OneDrive users around the world have been upset to discover that with its latest update, Microsoft's cloud file syncing and storage system no longer works with anything other than disks formatted with the NTFS file system. Both older file systems, such as FAT32 and exFAT, and newer ones, such as ReFS, will now provoke an error message when OneDrive starts up.
To continue to use the software, files will have to be stored on an NTFS volume. While FAT disks can be converted, ReFS volumes must be reformatted and wiped. This has left various OneDrive users unhappy. While NTFS is the default file system in Windows, people using SD cards to extend the storage on small laptops and tablets will typically use exFAT. Similarly, people using Storage Spaces to manage large, redundant storage volumes will often use ReFS. The new policy doesn't change anything for most Windows users, but those at the margins will feel hard done by.
In a rather odd statement made to OnMSFT, Microsoft said that it "discovered a warning message that should have existed was missing when a user attempted to store their OneDrive folder on a non-NTFS filesystem—which was immediately remedied." The company's position, apparently, is that OneDrive should always have warned about these usage scenarios and that it's only a bug or an oversight that allowed non-NTFS volumes to work.
Source: Ars Technica
(Score: 5, Informative) by jmorris on Friday July 07 2017, @09:35PM (12 children)
Don't just hate on Microsoft for being dicks here. They are, but there is a bigger lesson.
If you depend on a cloud, you can never know when the rules will suddenly change or it will suddenly vanish.
If you allow (i.e. Win10) your software vendor to force updates with no option to refuse toxic ones or roll one back, same thing. At someone else's whim things you depend on can and will suddenly change. And as a general rule, the sort of people who build and run this sort of system DO. NOT. CARE. ABOUT. YOU.
Yes, offloading everything to "the cloud" is easy. But there is a price. There is always a price for taking the easy way.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by MrGuy on Friday July 07 2017, @10:01PM (1 child)
A similar lesson is that if you're going to rely on a vendor, and that vendor has a proprietary stake in one specific technology, and you want to use a different technology, be wary of assuming that vendor's impartiality, regardless of what they might claim.
I wouldn't use Apple's iCloud from a Windows machine even if they support it (do they? never checked.) I don't run MS Office apps on my Mac, even though supposedly there are Mac versions that are in theory compatible. I don't trust someone who SELLS me music to HOST my music collection for me for free. Etc.
(Score: 1) by Acabatag on Saturday July 08 2017, @04:15AM
Point of order about Microsoft Office on the Mac:
Microsoft first produced the Microsoft Office Applications for the Mac and then later ported them over to Windows. Yes, Excel in it's first version was a Mac-only product. And the graphical Microsoft Word that became the Windows titan later on started out on the Mac.
Microsoft was one of the strongest vendors of applications for the Macintosh in the early years. They made more money per Mac desktop than from PC desktops for a time.
This isn't intended as a campaign for people to get Microsoft Office for their Mac, just as a historical footnote.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday July 07 2017, @11:31PM (1 child)
but I can't be bothered to look up the link.
Mac OS X is quite aggressive in urging me to trust my precious data to the cloud.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 08 2017, @12:33AM
A pretty easy Google.
7 Awesome Open Source Cloud Storage Software For Your Privacy and Security [cyberciti.biz]
Seafile - GPLv3
ownCloud - AGPLv3
git-annex assistant - GPLv3
SparkleShare - GPLv3
Syncthing - GPLv3
StackSync - GPLv2
OpenStack Object Storage (Swift) - Apache License 2.0
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Friday July 07 2017, @11:34PM (6 children)
Modern cyber is hard. Even for Microsoft. I've met Satya Nadella, I hosted him at the White House. Very smart cookie. But you have to be Einstein to figure it out. Believe me, the last thing he wants is to lose customers. But it's hard to get the cyber right. Sometimes people try to do something, but they're not smart enough to really do it right. I see it all the time. Like Crooked Hillary. She used a wiper, she tried to wipe her EMAILS system, like with a cloth. But she got caught. She's smart, but not smart enough with the cyber. If she was smart enough she wouldn't have gotten caught. I like crooks who don't get caught. And Microsoft is O.K. A great American company. Not as smart as they need to be, but still great. #MAGA 🇺🇸
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Friday July 07 2017, @11:52PM (1 child)
You forgot to say how you learned abut computers from Barron.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday July 08 2017, @12:17AM
Isn't he adorable? He's slowly getting over what @KathyGriffin did. He's so good with computers, it's unbelievable. We named him after my former associate, John Barron. We'll be sending him to St. Andrew's in the fall. We would have let Barron meet Satya, except for the other men who came with him. Don't want any bad influences on my son. 🇺🇸
(Score: 2, Insightful) by frojack on Saturday July 08 2017, @04:31AM (3 children)
Look dude, you're just not funny or clever enough to carry on with this any longer, so just change your login name or go back to posting AC, or just walk away.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday July 08 2017, @04:45AM
I want Poland to become the 51st state. In Poland, everyone loves me. In California, not so much. But they have the right to die, it's fantastic. Think about that, it could be a great option. 🇺🇸
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 08 2017, @07:35PM (1 child)
yeah sometimes there are gems, but really he has got to cut it out because the signal to noise ratio has way too much nice.
