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The Black Underbelly of Windows 8.1 'Blue'
snydeq writes "Changes in Microsoft's forthcoming upgrade to Windows 8 reveal the dark underbelly of Microsoft's evolving agenda, one that finds pieces of Windows 8 inexplicably disappearing and a new feature that allows Microsoft to track your local searches cropping up, InfoWorld's Woody Leonhard reports. 'As Windows 8.1 Milestone Preview testers push and prod their way into the dark corners of Windows 8.1 "Blue," they're finding a bunch of things that go bump in the night. From new and likely unwelcome features, to nudges into the Microsoft data tracking sphere, to entire lopped-off pieces of Windows 8, it looks like Microsoft is changing Windows to further its own agenda.'"
A lot of the stuff the article gripes about are what Google has been doing for ages with Android: requiring a Microsoft account, funneling users to their services first, tracking your system usage, etc.
Microsoft has every incentive to do this, and no disincentive.
Seriously, how many people are going to switch to Linux over this? Nobody.
Get used to it.
A lot of the stuff the article gripes about are what Google has been doing for ages with Android:
That doesn't make me feel better......
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Only that nobody want to use Bing or Hotmail. They both suck.
This is normal MS behaviour, every time they look slightly better, things like this remind me that they are MS and they cannot be trusted.
i switched my search provider to bing but it is still sent to google. why?
The only reason Windows gained market share in the 90s was because it went out of its way to not be a closed system. It's always sucked, it's just a matter of how little but that we still had control over our PCs than IBM and later Apple wanted us to have.
If Microsoft goes this route and enforces controls and advertising ala Google/Android styl Android will gain the lead as a desktop OS.
In short, the more Ballmer tightens his fist, the more users will slip through his fingers.
Ya, but at least you aren't paying extra for the privilege of being tracked like you do with a microsoft product. Its a trade off for 'free' services in google-land.. In the microsoft world you pay thru the nose AND get tracked.
Google is more upfront about it too.
( that said, neither is right.. but one is less bad about it )
...and you're looking right into its Windows.
Unless they've already changed something since the first preview release, all you have to do is enter any old email address and password, MS account-linked or no. It'll fail, and then ask if you want to create a local account.
"Clever workaround"....*eyeroll*.
Yes, Blue Man Group should be deeply offended that Microsoft has used their skin color in this manner.
That is appalling. Why would anyone use this piece of crap Windows 8.1? I am going to stick with Ubuntu and Unity for my privacy needs.
Metro/Windows Store ----> Apple
All the known and lesser known attempts to monetize search ----> Google
The big difference about the search revenue is that at least Google 'gives' you the software for 'free' before raping your privacy.
Microsoft will be charging you to rape your privacy.
Even so, I've found Windows local search to be more trouble than it's worth anyway. the "perpetual green bar" kept getting in my way, so I just disabled Windows Search entirely. On the sad side, I can't use instant search in Outlook anymore. On the bright side, I replaced it with Everything. It legitimately searches everything, and does so instantly. I'd prefer doing that in Windows 8.1. If for no other reason, I haven't the foggiest idea why someone would want to simultaneously search the internet and a local drive for the same search string. They're foundationally different - internet search is for "stuff you don't have", and local search is for "stuff you have, but don't know where". I can't ever once think of a time I've wanted to search both at a time.
Serato really, REALLY needs to port itself to Linux.
So what if it is doing "what Google's Android has been doing for years"? I'm not using "Google Android" on my desktop, am I?
I don't pay $$ for Google. If Microsoft wants to make its products free, then OK, but until then this is abusive. They are trying to eat their cake and have it, too.
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
I come to here often to read the rants of all the Microsoft-bashers out there that post their comments from a Windows-based system. I especially like the bit about "they are MS and they cannot be trusted" - as if to say that Apple / Google or anyone else with a corporate agenda is any better. The only reason Windows gained market share in the 90's was because it was extremely easy to pirate, and Microsoft rode that wave of piracy right into popularity. Kind of like the crap "artists" in Vegas that give away their music CD's for free, hoping that they'll gain popularity by seeding the populous. Microsoft just let the pirates and Usenet do the heavy lifting.
