171–178 of 178 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What makes you feel that Windows 10 is any more of a "spyware OS" than Google Android?
The fact that there's a big old checkbox next to "Help improve your Android experience by automatically sending diagnostic and usage data to Google" is a great start.
What about google now?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
If all mainstream OS' are doing a specific thing (gathering information about users to fuel certain features), why should MS face particular approbrium for doing the same?
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...
Why isn't this a feature that consumers can have? The line I always hear from Microsoft apologists is that "You can turn these features off at any time", but everything I've seen suggests this is only true for Enterprise and Education.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>If your threat model is that the OS provider is hostile, no amount of changing of settings will protect you from their actions... No, the threat model is that centrally collected data will be pilfered by the government or the company itself. If it's just not collected in the first place the temptation won't be there to abuse it. It's like saying, "if your threat model is that the government is hostile, there is noth…
And on that basis all modern consumer focused OS' are about as bad as each other, they all rely on cloud features which gather data about the user and hold it centrally. It's why I'm so puzzled that people jump on MS specifically for this, Google have been doing all the same stuff for years and no-one seems to care. That said on your lines that people wouldn't cross, I'm afraid I have not confidence in either of your…
Probably because until recently, Microsoft software is what you used if you didn't want to use those cloud-everything services from organisations like Google.
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) The thing is, almost every piece of research I've seen from independent sources suggests that most users don't really want or care about these digital personal assistant gimmicks. Once you got past the hype, this was a point a few different articles ma…
I hope that you're correct, as then you would expect the market to correct the mistake and drop the features, as they don't get used
Unfortunately, for the immediate future there is a lot of momentum behind these features, because so many corporate heavyweights have spent a fortune on promoting them. It would be borderline career suicide for any senior executive in a relevant position to hold their hands up and say they made a mistake on this one so soon.
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 would take a crash dump over a poorly written (or nonexistent) bug report e-mail any time.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why isn't this a feature that consumers can have? The line I always hear from Microsoft apologists is that "You can turn these features off at any time", but everything I've seen suggests this is only true for Enterprise and Education.
Because the point of modern Internet-based services is to collect analytics and telemetry for marketing and engineering without annoying consumers with unnecessary checkboxes. There's a minimum amount of sync you want to make easy because it's a feature, not a bug. That new releases contain functions old software didn't have is called progress. Why does Apple or Ubuntu get a free pass when Microsoft doesn't?
But at least give consumers the option. Even if it's in Advanced Settings, just like every other obscure privacy invading Microsoft feature.
> It's a feature, not a bug.
Really? You might want to rethink your talking points here... There really isn't a good connotation with this phrase.
I criticize Apple and Ubuntu equally, as well. Apple's telemetry is comparable, though it is worth saying they've made major public pushes for privacy. This is not to say I trust them, but the effort is noted. (In fact, elsewhere in this thread I criticized Apple for sending data to iCloud.)
Comparing Ubuntu telemetry to Microsoft's is disingenuous at best, and outright deceptive at worst. I'm not a huge Canonical fan and I disagree with some of their practices, but saying they are at the same degree of privacy violations as Microsoft is ludicrous.
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.