The Donald, please put more focus into the quality of your run-on sentences--you can do it right, and you have... but if you put out too much low quality stuff, it becomes worse than just not funny--we'll stop paying attention to you.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Saturday July 08 2017, @11:08PM
Believe me, I live for the ratings, and if people stopped paying attention, that would be the worst thing that ever happened to me. A disaster. Thank you for your tweet. 🇺🇸
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @11:50PM
But bleep can happen with local stuff also. Companies typically don't manage local stuff well such that the cloud may still be a better average option even if not perfect. You could argue companies "should do X" and so forth, but they don't, and thus their economic reality will typically be based on what's likely to happen, NOT what happens under ideal circumstances. Cloud crap may be better than local crap from the org owner's or top management's perspective.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Friday July 07 2017, @10:07PM
Maybe with some more time they can get it off every system.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Gaaark on Friday July 07 2017, @10:11PM (3 children)
I used to stand under this hole and people kept crapping all over me. Day after day, i'd stand there and people would come and shit ALL over me.
Finally, i got the idea that if i stood somewhere else, maybe i wouldn't get crapped on all the time.
You know, it worked! I don't stand under that hole and i don't get crapped on anymore! What a surprise to me.
Lesson learned: STOP GETTING CRAPPED ON, people!! Wise up and move on from that hole they call Windows. Stop being an idiot, stop getting crapped on!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Friday July 07 2017, @10:15PM (1 child)
"Doc, it hurts when I do this." "Don't do that."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @11:53PM
Me: "Doc, it hurts when I reach for my wallet."
Dr.: "Then don't do that. Solved!"
Me: "Then I can't pay you."
Dr. "Oh wait, I can fix it!"
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Friday July 07 2017, @11:41PM
Did you get pissed on too? The #MSM is always shitting on me, it's like they're crapping all over me with their #FakeNews. I don't like that part. 🇺🇸
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @10:35PM (2 children)
Which phase are we in here?
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday July 07 2017, @10:38PM
Extirpate?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @10:48PM
Exhaustion?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by SDRefugee on Saturday July 08 2017, @01:15AM (3 children)
The amount of abuse that Microsoft inflicts on those who, for WHATever reason, *still* use MS products is truly mindnumbing.. Having ended my reliance on MS products over 7 years ago, and now I don't worry about what new idiocy MS has for me, and my computers and more importantly, my computers are now MY computers... Somebody's gotta say it "SCREW YOU MICROSOFT!!"
America should be proud of Edward Snowden, the hero, whether they know it or not..
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Saturday July 08 2017, @01:37AM
Or so CIA/NSA like you to believe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Saturday July 08 2017, @09:30AM
Which has been going on for so long now that the abuse can be considered to be self inflicted.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 08 2017, @07:46PM
i only recently upgraded from xp to 7. I dont expect to change from 7 unless it's to windows (or even the steam os, if that gets to be any good -- for a gaming desktop, anyway).
its true I miss out on.. a hell of a lot of stuff on the 'modern web' -- but my OS doesnt have an advertising ID, and my firewall blocks all that vortex.microsoft whatever data collection stuff -- and it rarely even gets blocked because windows 7 just wasn't built from the ground up to screw you based on business interests.
even when they cut security support... I will have a hard time letting go. maybe I will end up running my various desktops as images within a VM on the same hardware, with some linux host OS as the main operating system (xen or vmware or similar).
it still doesnt fix the whole need working primary OS issue. emulating only gets you so far and all the new hardware seems to have windows specific power modes and crap that "needs windows 10" to support.
anyway i am prepared for disappointment.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday July 08 2017, @02:01AM
Microsoft is a tax on the clueless and the trapped people. Anyone placed their trust in them for sure missplaced it and missplaced their brain. And anyone trying to get you into the Microsoft ecosystem is bad company.
As soon as the word sequences "stopped working" + "OneDrive" => Aha Microsoft! And sure it was.
DON'T.... FUCKING.... TRUST.... THEM.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 08 2017, @03:17AM
If people used whatever filesystems they pleased, how could they easily hand data to the government on demand?
Reminder: The cloud is someone else's computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 08 2017, @03:25AM (1 child)
We had a guy apply to be a programmer at our company. He seemed good on paper, passed the interview, so we were considering trying him out. We asked for code examples, he put them on one drive. We did not hire him right then and there. True story hahaha
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday July 08 2017, @07:03AM
So he should have put them on several drives instead? ;-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.