Of course someone has to jump in with the race card. You should kill yourself. It has nothing to do with race. It means dark, shady, in the shadows, behind closed doors, without your knowledge, etc, etc.
Who would you rather have spying on you, a company whose mission is to 'not be evil' or a company whose attitude is 'bend over and take it!"
Since they say that they will be showing advertisements on the desktop, does that mean that they will get rid of the Windows Home/Pro/Expert editions and just have a single Windows 8.1 which is free to download and install?
No sig. Move along - nothing to see here.
"funneling users to their services first, "
Yeah that'll work well with anti trust issue in EU.
"tracking your system usage"
Yeah that'll work well with data protection issues in EU.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Goodbye, Windows.
Apple does the same thing as Google, why the outrage when Microsoft is last to implement it?
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
After Windows XP I couldn't find a good reason for somebody to upgrade anymore.
There are a few lessons learned here:
1. Microsoft shoot theirselves on the foot with XP.
2. From Windows 3.1 to XP we, the consumers, where actually paying for flawed products.
3. As much as I hate Apple it seems like their business model works better.
about if we added "to grease white fat-cat honky palms" to it, would that make you feel better?
You have been trolled. Do you really think GP meant it? He knew that any mention of the word "racist" makes the nerds scream with fury and start frothing at the mouth, without stopping to think. Evidently it worked on you.
You are an idiot.
sounds like an NSA 'feature'
"funneling users to their services first, " Yeah that'll work well with anti trust issue in EU. "tracking your system usage" Yeah that'll work well with data protection issues in EU.
As long as they share data with the local government's spying organization everything will be fine.
Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
Google = Do No Harm.
Microsoft = Do Harm.
* Carthago Delenda Est *
You don't need to have any kind of Google account or any link to Google at all to use android. There are plenty of services that are only available if you do, but people who choose to can use android devices without connecting them to Google in any way at all. There are even some devices that you have to go out of your way to get them to connect to Google.
... I won't stop using Windows, but I will not let Windows online.
The thing is: I expect these shinanagins from Android, so I modify my usage habits accordingly. That is harder to do on a general purpose computer, so I don't want it leaking information about my usage habits like a sieve. So I'll just rip out the ethernet cable and grab files from my Mac or Linux box to use under Windows, and cart them over via sneakernet.
Stop using Windows though, that's a somewhat harder case to make.
When did they not do that?
Don't forget that H-1Bs also work overtime for free.
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
Wake me when I can get Android on something beside phones and tablets. Until it's an OS on par with Windows and OS X, there will be no mass migration to it. That would take an enormous commitment by Google, and I doubt that's coming.
But the last time I did a local search on my PC's C:\ drive and didn't have ads all up in my shit, it just felt like something was missing.
I'm just glad Microsoft was listening.
That the same EU that didn't raise much more than a "tsk, tsk... please stop, would you?" when they heard about the NSA spying on their citizens?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I wanted a computer, not a registration of an account in one more "social" scheme.
I mean why I must register a Microsoft account to use a computer? I remember as we were told that it is "impossible to separate a browser from an OS".
Now it seems it becomes impossible to separate an OS and social network.
When one 15 shout cuts office it should be in a folder or slide out menu
even Google earth has 4 shortcuts in it's start menu folder
Is Google really doing this? I have an android phone and I do have an account, but it's not a Google account, it's my phone service provider's account. As far as I can tell I can download as many free apps as I want without any Google account (I have one though, just not attached to the phone). However with Windows 8 I can not download any free apps without a Microsoft account, in fact I can not even use some of their built in apps without an account! (ie, Mail requires one, even if Microsoft is not your mail provider)
On the other hand, because it's a phone, and a phone must have an account or at least a phone number, this is not as pernicious on a phone. If it was a tablet however then this is more intrusive I would think. On a PC though it's absolutely ridiculous to have account requirements and this is where it is patently obvious that there are ulterior motives behind this and it's not at all about user convenience.
