Do You Really Own Your Computer?
One of the Crabitat's handy informants, who generally shuns any publicity about the links he sends me, points to a couple of articles of real interest about the Windows Vista operating system. I posted a little about that earlier today. (Yeah, I know posts are a lot lighter than usual, I've had a number of things going on). But one article asks a very good question: if you buy and install Vista, how much control of your PC are you giving away. The answer seems to be a lot. A REAL lot.
The net effect of these concerns may constitute the real Vista revolution as they point to an unprecedented loss of consumer control over their own personal computers. In the name of shielding consumers from computer viruses and protecting copyright owners from potential infringement, Vista seemingly wrestles control of the "user experience" from the user.
Vista's legal fine print includes extensive provisions granting Microsoft the right to regularly check the legitimacy of the software and holds the prospect of deleting certain programs without the user's knowledge. During the installation process, users "activate" Vista by associating it with a particular computer or device and transmitting certain hardware information directly to Microsoft.
Even after installation, the legal agreement grants Microsoft the right to revalidate the software or to require users to reactivate it should they make changes to their computer components. In addition, it sets significant limits on the ability to copy or transfer the software, prohibiting anything more than a single backup copy and setting strict limits on transferring the software to different devices or users.
Vista also incorporates Windows Defender, an anti-virus program that actively scans computers for "spyware, adware, and other potentially unwanted software." The agreement does not define any of these terms, leaving it to Microsoft to determine what constitutes unwanted software.
Once operational, the agreement warns that Windows Defender will, by default, automatically remove software rated "high" or "severe," even though that may result in other software ceasing to work or mistakenly result in the removal of software that is not unwanted.
For greater certainty, the terms and conditions remove any doubt about who is in control by providing that "this agreement only gives you some rights to use the software. Microsoft reserves all other rights." For those users frustrated by the software's limitations, Microsoft cautions that "you may not work around any technical limitations in the software."
Nope - I am not buying or installing Vista. I have been playing around a bit with Ubuntu Linux (so far it has the fewest driver issues of all the Linux distros I have looked at) and am starting to think very seriously about switching away from Windows altogether. I'll leave my Windows XP systems up and running for now at least, but I'm beginning to think it simply isn't worth messing with a company that thinks it is a good idea to decide what I can and cannot do with my property. I've always paid for legal software and don't really feel like getting punished for other's behavior.
Consumer cost-benefit analysis here.
Geek Stuff | Gaius Tuesday, 20 February , 2007
By guy, Tuesday, 20 February , 2007 @ 8:08 pm
You might want to tryWebmin on that Ubuntu box. It makes dealing with system admin TONS easier.
That link has all the different version installers for different ditros - including the .deb for debian based ubuntu.
By TC@LeatherPenguin, Wednesday, 21 February , 2007 @ 7:31 am
I’ve talked to some friends involved in IT at various Manhattan companies–all major financial firms–and every single one said they want nothing to do with Vista as it currently exists and won’t even think about deploying it for at least six to eight months (while Redmond rolls out the avalanche of patches they are expecting), and then only on a limited basis.
One even went totally heretical and said, “for the amount of money it would cost me to upgrade my hardware to run that POS, I’d be better off just buying Macs and installing XP on all those machines.”
I began laughing and couldn’t stop for a bit. When I finally took a breath he growled, “Yeah, I figured you’d get a big kick out of that. There, I said it; I’d rather go over to the Dark Side.”
ME: “No, it’s the other way around. You’re finally seeing the light. Now, the Yankees, you snivelling little Met fan, you pledge allegience to Darth Boss George, that is joining the Evil Empire.”