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Apple do it too: if you run Firefox or Chrome on a new macOS install a notification appears trying to sell you on the idea of Safari.
by robin_reala 8y ago
Apple do it too: if you run Firefox or Chrome on a new macOS install a notification appears trying to sell you on the idea of Safari.
- swebs 8y agoUbuntu doesn't mind at all if I change my browser. It even offers several different browsers in its package manager. Oh, and it doesn't spy on me.
- neilsimp1 8y agoTo be fair, Ubuntu does send usage data to Canonical, unlike some other distros. Whether or not that counts as "spying" to you is another question.
- jaimex2 8y agoI thought it asks you to opt-in when you install?
- addicted 8y agoYou can disable that very easily. And as far as I remember when I upgraded to Ubuntu 18.04 on my VM, it asked me whether I was ok with sending anonymous usage data (I believe the default choice was yes which is not ideal but was easy enough to turn off).
- type0 8y agoEven if you answer No, it will ping to their servers so that it can count users that did not want it. At least Canonical are honest about it and I'm sure you could at least prevent it with your firewall settings or maybe even by editing the hosts file.
- seabrookmx 8y agoThis was my experience as well. That and the new "minimal install" option both jumped out at my when I set up my latest dev box.
- swebs 8y agoThey only collect data of the installation process. Once installation is complete, no additional data is collected. They've even publicly released the results. >The collected data is not-personally-identifiable. Meaning that a user cannot be singled out or tracked based on the data he/she provided. Here’s what Ubuntu collects > Version and flavor of Ubuntu you’re installing > Whether you have network connectivity at install time > Hardware statistics such as CPU, RAM, GPU, etc > Device manufacturer > Country > Installation time > Whether you choose auto login, installing third-party codecs, downloading updates during install > Disk layout https://itsfoss.com/ubuntu-data-collection-stats/ https://itsfoss.com/ubuntu-data-collection-stats/
- shittyadmin 8y agoDo they not also run popularity-contest to collect installation data on packages like Debian did? Or did they get rid of that?
- inetknght 8y ago> Oh and it doesn't spy on me Hope you uninstalled all the extra bundled stuff from Amazon and friends.
- Jonnax 8y agoDoes 18.04 do that?
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y agoI'm running the 18.10 Alpha and it was still included, yes. Thankfully it's very easy to remove these days.
- swebs 8y ago18.04 just ships with a hyperlink to Amazon in the sidebar. It does not come with the controversial "Amazon shopping lens" from a few years ago.
- inetknght 8y agoI doubt it's "just" a hyperlink. See my other comment in this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17971394 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17971394 I'd have to download the 18.04 ISO to check, which is currently unfeasible at this moment.
- swebs 8y ago>all the extra bundled stuff from Amazon Ubuntu comes with a shortcut to Amazon on the sidebar. Clicking it just opens Amazon.com in Firefox. It doesn't spy on you or anything, it's just a hyperlink. >and friends Such as?
- inetknght 8y ago> It doesn't spy on you or anything, it's just a hyperlink. You are incorrect. It's much more than a hyperlink. It's an application which was installed in Ubuntu. It specifically runs: unity-webapps-runner --amazon --app-id=ubuntu-amazon-default The unity webapps runner manual says (among other things): Application Options: -a, --amazon Launch amazon (with geoclue store selection) -i, --app-id Launch a webapp with a specific APP_ID -c, --chrome Launch a webapp in default browser Look at that. Amazon and Google. The --amazon switch tells amazon where you're at ("geoclue"), at the very least. And, Chrome being the "default" browser? That's funny, because Chrome isn't even installed. So, that webapp also runs /usr/share/unity-webapps/userscripts/unity-webapps-amazon/Amazon.user.js Guess what that script does? If you even accidentally click the Amazon "hyperlink", you've now associated the _machine_ to a user. Okay, ignore that. What else is default installed as webapps? Looking around the /usr/share/unity-webapps directory shows only Google and Amazon. > Such as? In Ubuntu 16.04, the "Search your computer" will also search "sources" such as "Applications", "Dash plugins", "Files & Folders", "Google Drive". Dash plugins include things like Facebook and Google Drive (again?) At least the search bar has more applications than just the proprietary garbage. There's things like Flickr, Shotwell, Yelp, Picasa... hmmm.
- richrichardsson 8y agoPity that 18.04 is basically a steaming turd, with plenty of broken things ootb. It's hardly surprising, because "you get what you pay for", and you pay exactly zero for it. Don't get me wrong, Linux purely from the command line is awesome, but the desktop experience sucks balls.
- subsection1h 8y ago> 18.04 is a steaming turd [...] the desktop experience sucks balls. Based on your vocabulary, I'm assuming you don't install Ubuntu using the network installer and expert mode, and then create your own desktop environment starting with a good window manager like i3. A person like you is definitely better off using macOS or Windows.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y agoI've done all that before and I have to agree, the Linux Desktop experience sucks balls. Everything is just so inconsistent and fragile.
- pimeys 8y agoi3 + nixos + the same desktop follows with all my machines. With a simple declarative configuration. Nothing changes, nothing breaks. Emacs + st + firefox and all the programming languages just work.
