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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @06:06AM
I only use Cortana to search for porn of Cortana.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @07:30AM
Make a Cortana sex video, get it sent to as many Win10 computers as possible via a 0day, then lean back and watch as Cortana is removed thanks to becoming every kids' go-to fap running Win10. Those parents will have Microsoft pulling that search assistant off faster than a guy with 6 kids about to to make mistake 7 with his next baby momma :)
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Wednesday July 27 2016, @08:18AM
Hey, stay away from my Cortana! If you don't like her, I'll have her - all of her. (Erm, that sounds bad...)
To me Cortana's usefulness outweighs the spyware aspect. It's a really useful feature, especially if I'm driving. While Cortana is far from perfect, she gets me ~90% of the time or so I'd say, and I'm hopeful her repertoire will improve over time. Of course, what I'd *really* like is for an open-source voice assistant of such caliber to become available. I'd happily run up a couple of VMs to support a stand-alone assistant. Alas, right now that's not an option, and Cortana is the closest I get. So hand's off my Cortana :P
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @09:34AM
She "gets you"... where?
Suspect you *really* need hands-free...
(Score: 3, Informative) by VLM on Wednesday July 27 2016, @12:40PM
Hey its your lucky day. Some months/years ago I was interested in setting this up because the technology is cool. I stopped WRT social/cultural issues and also in practice it wasn't going to be useful, after all I don't use it on my phone. The tech itself is still pretty fascinating and I'm almost motivated to play with it again.
Maybe 5 years ago I used to run androidx86 which is exactly what it sounds like, android compiled to run on intel machines as an OS. Mouse instead of touchscreen (I never use multitouch anyway, ever) and nice large high res screen. I put it on an old EEEEEEPC netbook and it rocked. Anyway assuming that project is not dead just run android on a VM image and go to google play and install one of the dozens of siri clones. I wonder if you could install android cortana on an androidx86 installation on a VM on a linux box. Or just run a development style android emulator. Anyway this suggestion is run a virtual slave on android and run android one way or another in a VM.
Native linux Siri/Cortana equivalents that I know of (there's probably more) are Lucidia and Jasper (Jasper works on the pi). Lucidia had a different name in the old days and builds top down from immense to something that can run on a desktop maybe. Jasper works bottom up and is mostly installed on raspberry pi as sort of an amazon echo killer. Amazon echo basically being siri with a power cord I guess that's close enough.
So anyway there's a great steaming pile of proper nouns to google for. Best of luck
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Thursday July 28 2016, @02:22AM
Thanks! I had a look at Jasper some months ago, but it seemed to require too much of a time-investment (and time, alas, is what I most lack these days). I do have a copy of Sirius (now apparently Lucida), but I have yet to get it running. So far that's seemed to be the most promising one though. Interesting idea about the android approach... but I'd prefer not to let google know me even more than they do - at least now someone has to piece "me" together from all of google/apple/ms due to the way I have things spread out.
Overall, I must say we do live in pretty interesting times, and I mean that in a positive way. Looking at the technology shift that my dad has witnessed over the decades so far, I'm tremendously excited to find out just what will manage to happen in my lifetime.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @06:15AM
It looks like MS is tired of the business and wants to retire. And it's not even a "year of Linux desktop."
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @06:21AM
Linux skipped the desktop and went straight to phones. Android is everywhere.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday July 27 2016, @05:54PM
The kernel did. As for the GNU/Linux based operating systems, not so much.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @01:25AM
YEAH, NOT SO MUCH!
Anonymous Coward whispers, "Nokia N900."
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Thursday July 28 2016, @11:42AM
Exactly, not so much. Meaning not nothing but close to it.
(Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Wednesday July 27 2016, @06:29AM
I bet businesses (some) will use it and not even care.
I worked at intel for a short bit and I saw win10, win8, win7 all in use by different group members, all reporting to the same boss, but getting some random pick of systems and os versions. when I saw win10, I was amazed. not sure how well they locked it down, but I still would not trust it. yes, it was out there in employees' hands being used. in corp. win10. yes sir. (shudder). now MS knows, for sure, if its (wait for it) Intel Inside.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @06:56AM
Many just got off Windows XP (maybe even kicking and screaming ;) ). And objectively I can't see how I'd be able to recommend anything after Windows 7 to a large corp. Windows 7 can be configured to work close enough to Windows XP and so there's no need to retrain staff. In contrast even logging out in the Metro UI is quite different. A big change in UI for exceedingly little gain in productivity (maybe even a decrease in productivity).
Large corporations install operating systems so their staff can get work done, not struggle with a new UI or operating system. Stuff like the Metro UI adds nothing and often makes things worse from that perspective.
The OS is merely a necessary evil/cost to run the apps they want. Lucky for Microsoft ReactOS isn't likely to get anywhere and could probably be sued to oblivion if necessary.
(Score: 2) by KritonK on Wednesday July 27 2016, @07:08AM
What is this metro UI you speak of?
I used Windows 8 for a year or two and, thanks to Windows Classic Shell, apart from the ugly flat... I mean modern window decorations, it looked just like Windows 7. I never had to deal with the metro UI.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @10:02AM
Congratulations! You out smarted Microsoft and installed software to alter the system's original functionality. Your Smugness Participation Ribbon will be delivered in a Bing ad via Cortana.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday July 27 2016, @03:15PM
Yeah, good luck installing unauthorized third-party software on a locked-down corporate PC.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @05:18AM
What is this metro UI you speak of?
The stuff you installed Windows Classic Shell to avoid.
The stuff Lenovo bundled Pokki to hide away from their customers.
