Worth a whole full length discussion thread of its own, really.
I am one of those that does hate Canonical and many of their shenanigans and their motivations. But nothing is ever truly one-sided and "evil" can be a matter of perspective, if not at least motivated by sensibility.
When you consider what it might be like for a developer working long hours producing a product that a bunch of people demand they do not pay any money for, but then complain bitterly about faults or bugs, complete with nasty words...
Yes, developers should be paid and they should be paid well.
For me, however, a sense of honor dictates that fighting one sin with another, as Canonical tries to do, is just as damaging and fruitless as enslaving developers is.
It is indeed a matter of comparison.
Since my work requires Windows OS, I cannot be 100% Microsoft free. But my feeling about MS is much better lately than Google.
At least MS is mainly making money from their OS and Software rather than selling personal data which is the case for Google.
Not entirely...
MS uses your own PC as a part of a server network to supply updates to other MS operating computers- without your authorization or permission.
And don't forget how Microsofts XBOX system got accused hard for the webcams always remaining on and spying in peoples homes.
I think keyword here is to choose bad from worse or worst
My strategy is not to place all personal information in one hand and refuse to be in a single ecosystem.
Surely MS is trying to do the same but not very successfully compared with Google. Their Cortana is a pale shadow on the side of mighty Alexa and Google assistance. Windows store is such a flop. Those are positive things from my standpoint.
In any case, I refuse to use any kind of voice assistance. I also refuse to have any smart speaker. Instead, I installed Volumio on 10 Euro Raspberry Pi zero and made the entire house connected with 7 speaker systems.
A while back, there was this interesting questionnaire on a tech magazine. It was amusing to see that a majority of computer engineers were rejecting the idea of having any sort of home assistance and smart speaker in their house. I suppose they know too much about the background technology
I also must stand corrected - behind the scenes, some of the examples I was going to use turned out to be false when I fact-checked them, as I was posting.
Yeah I agree with the points made here and in all honesty, I don't think Microsoft/Canonical are pure evil. But at the end of the day, building up trust and good reputation take a lot of effort and time... and yet it's so easy to ruin all that over night. So while, these companies have done a lot of good things, their good deeds are still overshadowed by their recent unethical actions.
Think you'll find, that probably Google, Microsoft, Avast Antivirus, plus other big Antivirus companies like Norton are all collaborated together to make money out of you as a human product.
Wherever you go or do on the Internet, they collect data off you. Microsoft even read your keyboard strokes.
The Internet has slowed down over the years, with it's continuous telemetry from proprietary companies, selling humans off as adverts, let alone everybody continuously looking at their mobile media devices all day long, brainwashing and turning them into Zombies. I used to before everything going on in the world, accidentally on purpose bump into people, just to see if they are still alive before they get run over.
I only use Windows for playing the latest AAA games, as Proton is still not quite there yet. Waiting for the day when there is just one proton version for every Windows game and new release. Cannot describe the hate I feel for Microsoft and for Windows 10. Don't get me started on Microsoft Edge, or Cortana as I would really love to remove them both off of my Windows setup, they are the biggest telemetry readers on Windows, even if you switch Cortana off, she's linked to the search space in the taskbar.
Microsoft Edge reads and collects everything about you, with stupid pop-ups inviting the average Joe or Jane who has no clue what Microsoft are doing, because no one reads the EULA agreement, when they switch on their brand new Laptop, or installing it on a Desktop Tower.
They know your passwords, they know how many pieces of toilet roll you use? Maybe an exaggeration there? Or is it? Microsoft always wanted to know what their users get up to and now they do
Linux may not be that popular on the Desktop but my Car 2009 Renault Scenic has GTK2 Dashboard telling me the speed, how much petrol, speed cameras, GPS, seatbelts are on or not? Our tumble dryer has Linux inside it, controlling temperatures, to what drying setting you have it on on again the GTK2 control panel. Washing machine is the same, with GTK2 menus and settings. Linux is now on Mars. Linux protects our money in the bank, So you could say Linux is dominating the world without being in the limelight. Linux will always be my go to Operating System, I feel safer than using a proprietary system, that just has legal spyware intentions.
Ol' Adolph was not special. He was not an especially able orator. He was not a genius mastermind that knew the secret art of mass manipulation. He was, in fact, quite ordinary.
The French are not especially well rehearsed in love and romance. The Germans are not especially adept at chemistry and physics and the Chinese are not specially able with mathematics. Jewish people are not specially able to handle and manage money.
Everywhere you look, across planet Earth, we see human nature behaving the same way, everywhere. Racism, superiority complexes and Blaming Others is as common in one group as it is another.
