Windows 10 and OS X... which has better privacy policies?

Discussion in 'privacy general' started by Rigz, Aug 30, 2015.

  1. MisterB

    MisterB Registered Member

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    Skype is very problematic code these days. My preferred versions for Windows and Symbian weighed in at around 3mbs of code. My Symbian Nokia was by far the best and most relible device I had for Skype. Microsoft disabled both the Windows version I used and the Symbian one last year. The newer versions for Windows and Android are about 35mbs of code. Call quality on them reminds of the earliest beta versions of Skype. The Android version failed to ring on incoming calls more often then not. I've ended up completely dropping Skype and deleting my account permanently. MS customer support pretty much told me that they would keep permanent records of whatever information was in my account. The domains used by Skype customer support are blacklisted by the MVPS host file and were put in the spam folder of gmail accounts so I had to disable some security to get in touch with them to delete my account.

    I've substituted Skype with a combination of Google Voice and a paid SIP VOIP account that costs me half of what Skype did. SIP is fantastic because it is a generic protocol like OpenVPN and there is a lot of software and hardware that supports it. And best of all, all the call quality issues of Skype are a distant memory, all the echos, dropouts, and distortion.
     
  2. driekus

    driekus Registered Member

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    I picked up a few Windows 7 licenses a while that I use in various VMs.
    I put Windows 10 as my primary OS and Mint as my VM (for sensitive stuff). Starting to regret it.

    I am with you on the onenote. My other weakness is the office suite and adobe illustrator.

    Still looking at Qubes as a strong alternative to my dilemna. Got Seamless Windows 7 mode working and I can say that I am impressed. Like running programs in Wine without the compatibility problems. I can also lock Windows down with internet access through whitelist.
     
  3. deBoetie

    deBoetie Registered Member

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    @driekus - great that Qubes is at least proving of interest to you, of course, getting comfortable with it all includes the mundane stuff like how to back up reliably and how to update templates. Even if you stick with the standard VM approach, that provides a lot of benefits.
    I believe Qubes is looking at doing more testing for validating workable desktop systems. I know my desktop is suitable including VT-d but it's a server-class dual xeon thing. But very suitable for running with lots of memory/cores and virtual machines.
    I'm contemplating snapping up some more W7 licenses before they disappear - I'm reminded of the value of older cars before they had all the nasty engine management systems!
     
  4. Rigz

    Rigz Registered Member

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    I've used Linux off and on in the past when I was younger... messed around with everything but used Slackware as my main OS for a number of years in the late 90s and earlier part of this century. My main reason for being back with OS X and Windows is due to job requirements so I'm just kind of looking for the least intrusive system that is compatible with the software at work.
     
  5. deBoetie

    deBoetie Registered Member

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    Normal office application compatibility is not a major issue these days, Linux apps support all formats pretty well.
    If you wanted to give a Slackware-based distro a go, the Slacko Puppy Live USB is small and fast and functional. It allows persistence and runs in ram. Puppy Linux also includes various Ubuntu variants.
    http://puppylinux.org/main/Download Latest Release.htm
     
  6. MisterB

    MisterB Registered Member

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    I caught part of an interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook last night. He stated that Apple not only doesn't engage in any tracking of user buying in its online payment system, it deliberately firewalls information unrelated to the actual transaction so its servers aren't clogged with useless information. He also confirmed what I've said about Apples back end server support. According to its CEO, Apple provides a complete package of hardware, software and support for the life of a product for which he used the phrase "Womb to Tomb" support. I've said before, the true root user of OSX is Apple.

    Even though I am not a user of Apple products, I've always felt that Apple was a much more tightly run ship than Microsoft and that OSX is more secure than Windows for a variety of reasons but the main one is that it comes from a company that exerts much more control over its final product in both hardware and software.
     
  7. J_L

    J_L Registered Member

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    And I'm sure there are ways to bypass that... Much like how Windows doesn't allow you to modify some key parts of the system when it's running, you could always use a LiveCD or install media. Although I must say it may be quite convoluted how OS X manages "Startup disks" and nowadays Windows "Secure boot".

    The main reason I decided to partake in this discussion is the statement that you cannot modify (any) key files in the system with the root/sudo password. Almost as if malware can't bork you after you give it root permissions on install... Which I highly doubt. Also, we may never get the answer to how Apple's proprietary blobs affect UNIX security, simply due to exactly what you've said: Apple's total control of their ecosystem.

    I would be greatly interested if an expert in both OS X and Windows could chime in somewhere online about the comparative security (and privacy) of Windows 10 vs OS X 10.11. And I've personally somewhat enjoyed using Apple products before, until iTunes borked my Windows 10 install... Even before then I was getting tired of waiting for jailbreak updates, and researching on how to upgrade my old iMac past 10.7.5.

    I must admit you're right about how locked down it can be; but on a day to day basis of just using it, not really (at least for OS X).
     
  8. MisterB

    MisterB Registered Member

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    I'm not sure root/sudo was allowed in Panther/Tiger but I just got an old Powerbook and a copy of Tiger to put on it so I will see how far I can get into it when I have time to set it up.

    As far as the original subject of the thread, my money is on Apple for privacy. I just gave up on my Windows 10 experiment. The upgrade seemed to be lost in a loop that was eating all my limited bandwidth and going nowhere. So I tried the MS Windows 10 media creation utility for a clean install. I had the download at around 25%, hibernated the system and it disappeared when I woke it. I tried again, got to around 60%, hibernated again and the same happened. So after several gigabytes of wasted bandwidth, I just pulled the disk I was trying to get Windows 10 on, put the main disk back in and uninstalled all the questionable Windows 7 updates with the upgrade code and won't be trying Windows 10 anytime soon.

    This combined with my recent Skype experiences brought back another reason not to trust Microsoft: Sheer incompetence. Overbloated badly written code that doesn't work. I felt I was back in the days of Windows Me with this one. Might actually be a positive for privacy. Even though Windows 10 spies on you, it probably doesn't do nearly as good a job as software from other companies.
     
  9. Rigz

    Rigz Registered Member

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    Today one of my students came up to me and told me that his Windows 10 install popped up a message warning him that software without a legal license was found, and that it would be disabled. I of course told him that he shouldn't be pirating software.

    That was enough for me to realize that Windows 10 is reporting far too much of what's going on and being installed on individual computers. Windows 10 shouldn't even be an option.
     
  10. Amanda

    Amanda Registered Member

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    I hear ya. In fact, I feel your pain. I had to move out of Linux for now, I'm using Windows :'(
    But only until I find a distro that:

    * correctly maintains fglrx and is rolling-release;
    * or mesa-opencl is actually able to do work in Blender.
     
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