yet another reason to avoid MS Vista

[goose-entity.livejournal.com]

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Forget-about-the-WGA-20-Windows-Vista-Features-and-Services-Harvest-User-Data-for-Microsoft-58752.shtml

Summary: pretty much EVERYTHING in Vista feeds back personal information to Microsoft. Including the "open with..." dialog...

Comments

[torkell]

I'm having problems following the article. It starts off with "Micrsoft have my IP address, the sky is falling!", and then gives a whole bunch of reasons why sending some information is actually useful (e.g. compatability issues, plug'n'play details for automatic driver downloads, Hotmail, searches using Live Search). But oh noes! Microsoft have all this information! The sky is falling!

wherein Kitty plays devil's advocate

[jecook]

+ a large number.

The only information that can be gleaned from an ip is via your ISP and a warrent or a valid abuse complaint (I.e. Ip x is spamming, please terminate customer with extreme prejudice)

I imagine that M$ uses the ip information for statisical analysis, and also for such useless things as reporting back to your computer with whatever updates/information that it's requesting.

For example: my web server collects the ip address of whoever visits it, and logs it in a file. I use that information on rare occasion to find out who's pulling what, and to lay the beat down on people horking my bandwidth to serve up an image via my server. That information only tells me a general indication where you are coming from (if I bother to look that up via one of the many free tools online), what page/image you requested, and whatever your browser reports back in it's version string (which is largely useless in this day and age, unless I'm doing Stupid Server Tricks like serving up a page depending on what browser you are running)

Re: wherein Kitty plays devil's advocate

[superbus.livejournal.com]

Yes, but how much bandwidth is all of that reporting using? How many CPU cycles? It's already a resource heavy system as it is; DX10 is virtually useless because of all the heavy DRM (DRM which can be worked around with an InstallShield editor...), how much does this suck up?

[superbus.livejournal.com]

I tell people all the time: the more people that get pissed off at Microsoft, the more people determine that yes, they do want to try out Ubuntu/Kubuntu.

The day MS forces us to go with Vista by stopping support of XP (it's coming; 2000 is an acceptable OS, even today, unless you're a gamer) is they day they give Linuz and OS/X (itself a DRM fest) something to run with.

[brotherflounder]

Agreed. The only reason I use XP instead of 2000 is because of gaming.

Bigger is not always better, especially in operating systems.

[hisamishness.livejournal.com]

What a co-incidence. I am putting Ubuntu on a secondary system at my desk to get a feel for it. From what I've experienced so far, I'd have few greater (work-related) joys than wiping the D620 I'm testing Vista on with a Ubuntu install CD.

Re: wherein Kitty plays devil's advocate

[jecook]

surprisingly little. As far as system resources, it's all Dependant on how it's coded; if they are using a single codebase for the reporting and calling it as required (which would *make sense*, but we *are* talking about m$ here)

Think about how fast it takes to access, say this page, and tell me how much bandwidth it uses... because I'm pretty sure that and possibly a few other small tidbits is all that MS$ is collecting from it's people.

Now, if the article mentioned that the GUID of the machine was sent, then I'd start worrying a bit, because that's a unique identifier to that machine, and not just an IP address, which could be the public address of, say, a firewall system/router/appliance with several THOUSAND machines behind it, which is typical of most corporate LANs anymore.

Re: wherein Kitty plays devil's advocate

[jecook]

Oh, and I totally agree: everything I've seen with Vista is dependant, once again, on just how good your video card is, especially if you have the Aero UI turned on.

Me, I tend to run XP in the 'Classic' mode, just because I'm a freak. :)

[jecook]

We use XP at work largely for the remote access and the fact that updates are easier to manage on it.

The "help and support" feature is great when you are trying to figure out if it's a permissions issue that needs to go to the network team to straighten out, or if it's a PEBKAC error.

[loosechanj.livejournal.com]

It's getting harder and harder to just call stuff like this anti-MS FUD, but it looks like that's what it is. I remember people screaming about "omg MS is spying on everything you do" back when Win95 came out for god's sake.

[goose-entity.livejournal.com]

I have found Ubuntu to be pretty much rick solid reliable - and I don't have to worry about leaking info all over teh intarwebs thanks to iptables.

[goose-entity.livejournal.com]

and, of course, by rick I mean rock...

stupid tyops!

Re: wherein Kitty plays devil's advocate

[wherdafux-d-cat.livejournal.com]

Yay for us freaks! (Myself, I really dislike the Busi Blox / Windows for the Simple Minded look of the standard XP mode.)

Re: wherein Kitty plays devil's advocate

[ace-brickman.livejournal.com]

freak like me too.. I always thought of XP's default interface as inspired by Little Tikes

[slayne-souls.livejournal.com]

thus why i use linux

Re: wherein Kitty plays devil's advocate

[superbus.livejournal.com]

As do I. I've been running the same look since the 95 era. XD

I see what you're saying; they're not sending any UIDs, so technically, no, it's not violating anything. But what worries ME, personally, is that Microsoft is a company that thinks it's a cowboy if you give it a rope. That, and it's highly friendly relationship with Washington, has me worried about the future.

That's why I'm so hard-up to sink Vista; I want DRM nearly eradicated, and I want OSes to stop phoning home. And I want enough people to feel this way that we start getting serious third party support for Linux and even Mac.

[superbus.livejournal.com]

I'm doing the same thing, though I'm currently dual-booting. What I WANT to do is get it onto a secondary system, so I can test it out, learn it better, get comfortable enough with it so that I can do anything I need, and best of all, get the rest of my programmes that are Windows exclusive configured in WINE.

And I prefer Kubuntu tu Ubuntu.

[hisamishness.livejournal.com]

I'm not familiar with the differences. What are the important ones?

[superbus.livejournal.com]

Ubuntu's GNOME, the other's KDE. That's the major difference.

Re: wherein Kitty plays devil's advocate

[jecook]

Frankly, I'm not sure that will ever happen. There are companies who are so irrevocably mated with M$ for their systems that it would be a complete business killer to them if they had to switch to something else.

I'd love to see DRM eradicated, probably because I see it as a way to block legitimate customers from using what they purchased, and it's recockulously easy to bypass for the people who will never pay for anything.