- not_kurt_godel 8y ago> A person like you is definitely better off using macOS or Windows. I'm not necessarily going to disagree with this - I switched from desktop Ubuntu to Mac and have hardly looked back because I really don't miss constantly dicking around with config files playing UI glitch whack-a-mole. Mac UI certainly has its own healthy share of warts - in fact I find it practically unusable without Divvy and Moom, for starters - but on the whole it's polished, functional, aesthetically pleasing, and usually doesn't get in the way of doing work. Those are all very important qualities to me as someone who spends a non-trivial amount of time doing things outside of a terminal. Just because I'm capable of rolling my own desktop environment doesn't mean I want to or that it's a particularly good use of my time, and I imagine a lot of potential/would-be Linux users probably feel the same way. Being dismissive of that perspective is counterproductive if you believe that the world would be better off with more FOSS usage (as I do).
- gameswithgo 8y agoSeems like linux is the clear choice for now given the corporate behavior of MS and Apple.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y agoOnly if you care about these minor annoyances more than the major ones offered by the Linux Desktop.
- remlov 8y agoI'd wager there are plenty of Linux Desktop users that feel that the inverse of annoyances are true, including myself.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y agoAssuredly, but that doesn't mean the opposite perspective isn't a legitimate one.
- remlov 8y agoI agree with you there. For the general population, be it family, grandma, or individuals that tend to operate outside the mindset of the general audience here, the learning curve is going to be a bit steeper if you were to put Ubuntu in front of them. However, every one of their newer releases has made strides in terms of ease of use and stability. Personally I think https://snapcraft.io/ https://snapcraft.io/ lifts a HUGE burden off making popular software available to a non power user who might be new to linux.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y agoI couldn't disagree more. Linux is fine for the kind of people who only use computers to consume content, but then again any personal web kiosk (like a phone or tablet) can easily serve that role so it isn't exactly a high bar. The real problem areas are when people who want a personal computer try to color outside the lines of whatever the distro developer intended as a use case ("Why would you want to do that?" is a common and annoying response).
- lloeki 8y agoHmm, how/when does that trigger? Right after reading this comment I started a screen recording in hopes of capturing the behaviour then installed Chrome and Firefox downloaded via Safari on a new Mac recently set up from scratch and saw no such notification.
- cptskippy 8y agoLooks like it was something with Yosemite 4 years ago. https://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/22/apple-encouraging-safari-downloads/ https://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/22/apple-encouraging-safar... Much less invasive than what this is doing but still pretty disappointing.
- drb91 8y agoHmm, really? I just installed firefox—the only prompt it gives you is the prompt it always gives when setting a new default web browser.
- Delmania 8y agoLet's talk about how with iOS you can't change the default web browser, email, or calendar apps? If you remove Mail.app, install something like Airmail, and then click on a mail link, you're prompted to reinstall Mail.app. I don't like this move by Microsoft, but they called out on shit like this more than other tech companies it seems.
- rustcharm 8y agoThe alternate browsers allowed on iOS are really just wrappers for their engine. You can’t really have an alternate browser in Apple ‘s iOS
- robin_reala 8y agoSort of true. You can swap out the network stack (and Chrome does).
- JustSomeNobody 8y agoMaybe it has to do with the fact that iOS never gave you that control while Windows is trying to take that control away.
- nailer 8y agoiOS never gave you the control, Windows still gives you the control but wants to influence your decision.
- scarface74 8y agoThat’s a solvable problem, if anyone cared enough to solve it. Write a 3rd party browser (yes I realize that it would be a shell over WebKit) and allow the user to choose which app handles third party urls like mailto and maps links. Chrome for iOS already does something similar but you only get to choose between gmail and the native mail client.
- soft_dev_person 8y ago
- criddell 8y agoMy only Apple computer is my iPad and I have the opposite complaint. I've never installed a browser and don't really want to as Safari works well enough for me. However, when an app goes to open a web page, it opens a dialog asking if the page should be opened in Safari or Chrome. I'll pick Safari and check the box that remembers this setting. Then, a few weeks later, it will ask me again. Why does it keep suggesting Chrome?
- tapoxi 8y agoThis isn't a system dialog, its baked into Google apps to try and get you to use Chrome when opening links. AFAIK there's no option to set a default web browser on iOS.
- criddell 8y agoOhhhhh... that makes sense. Now that I think about it, it's happening when I follow a link from Gmail.
- PascLeRasc 8y agoThere should be an option when the box comes up next to not ask again. At least I have one on iOS 12 Gmail.
- criddell 8y agoI check that and it hides it until the next update of the app then it asks me again. I'm using the InBox app (which apparently is being discontinued).
- sjwright 8y agoWorse still, these options are a lie — it says Safari or Chrome but the "Safari" option doesn't actually open Safari, it just loads the requested page in an embedded web view. Assholes.
- tambourine_man 8y agoIt tries to sell you on Safari after OS installation is done, whether you're running a competitive browser or not.
- robin_reala 8y agoAh, right. Considering the first thing I do with a new mac is install Firefox and Chrome (front-end developer) then maybe it’s just been unlucky timing that it always pops the message up as I’m loading a competing browser.
- EasyTiger_ 8y agoI just tried it and no it doesn't
- robteix 8y agoAre you sure it does that? I've always used Firefox and Chrome on my Macs and I can't remember ever seeing anything like that. This include my Mojave beta machine. TBF, I automate my installs so both Firefox and Chrome are installed from the command line via brew cask. Maybe that's why.
- TwoBit 8y agoAnd Safari is a terrible browser, with only the redeeing quality that it's power/battery friendly.
- maxwellito 8y agoYep! Exactly! https://twitter.com/mxwllt/status/882190696224083968 https://twitter.com/mxwllt/status/882190696224083968