Is there a practical way to turn this crap off and still have a functioning OS?
But probably won't be too long before you have to buy a "professional version" for extra money to turn off these integrations. And I can't argue with Microsoft that consumers don't want this. Too many people are happy to fork over a 30% commission to Apple or Google just to install software on a device, and/or get a free app that is soaked with ads and tracking. I can't give Facebook a few bucks a month (which is infinitely more than any clickthrough revenue they will get from me) to get an ad free experience. Microsoft is just doing what their shareholders want (not what they need, maybe, but what they want). They want an answer to Google and Apple. They want apps, they want the 30% for distribution. This is where the industry is going.
Google got their motto wrong from the start. You can't do no evil in advertising. The whole industry is built on manipulating people and their desires to create profitable behaviors. There is no free lunch. Access to the world's information now comes with a cost; you have to let people use knowledge to try and sell you crap. Don't think that because you don't click those ads means you are getting it free. The gatekeepers are demanding payment and increasing profit margins.
I like the Microsoft ecosystem. It has the right mix of usability, support and diversity of applications for many people, and it does have a powerful set of programming tools. You still have choices in laptops and desktops. Linux is under fire from too many sides and suffers from too much infighting. Apple is a closed, shiny box. Android is little better. Custom ROMs and sideloading isn't a sign of freedom, it's a pain.
It's scary that the best hope is Microsoft can't afford to alienate their corporate customers who will want none of this, because they don't want workers doing anything but work at work, and some of us will still be able to get the "Pro versions". Here's hoping this all fails and Microsoft goes back to making money by selling software. You know, like they've done very well for quite some time now.
Some company changes its own product to further their company goals.
See sharing as long as they can hide it is one thing, but sharing while obviously going agaisnt the law publicly won't work, as the variosu EU governement can't pressure court with secret warrant stuff as easily in EU in various country as it is in the US.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
No, seriously, what could they do ? Have a stern look ? Show the birdy to the US ? loudly whine ? There is nothing on the law or international court they could do.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
I recognize those as english words, I just don't get why they are assembled near to each other and in that order.
I seem to recall something very similar happening with Ubuntu last year with Ubuntu 12.10. Canonical received all sorts of flack for it, and rightly so. But at least with Ubuntu, you can at least disable that "feature" without much effort.
Makes me wonder if Microsoft is going to get a free pass because, well, Microsoft.
with all the entitlement driven political correctness 'concern trolling' going on these days? It's honestly hard to tell. I'll bet there's a growing group of people out there who'd say something like this in all seriousness.
In addition to a lot of other misfeatures like shoving Microsoft Accounts down your throat, Microsoft actually went out of their way with Windows RT 8.1 to lock out the jailbreak that allows you to run non-Metro applications on Windows RT 8.0. Windows RT is basically just Windows 8 ported to ARM, desktop and all, but Microsoft made Windows RT unable to run any non-Microsoft program in the desktop -- all third-party applications *must* be Metro applications on the Windows Store. I really think that Windows RT is Microsoft's testbed for what they envision as the future of all of Windows, both desktop and tablet.
The jailbreak made Windows RT able to run unsigned applications on the desktop. Some open-source applications have now been ported to the jailbroken Windows RT environment. That's pretty much all the jailbreak allowed you to do -- run some desktop-mode open-source programs on Windows RT. The jailbreak doesn't seem to facilitate Windows Store application piracy at all -- at least, I haven't heard of such hacks.
And yet, Microsoft went well out of their way to block it. They revoked the certificate used to sign all RT 8.0 applications. They changed the debugger policy on RT to not allow WriteProcessMemory. They rewrote considerable portions of the Windows RT-specific lockdown DLL, wldp.dll. They marked csrss.exe as a DRM-related "protected process", even though it has nothing to do with DRM. This latter change applies to x86 as well, even though the change was clearly designed to target the method by which the Windows RT 8.0 jailbreak worked.
