4 ms·

Regulate yourselves, FFS. I don’t want my paid operating system to send my private information constantly to your company.

aaronchall 7y ago
Quit using software you can't control. --- > And what? Use ‘Linux desktop’? No thank you. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. My wife uses it. I've used it for the past decade. XFCE is fully featured, smooth, and very light-weight. Others have been great too. Want software? Just install it with the package manager. Games? I used to run them in a windows VM when I really wanted to.
- wslh 7y ago
  That is naive. Organizations and people depend on specific software and there is not replacement for any kind of app that is spying on you.
  - aaronchall 7y ago
    I've been doing it progressively over the past 10 years. I don't carry a smart phone (I'm looking at Linux ones now though). My wife and I use Linux on our laptops. I'm learning more every year about how to control it. It's not naive, it's just difficult. But it's worth doing. ---- What worth do I get? I get expertise. I get knowledge. I'm a programmer. I don't have a OS sending my information to Microsoft. I don't have to worry nearly as much about malicious software. I don't have to run an Antivirus (AV) and AV scans constantly to feel confident in my computer's security. I get access to powerful open-source software. I get to keep learning about even more powerful software - repeatable environments and builds, that give me even more confidence in my ability to create value for myself and others. I get a lot of value for it.
    - bureaucrat 7y ago
      And what ‘worth’, may I ask, did you get?
  - NOGDP 7y ago
    Organisations mandating use of a specific OS is one thing, but most people would be able to get by fine using Linux personally.
    - PorterDuff 7y ago
      I'll bet that most people would get by fine with an open source version of a Chromebook.
      - colejohnson66 7y ago
        While I know people who could get by with a Chromebook, I personally recommend to them not to use them because their specs are usually on the low end. Celleron processors and the like don’t deserve a place in today’s market IMO (look at how successful the woefully underpowered Atoms were with “netbooks”). I’ve also yet to see a Chromebook with good specs that couldn’t be matched by a Windows laptop for the same price. Windows laptops can have Linus installed much more easily (I.E. no jailbreaking)
- bureaucrat 7y ago
  And what? Use ‘Linux desktop’? No thank you.
  - sfkdjf9j3j 7y ago
    Have you tried using linux on a personal computer? You might be surprised!
    - bureaucrat 7y ago
      I have. It just doesn’t get the ‘f*ing job done’ unlike Mac or Windows. Don’t get me wrong, I use Linux extensively. I spend nearly half of my computer time on a SSH terminal. I just hate the graphical part of it.
      - isostatic 7y ago
        Funny, I feel the exact same way about windows and osx. OSX isn't as bad, but both pale in comparison to my linux computers.
mugwort13 7y ago
If this is your posture, I am assuming you don't use Android, ChromeOS, iOS, MacOS, Fire OS, or even some no paid OSes like Ubuntu.
- TheRealDunkirk 7y ago
  Yeah, I ragged on Microsoft on this site for the tracking they built into Windows 10, and somebody posted a detailed list of references about the ways OSX was doing almost the same things. It was disappointing, and deflating.
- Ensorceled 7y ago
  Sounds like they still use Windows and are speaking directly to the President of Microsoft which just asked the government to regulate his industry. Why are you accusing them of some kind of hypocrisy here? I also don't want ANY of my products, paid or unpaid, to spy on me. Assume if someone calls out a particular vendor for a particular instance of privacy violations, they are not explicitly or implicitly giving a free pass to everybody else.

aaronchall 7y ago

Quit using software you can't control. --- > And what? Use ‘Linux desktop’? No thank you. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. My wife uses it. I've used it for the past decade. XFCE is fully featured, smooth, and very light-weight. Others have been great too. Want software? Just install it with the package manager. Games? I used to run them in a windows VM when I really wanted to.

wslh 7y ago
That is naive. Organizations and people depend on specific software and there is not replacement for any kind of app that is spying on you.
- aaronchall 7y ago
  I've been doing it progressively over the past 10 years. I don't carry a smart phone (I'm looking at Linux ones now though). My wife and I use Linux on our laptops. I'm learning more every year about how to control it. It's not naive, it's just difficult. But it's worth doing. ---- What worth do I get? I get expertise. I get knowledge. I'm a programmer. I don't have a OS sending my information to Microsoft. I don't have to worry nearly as much about malicious software. I don't have to run an Antivirus (AV) and AV scans constantly to feel confident in my computer's security. I get access to powerful open-source software. I get to keep learning about even more powerful software - repeatable environments and builds, that give me even more confidence in my ability to create value for myself and others. I get a lot of value for it.
  - bureaucrat 7y ago
    And what ‘worth’, may I ask, did you get?
- NOGDP 7y ago
  Organisations mandating use of a specific OS is one thing, but most people would be able to get by fine using Linux personally.
  - PorterDuff 7y ago
    I'll bet that most people would get by fine with an open source version of a Chromebook.
    - colejohnson66 7y ago
      While I know people who could get by with a Chromebook, I personally recommend to them not to use them because their specs are usually on the low end. Celleron processors and the like don’t deserve a place in today’s market IMO (look at how successful the woefully underpowered Atoms were with “netbooks”). I’ve also yet to see a Chromebook with good specs that couldn’t be matched by a Windows laptop for the same price. Windows laptops can have Linus installed much more easily (I.E. no jailbreaking)
bureaucrat 7y ago
And what? Use ‘Linux desktop’? No thank you.
- sfkdjf9j3j 7y ago
  Have you tried using linux on a personal computer? You might be surprised!
  - bureaucrat 7y ago
    I have. It just doesn’t get the ‘f*ing job done’ unlike Mac or Windows. Don’t get me wrong, I use Linux extensively. I spend nearly half of my computer time on a SSH terminal. I just hate the graphical part of it.
    - isostatic 7y ago
      Funny, I feel the exact same way about windows and osx. OSX isn't as bad, but both pale in comparison to my linux computers.

mugwort13 7y ago

If this is your posture, I am assuming you don't use Android, ChromeOS, iOS, MacOS, Fire OS, or even some no paid OSes like Ubuntu.

TheRealDunkirk 7y ago
Yeah, I ragged on Microsoft on this site for the tracking they built into Windows 10, and somebody posted a detailed list of references about the ways OSX was doing almost the same things. It was disappointing, and deflating.
Ensorceled 7y ago
Sounds like they still use Windows and are speaking directly to the President of Microsoft which just asked the government to regulate his industry. Why are you accusing them of some kind of hypocrisy here? I also don't want ANY of my products, paid or unpaid, to spy on me. Assume if someone calls out a particular vendor for a particular instance of privacy violations, they are not explicitly or implicitly giving a free pass to everybody else.