[moetech]

I want Windows dead because it's a proprietary surveillance machine that has stayed alive thanks to really strong lock-in and network effects. I don't trust Google and Valve either, but even if they go full evil empire after after killing Windows, a monopoly built on Linux and Vulkan is a much better place than where we are now.

Google already has a near-monopoly in the smartphone space and it's much better than the Windows monopoly on the desktop. Android being built on tons of GPL software means they have to contribute changes back to the benefit of the FOSS ecosystem. It also means you can easily make/use a custom Android ROM without any proprietary components.

[quantummkv]

You have drinking too much google-aid. I have no love for windows but I am not sure as hell gonna replace it with something under Google's control. The windows surveillance machine pales in front of Google's monster.

> it's much better than the Windows monopoly on the desktop

Android monopoly on the smartphone is the worst kind of monopoly. At least windows give a damn about your security patches and small things such as being able to run the latest version of the OS without invoking arcane rituals. Making a custom ROM without any proprietary components? Not a chance.

I am all for Linux dominance on the desktop but not with any Google DNA in there.

[moetech]

>You have drinking too much google-aid.

I have no love for Google. I don't even have a Google account.

>Making a custom ROM without any proprietary components? Not a chance.

Lineage, Copperhead, and Replicant exist and work well. And they are all 100% Google-free.

[dogma1138]

None of the OSes you’ve mentioned work without proprietary blobs if your phone is not supported tough luck.

[bopbop]

This is true, but they do completely remove the google spyware from your android device where they work, even with the proprietary blobs.

It's also possible to get an AOSP device de-googled, or to de-google one.

[dcbadacd]

There's no reason not to go half the way rather than nowhere.

[josefx]

> I want Windows dead because it's a proprietary surveillance machine

I hope you are aware that anything Google touches is at least a hundred times worse in that regard?

> Android being built on tons of GPL software means they have to contribute changes back to the benefit of the FOSS ecosystem.

Android is built around a ton of proprietary Google technologies and services, the number of which keeps growing. Alternatives will have to be written without industry support since Google forces phone makers to only sell Android phones with full spyware suite active by default and running at 100%. Any phone maker that tries to provide an alternative to Googles services will be cut off immediately, leaving them with warehouses full of bricks. Google is the new Microsoft.

[Zamicol]

Sorry I don't mean to poke bears or aid trolls, but how so with "Google touches is at least a hundred times worse"?

[SmellyGeekBoy]

Surveillance is Google's entire business model, Microsoft just see it as a nice add-on.

[pm90]

They track absolutely everything they can.

[aruggirello]

Except that Google might soon ditch Linux for both ChromeOS and Android in favor of Fuchsia, which they have direct control over - probably against the long-term best interest of both the community and (hopefully) Valve.

> you can easily make/use a custom Android ROM without any proprietary components.

Uhm... easily? Most phones and tablets cannot even be unlocked / rooted.

[viraptor]

Looking windows would create the same incentives for Valve. There's no reason to believe a monopoly in any sector of IT doesn't create a proprietary surveillance machine. 2+ competitors create a better environment for that than killing the old machine and replacing it with a new one.

I'm not sure why you think Google is better from the proprietary surveillance point of view than Microsoft either. Being that machine is literally how Google makes money.

[c487bd62]

> Google already has a near-monopoly in the smartphone space and it's much better than the Windows monopoly on the desktop.

Like half the useful apps have problems running without Google Apps being installed. GCM errors, apps refusing to run if the Play Store is not installed, Google making decisions that impact ROM developers. That's what I read about it anyway and discouraged me from trying AOSP without Gapps.

> it's much better than the Windows monopoly on the desktop

Steam is DRM. Gabe bus factor: Microsoft buys Steam and renames it to GFWL Redux

[ahartmetz]

> Steam is DRM

Nitpick: Steam offers DRM to developers who want it, it does not force games to use DRM. Many games installed via Steam run completely without Steam. The DRM-free games are mostly indie games.

[Fnoord]

microG is indeed a cat and mouse game which you cannot safely rely on. (I'm using it though.)

[astrowilliam]

I'm truly interested and curious. Can you explain to me why being on the internet where all your actions are being monitored by your ISP is OK, but Windows is bad? I mean, no matter how many precautions you take, someone is watching you some how. Use web-based email? There's a record somewhere with all your past emails and they are making a marketing profile about you, same with search.

And what about smart phones? Android has you locked into Google surveillance and Apple is closed so we have no idea how much they know. Send a text? Your provider had to send that data and the person on the receiving end... well, you never know how secure their systems are.

Just some food for thought, would like to hear why Windows is so bad, I'm a Windows/Apple/Linux user and I don't hate on any of them.

[moetech]

>Can you explain to me why being on the internet where all your actions are being monitored by your ISP is OK

ISP surveillance is not OK, but ISPs only know the domains I access, not what I do on them. I can prevent them from knowing even that by using a VPN, Tor, or any other kind of proxy. I believe encrypted DNS might also become a thing in the future. Also, I'm not locked-in to my ISP.

>no matter how many precautions you take, someone is watching you some how

That's what we're trying to fight.

>There's a record somewhere with all your past emails and they are making a marketing profile about you

A lot of my email accounts are fake-identity and temporary and I try to use encryption whenever I can, but I admit email encryption has a long way to go. There's no lock-in here though.

>Android has you locked into Google surveillance

It doesn't. Custom Google-free Android ROMs are a thing and work well.

>Send a text? Your provider had to send that data

Use encryption. I recommend Matrix/Riot.im for encrypted chat. There is also a program called Silence that can encrypt SMS.

-

If you want to know the point of all this, there's a lot of material online, but you can start by watching the short talk "Why Privacy Matters" by Glenn Greenwald

[paavoova]

Windows is "bad" for the same reason all that you listed is. It's a fallacy to excuse anti-user, anti-privacy practices under the argument that "Well, others do it too".

[beagle3]

ISPs are many, Microsoft is one. Regardless of how corrupted and corruptible ISPs are, that’s a huge difference - especially in parts of the world where you have choice of ISPS.

[drb91]

> a monopoly built on Linux and Vulkan is a much better place than where we are now.

No, it’s not. There’s nothing infallible or timeless about either. Linux is already showing its age; vulkan is designed around hardware you can find today, around technologies that are already commoditized. It will also show its age soon, if it has not already.