4 ms·

Surely non-US governments should just reject software with intrusive telemetry?

jszymborski 7y ago
Many european gov'ts have been ditching MS Office for LibreOffice, and in some rarer cases Windows for Linux. Italy https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/italian-army-switches-libreoffice https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/italian-army-switches-l... UK https://archive.fo/l5n9Z https://archive.fo/l5n9Z France https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/open-source-observatory-osor/news/french-gendarmerie-open-sou https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/open-source-observato...
- vanderZwan 7y ago
  I wonder how much these development may have motivated the recent change in attitude towards open source and Linux at Microsoft. I mean even if it had they'd never publicly acknowledge that, since it would be seen as a sign of weakness (and give more free press to the competition in a way)
  - gnode 7y ago
    I think the main reason Microsoft has become more Linux friendly is that it is crucial to the success of Azure, which has become a major part of Microsoft's business.
- danieldk 7y ago
  the army aims to replace all MS Office installations by the end of the year. Seeing is believing. This has often been used as a strategy to get license discounts from Microsoft.
  - gmueckl 7y ago
    License discounts have been Microsofts strategy to persuade organizations to stay.
gnode 7y ago
For a variety of reasons, many of them are in the unfortunate and short-sighted position of being married to Windows and Microsoft software. Rejecting the software outright, and adopting some alternative would likely present larger costs and disruption. That said, there are a few cases in which the calculus favours this, or FOSS ideology prevails.
danieldk 7y ago
Since their training, workflow, and existing data/applications centers around Windows and Office and they are a comparatively big customer, it is probably easier/cheaper for them to strong arm Microsoft into compliance than moving to an alternative operating system and office suite. The interesting take-away from the article and the linked article is that in part they used the GDPR and Dutch privacy laws to force Microsoft into compliance: The processing of diagnostic data for so many broad and undefined purposes is contrary to the principle of purpose limitation. Additionally, in most cases, there is no legal basis for processing the diagnostic data for these purposes. As (sole or joint) controller, Microsoft cannot rely on the consent of employees as referred to in the GDPR because of the dependent position of employees. At the same time, consent is required under Section 11.7a of the Dutch Telecommunications Act for retrieving data via the Internet, through built-in software, if such processing is not strictly necessary. Which means that the GDPR does have teeth, which is good for everyone in the EU, not just governments or larger organizations. Similarly, the EU court of justice has recently decided based on the GDPR that web sites must ask consent for sending personal data by loading Facebook like buttons: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-facebook-dataprotection/companies-using-facebook-like-button-liable-for-data-eu-court-idUSKCN1UO1B4 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-facebook-dataprotectio...

Many european gov'ts have been ditching MS Office for LibreOffice, and in some rarer cases Windows for Linux. Italy https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/italian-army-switches-libreoffice https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/italian-army-switches-l... UK https://archive.fo/l5n9Z https://archive.fo/l5n9Z France https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/open-source-observatory-osor/news/french-gendarmerie-open-sou https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/open-source-observato...

vanderZwan 7y ago
I wonder how much these development may have motivated the recent change in attitude towards open source and Linux at Microsoft. I mean even if it had they'd never publicly acknowledge that, since it would be seen as a sign of weakness (and give more free press to the competition in a way)
- gnode 7y ago
  I think the main reason Microsoft has become more Linux friendly is that it is crucial to the success of Azure, which has become a major part of Microsoft's business.
danieldk 7y ago
the army aims to replace all MS Office installations by the end of the year. Seeing is believing. This has often been used as a strategy to get license discounts from Microsoft.
- gmueckl 7y ago
  License discounts have been Microsofts strategy to persuade organizations to stay.

gnode 7y ago

For a variety of reasons, many of them are in the unfortunate and short-sighted position of being married to Windows and Microsoft software. Rejecting the software outright, and adopting some alternative would likely present larger costs and disruption. That said, there are a few cases in which the calculus favours this, or FOSS ideology prevails.

danieldk 7y ago

Since their training, workflow, and existing data/applications centers around Windows and Office and they are a comparatively big customer, it is probably easier/cheaper for them to strong arm Microsoft into compliance than moving to an alternative operating system and office suite. The interesting take-away from the article and the linked article is that in part they used the GDPR and Dutch privacy laws to force Microsoft into compliance: The processing of diagnostic data for so many broad and undefined purposes is contrary to the principle of purpose limitation. Additionally, in most cases, there is no legal basis for processing the diagnostic data for these purposes. As (sole or joint) controller, Microsoft cannot rely on the consent of employees as referred to in the GDPR because of the dependent position of employees. At the same time, consent is required under Section 11.7a of the Dutch Telecommunications Act for retrieving data via the Internet, through built-in software, if such processing is not strictly necessary. Which means that the GDPR does have teeth, which is good for everyone in the EU, not just governments or larger organizations. Similarly, the EU court of justice has recently decided based on the GDPR that web sites must ask consent for sending personal data by loading Facebook like buttons: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-facebook-dataprotection/companies-using-facebook-like-button-liable-for-data-eu-court-idUSKCN1UO1B4 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-facebook-dataprotectio...