Public Discussions > General Discussion
Windows 10 and privacy
eirik:
There are growing concerns about privacy protection due to new software. A recent piece in the Financial Times provides some interesting comments: see http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0d4a3880-3470-11e5-bdbb-35e55cbae175.html for details. It is particularly the commentary field that contain many interesting view points.
So, where is the opportunity for eCS (OS/2) in this context?
* Some Win users have not even updated to Win7 or Win8 as they value their privacy. Many of these users are probably still using older hardware which would make eCS (OS/2) a viable option for these users
* Some users are looking at Linux as an elternative to Win, but then they face many of the same difficulties as we do + they get (pending the Linux they choose) user interfaces that are quite unfamiliar to them
I have previously argued we need to attract more ordinary users (like me) to make eCS (OS/2) be more than an interesting option for the select few. Privacy concerns related to Win10 may provide us with some interesting (and unexpected) opportunities.
dbanet:
I'm absolutely convinced this is a very rare case when OS/2 can fit the requirements of an ordinary user.
Either we are super-duper-lucky, or a user uses OS/2 just for the sake of it, like I do.
When talking about ordinary users, GNU/Linux nowadays does not even remotely convey that inconvenience as OS/2 does: unlike OS/2, each and every PC use case of an everyday user is absolutely possible and common with GNU/Linux. And even considering professional use cases, it already is mostly the subject of, yes, comfort level, productivity, convenience and habits, but not general impossibility. Regarding the user interface differences, the transition between an old Windows UI and Windows 10 and higher is merely of the same impediment level as of that is of to any GNU/Linux window manager (some of them will resemble the classical Windows interface in many ways, and some of them, like Unity, will go the Mac OS way, and pretty well).
Hence my point of view is that although I would absolutely agree with the immediate necessity of calling new users into the world of OS/2, I reject the "ordinary" part: it is just a no-go. Without user's itself desire to use this very operating system, it ain't no gonna work.
Martin Iturbide:
Hi
It is an interesting topic to read about since today's OSes are getting more dependency on the cloud.
I was reading this article about it: Windows 10: Here are the privacy issues you should know about
Regards
Andy Willis:
--- Quote from: Boris on July 28, 2015, 08:23:47 pm ---When talking about ordinary users, GNU/Linux nowadays does not even remotely convey that inconvenience as OS/2 does: unlike OS/2, each and every PC use case of an everyday user is absolutely possible and common with GNU/Linux.
--- End quote ---
Possible yes, but older hardware is not supported by newer Linux distros as well as OS/2 supports it. When I say older, think of a T400 thinkpad laptop. I have one with an ATI video that is not supported via the ATI drivers but runs with VESA on Linux from even a couple of years ago as they dropped the "old" video support (Fedora, Ubuntu anyhow). Panorama is much faster on it than Linux runs. Yes, you could run a Linux distro from that time but it is less supported than OS/2 at this point and doesn't allow for newer application installs via the package manager.
dbanet:
--- Quote from: Andy Willis on July 31, 2015, 12:08:28 am ---
--- Quote from: Boris on July 28, 2015, 08:23:47 pm ---When talking about ordinary users, GNU/Linux nowadays does not even remotely convey that inconvenience as OS/2 does: unlike OS/2, each and every PC use case of an everyday user is absolutely possible and common with GNU/Linux.
--- End quote ---
Possible yes, but older hardware is not supported by newer Linux distros as well as OS/2 supports it. When I say older, think of a T400 thinkpad laptop. I have one with an ATI video that is not supported via the ATI drivers but runs with VESA on Linux from even a couple of years ago as they dropped the "old" video support (Fedora, Ubuntu anyhow). Panorama is much faster on it than Linux runs. Yes, you could run a Linux distro from that time but it is less supported than OS/2 at this point and doesn't allow for newer application installs via the package manager.
--- End quote ---
Agreed. You've made a point. OS/2 may be a justified choice for old hardware. I wouldn't call T400 "old" though. :)
But now I would really argue old hardware is not compatible with modern everyday users.
My not really very old A31 (now you can estimate what's "old" for me, lol) had been running OS/2 relatively well, but wireless troubles with more than a half of hotspots, one half probability of being stuck at video reinitialization after a resume, bad support of Ultrabay and no support of Dock II are the most vivid and really non-arguable issues (i.e. we're not talking about software absence, etc) with it. I've really tried. My conclusion: no way if you want to make use of all of the coolest hardware features of Thinkpad laptopts (otherwise why Thinkpad then?).
This, in a much lesser essence, but still, does apply to GNU/Linux. It is just too frustrating to have capable hardware you can't use.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version