Sick of Windows spying on you? Go Linux

[Balrog]

Sick of Windows spying on you? Go Linux

With Windows 10 snooping on your every keystroke, it's time to consider an alternative: the Linux desktop.

By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols for Linux and Open Source | August 14, 2015 -- 19:36 GMT (03:36 GMT+08:00) | Topic: Security

You can try to turn Windows 10's data-sharing ways off, but, bad news: Windows 10 will keep sharing some of your data with Microsoft anyway.

There is an alternative: Desktop Linux.

Linux Mint looks like classic Windows, but without any of Windows 10's privacy leaks

You can do a lot to keep Windows 10 from blabbing, but you can't always stop it from talking. Cortana, Windows 10's voice activated assistant, for example, will share some data with Microsoft, even when it's disabled. That data includes a persistent computer ID to identify your PC to Microsoft.

If you do use Cortana, you'll be sharing your keystrokes and voice with Microsoft. That's to make Cortana and other Microsoft applications work better; but if privacy is your first concern, just forget about using Cortana.

And, that's leads to another problem. You see, Windows 10 is Not a desktop operating system in the way every earlier version of Windows is. Windows 10 is a hybrid cloud/desktop operating system.

For Windows 10 to really show off its stuff it must share your data with the cloud. For example, not only is Cortana useful as an assistant -- in the way Apple's Siri and OK Google are -- but it also supplies the data for Microsoft's software-as-a-service (SaaS), business intelligence (BI) program the Cortana Analytics Suite.

So if your company plans on using Cortana to its best advantage, not only will all your keystroke, voice, and Edge and Bing data be collected, everyone else's data will be collected. That's great for big-data BI, but it may not suit you.

So, what can you do? Well, you can't go to Android, Chromebooks, iOS, or Mac OS X. All of them, to one degree or another, also share your data with their parent companies.

It's worth noting that Android and ChromeOS are both based on Linux, while Mac OS X traces its roots to BSD Unix. In all these cases, just like Windows 10, their vendors have decided that the cloud is where the future lies.

You know all that stuff you've heard about how all of IT was going to the cloud? Guess what: That's already happened for most major data center and server operations and now it's come for the desktop.

So, if that gives you a privacy panic attack, you can either stick with your old operating system, which is likely Windows 7, or move to Linux. Eventually, when Windows 7 is no longer supported, if you want privacy you'll have no other viable choice but Linux.

There are other, more obscure desktop operating systems that are also desktop-based and private. These include the BSD Unix family such as FreeBSD, PCBSD, and NetBSD and eComStation, OS/2 for the 21st century. Your best choice, though, is a desktop-based Linux with a low learning curve.

For Windows users, I think Linux Mint 17.2 with the Cinnamon interface is your best choice.