Probably, but my beef is that the option is not apparent to the uninitiated. On a UNIX/Linux machine, none of that is even an option (as far as I know - of course, there could be some Linux distro that has an online account tie-in). On OS X, they ask you to use or sign up for an iCloud account the first time you log into your local account, but provide a visible option to skip linking to iCloud. On Windows, unless you know the tricks or go through extra effort to look up how to do it, there appears to be no choice but to link to a Microsoft account.
That's my issue with it - not whether or not it can be worked around, but the fact that it has to be worked around and is not presented as being an option in the first place.
Well them I can complain about Linux all day. That is hard as crap on me when I haven’t used it in a while. And really hurting create new account was pretty obvious to me. Like a lot of things experience makes a difference.