Microsoft Responds to OneDrive Mac User Criticism Following Decision to Enforce Files On-Demand Feature

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Earlier this week, MacRumors reported on a OneDrive for Mac update that has caused upset among users of the cloud storage service, partly due to alleged bugs it has introduced but mainly because the new version no longer allows users to opt out of its cloud-based Files On-Demand feature, which was previously an optional setting.



In an update to its original blog post introducing this aspect of its new “Files On-Demand Experience,” Microsoft has now responded to these concerns by explaining that the first version of Files On-Demand is built on several pieces of technology that are now deprecated by Apple in macOS 12.3, currently still in beta.

Apple is deprecating the kernel extensions originally used by OneDrive’s syncing features, so the Mac client is now using Apple’s File Provider extensions instead. On the question of whether this has introduced a technical reason for why Files On-Demand must always be enabled, Microsoft touts the benefits of OneDrive’s new dependency on Apple’s File Provider platform, including the resolution of compatibility issues, and how that has factored into its controversial decision to enforce its Files On-Demand feature:

Files On-Demand has been available on Windows since 2017, and on macOS since 2018. In that time, we’ve progressed from the feature being opt-in only to being on by default for all users and have closely monitored how many users turn off Files On-Demand. Only a very small number of users disable Files On-Demand on both platforms, and there are two main reasons for that.

When Files On-Demand first shipped on Windows, some applications didn’t work well with the way we stored files, or with anti-virus or other security software that was installed. Over time, we’ve fixed most of these problems. On macOS, we took a similarly cautious approach, but the application compatibility landscape is quite different and, in some ways, less complex. Still, there

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