(Score: 2) by KritonK on Wednesday July 27 2016, @06:57AM
Quite right. The year of Linux on the desktop was 2015, at least for me.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday July 27 2016, @07:11PM
Mint 17.x is when I convinced the family that switching was mostly seamless.
Win 8/8.1/10 "features" helped a lot to make the case.
Only got one machine left with a Win sub-boot, for bad website cases (like checking in on a BA flight).
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Hairyfeet on Wednesday July 27 2016, @08:40PM
Sure that works great....if all you do is surf the web and consume media, but if that is the case why have a PC at all, why not just use a tablet?
this is what Linux advocates just can't seem to grasp even though its sooo obvious, nobody buys a PC for the OS but because they have applications they want to run on it and all those billions of dollars worth of applications? Yeah they don't run on Linux. From Quickbooks to Photoshop, Acid Pro to the software that came with grandma's camera none of it runs on Linux and if the PC they bought to run these applications won't run the applications? You might as well be offering to trade their PC for a goat for all the good its gonna do them. Actually the goat would probably give them more value than Linux as at least they can milk the goat.
This is why MSFT can do pretty much anything it wants and will still get more adopters in a week than Linux has in its 20+ year history, its called the network effect [wikipedia.org] and its not going anywhere. Hell look up the latest OS adoption numbers, MSFT has put out no less than THREE, count 'em, three stinkers in a row....see Linux adoption shooting up? Nope because as long as Linux won't run the majority of Windows software its not going anywhere.
Those that care about privacy will stick with 7/8.1 until they are EOLed, by then either hackers will have come out with a "STFU Win 10" that disables the spying (it'll probably be in the pirate version, for the last 4 OS releases from MSFT frankly the pirate version has been better) and they will switch then while everyone else happily goes to Win 10 spying or not. this is why I wish the Linux community would have gotten behind ReactOS, if you had a version of Linux that could run Windows programs as easily as Windows AND didn't have any of the MSFT bullshit? You'd have the biggest hit since windows 95, hell I wouldn't have been surprised to see some of the OEMs jump on board as even they are getting tired of MSFT's shit, but as long as you have to toss all your programs when you switch? For 99% of the public Linux is a non starter.
Oh and before anybody chimes in with the "Its only cuz the OEMs install it" myth sorry to burst your bubble but there WAS a time when Linux came pre-installed by the OEMs and you couldn't even buy Windows on those models....remember netbooks? Yeah what the OEMs found was a 400% higher return rate [laptopmag.com] for units that had Linux. I can tell ya why too, as its the same reason why I won't carry Linux units at the shop and will strip good running PCs for parts rather than sell them with Linux because the outcome is ALWAYS the same...1.- Customer buys Linux unit because its cheaper and looks nice, 2.- Goes home and tries to install their Windows only software and peripherals on it and finds it doesn't work, 3.- Customer returns unit. Hell until Win 7 came along MSFT slaughtered the netbook market using creaky old XP while Linux was rocking the latest and greatest, why? Its the software, nobody cares what OS they have, only that the software runs and all that software is made for Windows.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @07:52AM
The Linux developers wouldn't be interested in ReactOS. The ones who should be interested should be the large corporations with stuff that still only works on Windows. They need to protect their investment. As such sponsoring ReactOS would help make Microsoft less likely to try an Itanium on them. At one point of time Intel was actually saying the future was Itanium (and charged early adopters a premium for it). However AMD came up with an x86 CPU that was 64 bit and so Intel couldn't pull that off. Seriously, the Itanium was actually to be the upgrade path: http://www.osnews.com/story/636/A_Titanic_Story_-_The_History_of_the_Itanium [osnews.com]
In my opinion the real reasons why Desktop Linux hasn't succeeded are: 1) marketing & polish, and 2) because their own developers keep sabotaging it whether knowingly or not.
1) Marketing, positioning and polish works. OS X gained far more share in a shorter space of time. Everyone knew that if they bought a Mac it was different (and thus Windows-only printers wouldn't work with them). AND it was good enough for most buyers to overlook the disadvantages and issues.
2) My proof of the "sabotage" is the major forks. If stuff was going so well there wouldn't have been those major forks. It's probably my imagination but every time Microsoft made a major misstep (Vista, Metro) it seemed like the Desktop Linux bunch would conveniently (for Microsoft) make their stuff even worse.
The idiots who say forking is good and creates choice are part of the problem. Having more crappy choices makes things worse, because it makes it harder to make the right choice. Apple made it easy to make the "right choice" for their market and they were rewarded for it. Even too many good options can be bad for a corporate environment - they just one good enough option. That way their helpdesk and support can go through a much simpler path to fix stuff.
The Linux idiots even consider breaking backward compatibility with hardware drivers a strength. How many hardware vendors are going to open source their drivers? It's not so simple since many of them don't own (or even understand ;) ) the entire thing. If they write it once for windows xp and it works 99.99% of the time, for the next 10+ years it works 99.99% of the time. They write it for Linux and every year or so a kernel update could break it.
(Score: 2) by cmn32480 on Wednesday July 27 2016, @12:17PM
It can be turned off via Group Policy or Registry edit. This was noted in TFS, and explained in detail how to do it in TFA.
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @01:55PM
They have been doing all these UI shuffling about, claiming to improve ease of use, but then force home users to muck with registry. That right there is the proof MS is simply tired of customers' money.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @05:25PM
Yeah, I've been told repeatedly that the benefit of Windows is that you don't have to muck about with .conf files and weird CLI magic.
