In my own defense behind the times I am most definitely not, I am well aware of where all this nonsense is going. If people think this is likened to an Orwellian saga they are not far off the mark all things considered. If you hold up four fingers and I say four you say no, its what the state tells you it is. Microsoft is doing what it wants and listening to consumers, the very people that keeps them in business, particularly the high end users like big business, the end result is more and more people feeling as though what they say and prefer as far as privacy is concerned, is falling on deaf ears. Practically every device you own is connected through IoT. Your fridge can spy on you. Your stove and dish washer and dryer can too. If your house is connected forget it. It may turn the lights on when you walk into a room or turn them off when you leave but its got eyeballs on you everywhere except the bathroom. Unless you got a 'smart' TP roll or medicine cabinet then even the head isn't safe. Point being the intrusion is unacceptable. When you pay good money for something, regardless of what that something is, no one has any kind of right to tell you, as the consumer and 'owner' of something, what you can and cannot do with your private property. Its understood that you can't or rather shouldn't use it to harm somebody, that's just plain common sense, but to not have control of it, to have to pay on a monthly basis just so it will work, be it in the workplace or somewhere else, does not bode well for a relatively decent future.   

It is not an OS subscription.  It is a complete package of hardware, software and support.

It is a turnkey drop it in place solution targeted at businesses who do not want their own IT department.

The Microsoft DaaS that is being cited here is Devices as a Service.  Gee think Volvo, the older Comdisco and I am sure there are others who have served this up before.

I am sure Micronut will give you a free tin hat just for signing up.

You know that saying "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they aren't out to get you" ?

You can add to that this Niemöller quotation:

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."

I'm a reasonable, rational, common sense person and if I can see the writing in the wall, so can everyone else.

Look around you, this is in no way limited to Microsoft and computers, it is happening everywhere in Western culture! It is no longer limited to the 'tin foil hats' camp, people are literally being told what they can and cannot say and how they should think. Anything that does not conform to the desired narrative is labeled as 'hate speech', they go after your job and you are labeled a 'monster' regardless of how noble (or not) your intentions are. This is already happening, it has already happened. This is all about forcing people to do something they do NOT want to do and silencing or ignoring their voices and the voice of common sense in favor of ideology.

I know it sounds like I am going completely off topic but if you really dig deeper into this I think you will come to the same conclusion I did, that all this is related. Microsoft would never DARE do something like what they did with Windows 10 a few years ago, the backlash would have been incredible then.

Now, speaking only about software: Adobe's Photoshop, Office, both extremely popular and widely used applications, once stand alone, are now already subscription based services. What makes you so convinced that Microsoft would not try the same with Windows that you put it in the 'tin foil hats' camp? Things are clearly going in that direction with Windows 10.

Furthermore, why is Microsoft still pushing UWP apps if their very reason of being (seamless integration of mobile vs desktops) is a mute point now that MS is no longer in the mobile business? Isn't it because Microsoft's OTHER reason is to destroy Win32 - which they cannot control - and create their own walled garden with the UWP apps, just like Apple did? If they pull it off, developers have no choice but to use the Windows Store to publish their stuff - and that gives Microsoft complete control over what gets published and not as well as a 30% cut on everything sold through them, of course.

Great move for Microsoft, but for the rest of us, not so much.

The point is, MS has a monopolistic position and this is the only reason they are able to get away with what they are doing. They are ABUSING that position, like they did before - and isn't precisely this that caused the DOJ to intervene all those years ago? So why isn't someone doing something now?

Never mind, I can answer that: because before it was about protecting the interests of other businesses, now it's about protecting the interests of consumers.

And too, lawmakers see benefits in not acting on behalf of consumers.... allowing eavesdropping and snooping into peoples lives using the very tech MS is creating.  It's a case of we've scratched your back, now scratch ours.

Jorge said it better than I ever could. Its one step short of dominance. One on top and everyone else towing the line.

The fact that a cell phone is a tracking device is one of the main reasons that I never had any interest in having one.  Today it has become even worse.  You can be certain that the NSA has the power to listen too you and everything going on around you through your phones microphone.  They would also have the capability to look through your phone camera to see what they can see through it.  There is no chance at all that they would not have this capability by now, they can and do definitely do this whenever they have an interest in doing so.

