it can be a bigger issue especially if you need specific tools for work.
    
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  - phoenixz@lemmy.ca ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Most apps have open source versions which work better anyway. I’ve been on a Linux desktop literally for the past 20+ years now, never looked back
    
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- maxinstuff@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Yes, install Linux and the end up using O365 in the cloud anyways 🤡
  
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  - phoenixz@lemmy.ca ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I do exactly that, yes. Unfortunately I my company we have to use the msoffice shit, so I use the online version which is as hilariously bad as one would expect. Same for teams which is just a sad shitshow
    
    Say about Google what you want, but at least the google drive tools work well.
    
    In any case, what is your point?
    
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BigTrout75@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
“All your base are belong to us”

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- lauha@lemmy.one ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  You have no chance to survive make your time
  
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CorrodedCranium@leminal.space ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I wonder how this will work with local accounts

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- Godnroc@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  “We’ve gone ahead and synced all your files to the cloud! Create an account to access them once again.
  
  Enter your email: ______
  
  [ Click here to delay the inevitable ]”
  
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- penquin@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  It just won’t work for a local account. This is for those who sign in/up. And those who are forced to sign in/up in the first setup. My hate towards Microsoft and all the companies like it increases every fucking day.
  
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- frezik@midwest.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Coincidentally, they make it harder to use a local account with every update.
  
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- Logh@lemmy.ml ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Not sure there will be any.
  
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digdilem@lemmy.ml ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Remember when Word and Excel Autosave did what you expected it to?

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demonsword@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Obligatory just switch to Linux plug

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Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.de ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Last night I updated my BIOS and afterwards my Linux Boot Manager entry was gone. Almost expected but still didn’t prepare a LiveUSB, stupid. Had to boot into Windows for the first time in a year and was greeted with the message “Hey some security thing changed, your pin is no longer working. Wanna create a new one?” Of course you need to log in to your Microsoft account for that, otherwise you straight up can’t use your install anymore.

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- Holzkohlen@feddit.de ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Your mistake was using a MS account for your windows install
  
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  - Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.de ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Believe me, I know :D
    
    I have half a mind to just nuke both partitions and just reinstall Arch on the entire drive.
    
    Although I am wondering what would have happened, if I didn’t have Windows installed after the BIOS update. No boot entries at all? 🤔
    
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Default_Defect@midwest.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Well, I deleted Onedrive a long time ago, so no it won’t.

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- cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  It will sneak back on. Linux is the only answer.
  
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  - Default_Defect@midwest.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    People keep saying this, but I’ve never had to redo any of the changes I’ve made.
    
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itsgroundhogdayagain@lemmy.ml ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Please backup all this copyrighted material

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dugmeup@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
How does one block this?

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- archchan@lemmy.ml ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Microsoft is an abusive ex. It will keep abusing you because it knows no other way. You can waste your days trying to fight against it, trying to figure out how to disable and remove whatever new privacy invasive anti-consumer bloat Microsoft decides to roll out that Tuesday.
  
  Or you can leave and switch to Linux and waste time there instead. Tux is all about that respect and is handsome to boot. He might be a bit sensitive and break down rarely so you might need to spare a few to make sure he’s ok, but it’s nothing a little love can’t handle. And he’s only going to get better and stronger as he grows. You might even look forward to receiving updates (wow, I know). A stark contrast from your abusive ex.
  
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tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Not sure why these articles are only coming out now. My work bought me a win11 computer a few months ago and I was surprised to learn that the first few things I downloaded to the desktop showed up on my one drive. I don’t really use the account I have on it for much, and it was easy enough to turn off in settings but it was still a shock.

Just another invasion of privacy by a giant corpo that none of its users asked for

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archomrade@midwest.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
It cannot be that profitable to have just a bunch of random data on their servers. I have so much junk and random bullshit on my drives, it would take a week of labor just to clean my shit well enough to use it for AI training and as soon as I got any notification about cloud space being full i’d turn syncing off - i sure as hell wouldn’t fork over any money for a subscription. This is such a big bridge to burn, and the server overhead must be massive… I just don’t understand how they could possibly think this is a good business decision.

Idk, maybe i’m just too deep into privacy/FOSS/selfhosting headspace to see things clearly from the normal-consumer standpoint but I just do not understand this. I really wish someone would leek an internal conversation at one of these companies that explains the big-picture strategy with this move.

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sunzu@kbin.run ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
At this point onedrive can stick a finger in your asshole... And notbing would be done about it!

I got nothing to hide anyway

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MoonManKipper@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
It is shit but it’s easy to turn off.

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