4 ms·

"When the user searches her own local files for a string using the Ubuntu desktop, Ubuntu sends that string to one of Canonical's servers." That's not how I se

by rlpb 14y ago

"When the user searches her own local files for a string using the Ubuntu desktop, Ubuntu sends that string to one of Canonical's servers." That's not how I see it. I'd correct this to "When the user performs a global search for a string using the Ubuntu desktop, Ubuntu sends that string to one of Canonical's servers to perform that search". If a user wants to search his own local files without searching the entire Internet, then perhaps he shouldn't perform a global search. The global search box (the Dash) didn't previously exist before Canonical invented it. I think it's fair that they get to define what it does. If you don't like it, then don't use it, or change its behaviour (it is open source, and you don't need a fork to change what is effectively a setting), or just use Xubuntu, Lubuntu or Kubuntu, all of which are acknowledged as official flavors by Canonical and none of which use Unity or the Dash by default. "People will certainly make a modified version of Ubuntu without this surveillance." And Canonical even support the existence of these modified versions! If you don't like it, just vote with your feet and install Xubuntu instead. Install popularity-contest to show people your vote. Job done. By all means go ahead and complain that the default doesn't do what you want it to do, but please stop with the hyperbole that is actually misleading to readers about what the real situation is.

raverbashing 14y ago
Yes, using find and grep won't trigger a network search (unless of course it's on an NFS server or something like that)
- drcube 14y ago
  They're on it. :) https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-terminal/+bug/1055766 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-terminal/+bu...
  - chipaca 14y ago
    I hate to point out the obvious, but for people who don't click the link: that bug was filed in irony (and by somebody who didn't "get" the home lens as a global search tool, but that perceptual problem is ours more than it is anybody else's). The global search functionality could be queried from the commandline (by writing a tool that talked to the backends over dbus, as the dash does), and I half expect somebody to implement a kludgy version of "grep" that did exactly that, it is in no way something we're going to ever ship.
- debacle 14y ago
  "Desktop" users, of the kind that Ubuntu wants to adopt, aren't going to be using find and grep.
takluyver 14y ago
There is some mileage to this argument - the search box doesn't really pretend to be local-only. But for the last three releases (from when Unity was introduced), it was only a local search, and I think many users expected it to stay that way. It's also somewhat uncomfortable that the easiest way to launch an application or open a file is to do an online search. For me, it's annoying, and I've turned it off in the settings. But it's not such a big deal that I want to fork Ubuntu, or even switch distro.
reidrac 14y ago
"stop with the hyperbole that is actually misleading to readers about what the real situation is" I wonder if readers do really understand the situation or not. I don't think the hyperbole is a bad idea when features like these should be opted in and not a default for everybody. I don't know if this feature is properly advertised by the system and if there will be someone that didn't know about it. I'm a happy 12.04 user and, since it's LTS, I'll avoid 12.10 until this issue is sorted out.
- JasonFruit 14y ago
  I think Canonical has been appropriately forward with discussion of what the situation is, and who gets information. I think it's an awful idea — who really wants commercial results built into their desktop? — but calling it spyware is disingenuous. I also think it'll kill adoption of Ubuntu. It made me adopt a different distribution, and I think it will cause others to do the same.
  - rlpb 14y ago
    > who really wants commercial results built into their desktop? The distinction between the desktop and the Internet is going away. Some argue that "the desktop is dead"; I just think that it'll get more integrated. I don't think that this is necessarily a bad thing, providing that you have adequate control over your own privacy settings and have a choice of providers (both large and small). An open source project that is promised to always remain so is the safest place for this, since you'll always be able to find instructions to turn things off if the defaults don't suit you. I much prefer this over the world switching to web-based hosted solutions for everything.
    - reidrac 14y ago
      In fact it turns out that 12.04 has some lens making queries to different services when I was searching stuff using the dash, and I didn't know about it. I fixed it with: sudo apt-get remove unity-scope-musicstores unity-lens-video unity-lens-music (I couldn't find how to disable it) It's not like I agreed to this when I installed the system, because I upgraded from a previous version (and a previous version, etc), and that behaviour wasn't there. I don't know how Canonical could advertise these changes, but in the Amazon lens case I think RMS did it right.
mcantelon 14y ago
>"People will certainly make a modified version of Ubuntu without this surveillance." I've been using Cinnamon, Mint Linux's alternative to Unity, and I find it's Dash-like launcher works better anyway. Using Cinnamon also, strangely, fixed an audio issue I'd been too lazy to troubleshoot. http://www.itworld.com/software/307138/install-cinnamon-desktop-ubuntu-1210 http://www.itworld.com/software/307138/install-cinnamon-desk...