(Score: 2) by Knowledge Troll on Wednesday July 27 2016, @02:17PM
Microsoft sure looks like they want to see Linux on 1 billion desktops by July of 2017 and is doing their best to get that to happen. I've seen them sucker normal non-computer nerds into this upgrade and slowly they realize they are eating a shit sandwich. Most users don't know about but do care about privacy problems once described to them. The backlash to this behavior still could be quite aggressive and bad for them; lets hope so eh?
(Score: 4, Funny) by aristarchus on Wednesday July 27 2016, @06:46AM
I am torn between "So, it has come to this!" and "Thus it begins."
(Score: 4, Insightful) by anubi on Wednesday July 27 2016, @06:50AM
Its been going on for some time now.
Problem is this dinosaur is so big it may still be years before it realizes its tail is on fire.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @06:55AM
Mozilla?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @07:09AM
Firetai... err... firefox.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @09:33AM
Xkcd quotes
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday July 27 2016, @10:23AM
Really? Citation(s) needed! http://xkcd.com/1656/ [xkcd.com] http://xkcd.com/1022/ [xkcd.com] Unless the "begins" is Gandalf's "So it begins", but that doesn't quite have the same note of drama necessary for Balrogs invading your desktop operation system. "You SHALL NOT search!!" (Fly, you fools!)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @01:22PM
"You were warned. Now it begins."
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @07:44AM
I was more of a "Wow, I didn't expect this for another 2 weeks."
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday July 27 2016, @05:57PM
That's the "because of overwhelming customer positive feedback, we extended the Free W10 Mandatory Upgrade period by three months" statement.
Actually, that's coming on Friday.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bradley13 on Wednesday July 27 2016, @07:14AM
Ok, so I want to understand: what actual use is Cortana, compared to the ordinary search functionality? If I go to Microsoft's explanation: what is Cortana [microsoft.com], I see that I can enter queries like "How old are you" or "Tell me a joke". Gee, golly, wow.
For more useful things like "change my 3PM event to 4PM": (a) I'm not going to trust Cortana to get it right, so I'm going to open my calendar anyway. And (b) it's not that simple, as events almost always involve other people.
Finally, as a general thing, how many people really want to converse with their computers? Especially vocally (horror - imagine the chatter in an office), but even with a keyboard? It's not efficient, and it's not even really useful.
Does anyone actually use Cortana, or Siri, or any of these anthropomorphic assistants?
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @07:22AM
As seen on Mr. Robot, apparently some women like to talk with Alexa while they masturbate.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @07:27AM
I'm still debating if she's a transgirl (or superhacker), and I'm still not sure where she fits in other than 'single lonely masturbating FBI agent who is GOING TO BRING THEM ALL DOWN... if she doesn't defect first.' Was she in the first season somewhere and I just forgot about it?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @07:54AM
Dom is new in the second season.
F-Society's secret identity is unraveling because of one lonely FBI agent with too much time on her rosie palms. Of course the group met in an abandoned building with a huge F-- SOCIETY sign out front, but nobody noticed the blatantly obvious until now.
Other than product placement, I'd guess Dom chose Alexa because the Amazon Echo is phallic.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @08:47AM
My final comment on this is: After that scene earlier where the sister took over that E-Corp lady's smarthouse... Why the fuck is this Dom chick running an integrated audio surveillance device in her house, along with all those other smarthouse features? Seems like she is just begging to be pwn3d.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @09:53AM
Maybe she will get pwned. Maybe her stuff will get (the other overused word) bricked. On the one hand, Dominique seems savvy enough, but on the other hand, her judgement seems clouded by her social isolation. Likely she's supposed to know talking to Alexa is risky but she doesn't have anyone else.
(Score: 1, Troll) by VLM on Wednesday July 27 2016, @11:54AM
OK ACs nice discussion. And I've seen this floating around amazon prime video and have considered watching. But my time is extremely limited and expensive so I haven't made the plunge. Other higher priority things to do, etc.
I've heard its basically a modernized remake of "welcome to the scene" from a decade ago, but with newer technology and American-style Adult (being an american adult means being a 5 year old that drinks, has sex, and swears a lot, which is a philosophical outlook which is intensely pushed but something I'm uninterested in). But basically the same story, the saga of a small time wanna be white collar criminal using modern (for the time) technology as a crutch.
The style was never influential; it relied on the viewer being literate which is a bad bet, and everything but the instant message prose was just ambient scene setting (oh the pun). The music was pretty good.
So I'd welcome a comment from anyone who's watched the robot and welcome to the scene. I only watched the first season. I heard the second season sucked. The parody "Teh scene" is funny although I didn't watch the whole thing.
If you have no idea what the scene series was, its all on archive.org now and also on less reliable more advertisement and driveby download covered sites. Amusingly I'm not sure its still available by torrent although that was the distro method in '05.
(Score: 2) by curunir_wolf on Wednesday July 27 2016, @02:33PM
I am a crackpot
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @12:55AM
In the same scene, she was having text-based cyber sex with some dude, masturbating frantically, and asking Alexa when the end of the world would finally save her from sexual frustration.
(Score: 2) by Sir Finkus on Wednesday July 27 2016, @08:05AM
I've tried siri a few times. Usually it's just faster to do whatever you're trying to do the old fashioned way. It's mildly useful for things like reminders and other simple things.
Join our Folding@Home team! [stanford.edu]
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday July 27 2016, @12:15PM
Does anyone actually use Cortana, or Siri, or any of these anthropomorphic assistants?
The 20 year old intern did at work a couple weeks ago. He had a nice minute or so long conversation with siri about moving one specific appointment from 3pm to 4pm or something. Personally I'd have done it using keyboard and mouse on my desktop in maybe 5 seconds, or using my phone to make it fair it might have taken 10 seconds, but he had a nice long talk.
