Comment by jacquesm
1 day ago
Not on my devices. Auto update has been abused so often now that it is an embarrassment to the industry. Auto update should be for bug fixes and security issues only.
1 day ago
Not on my devices. Auto update has been abused so often now that it is an embarrassment to the industry. Auto update should be for bug fixes and security issues only.
Auto update is basically a root backdoor, it's especially troublesome when you are not the customer, you are the product!
Yes, which is why I use paid-for OSes and browsers, instead of free ones like Linux or Firefox. I don't want to be the product.
I think with Windows you probably are the customer and the product
1 reply →
With Linux you can control up to the detail any auto-update, and any update in general, all the way to being able to inspect the code.
3 replies →
Why is nobody building a paid for browser with built in search engine and LLM assistant? Should probably make it open source for transparency. And before anyone says you would build/compile it yourself if it was open source, those ppl are already running their self compiled tools and are not the target market.
2 replies →
You are still the product with commercial OSes. Paying doesn't stop them from shoving ads and telemetry wherever they can.
Man, this is a dumb take even by HN standards.
3 replies →
I'm on an Arch flavor, so its whenever I feel like updating. I try to update frequently enough, but if i wait weeks or months, nothing breaks, it always just works, and I get the latest of everything.
This is exactly how it works on Debian. Can recommend.
Guess what runs my PC. Tech companies just don't understand consent.
It is almost the standard:
but the Google version is:
I think they do. They just don’t care. We’re the fleetingly small percentage of nerds in the corner who will notice and complain. Were useful to them for other reasons but we’re not really the concern here.
It’s probably a business misplay to tell the other 99% of users about something they weren’t going to think about. But if by chance it goes awry and there’s outcry, just apologize and commit to do better.
> ... don't understand consent.
The word you're looking for is "respect". They understand consent, the same as JBS* understands animal rights.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JBS_N.V.
1 reply →
Do you understand consent?
1. Yes
2. Ask me later
There is a difference between
- software company decides to release a new version and auto installs it for everyone who has the old version (like Google Chrome)
- software company decides to release a new version. The Debian packaage maintainer checks if the update is fine, is compatible with Debian policies, then includes it in the packages repositories.
In the first, there are no checks. In the second, there are.
Yes, and it is precisely that kind of curation that makes Debian as valuable as it is.