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I switched to Ubuntu because of Windows 10. Using Linux as a primary operating system works great as a developer. There is a saying which says if a product are

by acd 10y ago

I switched to Ubuntu because of Windows 10. Using Linux as a primary operating system works great as a developer. There is a saying which says if a product are free "you are the product". Microsoft made the upgrade to Windows 10 free a guess so that they can mine data about you and your habits. That data is valuable for marketing purposes. Wireshark traffic dumps show a lot of data going to Microsoft telemetery. I choose to say no to that data collection, instead wanting to keep a bit of privacy. Have some security wiz MITM the Microsoft telemetry server with their own cert to inspect the data collection traffic?

Meegul 10y ago
I recommend disabling some of the Amazon integration in Unity if you're concerned about your privacy. This shouldn't be too difficult, even if you're new to Linux. I 'd also suggest getting Unity-tweak-tool and playing around with some of the settings in there. EDIT: Just realized that since 16.04, Ubuntu no longer has online search results enabled by default in the Dash. Still though, play around with some of the settings!
- 0xmohit 10y ago
  One doesn't really need Unity, does one? Openbox is awesome. It doesn't hog system resources either.
  - Sylos 10y ago
    Yeah, but Openbox isn't suitable for new users, at least not on its own. As part of something like LXDE or LXQt, it's definitely workable, but without a deeper understanding of Openbox, those are pretty much as good as any other Desktop Environment (except maybe that LXDE/LXQt are also among the lightest DEs around). I would rather recommend either Ubuntu GNOME, if you want a rather unconvential, but highly integrated, highly user-friendly interface, or Linux Mint Cinnamon, if you want a cleaned up Windows-like interface, or Kubuntu, if you want a Windows-like interface which just smothers you in options, tweaks and customizability.
bad_user 10y ago
Windows 10 isn't free and the free upgrade offer was only for Windows 7 users and up and it will be over on July 29. The official retail price for Windows 10 is $120 for Home and $200 for Pro. That isn't cheap either.
- ocdtrekkie 10y ago
  Indeed. (Windows 8 users too.) It's a free update (like... you know, many other free updates) to a paid license. And it remains a paid license. "You are the product" does not apply to Windows 10, and that's why it's so key that Microsoft change it's strategy with regards to telemetry: We're paying customers.
  - Grishnakh 10y ago
    Why should MS change its strategy? They might as well double-down on their strategy and grab as much data about you as they can. What are you going to do about it? Most MS customers have shown they will not abandon Windows, no matter what, so it would be dumb for MS to worry about customers' feelings about being spied on.
    - phatfish 10y ago
      I think if MS had a share of the mobile market greater than 2% (or whatever it is at now) they would be less inclined to enable such spying through their desktop OS. However they are nowhere in mobile (and search), and desktop is the only source they have for user data. The thought of getting left behind in the data mining race by Google and Facebook must be a real concern, and they will do anything to keep up. I suppose the LinkedIn takeover has changed this somewhat, but LinkedIn alone will not put them on terms with Google/Facebook.
tremon 10y ago
There is a saying which says if a product are free "you are the product" Did you pay for Ubuntu?
- acd 10y ago
  Yes I paid for downloading Ubuntu with a donation to Canonical. You can choose to donate as much as you want when you download. Its a small way to thank all the effort open source developers put into developing good open products. Plus other Linux users get to download the operating system for free, that should support the company behind Ubuntu.

by acd 10y ago

Meegul 10y ago

I recommend disabling some of the Amazon integration in Unity if you're concerned about your privacy. This shouldn't be too difficult, even if you're new to Linux. I 'd also suggest getting Unity-tweak-tool and playing around with some of the settings in there. EDIT: Just realized that since 16.04, Ubuntu no longer has online search results enabled by default in the Dash. Still though, play around with some of the settings!

0xmohit 10y ago
One doesn't really need Unity, does one? Openbox is awesome. It doesn't hog system resources either.
- Sylos 10y ago
  Yeah, but Openbox isn't suitable for new users, at least not on its own. As part of something like LXDE or LXQt, it's definitely workable, but without a deeper understanding of Openbox, those are pretty much as good as any other Desktop Environment (except maybe that LXDE/LXQt are also among the lightest DEs around). I would rather recommend either Ubuntu GNOME, if you want a rather unconvential, but highly integrated, highly user-friendly interface, or Linux Mint Cinnamon, if you want a cleaned up Windows-like interface, or Kubuntu, if you want a Windows-like interface which just smothers you in options, tweaks and customizability.

bad_user 10y ago

Windows 10 isn't free and the free upgrade offer was only for Windows 7 users and up and it will be over on July 29. The official retail price for Windows 10 is $120 for Home and $200 for Pro. That isn't cheap either.

ocdtrekkie 10y ago
Indeed. (Windows 8 users too.) It's a free update (like... you know, many other free updates) to a paid license. And it remains a paid license. "You are the product" does not apply to Windows 10, and that's why it's so key that Microsoft change it's strategy with regards to telemetry: We're paying customers.
- Grishnakh 10y ago
  Why should MS change its strategy? They might as well double-down on their strategy and grab as much data about you as they can. What are you going to do about it? Most MS customers have shown they will not abandon Windows, no matter what, so it would be dumb for MS to worry about customers' feelings about being spied on.
  - phatfish 10y ago
    I think if MS had a share of the mobile market greater than 2% (or whatever it is at now) they would be less inclined to enable such spying through their desktop OS. However they are nowhere in mobile (and search), and desktop is the only source they have for user data. The thought of getting left behind in the data mining race by Google and Facebook must be a real concern, and they will do anything to keep up. I suppose the LinkedIn takeover has changed this somewhat, but LinkedIn alone will not put them on terms with Google/Facebook.

tremon 10y ago

There is a saying which says if a product are free "you are the product" Did you pay for Ubuntu?

acd 10y ago
Yes I paid for downloading Ubuntu with a donation to Canonical. You can choose to donate as much as you want when you download. Its a small way to thank all the effort open source developers put into developing good open products. Plus other Linux users get to download the operating system for free, that should support the company behind Ubuntu.