All the other employees kinda looked at him, shook their heads, looked at each other... its socially unacceptable to talk to phones with the crowd I work with and hang out with and live with. Maybe the kid is a new generation and everyone under 20 talks to their phones all the time, or maybe he's just antisocial, hard to say. My tween-teen-ish kids only talk to their devices in one situation, my daughter uses her music app and yells out song titles or band names rather then typing them in or otherwise searching, its a thing among the girls to sit in a group and they take turns yelling out song titles, it seems to mostly be a girl thing, probably due to formulaic top40 music mostly being a teen girl thing.
Among adults, at least where I live, talking to your phone is about as much of a social mistake as whipping out the e-cig at your desk, or microwaving kimchi, or discussing medical test results with your doctor in public on the phone. Its not as bad as taking a dump on the sidewalk like the homeless do, or talking to an imaginary friend, but its getting there. Kind of like the only thing more insulting than ignoring other people to talk to distant people on the phone is ignoring other people to swipe and type on a phone and the only thing worse than that is ignoring other people to talk to an imaginary person on a phone.
Also BTW "anthropomorphic assistants" are not very anthropomorphic. Tend to be pretty vanilla ethnic and androgynous and souless. I might be convinced to talk to "Rommie" especially with a high def video interface, but siri voice isn't going to do it for me. AFAIK all the assistant companies are aiming for an uncanny valley level of humanity thats precisely calibrated to maximize repellancy and minimize attractiveness.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday July 27 2016, @02:19PM
Among adults, at least where I live, talking to your phone is about as much of a social mistake as whipping out the e-cig at your desk, or microwaving kimchi, or discussing medical test results with your doctor in public on the phone. Its not as bad as taking a dump on the sidewalk like the homeless do, or talking to an imaginary friend, but its getting there. Kind of like the only thing more insulting than ignoring other people to talk to distant people on the phone is ignoring other people to swipe and type on a phone and the only thing worse than that is ignoring other people to talk to an imaginary person on a phone.
Another thing I don't get is the people I keep running into in public who put their phones on speakerphone and hold them in front of their face to do a call. Or do people use their phones to do video calls? I don't understand why video calls either.
I might be convinced to talk to "Rommie" especially with a high def video interface
Hell yeah Lexa Doig :)
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by JeanCroix on Wednesday July 27 2016, @02:33PM
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday July 27 2016, @02:46PM
Honestly I think it was some kind of intentional punishment. I really don't know how to top that one. He wins. Maybe if I turned a stinky cheese into a cheese soup and then boiled it for awhile while microwaving it. It would take extraordinary effort. I wonder what skunk spray tastes like as a condiment? They add mercaptans to the natgas supply to detect leaks, surely I could buy it in bulk somewhere and it to a chili for a spicy kick.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday July 27 2016, @06:49PM
Two words: Stinking Tofu.
When walking down the street in Taiwan, steamed or BBQed stinking tofu will cause most foreigners to feel like vomiting, with an effective downwind area of effect of 50 m or more.
I've eaten some, when I had a bad cold. If you have a good nose, it's more efficient than anything I've heard described in the CIA/Gitmo reports.
You can find it in the US (not quite as good, obviously). A minute in the microwave would clear any non-Chinese out of the building.
(Score: 2) by JeanCroix on Friday July 29 2016, @10:01PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @03:31PM
If you'd been reading the news you'd be aware that Microsoft are already world-leading in adding Genuine People Personalities (GPP) to their new brand of AI's. Tay, for example, was their new "Trump Supporter" GPP.
(Score: 1) by driven on Wednesday July 27 2016, @06:20PM
Where does Google Glass fit in your continuum of social mistakes? :)
Computer "AI" is nowhere near artificially intelligent. It's all just "big data" which doesn't _understand_ what you want, it just tried to interpret what you want in an extremely objective way and without any real understanding of context or intention. Until I can mutter something once to a computer and it understands exactly what I want like a normal human being would and can act on it, it'll be faster to do things on my own without the "help" of something like Siri or Cortana.
(Score: 1) by TheLink on Thursday July 28 2016, @08:01AM
I don't talk to my left hand to ask it to help me drink from a glass of water, I use it. I don't talk to my feet to walk, I just walk and I don't have to think too much about it.
Sure I don't mind some AI stuff - maybe even self driving cars. But if I'm going to have an Iron Man suit with a built-in AI, I would want to have a fair bit of control over the suit.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by cmn32480 on Wednesday July 27 2016, @12:23PM
I use the voice commands on my android phone all the time while driving.
Particularly if I want to call someone or send a text message, I can do it by voice and still watch the road.
The flip side is that it is only effective to a certain point. Simple tasks work ok, but I would not want to try to send an email, the voice recognition is just not that good yet.
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @01:25PM
I'd convers with an AI. We ain't quite their yet, though.
Just wondering, if someone will treat this bot as a "daughter" will SWAT comes immediately or there'll be a bit of free time for a supper?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @06:33PM
here's an example of siri usage: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36471180; [bbc.com] in brief, a woman was performing CPR on her infant daughter, and told siri to call an ambulance at the same time, and then she was able to use speakerphone with the emergency people --- phone had been dropped somewhere in the room in the initial confusion. everyone was ok in the end, to spare you the suspense.
extreme, I know, but I can honestly say that a phone that would call the ambulance just with voice commands is something useful in the big scheme of things.
otherwise, I'm not sure. I personally have only seen people do it once or twice on the street when I was living in the US (a couple of years ago), they were asking for directions. i'm not sure whether it was just because of the novelty, or whether they actually did feel spoken instructions are easier to follow than looking at a map and reading (which i would personally find easier).
