A Look at the Black Underbelly of Windows 8.1 'Blue'

"Pieces of Windows 8 inexplicably didn't survive jump to Windows 8.1, and new feature allows Microsoft to track your local searches...
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."
http://www.infoworld.com/t/microsoft-windows/look-the-black-underbelly-of-windows-81-blue-222175

See also Slashdot Discussion:
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/07/09/0020241/the-black-underbelly-of-windows-81-blue/

 

This is one of the reasons Windows 7 or 8 will never touch my computers "unless striped of all this crap, if possible"
people talk about security and then they just blindly install this crap, this goes for XP too, unless it has been """doctored"""
Then there's the fanboys for 7&8, I won't even talk about them

 

So from your response you don't trust xp, 7 or 8? So I'm guessing you run linux?

 

He runs tinfoil hat 3.1 running in hidden bunker mode for extra security.

 

Microsoft has been doing this for almost as long as Windows has existed. Along with the real improvements, each new OS gets "features" and behaviors that are not only unnecessary but are outright hostile to the users privacy. The newer the version of Windows, the more of this snoopware it contains, and it's more difficult to find, remove, and disable.
Regarding:

I believe I can answer that for him. In its default state, Windows is an invasive snoop. I find it contradictory that people don't like it when the NSA stores all your internet activities but find it perfectly acceptable to use an operating system that does the same thing and makes it easily available. I also won't use Win 7 or 8. I don't even want them hooked to my network. In it's default state, XP isn't much better. It can be made much more privacy friendly with a combination of XPlite, disabling services, and strong 3rd party pri-sec apps. Some of us still run 98 (highly modified of course) primarily because of the bloat and undesired behaviors that are part of the newer versions of Windows.

 

I hate to rain on any Linux parades, but it's entirely possible to do the same crap on there too. All it takes is Shuttleworth "getting with the times" and watch Ubuntu turn into the same thing. What will people do then, go to Apple? It can be done there too. People are going to have to face the ugly truth that the days of computer privacy are done.

As far as this "Blue" stuff goes, nothing changed for me. 8 is junk in my eyes, good security or not. But I'm not gullible enough to think 9 will be any big rollback to the "good ol days". MS, unless they are just absolutely forced not to, are sticking to this new direction. They've (well, actually Ballmer) decided this was the way to go even though nobody asked for it.

I at least now know precisely what this new "Smart Search" thing entails and know to turn that mother right the hell off and keep it disabled should I ever require 8 or above.

 

Now that deserves a thread of its own,most intriguing.

 

The important thing in both OS's is the said "questionable" features can be turned off at will.

 

[QUOTEI hate to rain on any Linux parades, but it's entirely possible to do the same crap on there too. All it takes is Shuttleworth "getting with the times" and watch Ubuntu turn into the same thing. What will people do then, go to Apple? It can be done there too. People are going to have to face the ugly truth that the days of computer privacy are done.][/QUOTE]

I completely agree. Every computer, laptop. tablet and smartphone will all be at this soon. It's not just the days of computer privacy that are done. I think we're entering a new era where privacy in any of it's forms will soon be history. Everything is being monitored so it's best we all just face facts. Things have changed and they ain't never changing back. Sad but true.

 

The clear majority of computer users for almost any type of complicated software simply don't figure out how to change options; instead they use the defaults.

 

Anyone who cares enough about these things will be actively researching them and thus turn features they are uncomfortable with/paranoid about off. Most users don't.

 

Anyone who cares just won't install it, including me, & even if it's free, or they paid me

 

Agree with a lot of what is being said here but for turning features off, this might work on some but a lot of them you have to lets say get down into the code and forcefully remove them and this turns into a whole new ballgame and no I do not run Linux ""YET"" but running a highly modded copy of XP without all the crap snoop-ware

 

You mean without all the known crap snoop-ware. As for Linux, most of you are generalizing it into one OS, namely Ubuntu, when there are tons more variants, including privacy-oriented ones like TAILS. Linux isn't even the only other option, BSD (OS X to far less extent), AROS, and more are available. I'm not even upgrading to Windows 8, so the news are of lesser interest.

 

For a lot of people, myself included, linux is like starting completely over. I'd have to invest a lot of time in order to know linux as well as Windows, time that I don't have. Out of the box, I'll accept that linux is generally more secure than Windows. If one knows how to strengthen and lock down Windows but doesn't have that knowledge for linux, the opposite becomes true.

Regarding Windows and turning off or disabling its spyware "features", this gets more difficult with each new version.

 

Try KDE, i.e. the Kbuntu variant of ubuntu that is more Windows like in its UI. It is easy to navigate with its Start button.

At the very least, try the Live version ISO on a DVD or USB to see if you might even - gasp - like it!

-- Tom

 

Back in the day, command line Linux had a reputation of being difficult for newbies to work on.

Today, with graphical installer and graphical user interface desktop environments, Linux is easy to use and navigate. Its no more difficult to run applications on it than in Windows.