I'm working on a new jailbreak for RT 8.1. I already have code executing in kernel mode in RT 8.1, so it's just a matter of putting everything together. I'm going to wait until the 8.1 final release before releasing the jailbreak, though, to make things more complicated for Microsoft to fix.
"Screw Sun, cross-platform will never work. Let's move on and steal the Java language." - Visual J++ Product Manager
Now all this systemd, polkit, grub 2.0 garbage is infecting everything. Might as well re-implement the windows registry while we're at it.
I dont think Joe User is ready for desktop linux quite yet. The posts I have read here all talk about using the OS as it it, but you forget one thing....third-party hardware and software. Users wont be ready to use linux flavors on the desktop until vendors are ready to support them.
Case in point, I recently worked a call center job for an ISP that served rural America. The service worked for "every operating system and every browser." However, we supported Windows XP onward and Mac OSX(limited). As far as browsers we supported IE 7+, FF 3.x+ and Safari(limited). If you could connect your modem and run it smoothly using your linux box be our guest, but dont come to us with your problems. It is a process-based job which means there are step by step solutions for agents to walk users through with pretty screenshots. Your screen doesn't match? You can't follow the process with me over the phone? Powercycle your equipment and tell me if that solves your issue. If not i'll note your account and move on. Bye.
The company i worked for isn't the only one out there that's process-based as im sure most if not all level 1 helpdesk positions are. I wasn't scripted, but there are only so many words you can use to tell a customer to do what they need to do.
Until a company can step up and develop a locked down no config necessary(by which i mean changing/creating values in a text file or terminal) that looks and acts uniformly on any hardware vendors and dumb users wont touch it.
Um, the necrophilia thing, that's your bag, man, not mine.
it looks like Microsoft is changing Windows to further its own agenda
I think that is the whole idea.
Just wanted to add here that it is possible to bypass the attempt to force the user to create an MS account during 8.1 upgrade by simply DISCONNECTING THE INTERNET.
All the more reason to go after MS and Apple, dominant American companies, to show that US does not push EU around... (Just please keep sharing any juicy data NSA finds, and we try to be as soft as public opinion allows).
Windows 7 is the last iteration of windows OS that i will be using. I am in the process of
migrating over to Linux. All OS's have their issues, but they are taking it just a little to far.
And yes i use all three major operation systems and windows is on its way out of my life.
"Get used to it."
You can get use to it. I am jumping out of the water before it starts boiling...........
I see new trial in the EU againt Microsoft coming up against all this. Ending in a decade with MS having to pay a few hundred million right when Windows 10 comes out and Win 8 secured the monopoly and thus made a few dozen billion for them...
Self-parody.
On my way to work this morning I saw a Microsoft ad with the tagline: "Your privacy is our priority."
People talk about Big Brother Gubmint, but seldom have I seen a better example of Doublespeak.
Funny you should post this drivel in response to a story about how MS is ignoring customer wishes, and screwing over paying customers in the quest for more money.
You got a point but basically this is true for any product, no matter how it is made. You either take what somebody else produces, free or not free or make your own.
It the reason that in an age of cheap production, DIY is more popular then ever.
When one 15 shout cuts office it should be in a folder or slide out menu
Ugghh... I think you meant "When Office has 15 shortcuts, they should be in a folder or a slide-out menu."
and did it well, and without jumping through hoops.. usability would increase a thousand-fold.. and we would replace our standard desktops with linux in a heartbeat.......
remember window positions and sizes from application launch to application launch, and from reboot to reboot...
that one tiny thing that windows has done since the beginning, linux desktops struggle with... or simply dont do or even try at all.
but noooo.. instead we have gui developers say its the application's job.. and application developers say it's the gui's job... so nobody does it and it sucks the usability right out of the linux desktop more than you may realize.
