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

arstechnica.com

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

#131

Post by [deleted] »

lstamour wrote: post #75
Zikes wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Location History is opt-in, and Google sends you frequent email reminders that you are opted in. I have email reminders in my gmail account dating back to 2011 when it was still called Latitude. If you want to see this info and/or enable/disable it: https://www.google.com/maps/timeline

Except you opt-in by agreeing to use Google Now, e.g. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/05/google-now-for-androi... I'm sure the implications of this isn't obvious for most people, just as express settings in Windows aren't obvious.

[deleted]

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

#132

Post by CaptSpify »

georgeecollins wrote: post #15

One thing that struck me about this article is that they said that if the Surface Book had been introduced by Samsung no one would have paid attention. Intuitively this seems correct, but I wonder what exactly Samsung has done to be thought of so little. I used to have the first Galaxy Note. In the era of the iPhone 4s, it was a cool phone. Samsung has the ability to create amazing hardware. What could Samsung do to…

IMO: stop trying to break into the software world. I tend to like Samsung's hardware, but all the software they put on things really turns me off.

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

#133

Post by antod »

raesene9 wrote: post #92
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.

What makes you feel that Windows 10 is any more of a "spyware OS" than Google Android?

So the debate is whether it may or may not be as bad as one of the worst alternatives. That it is even comparable is damning enough.

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

#134

Post by amenod »

Remember the tablets, how they were supposed to be "the next big thing"? Remember who was pushing them? That's right - it was Bill Gates. Long before Steve Jobs. Except their product sucked big time because it was built on Windows XP and you had to use a pen with it. And was slow. And expensive. And marketed the wrong way.

The same will happen here. The technology and society are simply not ready yet - someone will lead us there, but it won't be Microsoft. They never were inovators, they were always just businessmen. And no, you can't change the company any more than you can change a person. Has IBM changed? (well, I hear the ties are optional now ;) Apple? Sony? Google? Facebook? Yahoo? The shades change, but the color remains the same.

(full disclosure: yes, I am biased - I had to live under torture that is known as Internet Explorer for too many years... may it rest in peace, along with all its reincarnations)

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

#135

Post by mortehu »

lstamour wrote: post #75
Zikes wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Location History is opt-in, and Google sends you frequent email reminders that you are opted in. I have email reminders in my gmail account dating back to 2011 when it was still called Latitude. If you want to see this info and/or enable/disable it: https://www.google.com/maps/timeline

Except you opt-in by agreeing to use Google Now, e.g. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/05/google-now-for-androi... I'm sure the implications of this isn't obvious for most people, just as express settings in Windows aren't obvious.

Google Now isn't all or nothing. It gracefully degrades as you disable each data source.

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

#136

Post by lstamour »

mortehu wrote: post #135
lstamour wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except you opt-in by agreeing to use Google Now, e.g. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/05/google-now-for-androi... I'm sure the implications of this isn't obvious for most people, just as express settings in Windows aren't obvious.

Google Now isn't all or nothing. It gracefully degrades as you disable each data source.

That's fine, but I don't personally recall a screen saying "Enable location but not location history" in my Google Now setup process. So they opt you in by default too. You can exclude data from Cortana's "Notebook" just as you can from Google Now.

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

#138

Post by blakeyrat »

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…

> 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.

Are they more likely to than if they were using Windows 7? Or OS X, for that matter?

You make it sound as if Microsoft's software is actively trying to steal personal information, instead of just sending boring shit like "what error code did that crashing application just produce". Sure, it's possible that Windows 10 is more likely to leak data, but I'm not going to just accept it without at least a tiny bit of evidence.

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

#139

Post by serge2k »

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

any evidence of that beyond "it phones home!"?

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

#140

Post by serge2k »

sroerick wrote: post #103
raesene9 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think ordinary users should try to disable all the cloud based features of their OS? Surely a lot of the features they want (e.g. Google Now, Siri, Cortana) are based on the OS provider knowing about the users and having information about them. If your threat model is that the OS provider is hostile, no amount of changing of settings will protect you from their actions...

"Our research shows that users WANT these features that require us to constantly monitor microphones for certain phrases." Maybe the OS provider should stop being hostile.

Was that said by the people doing Siri, Google Now, or Cortana?
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