I have never used cell phones because they have always been tracking devices, even when everyone rolled their eyes at the thought of that.  They were tracking devices back then, too.  Today they are also eyes and ears that you are carrying around with you that anyone with access too those capabilities can use, not necessarily only the NSA.  You have to be insane to carry a cell phone around with you.

Hey Jorge...just remove all the the annoying updates. I've never had a problem with my windows 7. I have a list of all the Windows 10 updates, and I watch what they are trying to sneak in the update and I just hide them. I keep the list on hand all the time since they keep try to sneak them in.  

I just wear a large hat lined with foil.  That way they won't know I'm on to their tricks.

On a more sober note, Jorge I agree that any capitalist organization is prone to extract as much money and advantage they can from their customers and suppliers.  Just think of Walmart's motto.

However, something is stopping Microsoft for now.  Apple, Chrome books and Linux I would think.

I have a cell phone and I carry it with me when I'm out.  However, I only turn it on when I need to make a call... then I turn it off again.

Thing is, I'm in Australia and we don't have the NSA; FBI; CIA, etc.  However, I trust neither our government or Google to not snoop on my location and affairs, etc, hence turning on my phone only when necessary.... and then very briefly.  If I want to do stuff I use a Win 10 tablet with location and all the snoop stuff disabled.

The very first thing I did when I got this laptop is put a piece of black electrical tape over the lens. They're not gonna see through that. Just in case they can I uninstalled the camera. As for my phone, its an Obamaphone. The camera is always face down so I can see the screen. I take it with me when I go out but its always in my pocket. Location and what not is disabled and I never go online with my phone.

Ok, just to clarify one thing: I don't think governments are actively spying on us personally. What I am saying is that if there ever is a regime change in any of the Democratic countries (and it's not as difficult to happen as some of you may think) then ALL the tools they would need to actively monitor you as an individual are already in place.

Not that I would be very afraid of my own government trying to spy on me . To illustrate why, we have this old Portuguese joke:

"An old Portuguese communist dies and goes to Hell. Once there he is given a choice: he could either go to the Russian hell or the Portuguese hell.

- But what's the difference? - he asks.

- Well, in the Russian hell you get a bucket of poop thrown down your head every other day.

- And in the Portuguese hell?

- That's every single day.

- Damn, I rather have it every other day than every single day!

And so he goes to the Russian hell, where every other day a queue would form to receive their 'special prize'. One day he meets an old friend of his, who was also in hell.

- You fool! You made the same mistake I did by choosing Russian hell! - shouts the friend.

- What do you mean? At least here it's only every other day!

- Yeah, but here it REALLY is every other day. In the Portuguese hell, when they have poop they're out of buckets, when they have buckets they're out of poop, and when they have buckets and poop, they're on strike!"

-RG-

reply 27

Yea well you get what you pay for. Pay a cheap price for Windows you get a cheap return for it is worth. Which is pretty much nothing from what I have seen on this thread. So don't try to make it good on my post, please. Don't waste your time.  

Win 10 was never cheap!  It was supposedly free for a while, and I say supposedly free because there were way too many strings attached... strings that benefit MS immensely and NOT users.  Free it certainly was NOT.  For what users had/have to give up to use Win 10: privacy; personal data; internet details and much, much more, it is by far the most costly OS MS has ever produced.

If you have read any of my past posts regarding Win ten, RG, you'll know that I don't like it.  While it has had some improvements and features added since release, the bug-bear issues with it still remain - forced updates; spying and snooping; patches with who knows what installed by stealth, etc, etc - and make it the worst Windows edition I've ever used.  So when it goes to a subscription model it will be the end of it for me, period.

The worst thing?  When Win 10 was forced down millions of users throats, whether they wanted it or not - I didn't - and nobody did jack diddly squat about it, not government, not regulatory bodies, not the courts.  No bastard stood up for the end users.... NOBODY, and now MS is pushing the envelope even further, to the point where 'our own' PCs will be controlled from Redmond and there will be no more user rights [not that we have many now anyway].

Ubuntu and/or Mint is looking good about now, and hopefully Stardock will port its apps over to Linux.  However, I won't hold my breath.

LOL....paranoia abounds. I know a lady who says she can hear microwaves and cell phone signals in her head and it's driving her crazy.

Neither Google nor Big Brother is spying on you via your webcam. Or your microphone. Threads like this amuse me.

Oops. I didn't do that, it was Putin.