Live data from Hacker News

“I saw that you spun up an Ubuntu image in Azure”

twitter.com

61–70 of 475 posts

Re: “I saw that you spun up an Ubuntu image in Azure”

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. I just lost a whole lot of respect for Canonical. “If you read the document we expect nobody to read, you’d know that you sold your soul to us. We didn’t mean for you to find that out but one of our salespeople got overeager and tried to sell you your soul back. He will be reprimanded. Can we all forget about this real quick?”

Why Canonical? Isn't this a Microsoft feature?

Both to be honest. Canonical shouldn't have asked, and Microsoft shouldn't have agreed.

Neither one is an innocent party.

Re: “I saw that you spun up an Ubuntu image in Azure”

#62
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was my first response as well (it's not the data sharing that's the problem, it's that you noticed). Thinking about it though, a lot of it is a question of surprise and unknowns. I would find this message to be a lot better - "We see that you've taken advantage of the Ubuntu image that Canonical provide in the Azure Marketplace. I am available to you for (etc.)".

> * I would find this message to be a lot better - "We see that you've taken advantage of the Ubuntu image* No. That's not better at all. The mere fact that Canonical has specific information to reach me when I am not a direct customer of Canonical is a complete violation of my privacy. Ubuntu is a free product. Canonical should not be able to find out if I (specifically me or my organization) allocates or runs 1 or…

The alternative is that Azure owns complete access to the customer. Which seems... well, an easy skip to App Store-esque rent seeking.

So MS sharing "their" customer details with the image provider seems more generous than evil. Provided there's a "Do not share" config option somewhere.

Re: “I saw that you spun up an Ubuntu image in Azure”

#63
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is a Canonical rep contacting him purely a "Microsoft feature"?

It means that Microsoft is providing information that they shouldn't.

And Canonical decided to take that data, search him on Linkedin and contact him. Seems reasonable to see that as a reason to loose respect for Canonical over.

Re: “I saw that you spun up an Ubuntu image in Azure”

#64
post #8

The register article on this https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/11/microsoft_azure_ubunt... has responses from Canonical and MS, which shed a bit more light on the situation. The Canonical quote is the most illuminating :- "As per the Azure T&Cs, Microsoft shares with Canonical, the publisher of Ubuntu, the contact details of developers launching Ubuntu instances on Azure. These contact details are held in Canonical…

We all know that you can't trust Microsoft, but a lot of people blindly trust Canonical just because they create a Linux distro.

I haven't trusted Canonical since I noticed their pattern of creating competing alternatives to new Linux standards instead of helping them (Mir & Wayland, Snap & Flatpack, Unity & Gnome 3). It'd be one thing if they were bringing better ideas and long-term support to their alternatives, but they just seem to be half-baked copies. I appreciate all they've done for the Linux ecosystem, but I'll stick with my Debian.

Re: “I saw that you spun up an Ubuntu image in Azure”

#65
post #40

As someone who works in tech sales - the real bullshit here is that this is some right-out-of-college 22 y/o entry level sales person (SDR) who was likely told to to take this list and message everyone on linkedin 1x1. The negative impact of this goes on his shoulders where the positive responses from this get passed off to someone else who is outside the blast radius. Stuff like this is the norm when sales is viewed…

> The negative impact of this goes on his shoulders Well, in this case, people are mad at Azure/MS and Canonical for betraying developer trust, not the individual salesperson. He's just a pawn in the game. It's not like this guy went rogue; this is his job. The system is setup in a creepy way to enable this type of upselling, which makes people uncomfortable. Whether or not Azure or Canonical change policies, we shal…

> Well, in this case, people are mad at Azure/MS and Canonical for betraying developer trust, not the individual salesperson. He's just a pawn in the game. It's not like this guy went rogue; this is his job.

It's still his linkedin profile plastered all over twitter right now though more than Azure's EULA/T&C's.

Re: “I saw that you spun up an Ubuntu image in Azure”

#66
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the Marketplace quote is worth noting too: >A look at the terms for the Azure Marketplace throws up this sentence: "If you purchase or use a Marketplace Offering, we may share with the Publisher of such Offering your contact information and details about the transaction and your usage." So the publisher of something on their Marketplace gets some information. This doesn't seem 'that' weird (well the linked in…

You buy a dishwasher from Best Buy. They send your name and address to Maytag. You buy soap from Walmart. They send your name and address to Johnson & Johnson. You buy a sandwich at your local deli. They send your name and address to Boar’s Head. Cool?

Up until a few years ago, something similar used to happen when you bought a TV set here in Sweden.

If you bought one, your information was shared with the entity ("Radiotjänst") in charge of collecting the mandatory TV fee (funding public service radio and TV programming).

The fee is now collected as tax instead, so that's no longer the case.

Re: “I saw that you spun up an Ubuntu image in Azure”

#67
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the Marketplace quote is worth noting too: >A look at the terms for the Azure Marketplace throws up this sentence: "If you purchase or use a Marketplace Offering, we may share with the Publisher of such Offering your contact information and details about the transaction and your usage." So the publisher of something on their Marketplace gets some information. This doesn't seem 'that' weird (well the linked in…

You buy a dishwasher from Best Buy. They send your name and address to Maytag. You buy soap from Walmart. They send your name and address to Johnson & Johnson. You buy a sandwich at your local deli. They send your name and address to Boar’s Head. Cool?

Except we are talking about licencing here, not buying. If one likes it or not, buying of physical or non-physical goods has long been very different (I'm not supporting it, but it's the reality.)

Re: “I saw that you spun up an Ubuntu image in Azure”

#68
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It means that Microsoft is providing information that they shouldn't.

And Canonical decided to take that data, search him on Linkedin and contact him. Seems reasonable to see that as a reason to loose respect for Canonical over.

Don't get me wrong, what Canonical has done here also isn't good. But what they've done shouldn't have been possible because Microsoft shouldn't have given Canonical the information in the first place.

Re: “I saw that you spun up an Ubuntu image in Azure”

#69
I'm super confused as to why anybody thinks this is a problem. Generally, when one "buys" something from a "marketplace" the vendor gets to know who the buyer is. That the vendor asks the buyer if there's anything else they'd want to buy is par for the course.

Re: “I saw that you spun up an Ubuntu image in Azure”

#70
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> * I would find this message to be a lot better - "We see that you've taken advantage of the Ubuntu image* No. That's not better at all. The mere fact that Canonical has specific information to reach me when I am not a direct customer of Canonical is a complete violation of my privacy. Ubuntu is a free product. Canonical should not be able to find out if I (specifically me or my organization) allocates or runs 1 or…

The alternative is that Azure owns complete access to the customer. Which seems... well, an easy skip to App Store-esque rent seeking. So MS sharing "their" customer details with the image provider seems more generous than evil. Provided there's a "Do not share" config option somewhere.

The issue is more so *why* Microsoft is sharing this information with Canonical. — what does it obtain from it?

Ubuntu is gratis, so Canonical can't have coerced Microsoft into doing so; it is quite probable that one approached the other to make a deal, and that Canonical is paying a certain fee for this information.

Post reply on HN