SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
To the shock of no one, Windows 10 users who upgrade to the Anniversary Update (scheduled for release next week), will not be able to disable Cortana using the settings.
If you compare the start menu settings of Cortana of the current version of Windows (version 1511) with those of the Anniversary Update (version 1607) you will notice that Cortana's off switch is no longer available (thanks Ian Paul @PC World for spotting that)
Cortana, the digital assistant that Microsoft touts as one of the major features of Windows 10 supports interaction via touch, typing, ink and voice.
Microsoft integrated Cortana deeply with the native search functionality of Windows 10. While linked to search, Windows 10 users may turn off Cortana currently to use search without it. While you might have to turn off web searches on Windows 10 as well, doing so ensured that you got search functionality that matched those of previous versions of Windows.
Windows users who turned off Cortana had two main reasons for it: either they did not need Cortana functionality, or they did not want it because of privacy implications.
[...] It is still possible to turn off Cortana, but not by using the preferences. The policy to disable Cortana is still available and you may use it to turn off Cortana on the device.
Please note that the Group Policy Editor is only available in professional versions of Windows 10. Most notably, it is not available in Windows 10 Home.
The linked article goes into detail on how to disable Cortana using the Registry in Windows 10 Home, and Group Policy Editor in Windows 10 Pro. However, Microsoft no longer makes disabling Cortana anywhere near as easy as it was.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Wednesday July 27 2016, @10:10PM
You are not completely wrong, but still quite a bit:
- Tablet? my smallest screen is 23 inches, but i spend most of my time on the 40-inchers (note the s)
- Tablet? We type stuff, and I game with a keyboard and mouse (got a console controller for some games).
- Most people DO NOT buy PCs based on which software they want to run. They buy a PC and get windows, and just keep using whichever software they are familiar with. Sure, alternates are often less refined, but the gap is ever shrinking, and the price/inconvenience of the windows version's licensing is making many reconsider the alternatives when they change their machine.
- Most people do not know how to save money by buying a PC without Windows. If you ain't saving money, why bother?
- Until Mint 17, I had never personally seen a seamless works-out-of-the-box install on so many different machines. It might have existed, but I wasn't lucky. And the Linux distros were mostly not beginner-friendly, so good for me but not for the family. Mint 17+ (and equivalents) is like XP.
- Machines sold with linux as recently as 4 years ago didn't really stand a chance, because it took the Cloud craziness to make your main point invalid for most people: abstract as much as possible in the browser, and people suddenly get cross-platform apps, weakening the MS advantage.
- People with constraints (MS office being the most common) just get their win box. Fine, I'm not talking about them, I'm talking about convincing my family that they didn't have said constraints.
- Most people in my office are now running Mint. It turns out that our Xilinx FPGA design tools run faster on Linux than on Windows. We are still waiting for a good port of our PCB tools, so not everyone can switch.
- Ever heard of WINE ? It got a lot better recently.
(Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Thursday July 28 2016, @08:05AM
Sorry but all you provided is bullshit and anecdotes, I provided citations. You avoided it so I will highlight it for you why did ONLY Linux netbooks see a 400% higher return rate even though they were competing with an OS that was 1.-2 versions behind, 2.- Was slower on the same hardware, 3.- used more of the limited resources.
You can make logic hoops to jump but I've seen it with my own eyes, if the software won't run Linux is done which is why I'm currently stripping a couple of C2Ds that would run Linux great, its not worth dealing with because it WILL get returned. How many Linux units have YOU sold? I sold over 50 and ended up more than 40 returned, always for the same thing..."I can't get it to run" (insert Windows only software or hardware). The handful that kept them? Were charities that got them REAL cheap and only wanted them for basic bookkeeping which frankly any OS that can add and subtract can handle.
So you can stick with your chromebook or whatever Linux unit you are using, which just FYI I bet you only consume media on, surf the web, the exact same shit you can do on a tablet, yes? Unless of course you are a programmer, but since programmers are 0.02% of the world population saying Linux is great for programmers is like saying its an OS designed for blind albinos, the numbers are so low as to not matter.
BTW your "save money" argument is BULLSHIT, because there is no "Windows Tax" there is a "Windows Tax BREAK" because the trialware generates more income to the OEMs than Windows. We know this as Sony offered to remove all trialware if the user paid the difference which was $75 so any Linux unit, unless they skimp on hardware, will be $75 MORE than Windows because nobody is paying to put trialware on them. Oh and every.single.unit. I sold had the Linux units at least $60 cheaper....didn't keep people choosing to pay the difference to bring 'em back for a Windows version where their software would run.
But your entire argument makes no damned sense, I mean think about it for a minute...if you are not buying a PC to run programs then WTF are you buying a PC for? The net? Like I said a tablet does that just as well for most folks. To look at a desktop wallpaper? Folks buy PCs because they have programs they want to run and whether you like it or not those programs? Run on windows, hell even the FOSS software that Linux advocates try to use as a selling point? They run on windows too, so you can stay with windows and have ALL the software or go Linux and throw all your software out and start over....no sale.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday July 28 2016, @04:12PM
You really need to learn to read.
Mint is good enough for what my family does.
Mint is good enough for most of the engineers at my high-tech job.
Xilinx (a three-billion dollar company) says that their high-end FPGA design tools run better on linux. Their competitor (just bought by Intel for only $16B) also agrees.
WINE provides the ability to run Win programs on Linux. Steam has addressed the gaming problem.
So you can tell me about people returning their linux machines, and I agreed that many people do have tools that they want or need which they can't run on Linux.
But my original contribution was that my family has been on Mint since last year, and that has not caused extra tech support calls.