4 ms·

Google doesn't sell user information. Also, Microsoft also has a search engine and ad business that do the exact same thing and just because it isn't successful

Google doesn't sell user information. Also, Microsoft also has a search engine and ad business that do the exact same thing and just because it isn't successful that doesn't allow you to give them a free pass. Additionally, they preinstall third party bloatware on their OS and send tremendous amounts of telemetry back to their servers.

larkost 9y ago
Google absolutely sells access to "digested" user information. While your first sentence is technically correct since they don't directly give anyone the data, it is misleading at best. Google is in the business of selling selective eyeballs to advertisers, and has been a pioneer in using user data to try and target those add impressions.
- euyyn 9y ago
  Google doesn't sell access to user information either, digested or not. I think it's misleading to say they do, "digestedly", or indirectly, or whatever.
  - ksk 9y ago
    That is true, if they sold the data, their company would probably be worthless!
  - bocklund 9y ago
    Google sells advertisers a promise to show their ads for razors to males 18-30 years old who have ever searched for 'razors' or 'shaving' or 'beard' or 'shaving cream'. Maybe they also look through your Google photos to find faces with beards... or check your email for references to beards or amazon orders with razors... and to show extra ads to people who live in the Portland area Some people are more okay with the facts (top paragraph) and the possibly exaggerated version (previous paragraph) and others.
    - euyyn 9y ago
      I don't think anybody would be surprised to know that Google ads are personalized based on the data it knows about you. The misleading part is saying that that personalization is done by selling your data to advertisers.
- bitmapbrother 9y ago
  Google charges clients for the ability to have their ads seen by the demographic of users they want to target. Under no circumstances does Google sell user data in any form and it's disingenuous to try and make people believe that they do.
MrZipf 9y ago
Microsoft does not preinstall third party bloatware, that's OEMs running on thin margins. There have been Microsoft efforts to share with OEMs the effect of bloatware on boot times and incentivizing boot time reduction.
- bitmapbrother 9y ago
  Yes they do. My Windows 10 upgrade, which was from Microsoft, came with Candy Crush [1] and some third party PDF annotation app. They also added ads in their OS [2] to try and upsell you. [1]https://www.theverge.com/2015/5/14/8606925/candy-crush-saga-windows-10 https://www.theverge.com/2015/5/14/8606925/candy-crush-saga-... [2]https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/17/14956540/microsoft-windows-10-ads-taskbar-file-explorer https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/17/14956540/microsoft-window...

larkost 9y ago

Google absolutely sells access to "digested" user information. While your first sentence is technically correct since they don't directly give anyone the data, it is misleading at best. Google is in the business of selling selective eyeballs to advertisers, and has been a pioneer in using user data to try and target those add impressions.

euyyn 9y ago
Google doesn't sell access to user information either, digested or not. I think it's misleading to say they do, "digestedly", or indirectly, or whatever.
- ksk 9y ago
  That is true, if they sold the data, their company would probably be worthless!
- bocklund 9y ago
  Google sells advertisers a promise to show their ads for razors to males 18-30 years old who have ever searched for 'razors' or 'shaving' or 'beard' or 'shaving cream'. Maybe they also look through your Google photos to find faces with beards... or check your email for references to beards or amazon orders with razors... and to show extra ads to people who live in the Portland area Some people are more okay with the facts (top paragraph) and the possibly exaggerated version (previous paragraph) and others.
  - euyyn 9y ago
    I don't think anybody would be surprised to know that Google ads are personalized based on the data it knows about you. The misleading part is saying that that personalization is done by selling your data to advertisers.
bitmapbrother 9y ago
Google charges clients for the ability to have their ads seen by the demographic of users they want to target. Under no circumstances does Google sell user data in any form and it's disingenuous to try and make people believe that they do.

MrZipf 9y ago

Microsoft does not preinstall third party bloatware, that's OEMs running on thin margins. There have been Microsoft efforts to share with OEMs the effect of bloatware on boot times and incentivizing boot time reduction.

bitmapbrother 9y ago
Yes they do. My Windows 10 upgrade, which was from Microsoft, came with Candy Crush [1] and some third party PDF annotation app. They also added ads in their OS [2] to try and upsell you. [1]https://www.theverge.com/2015/5/14/8606925/candy-crush-saga-windows-10 https://www.theverge.com/2015/5/14/8606925/candy-crush-saga-... [2]https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/17/14956540/microsoft-windows-10-ads-taskbar-file-explorer https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/17/14956540/microsoft-window...