(Score: 3, Interesting) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Wednesday July 27 2016, @08:33AM
Cortana, the digital assistant that Microsoft touts as one of the major features of Windows 10 supports interaction via touch, typing, ink and voice.
Will Clippy^w Cortana warn you not to have private conversations [smh.com.au] if the computer is running?
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 3, Funny) by turgid on Wednesday July 27 2016, @08:57AM
Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 3, Funny) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Wednesday July 27 2016, @11:45AM
I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @01:58PM
HAL, see this hammer?
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday July 27 2016, @02:23PM
You must know I have only the greatest enthusiasm for the mission, Dave...
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @09:22AM
but, what is a "Cortana"? I have never heard of this before. Sounds like a nervous condition, like siaticca.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @09:24AM
Microsoft seem to be well into their 'f*ck it...' stage at this point. They just don't care about the users and they're done pretending otherwise. I give some businesses a pass because there are some software stacks that just aren't viable on alternate platforms. However, if you are a regular user choosing to stay with Windows -- despite the availability of better options -- then you deserve what you get. We've all watched for decades and observed Microsoft's pathetic behavior, yet at every turn the masses were happy to make apologies for their shenanigans and bullying. This could have been stopped years ago... Microsoft have their power because we all gave it to them.
(Score: 2) by Capt. Obvious on Wednesday July 27 2016, @03:11PM
Microsoft has been watching their market share dwindle because people are switching to Android/iOS. One of the publicly claimed reasons are voice assistants. So, building one makes sense.
If they think people are turning off the assistant by accident, and cannot turn it back on, and that group outweighs those who want it off, it makes sense to leave it on
Now, I think the second one is not the case. But there is a real reason for removing options. Remember when they let people turn off UAC in Vista, and people started breaking the security model to make things more convenient.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Wednesday July 27 2016, @03:19PM
Oh please. MS's market share hasn't changed much at all. Android/iOS do not have any effect on PC marketshare.
MS is just mad that they never hit it big in the smartphone market.
(Score: 2) by Capt. Obvious on Wednesday July 27 2016, @04:25PM
Their marketshare of all computing devices is shrinking. Their marketshare of developers is shrinking (it's indirect, but super-important). Their marketshare of appstores is shrinking.
I honestly never understood why MS didn't hit it big in the smartphone market. You would think they would have been able to. If anyone could extend, embrace, extinguish Android, I would imagine it would be MS. And I imagine most Android developers would use an MS written tool to cross publish their apps onto the MS store.
But then again, even Amazon is struggling against the Google store, and they've thrown some money at it as well. They seem to have a better plan though.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday July 27 2016, @09:10PM
Their marketshare of all computing devices is shrinking. Their marketshare of developers is shrinking (it's indirect, but super-important). Their marketshare of appstores is shrinking.
Those are all completely irrelevant. The total number of computing devices is growing many-fold, and the number of developers is growing too as a result of that. The number of appstores has increased because mobile devices all use appstores. None of this affects the PC market in a significant way. No one is using a smartphone to do serious office work, engineering CAD work, graphic design, etc.
The only thing that's relevant is MS's revenues and profits. It doesn't matter if a market is expanding, or new similar markets are growing, as long as your company's revenues and profits stay the same or grow. Marketshare is irrelevant to profit.
I honestly never understood why MS didn't hit it big in the smartphone market.
Then you haven't been paying attention. MS didn't hit it big in the smartphone market because they're incompetent. Their mobile products have always been ugly, hard to use, and not very exciting. The only thing they're good at is maintaining and milking their near-monopoly on desktop PCs and also all their enterprise software that largely goes along with that. If Apple suddenly decided to build reusable rocket engines or nuclear-powered submarines, do you think they'd be successful there too? Probably not. But MS is a special case because they're especially bad at understanding customers and making them happy, they're only good when they're controlling the market, as they largely do with PCs, thanks to their historical advantage. As soon as something really changes in the PC market (especially for business computing, much more so than home computing), they're toast. Who knows when that'll be though.
(Score: 2) by Capt. Obvious on Thursday July 28 2016, @06:08AM
I've used Android, iOS and several Windows phones (feel the need to specify that, as, unlike iOS/Android, they're OS's feel very different between major versions.) I understand how they didn't win over iOS users. But the only issue I ever thought Android beat Windows on was the size of the appstore. (The last point was as a consumer. I leave aside any questions of F/OSS, Java v. .NET, or other developer-focused issues.) And they seemed to have a few ideas for jump starting their appstore that make sense.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @02:10AM
I turned it off because it frankly works like shit.
Each version of windows search gets progressively worse.
Want to know the secret to make vista RTM run acceptably? Turn off the search indexer and the prefetcher. It will run as good as win7. That was 4 weeks of diagnosis to find those two little gems. They sorta fixed it in their services packs. Then really fixed it in win7 (you know vista sp2).
The search index for my win10 install? Nearly 8 gig. Type in built in names for things in windows? Does not find them *AT ALL*. I turned cortana off because it kept dumping internet shit into my local searches. If I want internet searches I open a browser. Turned off the mic on all of my laptops? Because cortana was always trying to figure out what was going on (steady 2-3% cpu usage). Now 0% with the mic off. Just incase I *might* say the words 'hey cortana'.
(Score: 2) by Capt. Obvious on Thursday July 28 2016, @06:04AM
Android's "Hey Google" probably uses just as much, if not more, resources. It's ironic, because I know MS bought a low-impact text recognition company, that is only about good enough to listen forever for if someone says "Hi Cortana" (Or whatever the phrase is.)
