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Fix Ubuntu

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Re: Fix Ubuntu

#151
post #102

Solution: stop using Ubuntu. There are lots of other very able distributions out there, many of which not only have better privacy features but also are technologically superior in one way or another. In no particular order, these are all very capable operating systems for a variety of needs: * https://fedoraproject.org/ * http://www.centos.org/ * http://www.opensuse.org/ * http://www.mageia.org/ * https://www.archli…

Yeah, it's quite sad to me, I thought I would never move on from Ubuntu, it was really great until Unity and all this other crap they started piling on it. And now with the corporate fear-mongering over their trademark, that's the last straw for me, I'm going to try moving upstream to Debian and recommend companies I work to do the same.

Re: Fix Ubuntu

#152
post #112
post #102

Solution: stop using Ubuntu. There are lots of other very able distributions out there, many of which not only have better privacy features but also are technologically superior in one way or another. In no particular order, these are all very capable operating systems for a variety of needs: * https://fedoraproject.org/ * http://www.centos.org/ * http://www.opensuse.org/ * http://www.mageia.org/ * https://www.archli…

Linux Mint? Isn't that essentially the same thing as Ubuntu or am I missing something? That is, is it the lens search that is the problem or are there other privacy concerns about Ubuntu?

Mint is based off of Ubuntu, but also has a version based off of Debian, as zx2c4 has pointed out. The biggest difference is that Mint uses the Cinnamon desktop environment, as opposed to Unity, which was forked from Gnome 2. Also, they use Nemo, which was forked from Nautilus, which has more functionality and features as opposed to Nautilus.

Re: Fix Ubuntu

#153
Proud user of Trisquel[1] since 2010. It's a fork of Ubuntu that adheres to GNU's Guidelines for Free System Distributions[2].

While I'm aware that the general opinion of the free software movement ranges from "extreme" to "considered harmful," it is a nice feeling knowing that the creators of the distro have some ethical guidelines in place to prevent things like this - as it turns out, the free software types also tend to be some of the louder privacy advocate types as well.

Mint is probably a better option unless you know your system does not require proprietary drivers, as GNU/FSF kosher distros use a version of the kernel that lacks those proprietary drivers.

[1] http://trisquel.info/

[2] https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guideli...

Re: Fix Ubuntu

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bzzt, logical fallacy - "either work for free, or snoop around in user's data for monetizable content." Hint: there's a very, very wide spectrum between these extremes.

Bzzt, middlebrow dismissal. How about you make a concrete proposal on how you think Canonical's business model should be constructed, instead of "computer says no"?

Bzzt, capitalism fallacy. I fondly remember Ubuntu being a charity of Mark Shuttleworth. Not everything needs a business model.

The mindset of the time is reflected in an announcement [1] of the /Ubuntu Foundation/:

""" "It's important for us to distinguish the philanthropic and non-commercial work that is at the heart of the Ubuntu project, from the commercial support and certification programs that are the focus of Canonical Ltd." said Mark Shuttleworth"""

These new pushes to monetize the home user is what is really annoying.

[1] https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-announce/2005-July/...

Re: Fix Ubuntu

#155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bzzt, logical fallacy - "either work for free, or snoop around in user's data for monetizable content." Hint: there's a very, very wide spectrum between these extremes.

Bzzt, middlebrow dismissal. How about you make a concrete proposal on how you think Canonical's business model should be constructed, instead of "computer says no"?

Paid professional phone support.

Re: Fix Ubuntu

#156
post #139
post #28

Ubuntu provides by default an on/off slider in its privacy settings for disabling the display of online search results in the dash[1], BUT I'm not sure if changing that slider to 'off' will also disable the sharing of searches with Canonical's servers. (The language used by the settings app is ambiguous: "When searching on the dash, include online search results - ON/OFF.") Moreover, I don't particularly feel like sp…

This reminds me of "whoopsie" when I first came across it after upgrading my servers to 12.04. Its a program that resides in the ram, automatically homes in the crash reports and would have to be explicitly disabled. At first I din't mind, but after watching it eat through my ram I had it disabled. As far as privacy goes, who knows what those sent in memory dumps might have.

whoopsie doesn't send anything without your permission.

Re: Fix Ubuntu

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love Debian. But I wish they had a stable version released more often.

Unstable is pretty dang stable.

If I understand it right, Unstable doesn't get security fixes:

http://www.debian.org/security/faq#unstable

And Testing doesn't get fixes for contrib and non-free:

http://www.debian.org/security/faq#testing

Re: Fix Ubuntu

#159
frankly is canonical is getting money from me typing "gedit" or virtualbox a couple of times them thats ok for me, its not like their scanning every document on your pc and sending information around.

on a side not i would like to know how much people complaining about ubuntu practices still google services.

Re: Fix Ubuntu

#160

I'm not whining here, I'm a long-time Ubuntu user and want it to do well and become more popular, but if the 'year of the Linux desktop' is ever to happen, there are greater fixes that Ubuntu needs (Ubuntu is pretty much the only distro that, at this time, has a chance of becoming mainstream i.e. reach at least 5% usage share). For starters, it needs to work out of the box with the average user in mind. I don't think…

>> becoming mainstream i.e. reach at least 5% usage share

Prove that it hasn't. When I bought this machine I booted Windows 8 because I'd read that I had to do some stuff to fix it so I could install Ubuntu, it didn't work so I booted an Ubuntu LiveCD and wiped the disks then installed Ubuntu. The point being that somewhere Microsoft now may count this machine as a bought license even though I don't run Windows 8 on it. There are probably many machines out there like mine.

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