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2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

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Re: 2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

#121

Post by Grishnakh »

melted wrote: post #94
Grishnakh wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hopefully not.

Why not? A strong premium hardware manufacturer is needed pretty badly right now in the PC industry. The last one standing is Lenovo, and most of its product line is shameful garbage. When manufacturers compete on merit, everyone wins.

Strong premium hardware makers would be nice, but not if they're Microsoft, because their hardware is necessarily tied to their crappy keylogger-infested OS.

And how exactly would other manufacturers compete with MS hardware anyway, while still offering MS's software on them? They'd be doomed to failure since MS can just jack up the price of Windows for them, so you'd be stuck with a single HW/SW maker, and back to a PC monopoly or something pretty close to it (since so much business software still requires Windows).

If you want healthy competition for PC hardware, it's never going to happen if MS takes over that space. Of course, it seems to be going downhill anyway, so I'm not sure what the solution is, but between the hardware makers throwing in the towel or crappifying their products, Windows becoming worse than ever with Metro and spyware and reported incompatibility with existing software, and lack of inroads for Linux into the OS space to provide some real competition (partly because of application compatibility, and partly because of too much fragmentation esp. for desktop environments; thanks a lot Gnome team), things are not looking good.

Re: 2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

#122

Post by rodgerd »

Grishnakh wrote: post #59
ifdefdebug wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's easy to run Windows 10 without any calling home at all. Just don't use a Microsoft account. Just chose custom configurations during setup. Doesn't a default Android phone also do a lot of calling home? And Apple phones? Why is it so special when it's Windows?

Windows PCs are not used for the same thing as smartphones. Most people don't have all their critical financial or business information on their phones; that's what PCs are for ("real work"). Most people probably don't care too much if Google knows that you're using Tinder.

> Most people don't have all their critical financial or business information on their phones

Hi, it's 2015 calling, how are things in 2010?

Re: 2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

#123

Post by baghira »

melted wrote: post #116
baghira wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That may be true, but there is clearly an argument against that premium manifacturer being the already giant corporation that licenses the os run on 95% of those machines. If it were startup I'd say 'more power to them', even if they only shipped machines with windows preinstalled.

You've got a point there, but I don't see this as a huge deal if they don't begin to abuse their position. Which they might, but I'll reserve my judgement until there's something to judge.

Fair enough, I don't judge the Surface machines as something bad per se, I simply don't pine for a world were the only decent hardware to run Windows is made by MS (which the too often abysmal quality of other OEMs may lead us to). Maybe I'm being a little paranoid, I guess.

FWIW, I would argue something similar wrt the Apple tv: abusive practices or not, I would not be happy to see one of the world's wealthiest corporation become a key player in yet another market (if anything because of Apple's sketchy history wrt to open formats).

Re: 2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

#124

Post by at-fates-hands »

niuzeta wrote: post #93
deanclatworthy wrote: post #5

They've done some brilliant things for developers this year, but sadly shipped a giant spyware operating system at the same time. From what I've read people are still trying to determine everything it's calling home.

I'm still rather happy with 7, and I don't think I'll make a switch. If only they would stop pestering me to update... It's stipulated that 7 will be the new XP, and 2015 may be the first year to start XP-ization of 7.

I'm on 7 Ultimate and updated a while back only to find out my year old video card wasn't compatible so I couldn't run dual monitors and went back to 7.

No worries though, they're shipping all the invasive spyware in coming 7 and 8 updates anyways so we'll both be assimilated soon enough.

Re: 2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

#125

Post by e1ven »

frik wrote: post #52
ifdefdebug wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's easy to run Windows 10 without any calling home at all. Just don't use a Microsoft account. Just chose custom configurations during setup. Doesn't a default Android phone also do a lot of calling home? And Apple phones? Why is it so special when it's Windows?

> It's easy to run Windows 10 without any calling home at all. Not true at all! It's impossible, without a hardware firewall. Their kernel network driver whitelists several microsoft domains and IP address ranges. What's worse Microsoft back-ported that phone-home crap and ships them as updates to Windows 7 and 8.x (of course the coincidentally stopped writting descriptions for their Windows updates). Not even mentio…

I'd love to learn more about what's explicitly whitelisted, and can't be blocked by DWS or other on-system resources.

I've tried Googling, but it's hard to find pages which discuss it without knowing the right terms to search by. Can you help provide a link so I can learn more?

Re: 2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

#126

Post by vetinari »

burntcookie90 wrote: post #83
sz4kerto wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are an outlier. For 99% of the users (not an accurate figure, of course) using Android without the Play Store is not viable.

Using Google's android is not, but you could get amazon, or whatever. It's part of the ecosystem, if you buy into Amazon's you get their store, if you buy into Google's you get their's. If you want neither, you have to figure that out, or a new company needs to handle that situation.

Even Google's android is viable to use without Google Account.

I've used a (company-issued) Sony phone for two years with in a such way, that the only account on the phone was for our Exchange, with built-in E-mail, Calendar, Contacts apps. Granted, the Play Store was not available, Youtube and Maps didn't work, but they were not the reason why I had that phone.

Re: 2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

#127

Post by vetinari »

ifdefdebug wrote: post #43
deanclatworthy wrote: post #5

They've done some brilliant things for developers this year, but sadly shipped a giant spyware operating system at the same time. From what I've read people are still trying to determine everything it's calling home.

It's easy to run Windows 10 without any calling home at all. Just don't use a Microsoft account. Just chose custom configurations during setup. Doesn't a default Android phone also do a lot of calling home? And Apple phones? Why is it so special when it's Windows?

When you set-up Android phone, there is a screen with four checkboxes, that you have to go around and check/uncheck them.

There is no button before this screen with "convenient" recommended defaults that rob you of privacy. You pretty much have to go through this screen, agree (or not) to each one and continue.

And later, as you use the device, there is no changing your preferences behind your backs.

Re: 2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

#128

Post by tcube »

puranjay wrote: post #110

Well that's nice and all, but all these years later, I still don't know how to buy a Surface in India. Buying Windows is still a royal mess (the local eCommerce stores have wildly different pricing for different variants, which is again different from the local MS store, which is different from the US store). MS might be making cool products, but it sure as hell isn't keen on making them easy to buy.

Maybe because it will only be launched in January 2016 in India.

http://www.windowscentral.com/surface-pro-4-slated-launch-in...

Re: 2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

#130

Post by gtirloni »

frik wrote: post #80
lstamour wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can be turned off in version 1511 for Enterprise and Education editions, under Group Policy: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt577208(v=vs.85... See screenshot and guide at http://www.ghacks.net/2015/07/30/windows-10-and-privacy/ Alternatively, disable this service if concerned: http://www.ghacks.net/2015/11/19/microsoft-rena-and-telemetr...

All can be turned off in Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB (Long Term Servicing Branch) - it's very expensive and not sold to consumer nor small business at all. But think about your doctor, your lawyer, etc. many smaller business, cheaper Windows 10 editon (non LTSB) they will unintentionally leak your confidential personal data. You say such PCs shouldn't be online at all? But they are and many of them run on Windows. Sca…

they will unintentionally leak your confidential personal data

How?

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