To me, my PC and 'the internet' are two entirely different things.

I'm willing to admit that this may be an artifact of the time in which I grew up. And they aren't the reason I will never log into a Microsoft account in order to use my own PC. While I find these strictures annoying, they aren't problems for your average PC user. I recognize, however, that I'm a niche case. If I am attempting to benchmark the behavior of two specific versions of Windows, an OS that forces me to update to the latest version as a condition of installation literally prevents me from doing my job. I am not interested in creating a burner account to handle this task and I do not always need to connect a testbed to the internet.

I build and wipe testbeds on a regular basis. Speaking as a reviewer, this requirement is ludicrous. This will impact both Pro and Home users. Now, Microsoft has announced that future versions of Windows 11 will require both internet access and a Microsoft account in order to set up the PC.

At the time, Microsoft had just announced Windows 11 Home users would need a Microsoft Account to install the OS. Author's Note: I wrote this story in the summer of 2021.

Log out of microsoft account