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Your Computer Isn't Yours

sneak.berlin

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Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#391

Post by jtbayly »

II2II wrote: post #245
rsanheim wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You pointed out a core problem here, and a common blindspot with the HN crowd: > continuing to use Apple/Google/Microsoft That is probably 98%+ of devices that most typical people use for everyday computing, across phone, laptop, and desktop. Whether it is an android device, an iPhone, a Dell laptop or a new M1 macbook you are beholden to a corporation that doesn't care about privacy. I would argue that Apple cares a…

> And before "have you tried this *nix distro??" comments appear, they are still too hard to setup and nowhere near as user-friendly for most people on an everyday basis. Uh, no. There are many reasons why people don't use Linux. The easy of setup and use lines are pure nonsense. Many Linux distributions have been easier to setup and use since at least the introduction of Ubuntu, and perhaps earlier. Just pop in the…

> Just pop in the live installation media

So... way harder than Mac OS.

In fact, that’s literally impossible on my computer.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#392

Post by latexr »

unnouinceput wrote: post #162
alphabettsy wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about efficient? A Mac Mini is extremely efficient.

I am most efficient at my desktop. The sheer screen estate allows me to organize my work better than on any laptop, Apple or not. I have 2 laptops, bought them to my kids for this times when online school is a must. I tried to do some work, didn't like the small screen.

> I am most efficient at my desktop.

It would be weird if the person you’re responding to were referring to personal efficiency—that depends on the person. They were likely referring to power efficiency.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#393

Post by [deleted] »

szc wrote: post #127

I'm not going to comment on the linked article, other than say I think it contains serious mistakes in describing what OCSP is for and errors in other statements. In the background there is a war going on, but it isn't what you think. It is a war between malware creators and OS creators. From my perspective it goes like this: To "identify" malware you need signatures. Signatures need valid certificates. Signing keys…

[deleted]

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#394

Post by BLKNSLVR »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #229
andy_threos_io wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Real Hacker who has concern about her/his privacy wouldn't touch this kind of product with a 10 foot pole!

And yet, Apple still has a reputation of being really privacy- and security- conscious. Windows' telemetry has had all the alarms raised for years now, and how does e.g. Canonical earn money? Same on mobile, Android phones - especially in the cheaper ranges - are dodgy as fuck when it comes to privacy and security.

There's a conundrum that requires further investigation which is the intertwining of the concepts of privacy and security and how in order to increase security protections of their products there must be a decrease of privacy. Security requires a probing knowledge of the details of what is running on the device.

The same information that can contribute to increased security for the end user is also valuable to sell to advertisers if, delightfully ironically, the security vendor is ok sharing private information with said advertisers.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#395

Post by raxxorrax »

kimjongtrill wrote: post #262
pdkl95 wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I worry for Gen Z because they're tiny-mobile-device native. And the only usable tiny mobile devices are walled gardens. Without the ability to grow up playing with system level software, combined with the software industry's unwillingness to pass on institutional knowledge to younger generations, I fear we are already on a path towards a civilization that loses a lot of the technological capability we currently en…

10 years ago when I started working I feared the younger generation and their enthusiasm and energy. Then I had to teach a few of them how to ssh and that fear was dissolved. Most of these kids will not cut it in heavy reading/comprehension jobs.

Problem is the pipeline. Schools that really bought iPads for "digitalization" will produce learn results that are significantly worse for understanding tech applications and information technology, because the principles get obscured by fancy UI. Nevermind that it wouldn't even be different from their phones.

A problem is that teachers would require some extensive training first before they can even try to teach kids something they didn't know before.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#396

Post by jmull »

There’s a rather strong counter to this is:

I, and the vast majority of computer users, don’t want to manage every nitty-gritty detail of the security and privacy of my computer. I have better things to do. In fact, doing it fully competently is more than a full time job.

So farming this out to a third-party is a necessity, for me and many, many others.

Of course, it’s not perfect. How much can I trust the third party? How well can they prevent, fix, or remediate bugs, breaches, and other threats? How much do they even want to?

It’s not perfect, that’s for sure. We see bugs. We see potential tracking opportunities. We see difficult to work-around limitation...

But no one is offering a better solution. Not for me, that is, nor the vast majority of computer users.

If your response to this is “Look at the sheeple defending Apple!” you aren’t getting it.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#397

Post by Nullabillity »

marvin wrote: post #334
vbezhenar wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use mouse. It works out of the box and more convenient anyway.

The exceptionally good touchpad on the macbooks are almost half the reason you’d buy the machine in the first place. Wish it was as good on the alternatives. Hopefully it works 100% out of the box, but I wouldn’t bet my life on it.

What are you on about? Apple's touchpads feel like mush, even by touchpad standards.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#398

Post by ghaff »

slazaro wrote: post #312
GuB-42 wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gen Z can get real general-purpose computers with a development environment for cheap. The new Raspberry Pi 400 is a modern take on home computers like the C64, but 15 times cheaper. Pi 400 full kit: $100, C64: $595 (1982) / $1576 (inflation adjusted for 2019). The computers are not just getting cheaper, educative material is easier than ever to find. Because modern computers are much more complex and do much more th…

I think the point is that before, if you had a computer, you had the ability to inspect, modify and program, and with curiosity you'd learn. Now, most people get computers where those things are forbidden. You still can get "programmable" computers, but you have to do it explicitly. Before, it was implicit. So there's a filter that some people won't pass and won't learn, and the pool of people shrinks.

>I think the point is that before, if you had a computer, you had the ability to inspect, modify and program, and with curiosity you'd learn.

That's a rose-colored view that maybe reflects a small window in time.

But take the 80s. First of all that computer was maybe $5,000 in today's money. (Yes, there were some limited alternatives like the Sinclair and Commodore 64 that were cheaper.) Long distance telephone calls were expensive as were the big BBS systems like Compuserve. Any software you purchased was costly. A C compiler was hundreds of dollars. (Turbo Pascal at $50 was an innovation.)

Perhaps more to the point, most people didn't just have a computational device of any sort. So the fact that, if you had one, you could use it for a lot of different purposes is sort of irrelevant.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#399

Post by XCSme »

Arech wrote: post #69
bambax wrote: post #41

> These machines are the first general purpose computers ever where you have to make an exclusive choice: you can have a fast and efficient machine, or you can have a private one. Most of the components inside my PC are over 10 years old. I do video editing. I do music production with many VSTs open and running. And of course web browsing with a million tabs opened at once. For any of those tasks I can't see what wou…

It's a new software. Take the note editor inside Evernote for example. It just slightly more sophisticated than a common notepad.exe, but it lags and freezes like it computes the Moon flyby trajectory by numeric simulation once every few seconds. Or the new fancy autocompletion module for Spyder python IDE. some stupid autocompletion requires TensorFlow running and therefore I just can't use it, because my 6 core Phe…

I tried Evernote on Windows, it was so much buggier and slower than the browser web app, it was really unusable.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#400

Post by randlet »

dasKrokodil wrote: post #134
rsanheim wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You pointed out a core problem here, and a common blindspot with the HN crowd: > continuing to use Apple/Google/Microsoft That is probably 98%+ of devices that most typical people use for everyday computing, across phone, laptop, and desktop. Whether it is an android device, an iPhone, a Dell laptop or a new M1 macbook you are beholden to a corporation that doesn't care about privacy. I would argue that Apple cares a…

> I would argue that Apple cares a bit more Have you read the article? Spoiler: They don't.

Exactly. Apple has done a good job of selling the "we care about your privacy" line, but it's still just a line they're feeding you.
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