> Fortunately, my old pal Claude Code is always there for me

Is this just a form of changing one subscription for another?

No, because pretty much any model and harness could be used as a robotic Linux admin instead of Claude Code. I haven't tried Codex or Gemini for that, but I'm sure they'd be fine. Ultimately that particular Linux box is going to be used to host local models, which should also work.

An account with an AI provider gets me the ability to submit prompts and run agents with their model. I pay them, I get a useful service in return, and I can stop or switch providers anytime. Conversely, I get absolutely nothing in return for logging into my own machine with a Microsoft account. It benefits Microsoft -- somehow, I guess, who knows? -- but not me.