Their fevered defense of all things Redmond is looking even more like something out of PK Dick than before.
I pin no hopes on Linux on the Desktop, so as a 2nd best option to prevent a MS dominance, I think Apple, with their huge cash reserves, should trade profits for market share and start selling the MacBook Air for something like $699 (and no-contract iPhones for $349). That would make their competitors look pretty stupid. And it would be a good idea anyway, considering Apple's slowly declining market share and waning influence, which sooner or later will result in fewer developers, fewer apps, a less attractive platform, and, ultimately, less revenue.
Microsoft really need to watch their own "your privacy is our priority" ads.
What surprises me is that the press wasn't all over this from day 1. Microsoft has built Windows 8 to drive traffic to Bing, and it was that way from the beginning. My prediction is that Windows 9 will come in a "consumer" edition (Metro apps ONLY) and a "legacy" edition (runs WinAPI apps, but costs more than an individual could afford - corporations will get deep discounts and the per-computer cost of the license will be about the same as Win7). Just wait, if MS can possibly get away with it, they'll do it.
Of course an ivy league school full of the offspring of the rich/upper middle class is going to be chock full of Macs. Try going to average university where the students aren't loaded with money. Much fewer macintoshs there.
For the morons who can't RTFA nor the RTFAQ, the "mandatory" Microsoft Account link is for the beta, and for the beta only. It will not be there for the RTM. If you can not understand why Microsoft would want to keep an eye out for what you do when you sign up as a free beta tester with them, then you are a moron. Every single piece of beta software I have ever been part of building, was teeming with monitoring functionality, its the f*cking point of having a beta.
I would hope that as we are still seeing beta code that Microsoft will mop this all up in the next month... Although a little drastic, after trying Windows 8.1 I dusted off my Windows 7 install disk and rolled my laptop back to the OS that came with it... My goodness it was a refreshing change, no longer do I experience the jarring sensation of being yanked from my desktop to the start screen, I can always see what applications are running, I can have several things on screen at once. Yes, I miss staring endlessly at my ever changing live tiles, I miss using a pin code to log in, and I miss the plethora of pre-installed Microsoft applications... Or do I? Is Windows 8 just one big gimmick? It's a real shame that Microsoft have pulled off their leap to a new interface so poorly, with a bit more imagination Windows 8 may have been the radical idea that revolutionised the the flagging PC industry... Perhaps if they had embedded the "Start Screen" within the start menu for desktop users? After I got Windows 8 I went and got a Windows phone expecting my two devices to be symbiotically entwined, but they weren't, it became a whole pile of faff getting my email accounts on both devices, this should have been seamless! I ditched the Windows phone and got an iPhone... I'm in the market for a new laptop, and I'm being pulled towards a Macbook, I installed a "Hooky" copy of OSX in a virtual machine and instantly found it to be more like Windows than Windows 8. It also did everything Microsoft promised the Windows 8 would do, effortlessly syncing with my Apple ID calendar, email, address book... I'd be interested to see how many people are being steered away from Windows machines as a result of Windows 8.
There are a lot more assholes whining about "Political Correctness" than there are people actually being "Politically Correct."
Over the years I've read many stupid things on /. but that is one of the precious gems that show up from time to time: "looks like Microsoft is changing Windows to further its own agenda."
At this point, I'm only upgrading for the unified search (not for online, but so apps/files/settings show up in the same blasted window). But now I'm hesitant to even go that far. Am I missing any "please let us have your data" steps?
I don't get it. They're bitching because Microsoft decided to not integrate Facebook pictures?
How...sinister of them. Damned if they try to do it all, cutting out competition, damned if they don't.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Windows Experience Index being deprecated constitutes "entire lopped off pieces"? Really? More FUD...
First of all: " I have an old single-core i3 machine with a Windows 8 WEI of 7.0." - the author
No you don't and no it doesn't. That doesn't exist and it wouldn't get scored that high if it was a 1st gen.