Given a group of Dark Skinned peoples as a majority in a society; they would dominate a white minority with systemic racism in the same manner as we see systemic racism in a majority white society. The amount of melanin in the skin makes no difference in just simple plain ol' human nature.
Yet, simple minds like simple answers. A person that Blames Others can gain fantastic political clout, no matter how ordinary they are - simply by pointing the finger and blaming someone else. People often will accept claims at face value, if it is what they want to believe, without researching it at all.
As you point out - Who reads the EULA? And that is nowhere near as strenuous as even light research is.
Linux is geared toward Open Source, allowing greater transparency, cross referencing, checking and accountability.
Who here has really checked the open source code they use? Most people just complain if it doesn't work the way they want it to.
My point; What afflicts Microsoft or Amazon or Google can afflict Linux just as easily. It's the same Humans. And as with other areas, we cannot assume that our guy is the Good guy. Linux is populated by the same human beings with the same human nature as Microsoft, as NASA, as Nazis, as Olympians, as heroes and as villains.
We can never give in to the easy road of just Trusting. We must be motivated, diligent and Willing To Do Work.
I fully understand this.
That is why I do not login any internet services nor MS account. I created a different persona for each OS I use. Apart from dual boot testing machine, my Windows only lives in a virtual machine and only runs software which I need for my work. (Unfortunately those software cannot be run under Wine and the virtualization is the next best thing I could have.)
I remember the days, when each computer was completely stand alone. DOS to Windows 3.1 to Windows 95. It was not easy to find information and trouble shoot. Relying on monthly computer magazines or free newspapers picked at the computer shops, it was a real struggle.
Because I know how it was before, I do not take internet for granted. It is a very convenient tool to find information and exchanging opinions just like what we are doing right now Of course, as with any tool, it could be a double edged sword. The important thing is to understand the tool and use it in a correct manner.
It is next to impossible not to give any information while using contemporary OS. My strategy is to give only a portion of personal info to each entity. I use Vivaldi browser on virtual Windows while using Firefox in Linux. I never login my gmail account in Firefox because I know Google will track me even after I log out. I have a second browser just for that purpose I also have 3 gmail accounts which are quite handy to create split personalities.
Tools are all there. And they are (mostly) free. I see it as a kind of intellectual game and trying to get an upper hand. It surely beats any computer game in my opinion.
While I respect your feeling, I am quite neutral about MS. In fact, I really do not "hate" any particular OS. Because introducing such emotional words could lead to misguided conclusions, I routinely avoid using emotional expressions when discussing subjects concerning technology and science - my area of speciality.
As for dodging telemetry I have installed a network wide Pi-hole, which blocks every telemetry including Firefox telemetry. I will tell you which is most difficult one to block - those dished out by Google. While I never use Google and stick to DuckDuckgo, Google is there embedded in many sites.
A bit of off topic, but if you ever wanted to use Regex to filter out pesky Gooogle ads, use the following:
I am wondering if this thread should be split at @Aravisian post #31 ?
After that, the conversation diverges from the OP screen tearing subject matter.
On that note, I recommend https://nextdns.io/ to everyone. It's a free DNS blocking service. All of my network traffic goes through their filter. It's very helpful and they seem to be a very respectable and privacy oriented. On Windows, I had the hostnames that Microsoft used for telemetry blocked. It could be used to block anything. From malicious websites to built in telemetry. I can't recommend it enough.
For me on Windows 10, 40% of the outgoing traffic was blocked and that was with me going out of my way to remove and opt out of the telemetry stuff. That WAS extremely silly.
I feel far more comfortable using an emotional expression such as "hate" toward a piece of technology than toward a person.
I see your point, FrenchPress. I find it a refreshing point of view. Even so...
As I look over, in depth, what Gnome 40 has to offer, it's features and improvements, it's breakage of extensions and what it removes in functionality, user experience and utilization...
There is no other word.
In fact, this word is too weak. But it's the only one in English I can apply:
I HATE Gnome. That one weak little word does nothing to truly express the passion with which I absolutely abhor Gnome.
Now, one could argue that as Gnome is in actuality, a product of Real People that make the decisions and enforce what Gnome is... I would be saying that I hate those particular Gnome developers.
I'm ok with it. I hate them, too.
OFFTOPiC, but couldn´t resist:
a tutorial on the volumio setup would be nice if you have the time.
what speakers hardware did you use apart from the pi zeros?
Hello,
Rather than hijacking the unrelated thread, would you mind creating a NEW thread under the same "Chat about Zorin" category?
I would gladly answer all your questions there.
Of course, as with any tool, it could be a double edged sword. The important thing is to understand the tool and use it in a correct manner.