please

the documents folder on the computer that Microsoft has in your house

How much longer till Microsoft uses Windows computers across the world as a botnet. For working on it's AI. Or some other bullshit.
- lmao its a matter of time before MS decides they need to DDoS someone so hard their data center explodes and they'll be ready to do it
- And you'll have to pay them a subscription fee to do it. If you don't pay, your computer is bricked.
- And how long before the come into your house, steal your stuff, and kick your dog?

Do I look like I know what a OneDrive is?

All hail the Blessed Virgin!
I just need a picture of a god danged hot dog

the most enraging thing i’ve ever experienced on windows was when they started automatically “off-loading” files on my drive because i was running out of space. what the fuck, fuck you, i needed that, die in a fire and never touch my drive again. if i need more space i will fucking make more space

Ah, but those aren't really your files. You clicked "Agree" on the 10,000 page EULA so now Microsoft owns you body and soul and all of your offspring out to the 17th generation. They're just moving around their contracted work product and if you don't like it you can go pound sand, assuming you pay Microsoft $30/mo for the "Pound Sand^TM" account license.

"Your house, ahahah, nice one! By the way, rent is going up. How much was 'your' raise this year?"

Less than the rate of inflation 😮‍💨 guess I make less this year than last year.
- UMMM ACKTUALLY I've got several charts that say you're richer. You must be lying or lazy. /s

My stupid ass phone keeps demanding me to be connected to the internet in order to view photos that I TOOK ON MY PHONE.

maybe change your gallery app to something else?
- Do you have any recommendations? I'm tired of Google begging me to turn on cloud storage for my photos every time I open the photos app.
Do you by any chance take a lot of photos on a phone that doesn't have the capacity to store them all locally?

There aren't enough "got dangs" in this meme

Do I look like I know what a got dang is I just want a hotdog of a gribble. You tell me what about accessories and accessory because Alamo propane is like a got dang ladybird I tell you what

The moment a lawyer saves their medical records in a way that unintentionally and without their consent uploads them to OneDrive, they have a pretty solid case to charge Microsoft for a HIPAA violation.

HIPAA doesn't even require encryption. It's considered "addressable". They just require access be "closed". You can be HIPAA compliant with just Windows login, event viewer, and notepad.

(Also HIPAA applies to healthcare providers. Adobe doesn't need to follow HIPAA data protection, though they probably do because it's so lax, just because you uploaded a PDF of a medical bill to their cloud.)
- HIPAA applies to whichever entity consciously chooses to move/store data.
  
  Generally, after a patient downloads a healthcare-related item, they are that entity - and as the patient, they have full control/decisions about where it goes, so they can't violate their own HIPAA agreement even if they print it and scatter it to the wind.
  
  BUT, if your operating system "decides" to upload that document without the user's involvement, then Microsoft is that entity - and having not received conscious permission from the patient, would be in violation. It's an entirely different circumstance if the user is always going through clear prompts, but their more recent OneDrive Backup goal has been extremely forceful and easy to accidentally turn on - even to the point of being hard to disable. As you said, encryption has nothing to do with it.
https://www.hipaajournal.com/onedrive-hipaa-compliant/#

Totally feasible to use onedrive.

However I've got no sympathy for even a small business to use IT without someone configuring their system in a way that controls this. A lawyer of all people know that knowledge is worth something.
- It is feasible to CHOOSE to use OneDrive and take all the proper precautions. We're talking about home users getting OneDrive data uploaded without their consent through their "push assumed default", and "giant popup, tiny cancel" setups.
  
  The article you link only says it's okay when using a OneDrive business plan together with a signed agreement.

It's so funny watching people have this problem for a literal decade, and they're still complaining instead of using FOSS.

if you think FOSS makes anything better for the average user, especially UX, I have a bridge to sell you.
- Whenever I get to use windows and I face their byzantine directory structure, I wonder how people put up with that shit.
- Do you have any specific notable examples? In my experience, FOSS tends to take a more no-nonsense approach to things.
  
  How does a product that defaults to its own proprietary for-profit offerings providing a better user experience?
  
  The argument I hear most of is that people are just used to what they've used in the past, and having difficulty moving to an alternative because of that isn't indicative of the alternative offering worse UX, but rather an unwillingness to learn anything by the user.
This. Straight up this. Just fucking use Linux, it's ready for casual everyday use.
- Yawn. Yelling at people to just use Linux is ineffective and it comes across as really condescending. It also does nothing to address the issue if how disruptive it is to switch operating systems, especially for less technical users.
- No, it isn't.
  
  Linux on a laptop can't even reliably wake the system when you close then open a laptop lid. There are some basic things that need to work 100% of the time before Linux can be considered ready for casual everyday use.
- LOL it absolutely is not. Not even close.

Permanently Deleted

I want to save to the share drive that looks like a regular folder path.

