3 ms·

Agreed but sadly for something like Youtube it's basically impossible at this stage. I've long replaced Mail, Maps, Calendar, Photos, Drive, etc with better alt

• zeroday28 2y ago
  > with better alternatives from Apple and Microsoft. There is no difference in terms of privacy. If that's why you replaced them.
  • Schiendelman 2y ago
    You're seriously suggesting Apple and Google have no difference in privacy?
    • yellowapple 2y ago
      That is indeed a serious suggestion, and an absolutely correct one. Transparency is a dependency of trust. Neither Google, Apple, nor Microsoft are transparent about the software they offer, the data that software collects, or how they use the data collected. They are in fact quite opaque about all of those things. The only assurance of privacy they offer is their word.
      • sureIy 2y ago
        Microsoft I agree, same as Google if not worse. Apple does have the occasional third-party review of cryptography and whatnot. Apple also have an actual, single phone support number in multiple languages and countries that you can use as a paying customer. Day and night with Google.
      • xethos 2y ago
        And while that's not an unreasonable rebuttal, my first argument (in agreement with yours) is that Google does not sell their users' information, and neither does Apple. Being up in arms about the lack of privacy from Google is fair, and something I agree with. But Apple doesn't offer dramatically more privacy from Apple that I'm aware of. Both allow, but discourage, free accounts, and run ad networks (that they don't sell user information on) I'm not even arguing there's no difference, just that there's less than everyone likes to pretend
        • Schiendelman 2y ago
          What do you think of Apple's privacy whitepapers?
      • Schiendelman 2y ago
        If I showed you that you were wrong, would you change your mind? Usually when you ask this, people just tell you again why they're right. That means they aren't really open to changing their mind. If I can prove you're wrong, will you change your mind?
        • yellowapple 2y ago
          I'd absolutely change my mind if proven wrong. If any of those companies publish the source code of all the software running on their devices and servers (and can prove that said source code corresponds to what's actually deployed), then that'd be an excellent start.
          • Schiendelman 2y ago
            That is not the statement you made. "Neither Google, Apple, nor Microsoft are transparent about the software they offer, the data that software collects, or how they use the data collected." Apple is very different than the other two here. Do you actually believe otherwise or are your goalposts just... set as to be useless?
            • yellowapple 2y ago
              Apple is not different from either of those two in any of those senses. No source code = no transparency. If I am incorrect about that - and Apple does openly publish all of the code that collects and interacts with their customers' data - then I would be overjoyed to be proven wrong. That's a major component of what transparency entails, and that's what's a dependency of trust. No source code = no transparency, no transparency = no trust. Simple.
              • Schiendelman 2y ago
                "Usually when you ask this, people just tell you again why they're right."
                • 2y ago
• inetknght 2y ago
  > I've long replaced Mail, Maps, Calendar, Photos, Drive, etc with better alternatives from Apple and Microsoft. Honestly it takes quite some cognitive dissonance to say that Apple's or Microsoft's products are better than Google's. I've had multiple Microsoft accounts locked out. None of them were originally with Microsoft; they were with companies that were later bought out by Microsoft and then migrated to a Microsoft account. Goodbye Skype, Halo, Minecraft, etc. I won't ever use Office or an Xbox at this point. And as far as Apple's concerned... well they talk the talk but their declining quality control demonstrates they don't really walk the walk. It doesn't take a genius to see where they're headed in another 10 years.
  • thaumasiotes 2y ago
    A while ago I wanted to use Visual Studio and it required a Microsoft account. I decided I wanted to use Visual Studio enough that it was worth creating a Microsoft account for that purpose. Then, I never did anything with the account other than use Visual Studio. At some point, a message popped up in Visual Studio saying "the pattern of behavior for your account looks fraudulent, so we're disabling it". Visual Studio still worked fine. I'm not sure what they were hoping would happen. They forced me to create an account I didn't want and had no use for, and then they shut it down for fraud when I didn't use it. OK?
    • rkagerer 2y ago
      Can someone clarify whether you can still use it without ever creating an account?
      • olvy0 2y ago
        In my experience, it's always been possible to use Visual Studio Community without a Microsoft account. It might recommend that you do, but you don't have to. I've been using it this way for years.
      • GoblinSlayer 2y ago
        Visual Studio has a "sign in" button. I just don't press it and it works. But skype nags for microsoft account on every login.