Second, who the hell uses the photos app? I removed it from the system I was demoing and set Windows Picture and Fax Viewer as default for all of its formats instead of approx 27 out of 56. I also set Windows Media Player, not the videos app or whatever, as default for everything then paved over the differences in file extensions with VLC.
The search feature is completely inexcusable but if one simple flip of a config switch turns off all web search in a local search, whatever, that's what I'll do if anyone has me set them up a Windows 8 machine. In the meantime, I have a stockpile of Windows 7 licenses and can still buy OEM ones from 2 major vendors.
And I don't need a google account to use it.
Many of the applications have absolutely no point (and annoyingly I can't just delete the f-ers, but I don't use them or have to) without a Google account, but I don't have to use them. Updates to the system do not require a google account. Installing apps from the Android store does, but I don't have to download from there.
So the system as written (by standard, your provider may make your mileage vary) is somewhat nerfed by not having a google account, but those uses are for google apps written to access google services via a specialised app.
I don't need a google account to use the web browser to go to googlemaps, but I do need to use one to use the google maps app.
Activation.
If that is turned off and MS refuse to honour their statements about activation (MS not doing as they said? Unpossible!) and release a patch to remove activation, then XP has stopped dead at that date.
If all you wanted was a UNIX userland, then why would you choose a Mac to get it over all the alternatives?
If, say, you want a laptop with a high resolution screen (>1080p) then buying a Macbook is probably the best (and least expensive) choice. I like the Chromebook Pixel, but I want more than 4 GB RAM/32 GB local storage.
I will probably end up buying the Haswell version of the Macbook Pro (Retina) when it comes out. I will plan to run Linux on it and just have Mac OS X/Windows guest VMs floating around for when I absolutely need them. I will just have to get over the funky trackpad these Apple machines have...
There are many programs for XP that won't run on Win7. There are many pieces of kit that ran on XP and won't run on Win7.
You are leaving out the required parameter: most people use windows because every program that works on that version they currently have of windows works on that current version of windows.
There is the *expectation* that it will work with the next few versions of Windows, or earlier ones, but if that doesn't happen, what do you do?
Buy the newer version? Then this is self-fulfilling and therefore meaningless.
Forgo the program? Then you're as valid running in Linux as Windows.
Stay with the older version? Then you're not really using the Windows that you imply (the current version)
As a long time linux user here are a few of my observations and opinions.
1) Just because you can fork doesn’t mean you should. How many devs are working on all the various debian based distros or forks of forks (mint forks ubuntu which forks debian).
If all those people's efforts (which are commendable) were focused on a smaller number of distributions perhaps the quality would go up?
2) Hardware – until the hardware vendors get serious about linux drivers there will always be unsolvable issues
3) The “RTFM” crowd. You know the type, some new linux user asks a question and someone with a serious superiority complex and too much time on their hands responds “RTFM”. Very helpful and fantastic you are no longer a “NOOB” but why did you use your precious time do to respond? Perhaps it’s because you wanted to boost your post count? Maybe it was a STUPID question in your mind but you had a few positive choices.
- not respond at all
- respond with help
- respond telling them where they can find help
You choose to be a jerk instead. Perhaps if people stopped doing this people would be more wiling to ask “dumb” questions? (Sideline, ever heard the saying there is no such thing as a dumb question just a dumb answer).
Why do I LOVE linux and encourage the kids to use it?
- I believe in the opensource model and there are incredibly talented people working on this.
- The quality of some products is equal or higher when compared to commercial products.
- The obvious cost benefits (OS plus a great office package which can do PDF’s for zero dollars)!
- They are not trapped into being corporate shills and can evaluate products based on their needs.
- No “activation/spying” concerns (other then Ubuntu search which I disable).
- A pretty good install of Ubuntu and an office package is around 1/5 what a windows install needs allowing small and fast SSD’s and amazing boot times.