Is that not how it works? I could have sworn I had it working that way the last time I used it in 2017. Had it rigged up as the location for Da Vinci Resolve database saves and also as a backup location for an Avid project that automatically copied to that folder every day. Wasn't a fan of OneDrive as I had dropbox personally and didn't want another cloud service where I stored all my data as one was probably bad enough, however the production I was working on had no IT infrastructure and no money and the computer we rented for the production for some reason seemed to offer oneDrive for free with the machine. (Maybe it was something to do with the 365 subscription it had?). On that basis since it was already there I used it and it actually ended up saving our asses later on after some other backup procedures didn't end up being followed as they should have and the piece of shit rental machine totally and catastrophically broke. Still haven't used it since, but I was pretty happy with it at the time and was only able to do all that because it was indeed a regular folder location on the machine that happened to sync with the cloud.
- OneDrive decided to kick on after an overnight update and uploaded some projects and vst plugins to the cloud. Apparently, the files weren't accessible except via the cloud, so I lost a few hours re-downloading my folders before I could do anything. I don't know if I've ever been more furious over technology that I theoretically owned.
  
  I got a PC in order to eventually go back to Linux, where at least I know that when something goes wrong, it's generally my own fault and somewhat easy to troubleshoot. Unfortunately, the plugins I've been using only have Windows and Mac versions. If I had done a bit more research, I probably would have just gone with an apple device.

Always hated how MS forces you to use their shit ... I mean I get it, most wouldn't chose to use them as they are indeed shit

I have OneDrive limited to a single swap meat folder aptly called "dumpster" and it still fucks it up weekly

You can disable it in the registry. H key local machine, software, policy, microsoft, windows, OneDrive, disable sync value change from 0 to 1 and it will turn it off. I may be a little off this was just from memory.
Permanently Deleted
- That’s just an NTLite build, if you want to uninstall those things do it yourself (either with NTLite and an ISO or through command prompt like any other software)

This is why i went to Linux. This stuff needs to stop.

But, cyborg Bill Gates needs your data to survive. You do want him to survive, don’t you?

Oh man, the memories… it wasn’t so long after “Best of Both Worlds” aired for the first time, that the Bill Gates of Borg meme was going viral on BBSs and Usenet. Oh how we laughed… and cried, for it was funny but true.
Bill Gates doesn't really do anything at Microsoft anymore
- Nah man I’m pretty sure mecha-cyborg Bill Gates is running things there.
  
  Damn you’re dense.

you can use O&O shut up 10 ++ to disable onedrive completely, also, there's proton drive.

For the uninitiated (like me before searching for this):

https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
- That's incredible. Gonna try this out when people mention being sick of windows bloat
What form of esoteric incantation is this?! Witchcraft!
- I think they mean Linux
- Well...I do wander around in the dark in the woods with my flashlights, I may or may not have happened upon witches and...spent time with them.

Permanently Deleted

I wish more people were open to learning how to properly configure Windows for family members who will likely never switch to Linux.

That shit situation sounds entirely avoidable.
- I set up my 90 year old grandmother with Ubuntu; she was extremely open to learning. If somebody's got to learn something, then why not the more useful skill? That's better for the user, the teacher, and society at large.
- Somewhere, a Genie is howling with laughter at the magnitude of that wasted wish.

ah time for horror stories with sparky:

I know of people who work in IT and use onedrive as a shitty version of github for sharing and version controlling code.... If I was them, I'd alteast use syncthing

+1 for syncthing

I use it for synching my Obsidian notes folder between my phone and PC

(and git for versioning and backups)

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:\users(username)\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.
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.

Encrypt your files before upload them to OneDrive this way you use Microsoft servers and your files cannot be accessed by them to train AI and sell your personal data

Microsoft does not sell personal data. Do you have any idea how fast they'd get sued if there was any evidence of that?

You know who sells your personal data? Data brokers. But they don't have recognizable names or market their services to consumers, so they're less satisfying to complain about.

In 2003 I could have made a living selling subscriptions to 5-GB cloud storage that was tightly integrated into Windows.

I understand why Windows is trying to capture you into it's cloud ecosystem. Just saying that between M$, Apple, and Google you can do some robust backups, basically for free. And if you're worried about privacy, just encrypt.

I actually don't hate onedrive that much. I've used it for a while now and it's one of the best ways to just share a folder with some people very easily. And they can even use the desktop app and you can all have a cloud synced folder, it's really convenient for collaborating on projects. I know other things can do this, but few do it as seamlessly.

That said I'm trying pretty hard to ditch it because I hate how Microsoft are just making it the default behaviour without really making it apparent that all your documents just get uploaded to their servers. I hope proton drive gets the features I need soon,.
- It's not about whether the product is good or bad. It's about the way they maliciously and deceptively try to push it on people.

If that reality isn't depressing enough, there's also Clouds KOTH edit by Aliantos.

This is a setting in Excel. But Cloud is the default option.

When are we getting an antitrust for trying to cram down our throats the cloud?
- When there's some semblance of a government that works in the public interest.
- The cloud doesn't exist. It's just some other computer that you don't own.
  