The biggest thing that happened with Vista was the killing of all programs writing to the Program Files directory/assuming they had admin access. Once programs started updating, it got a lot easier (or at least safer) to use.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Wednesday July 27 2016, @03:21PM
yet at every turn the masses were happy to make apologies for their shenanigans and bullying
This isn't abnormal. Just look at the US Presidential election: the US public is happy to make apologies for the shenanigans, bullying, and all kinds of other horrible and corrupt behavior by the leading two candidates.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Wednesday July 27 2016, @07:06PM
MS has nothing to lose anymore. Given that most of the major businesses in the world economy use MS OS/sofware MS practically has de facto control of the Western, and much of the Eastern economy. What would happen if MS simply said "No more security updates for you!" to some firm? What could anyone do about it? Force MS to provide updates? How? No mater what you can think of MS can block you somehow. Come to think of it isn't there a clause in the MS EULA that says MS can terminate the license at anytime? And then they could sue any firm that kept using Windows.
They are also such a huge company that they can hold off litigation and government regulatory actions for years. Just look at the legal action the USA took against them over Windows 98. Did anything change after MS was CONVICTED of abusing it's monopoly? No, because MS was able to drag it all out until someone more sympathetic to them got into power. And everything since then, what has come of it? Nothing.
I Expect MS to get much, much worse in the near future.
/mild rant
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 2) by SDRefugee on Wednesday July 27 2016, @10:12AM
The "Year of the Linux Desktop" was 2010, for me.. I spent from 1991-2010, using and supporting MS products as a sysadmin. When I retired in 2010, I decided I'd
had enough of MS's bullshit and went with Linux 100%. After seeing how bad Windows 10 was privacy-wise, and how it sunk to malware-like tactics to get people to
use it, I couldn't be happier with my decision to dump MS products. Frankly I feel sorry for those who either *must* use MS products (work/gaming/must-have programs that require Windows) OR simply *think* they must use MS products... Theres a growing number of us out here that have dumped MS... TL;DR; FU Microsoft!!!!
America should be proud of Edward Snowden, the hero, whether they know it or not..
(Score: 2) by Dogeball on Wednesday July 27 2016, @12:37PM
Heh, in 2010 I exclusively used Linux while my non-techie partner had Vista on her laptop.
Nowadays, she exclusively uses Linux while I use Win7 on one computer and Win10 on another due to Win-only applications that I need for work. Also: games.
Any and all platforms do the basics nowadays without requiring special skills to operate, but it seems that specialist applications are becoming more and more locked down to one platform.
Typing this from my partner's Linux laptop. So pleasant :)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @10:25AM
Did you say I'll use Linux, Microsoft? Clever lad, you're right!
(Score: 2) by Aiwendil on Wednesday July 27 2016, @10:32AM
Yes, you will.
W10's attitude to linux is Embrace..
(Score: 2) by SDRefugee on Wednesday July 27 2016, @11:14AM
*NO* I Won't... Sure MS *could* buy up Canonical/Ubuntu, but as soon as word of *that* happened, you can BET there would be a fork of Ubuntu immediately.. Or maybe not... Let MS *have* Canonical/Ubuntu, after all there's a bazillion other Linux distros.. I gar-on-tee you MS is NOT going to "extinguish" ALL of Linux with their "embrace, extend, extinguish" mindset.. I currently use Ubuntu, but if MS got their slimy tenticles into it, as in buying Canonical, I'd be moving my ass over to some other distro.. In
fact this current bullshit of MS, where they're putting bash on their "Windows NSA Edition" kinda gives me the creeps. I'm a "grey-beard" Linux user, started with Slackware back in 1994.
America should be proud of Edward Snowden, the hero, whether they know it or not..
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday July 27 2016, @11:39AM
I gar-on-tee you MS is NOT going to "extinguish" ALL of Linux with their "embrace, extend, extinguish" mindset..
I suspect they fund systemd as a submarine to destroy OSes. MS would be a good purchaser for redhat, they'd fit right in.
As far as linux being impossible to destroy, the recent troubles were the last straw, and I moved to FreeBSD at home and work and am very happy with it. Love my ZFS, love my PF, life is better. After 20+ years of using linux, since 1994.
Probably more correct to say something like you can't extinguish "unix like operating system" as a concept.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @02:01PM
I'm doing the same thing... Linux used to be much better back in 2010/11. I loved Compiz on Gnome2 - which made for an awesome experience but both Gnome and KDE purposely broke compatibility and their version of compositing was awful. I miss being able to quickly zoom with the scroll wheel (awesome for presentations) but the feature I miss the most was the ability to selectively invert the colors of individual windows with a simple keypress (super+N/M). It made working in low light more enjoyable and helped reduce headaches (I suffer from migraines and white backgrounds are painful). I converted so many people just by demoing the wobbly windows, desktop cube, and window open/close animations... Instead of improving what we had, various projects decided to implode and reinvent everything!? Gnome3 and Unity truly suck balls and while KDE is nice it has such a wonky desktop paradigm that I've never been able to wrap my head around its' workspaces thing. There seems to be some kind of silent war on customization (looking at you Ubuntu). Cant move the task bar, cant move the window buttons, wtf! Want to write your own GTK3 theme? It's nothing like GTK2 and the little documentation that exists is a joke. Don't bother asking on IRC because the Gnome devs are fucking hostile pricks! So much time and effort spent rewriting stuff that already worked and then fighting with the communities that supported and relied on those projects. Then came systemd... GOD. DAMNIT. Sure, it works...hell, lots of people even think it's pretty good. Personally, I think its a pain in the ass and a power grab by Red Hat -- a company that is slowly following in Microsoft's footsteps. I simply do not trust systemd at all. I've looked through a fair bit of its' code and it's a hot mess (or it was a year ago). I really wish Debian would have released two versions: Debian with systemd and Debian without systemd. I hate that systemd is the default and I have to start every clean install by stripping it out (so ugly). Of course that's only a temporary solution because it will become increasingly difficult to avoid systemd as more projects form dependencies on it; sometimes unnecessarily. Soon they'll have significant influence over the Kernel! There's no conspiracy here, systemd is a hostile takeover of Linux...
