Hi Trevor_Pott,
> Streaming files should under no circumstances be the default, and we should NOT
> have to jump through hoops in order to regain a pathetic semblance of the functionality
> you removed.
Marking the root folder as "Always Keep on This Device" should provide the same experience you had before. All of your files will be kept locally on the device, and if you add new files, they will also be kept locally on the device. This is the right approach if you are bandwidth-constrained, either permanently or temporarily.
We know that not everyone has fast internet at home or at work, and for these scenarios, marking files as "always available" gives such users a choice. You can choose which files you want to keep locally, or choose to keep them all locally. Before, if you disabled Files On-Demand, OneDrive was forced to keep all files locally, which can wind up wasting bandwidth downloading files you don't use.
As I noted in the update to the blog, the "down cloud" icon appearing next to pinned files is an issue we are actively working on, but if you see the checkmark, the files are on your device, regardless of what that icon shows.
Jack