  People don't get sued for shoving other fictitious concepts down our throats.... Religion comes to mind.
- The cloud doesn't exist. It's just some other computer that you don't own.
  
  People don't get sued for shoving other fictitious concepts down our throats.... Religion comes to mind.

Yall do know we can just disable it right?

I don't think they do, most of the MS doomerism I see implies they probably never tried to turn any of it off. I uninstalled one drive years ago along with turning off the ads and telemetry and its all stayed that way ever since, but I keep getting told all of it will be back with the next update. I update when it prompts me to and it never undoes my settings.
But we want autosafe, like libreoffice on my desktop.
- Ok, but like i can just click a button.
IMO, this kind of meme post is from/for those that are scared and confused by settings dialogs.

OneDrive is a default, which can be changed.

They'd rather complain about it than spend 10 minutes fixing it.
- I'd be really surprised if it took as long as ten minutes.

Then don't use MS Office?

Then don't use MS ~~Office~~?
- Yep
Have to for school. But you can also just press F12 to open the normal save dialog. (I put my school stuff in one drive anyway, I just want them in folders so I need the normal saving system.)
- Or uninstall one drive. It's not rocket surgery and when done correctly I've never seen it re-enable itself after an update.

switch to Linux or deal with it.

Try going through.your registry and disabling one drive

Does Dolphin map onedrive?

You could use that as your file explorer

However Microsoft doesn’t let you set it as the native dialogue yet so it won’t solve the issue

Permanently Deleted

Why can't you complain about a company being shit when there are other options?

I don't use a lot of products, I still complain about them being shit because they deserve the bad press.
So I’m a total Linux noob are there issues with drivers? I have a laptop I would consider doing this on if I wasn’t worried about it breaking.
- You can get Mint on a "Live" USB flash drive, so you can boot it up and see if it handles all your hardware before you install anything.
- Permanently Deleted

I don't understand the hatred of OneDrive. Your documents folder redirects to the OneDrive folder. I guess you have a piece of software that has the documents folder hard coded? Be mad at that software.

I want to have granular control over where my files are stored. If I want them stored in the cloud, I want that to be a choice I consciously make, not something that's defaulted at the operating system level.

So the hatred isn't really directed at OneDrive, it's directed at the fact that the operating system is making decisions for me, and they don't line up with what I actually want my computer to do.
I haven't used Windows in a few years (and never used OneDrive), so pinch of salt time, but...

I don't like the idea of M$ having direct access to all of my files and personal data

That and, there have been mishaps with OD deleting files

Also, i personally don't like software automagic, especially when i don't understand what is going on under the hood

Is OD just a folder? Where are my documents actually stored? What happens if my internet goes out? How much do i trust M$ to not bungle something or sell or leak my files?
If it lost your files after constantly fighting you about where to save them, you would.

Plus the whole not asking to install, then begging for money to upgrade a service you never asked for. Until you finally have to waste hours learning how to completely disable it and get it off of every machine you own....

That breeds some resentment.
I don’t hate onedrive, but it’s frustrating when they force me to save something to it although I don’t want to
Speaking of OneDrive being a hunk-of-fuck

Unpopular opinion: OneDrive automatic integration is amazing. Get a new PC, login, boom. PC at your parents' house? Boom.

I tried open source file syncing and it was jank. Everyone making their own cloud is inefficient anyway.

I just wish windows phone was still a thing and it could all be on the Microsoft account. It remains better value than any other offering.

That said, if it's not your thing and you don't want any of it, I agree there should be a big red "I've got this" button if you want to go full manual transmission. Well, windows style, maybe circa Windows 7. Linux is only for those for whom playing with settings is why they computer.

Also "personalisation" can eat a dick. And stop fucking asking me for feedback. You get 1 star everytime just for asking. I'm done. /rant

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, OneDrive is not a backup solution. You should not be using it to sync files between PCs. It's at best a data sharing solution which also extensively mines your data. If you're using OneDrive to backup important information you'll regret it when your data is gone and there's no support from Microsoft to resolve it.
- Do you have any evidence to support this claim?
  
  Sounds utterly illegal, and likely to lead to countless lawsuits. They've got better phone support than Google, especially when you're a paying customer, and I'm not expecting one of the biggest corporations on the planet to just up and leave with my data, and I've sure as shit never heard of it happening.
  
  Microsoft products have a bunch of problems I'm happy to moan about, and a UX team that I swear doesn't even use M$ products, but data security does not seem to be one of them.
This is not unpopular, just the wrong opinion. "Think different."
- To paraphrase Office Space:
  
  Let me ask you something. Where you work, does anyone ever tell you to "think different?"
  
  No. No, man. Shit, no, man. I believe you'd get your ass kicked sayin' something like that, man.
- Nobody has any good explanation for why though.
- Just curious - do you live your life telling others they are wrong and then provide no counter argument or further info? My disappointment with you is... immeasurable.