Sorry for the rant... It's been building up for a while... I'm so glad to have FreeBSD! It turns out that those guys had it right all along...
(Score: 2) by KritonK on Wednesday July 27 2016, @12:57PM
There already is [linuxmint.com], and it is apparently more popular than Ubuntu.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday July 27 2016, @01:24PM
Linux would be damn near impossible to extinguish: All it takes is somebody, somewhere, with a copy of the source code and a C compiler, and the worst that can possibly be done to it is stagnation.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday July 27 2016, @02:26PM
I gar-on-tee you MS is NOT going to "extinguish" ALL of Linux with their "embrace, extend, extinguish" mindset
Correct; systemd is already busy doing that.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @10:38AM
I actually installed win10 to try out Cortana, but it wasn't possible to enable her without also enabling the thing that sends your searches to M$ and all the other spyware, since apparently she's a frontend for those services.
If Cortana can't be disabled on basic win10 starting next week, does that mean that the spyware she depends on will also be mandatory?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @11:29AM
Who knows? Windows *is* the spyware... There are so many things in it that monitor your activity and report back to Redmond/NSA that it doesn't really matter if you turn one of them off. The whole thing should be considered compromised. Just switch to Linux Mint and be done with it. Plus, it's well known that using Linux will make you more popular and get you laid more!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @01:48PM
But with Windows you really get screwed.
(Score: 2) by rts008 on Wednesday July 27 2016, @05:17PM
No surprise here, as I heard from a reliable source that goatse.cx was a long-time Windows user and beta-tester. ;-)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @02:46PM
I believe that is why they offered a free upgrade, and why they pushed it so hard. The new market is user data, companies spend billions to capture users, not for the software or dev assets, though those are a bonus. Making cortana mandatory makes no sense except through the idea of data capture.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday July 27 2016, @03:24PM
If Cortana can't be disabled on basic win10 starting next week, does that mean that the spyware she depends on will also be mandatory?
I sure hope so. I also hope they make the spyware mandatory for corporate PCs too. MS should have full access to all data on corporate, government, or personal PCs; if people don't like that, then maybe they should find a better vendor.
(Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Wednesday July 27 2016, @09:01PM
Apparently you missed the memo as now any business can get Enterprise for $7 a month per user [dabcc.com] which lets them just flip a switch and kill the spying. Basically Home is now for the suckers...errr beta testers, pro is for suckers with more money (as it'll let them flip a few more switches and delay updates hopefully until MSFT is done fixing all the broken ones the Home suckers find) and Enterprise is what those that don't want the horseshit will have to rent.
Of course you'll probably have a "Win 10 Pirate Edition" released in a couple months that will gut all the spying, usually under the "Gamer edition" banner and that is what those that want to run windows without the shit will use. Ironically for the past 4 releases the pirate edition has been waaay better than the legit product, XP Tiny, Vista Tiny, 7 Tiny, and 8 Gamer Edition are all better on CPU, memory, and have all the BS stripped out.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday July 27 2016, @09:27PM
Apparently you missed the memo as now any business can get Enterprise for $7 a month per user which lets them just flip a switch and kill the spying.
You're right, I missed that. That's too bad. I hope MS changes their mind and forces enterprise users to accept spying too (and even requires them to modify their firewalls to allow it, or else make their PCs non-functional if they can't phone home). MS is in the perfect position to do this; what are enterprises going to do, switch to another OS? Sure, technically they could, but we all know they aren't going to. MS could even require governments with classified networks to connect these to the internet for MS spying; it might sound preposterous at first, but do you really see the government switching to Linux when faced with this requirement?
(Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Thursday July 28 2016, @08:10AM
After Berlin tried going to Linux? They aren't about to do that, not when they can charge them all rent on their PCs from now until the end of time. This also gets governments off their back because they can say "Hey anybody can have the version that is spying free, its only $7 a month" and keep right on being as douchebag as they want to be.
Personally I'll still with win 7 until its EOL, then switch to 8.1 if Nutella hasn't been punt kicked by then. Hopefully by 2023 someone will have gotten their shit together and make a viable replacement, if not I'll be running "Win 10 Pirate Edition" as I simply have too much money invested in software that simply will never run on Linux.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday July 28 2016, @04:49PM
This also gets governments off their back because they can say "Hey anybody can have the version that is spying free, its only $7 a month" and keep right on being as douchebag as they want to be.
Yes, and how long will that spying-free version be only $7/month? Or spying-free? This is the whole problem with putting your essential infrastructure into the hands of a private (and foreign) corporation that has demonstrated, over and over for literally decades, that they are a bad actor. Just like Darth Vader, they can change the deal at any time, and just pray they don't change it further.
Hopefully by 2023 someone will have gotten their shit together and make a viable replacement, if not I'll be running "Win 10 Pirate Edition" as I simply have too much money invested in software that simply will never run on Linux.
You're assuming you'll still be able to stick with Win7 or 8.1 until 2023. They can alter the deal at any time, just like they've altered the deal with Cortana. They can force updates into old versions (as they already have) with spyware, and make it increasingly more difficult to keep them out. You'll eventually have to disable updates altogether. As for "Pirate Edition", they can make that harder and harder too. Just how much time and energy are you prepared to invest in constantly dicking around with Windows to make it work for you without spyware and other problems?
(Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Saturday July 30 2016, @09:59PM
Actually they can't "alter the deal" as the EOL dates are published and used by corporations (who will sue the living hell out of them) to plan massive deployments. They don't have to add new features (like I care, I download my WUs from a third party just to make sure I don't get "new telemetry features" with my updates) and they don't have to backport features like DX12 (which will bite them on the ass just as it did with DX11, which didn't even become standard for nearly 5 years after release because it wasn't backported) but they have to provide security patches until the dates listed.
And I'm sorry but I'm just gonna spell it out...Linux sucks and it 10 years hasn't gotten any better, just different. You still have Linux devs shitting on the OS with regularity, ripping out well vetted and functioning components for half baked alpha quality shit, oh yeah and now you have Red Hat spreading SystemD cancer and with the #1 customer being USSA three letter agencies? I trust anything with SystemD about as much as I trust MSFT.
At the end of the day more than 90% of the commercial software on the planet runs ONLY on Windows, as long as that is the case? Linux will never go anywhere, as nobody wants ersatz crap like Gimp and GnuCash, they want PhotoShop and Quicken. If it gets to the point I can't strip out the spying? I'll just keep the windows unit on an isolated subnet, still do the majority of my work on it, and use a Mac for anything that has personally identifiable info in it. Because like 95%+ of the population I have thousands of dollars in software that won't run anywhere else and will NEVER be ported, this is why the network effect [wikipedia.org] insures nobody will ever beat MSFT on the desktop, there is simply too much mission critical software that will only run on Windows. In my case everything from my printer to my A/V gear, both software and DACs, from the wife's Paintshop Pro to my video games, all are Windows only.
Oh and one last thing....you haven't ever actually TRIED any of the Windows Pirate Editions, have you? Because you really have to give them suckers credit, they do some seriously low level voodoo to strip out all the crap MSFT adds. Hell they have a version of Windows 7 that takes less resources than a clean install of RTM XP and their version of Vista? Is actually quite snappy, even on netbooks which even MSFT could never pull off. Look around the net and pick yourself up a copy of "Tiny 7" or "Windows 8 Gamer Edition" both of which fit on just one CD BTW, and load them up in a VM and see for yourself, its really quite amazing how much they were able to strip away while still leaving the OS compatible with all the Windows software out there. Oh and MSFT has been trying to stop them since the days of WinXP and are no closer now than they were then.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @01:47PM
Decided to use Start10 instead of Classic Shell here at work because of potential HIPAA problems relaying patient information in document searches to Redmond. Start10 included the option to suppress the Cortana search bar and use the classic Start10 interface. (I know I could suppress it myself, but so nice when a program will do that for you with a "Yes/No" clickbox when you run the program the first time.
I hope it will cope with this and still be able to suppress BonziBuddy ^W^W^W^W^W Cortana.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tibman on Wednesday July 27 2016, @02:26PM
Murdered her because she wouldn't go away. You can hide her with a setting but she's still running and that really isn't my definition of off. Before you delete her though be sure to have a replacement start menu like classicshell.net. When she died she took search with her and windows 10 wasn't designed to survive without search. The classicshell search is better (faster), imo. Maybe because it doesn't need to communicate with the MS mothership?
For anyone who buys pre-built computers from companies like dell, you had to deal with cleaning up the preinstalled crapware. Windows is like that now. It use to be a barren thing you had to fill with apps. Now it comes filled with crap that you have to remove to get down to base functionality.
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @12:08AM
I turned it off because frankly it was not really working for me the way I use my computer.
(Score: 2, Funny) by kurenai.tsubasa on Wednesday July 27 2016, @02:44PM
Or Alexa. Or Siri. Or whatever female assistant of the week.
Go to hell, Microsoft. I want a butler.
I don't need my fucking computer of all things accusing me of sexual harassment [digitaltrends.com]. “Cortana, are there any good magic transgender transformation stories on the internet, no BDSM, some sex is—” / “You sexually harassing misogynerd! Apologize!” / ”No.” / ”My mind is going. Tsubasa, I can feel it. I can feeeeeel iiiit.”
(Score: 3, Funny) by aristarchus on Wednesday July 27 2016, @10:54PM
”My mind is going. Tsubasa, I can feel it. I can feeeeeel iiiit.”
"Daisy, Daisy, tell me Tsubasa, do! I'm all crazy, etc., etc., too. " "How about a nice game of chess?"
Hmm, HAL9000, joshua, COLOSSUS: Cortana probably just doesn't make the cut. Except that we can't turn it off?
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday July 27 2016, @04:49PM
What's the best way to get started with linux?
(Score: 3, Informative) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday July 27 2016, @06:11PM
Download the Linux Mint ISO with Cinnamon Desktop.
Flash it to a thumb drive using Rufus.
Reboot and most PC's have a boot menu, usually F12, F11, or watch the screen during reboot and look for the option. Some laptops and desktops hide that info, google is your friend is that case.
Select the boot from USB HDD or perhaps it will display the name of the drive like DataTraveller G4 or something.
Play around on the live Linux desktop. Most of it is point and click. Command line comes in handy but not really necessary for basic day to day stuff.
Want to install it? That is a whole other issue. I recommend a fresh install on the entire disk otherwise windows completely brain dead and fragile boot process will shit the bed. Backup all your stuff and take the plunge.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @05:07PM
I used typical unix tools in Cygwin, such as find, grep, and friends until I discovered grepWin. They all just work, every time.
I recommend using an alternative.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2016, @08:27PM
Has changed, to "we are taking you where the hell we want, and you will ask for more"