Pirata

Would be nice if the alternatives to US software weren't other US software. 3 of your proposals are still US based.

You could instead have included Xigxag: UK-based, no monthly fee audiobook library, and BookBeat, Sweden based.

If all you do is browser the web, the learning curve is a solid 0. The issue is when you want to install specific programs.

It's honestly probably for the best. Our devices should be tools for entertainment or helping with information. Not something that consumes our whole day.

Yes, this has been my point exactly! People are getting too lost in the sauce, not realising dropping their usage of 100% US products/services, to 50% US products/services, that's already a huge damage to their profits.

Bonus points if the other 50% can become EU consumption, because then you're also enriching our common block. Take your time, reduce your US dependency one app at a time, and you'll be surprised by how quickly you reach 60-80% EU products (where I'm at currently).

The more of us start trying EU only products, the more complete our availability of other products will become. Our own version of Visa/MasterCard is already in development, and hopefully we'll soon have some reliable alternatives to AWS and Azure too.

I think this makes sense for people who type only in English. If you type in other languages, this becomes way less relevant.

Not to mention the limitations in hardware.

German spotted hehehe.

My heart goes out to you, sweet stranger. ❤️

It requires opt-in,

Because GDPR requires it to be so. Ask people overseas if they can turn that feature off.

With the current government they have in the US, is this really something that the anybody should be comfortable having?

Also, nothing is stopping malware from turning it on without your consent, because the technology will be backed in into the OS by default.

and if someone nefarious gets to the point they can read this stuff then they’ll already be able to record your screen, log keystrokes, etc

So we should just ignore that Microsoft just created a new attack vector that nobody asked for?

I expect it won’t be straightforward to view the data as well, it’s not just gonna be a folder full of jpegs.

Source?

I’m glad that people are actually trying to make interesting features still.

What's interesting about this? Not only are you training AI models using your data without getting paid for it, I don't understand what use case you can have by asking Microsoft what porn you were watching at 2 am of February 19th. For important stuff that needs remembering, you can just go back to your browser history. Its easier to search there than to remember the specific time you were doing something anyway.

Literally, nobody wants this.

OSs have been so boring years now, it’s good to see people actually trying to introduce standout features even if they are controversial. More of this I say.

Okay so this is that mindset that seems to permeate the Tech industry through and through, these days. The idea that things that are working fine, need to be forcefully "improved" even when it's not necessary.

A pen can't just be a pen anymore, it needs to connect to the cloud so that the ink levels can be properly measured and new ink sent to you on a subscription basis to make sure you never run out of ink.

A juicer needs its own proprietary juice bags and it won't work with different ones, and how does it know you're not using the brand's originals? Why, it must be connected to the internet of course, otherwise it won't juice.

Your car can't just be a car anymore, it needs to have integrated mics and an internet connection so that the manufacturer can listen to all your calls and ear your sex sounds, and then sell that to advertisers who will know whether they should sell you a MagicWand or fisting lube, based on whether the moaning sounds they heard coming out of your car sound masculine or feminine.

So on and so forth.

You might think your take is unique, but it really isn't. It aligns perfectly with everything that companies want nowadays, which is to get your data at all costs.

For me, I want none of that shit. To the point that I go out of my way to make sure I only buy stuff that doesn't connect to the internet.

Which, BTW, this is the privacy community, I thought there was a common understanding of how abusing these features are, but I guess not.

People like to get old bent out of shape and claim that it's going to take everyone's jobs and then they completely ignore things like Alpha Fold.

So, is AI gonna take everyone's jobs or not?

On this same note, as an European it was insane for me to learn that school shootings like Sandy Hook, those are just the ones that go famous for some reason.

But in reality hundreds more happen throughout the year that don't go "viral" so they don't get reported at all.

Truly mind-boggling.

These must be the so called trans reading bed time stories turning kids gay i keep hearing so much about. /s

the recent changes only reduces the visibility of ongoing changes and the ability for developers outside of OEMs to contribute to Android (such contributions were already rare).

Why is this so underplayed as if it's nearly meaningless though, is my question? A huge part of open source code is transparency, and this decision is a big blow to exactly that.

Only posting the code when it's finished increases the risk that it will not be correctly scrutinized in the way its been until now, not to mention the precedent this sets. Death of the OS in AOSP by a thousand shallow cuts is what I see here.