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by TeMPOraL 3823 days ago
Yup. What the hell are these people thinking? That an operating system is a shopping mall?...

... and they're probably right anyway. Computing went mainstream, people who need tools and not toys are niche now, and mass market doesn't cater to niches.
2 comments
stan_rogers 3823 days ago
It's more proper to say that there are a lot of people who "need" a different sort of toolset. It's not about "toys"; it's about the machine as an information device for a life outside of the machine. As much as any of us like to complain about things like intrusive "peronalized" search everywhere and targeted ads and so forth, there's a reason why such things sell (until people are told what needs to be involved in making it work).

Honestly, most people are fine with the magic until they realize how much surveillance the magician does. I have no idea how they think it's supposed to work, but then most folks don't know how any part of their computer works.

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LesZedCB 3823 days ago
And worse is that the only reason I have windows in the first place is to play games. I don't need to do anything else on it, but I have to have it in my life because big game companies will not make games for linux. Hell, I'm so excited for Oculus Rift, but at this point they have even dropped Mac support (understandably, they don't have the graphics power), so if I want to experience VR currently, I'm completely limited to windows, not even playing indie and valve games on linux.
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Aleman360 3823 days ago
Valve knows how many times you launch a game, how much time you spend in a game, who your friends are, your spending habits...
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solidninja 3822 days ago
Which is fine by me - I consciously choose to boot into my gaming PC and start up Steam. My gaming friends are a small fraction of my friends. And spending habits are pretty easy as well - basically whenever there is a major Steam sale. And you are still able to play a lot of games offline.

My point with the above is that the risks are far less than with a general purpose operating system. How can I ever trust Windows as a platform for running the Tor Browser on? How could I trust any closed system?

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unprepare 3823 days ago
How many games are exclusive to Steam and how many games are exclusive to windows?
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TeMPOraL 3823 days ago
"Not many" and "quite a lot", respectively.
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