3 ms·

Wouldn’t it be normal to push an update to office via Windows Update? And wouldn’t it be normal to have basic telemetry, enough to know how many active users yo

Wouldn’t it be normal to push an update to office via Windows Update? And wouldn’t it be normal to have basic telemetry, enough to know how many active users you have? This is all in service of 365, which is an inferior product. So I understand the bad taste this leaves but it’s not really anything to worry about.

d_watt 4y ago
> And wouldn’t it be normal to have basic telemetry, enough to know how many active users you have? I don't think this is normal. It may be common, but I don't think it is normal. I find this deeply creepy for an OS vendor to think it's okay to push an update that collects data passively from machines. This isn't even collecting telemetry on active users. This is collecting telemetry on installed software. I get that the Overton window in this shifted a long time ago, and in the tech community I'm in the minority, and especially on hacker news where so many people work for tech companies that track their users every way they can, but I am saying I find it deeply concerning that this sort of thing is a "run of the mill" telemetry update.
- rom-antics 4y ago
  I'm with you. I hate that this is just accepted. This kind of thing is why I run linux. I'd go so far as to say this has antitrust implications. MS is using their dominance in one market (operating systems) to collect market data about another market (office software). Their competitors (Google, Zoho, etc) do not have the luxury to scan most of the world's computers on a whim to see what software is installed.
  - teaearlgraycold 4y ago
    Google has way more power to collect data on the software they care about than MS does
  - dns_snek 4y ago
    Google is absolutely doing the same, not that that's an excuse, just an observation. Chrome has dominant market share and it's scanning your computer for "harmful" software, running processes and reporting that data to Google. chrome://settings/cleanup
LegitShady 4y ago
this isn't an update to office, its just spyware for microsoft. >"This update will run one time silently without installing anything on the user's device," by definition not an update

d_watt 4y ago

> And wouldn’t it be normal to have basic telemetry, enough to know how many active users you have? I don't think this is normal. It may be common, but I don't think it is normal. I find this deeply creepy for an OS vendor to think it's okay to push an update that collects data passively from machines. This isn't even collecting telemetry on active users. This is collecting telemetry on installed software. I get that the Overton window in this shifted a long time ago, and in the tech community I'm in the minority, and especially on hacker news where so many people work for tech companies that track their users every way they can, but I am saying I find it deeply concerning that this sort of thing is a "run of the mill" telemetry update.

rom-antics 4y ago
I'm with you. I hate that this is just accepted. This kind of thing is why I run linux. I'd go so far as to say this has antitrust implications. MS is using their dominance in one market (operating systems) to collect market data about another market (office software). Their competitors (Google, Zoho, etc) do not have the luxury to scan most of the world's computers on a whim to see what software is installed.
- teaearlgraycold 4y ago
  Google has way more power to collect data on the software they care about than MS does
- dns_snek 4y ago
  Google is absolutely doing the same, not that that's an excuse, just an observation. Chrome has dominant market share and it's scanning your computer for "harmful" software, running processes and reporting that data to Google. chrome://settings/cleanup

LegitShady 4y ago

this isn't an update to office, its just spyware for microsoft. >"This update will run one time silently without installing anything on the user's device," by definition not an update