. I have three kids. One runs ubuntu exclusively, the other reverted to windows when I was unable to fix the blue tint on all utube video’s. The third thinks it’s ugly and refuses to use it.
My own desktop runs Ubuntu and other then the ATI card constantly doing weird redraws its pretty good.
As for Windows 8. Tried it and it’s not a desktop OS.
Maybe 8.1 will get there by putting the start menu back. Flip side, they have made some good improvements but this seems like the whole ubuntu/unitiy debate. They made a choice on the UI and many disagree with that choice. At least they are doing the right thing and giving people a choice.
Microsoft is putting its interests ahead of its customers???
Has anyone talked to Balmer or Gates about this?
XKCD:Xeric Knowledge Comically Dispen
Of course. It'll work well if you're anti-trust / antiprivacy in EU if you're Google or Microsoft.
If you're APL, you get away scott free despite doing precisely the same things.
Install Linux as base OS. Always surf from a Linux virtual machine. Only use Windows when virtualized, and only when necesarry.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
I've made a tidy sum for years helping people get their systems set up. About 10 to 15 pc's a week. They drop them off at my office new, and I install everything they need including office, which I often purchase for them, transferring accounting software, data, photos, and other freeware/open source aps, and paied for applications they provide me licenses to.
Windows 8 goes and fucks this all up. I can with windows 8 still bypass the stupid Microsoft account, but with the new office no dice. I either have to register my customers software under my account which to me is stealing their software, or ask them to set up an account (which to them is hard, that's why they came to me to begin with), so I have 3 copies of office 2013 home and business sitting on my desk that I'm stuck with now, because I won't install them on a customers computer. I install Libre office, and tell customers they have to purchase and install office themselves because of problems with licensing. I also tell them that I have installed a good free office software, and they might want to give it a try before buying office.
The thing about google is that there is co-BENEFIT to signing up with a google account. Google backs up my android settings, automatically backs up all my phone photos to G+, allows me to use google apps, a nice synchronized calendar, a place to buy applications or download free applications that are vetted to be virus free, and I can turn all of that off if I don't want to use it. With Microsoft I see almost no benefit whatsoever except for them.
"Microsoft is changing Windows to further its own agenda."
I wasn't aware they were ever following anyone else's agenda for THEIR OWN OPERATING SYSTEM.
Im installing Win98 - forget all the current bells and whistles, and on my current hardware it'll fly
no matter how good it is, it is human nature always wants to make things better
On the other hand, no worry about drive-by downloads, malicious websites etc. ASCII files come in on a memory stick ; PDFs leave the same way and go to the computers on the customer's network.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
I had to set my parents up on Windows 8 a few weeks back when we bought my dad a new ultrabook (and your OS choices are pretty much, Windows 8).
Anyway It required registration to a MS account using an email address. So I enter my parents ISP email address as that is their primary.
Windows 8 doesn't like it. Refuses to register. Stuck. Had to use a Gmail webmail account that they had, which they don't really use, nor do they even remember the password to. Windows 8 took that. A webmail account over an ISP dedicated...
Anyway if I had the time, I am sure I could probably fined the issue online or something, but seriously. You buy a 1000$ computer with a new Windows 8 operating system and the first thing it does is prohibit you from actually using it.
I know it was going to piss me off. I mean this is someone who hates Microsoft (or at least hates Windows 8/phone 8 and is trying to get small minded people to back him. I hate apple but I would never write about apple (unless it was to argue a point and then I would say its my opinon). Google and apple both track their users and they're probably more abrasive than Microsoft will be. Microsoft with IE turned on "do not track" while others made you hunt for the button which most people did not. It seems to me Microsoft is looking more out for peoples privacy than most companies. Sure want to make money off of advertising, but like I said so is Google and apple. You don't want to be tracked get an old flip phone and take out the battery every when you're not using it and use a pager so can see who's calling because every company is going to track.
Seriously, how many people are going to switch to Linux over this? Nobody.
I did.
"Trump!!", the new Godwin.