by rlpb 14y ago

raverbashing 14y ago

Yes, using find and grep won't trigger a network search (unless of course it's on an NFS server or something like that)

drcube 14y ago
They're on it. :) https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-terminal/+bug/1055766 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-terminal/+bu...
- chipaca 14y ago
  I hate to point out the obvious, but for people who don't click the link: that bug was filed in irony (and by somebody who didn't "get" the home lens as a global search tool, but that perceptual problem is ours more than it is anybody else's). The global search functionality could be queried from the commandline (by writing a tool that talked to the backends over dbus, as the dash does), and I half expect somebody to implement a kludgy version of "grep" that did exactly that, it is in no way something we're going to ever ship.
debacle 14y ago
"Desktop" users, of the kind that Ubuntu wants to adopt, aren't going to be using find and grep.

takluyver 14y ago

There is some mileage to this argument - the search box doesn't really pretend to be local-only. But for the last three releases (from when Unity was introduced), it was only a local search, and I think many users expected it to stay that way. It's also somewhat uncomfortable that the easiest way to launch an application or open a file is to do an online search. For me, it's annoying, and I've turned it off in the settings. But it's not such a big deal that I want to fork Ubuntu, or even switch distro.

reidrac 14y ago

"stop with the hyperbole that is actually misleading to readers about what the real situation is" I wonder if readers do really understand the situation or not. I don't think the hyperbole is a bad idea when features like these should be opted in and not a default for everybody. I don't know if this feature is properly advertised by the system and if there will be someone that didn't know about it. I'm a happy 12.04 user and, since it's LTS, I'll avoid 12.10 until this issue is sorted out.

JasonFruit 14y ago
I think Canonical has been appropriately forward with discussion of what the situation is, and who gets information. I think it's an awful idea — who really wants commercial results built into their desktop? — but calling it spyware is disingenuous. I also think it'll kill adoption of Ubuntu. It made me adopt a different distribution, and I think it will cause others to do the same.
- rlpb 14y ago
  > who really wants commercial results built into their desktop? The distinction between the desktop and the Internet is going away. Some argue that "the desktop is dead"; I just think that it'll get more integrated. I don't think that this is necessarily a bad thing, providing that you have adequate control over your own privacy settings and have a choice of providers (both large and small). An open source project that is promised to always remain so is the safest place for this, since you'll always be able to find instructions to turn things off if the defaults don't suit you. I much prefer this over the world switching to web-based hosted solutions for everything.
  - reidrac 14y ago
    In fact it turns out that 12.04 has some lens making queries to different services when I was searching stuff using the dash, and I didn't know about it. I fixed it with: sudo apt-get remove unity-scope-musicstores unity-lens-video unity-lens-music (I couldn't find how to disable it) It's not like I agreed to this when I installed the system, because I upgraded from a previous version (and a previous version, etc), and that behaviour wasn't there. I don't know how Canonical could advertise these changes, but in the Amazon lens case I think RMS did it right.

mcantelon 14y ago

>"People will certainly make a modified version of Ubuntu without this surveillance." I've been using Cinnamon, Mint Linux's alternative to Unity, and I find it's Dash-like launcher works better anyway. Using Cinnamon also, strangely, fixed an audio issue I'd been too lazy to troubleshoot. http://www.itworld.com/software/307138/install-cinnamon-desktop-ubuntu-1210 http://www.itworld.com/software/307138/install-cinnamon-desk...