Here's Why Microsoft Is Worried About Google Chromebooks

[Nathan England]

Excellent point Paul, I completely forgot about Skype.

Skype used to be an absolute necessity for many of my projects. Anymore, I 
find I don't use it, and most times forget to turn it on. Sadly nothing 
replaces it (many I work with now use Windows and the multi-protocol chat 
systems are beyond them).

I despise skype now. Since M$ took over it does not work so well on Ubuntu 
anymore, or other distros I've tried. Android flakes sometimes, but is much 
better than linux. Windows Phone Skype is horrible in terms of features, but 
is very reliable, no problems with it, and in windows it's just a massive 
advertising troll.

I hate skype.


On Tuesday, December 31, 2013 08:33:07 PM Paul Mooring wrote:
> While I appreciate your perspective and can understand your concern,
> this seems to miss the core of Nathan's point.  Google is a public
> company with services you can elect to use (or not use) that only has
> access to the information you give it. It's necessary to pay for this
> service somehow and Google does that primarily through marketing based
> on the information collected.  I think at this point most of their
> users are aware of their business model and that information given to
> them (and yes typing a query in the search bar is giving them
> information) is more or less public.  While I use and love the
> services that Google provides and even appreciate my searches being
> tailored to my profile, I think it's reasonable and valid for others
> to choose not to.  I do not, however think it's fair to claim that's
> equivalent to allow snooping on formats perceived as private
> communication (skype anyone?)
> 
> On Mon, Dec 30, 2013 at 6:18 PM, keith smith <klsmith2020 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > I have no problem with Google being a capitalist company.  I support a
> > free
> > market system that has very few restrictions.
> > 
> > What concerns me is that man has figured out how to profile other men by
> > their actions.  For instance Target says they can tell when a woman is
> > pregnant before she announces it to the world.  They make this assumption
> > by the buying pattern of the woman.  If Target can make an accurate
> > assumption with limited information, what can Google come to know about
> > us?
> > 
> > If this information was only used for marketing, I would be OK with it.
> > However the bigger picture is that Google is probably working with the
> > Government and providing what should be private information.
> > 
> > Some people say "So What, What Do I Have to Hide?".  That may be true
> > until
> > they become a false positive and all hell breaks loose.
> > 
> > Case in point.  There is a rumor that a couple were both doing searches at
> > the same time.  One was looking for backpacks.  The other was looking for
> > pressure cookers.  Rumor has it that in short order their house was raided
> > by a swat team.
> > 
> > Not so funny when you look at it through the eyes of a false positive.
> > 
> > And as far as giving permission, yes we do, however only in a limited way.
> > It is not like we can just decide to go off the grid.  If we want to
> > maintain a certain lifestyle we must use modern technology.
> > 
> > For example.  Recently the group I work with took on a Facebook project.
> > None of use had Facebook accounts.  All three of us did not trust Facebook
> > and had deep privacy concerts when it came to Facebook.  To complete the
> > project all three of us needed Facebook accounts.  Not something we really
> > wanted to do, however our livelihood had taken use to a point where we had
> > to embrace technology we probably would have never used.
> > 
> > So yes we do give permission and yes in some cases we do so because we
> > have
> > no alternative.
> > 
> > My concern with Google is they will become so big and so powerful, which
> > they may already be, that they would easily be able to turn over our docs
> > that we put up onto the Google cloud and do so with impunity.
> > 
> > I like the concept of the Chromebook.  Very convenient.  You can go
> > anywhere and have access to your docs.  You can even switch computers and
> >  with very little configuration you are off and running again.  You can
> > share docs and life is just so much better, until someone becomes a false
> > positive.
> > 
> > 
> > ------------------------
> > Keith Smith
> > 
> > 
> > On Monday, December 30, 2013 5:45 PM, Nathan England
> > <plug-discuss at nmecs.com> wrote:
> > 
> > I have a really hard time with people who get upset that Google is doing
> > evil
> > things.
> > 
> > 1) They are a marketing company
> > 2) We gave them permission
> > 
> > People get upset that Google is watching all that they do on their Android
> > phones... then use a Windows phone! Or go buy a cheap pre-paid flip phone.
> > You
> > gave Google permission to track you and watch what you do.
> > 
> > I think it's funny. I'm now saying this is Keith's deal, I'm just ranting
> > on a
> > point. Microsoft sells an operating system that I should be able to do
> > what
> > I
> > want with and feel safe, however, M$ is doing evil things with it. An NSA
> > back-door? I didn't give them permission for that!
> > 
> > Google watches what I do because they ultimately want to make my life
> > better.
> > If they can find things I'm interested in and market them to me, so that I
> > purchase them, they have won because they made money, but I also won,
> > because
> > I got something I wanted. (yeah yeah, evil capitalist agenda was to sell
> > me
> > something I didn't know I needed...blah)
> > 
> > Google is there to make money by watching what I do and sell me relevant
> > things. Microsoft is just evil. Trying to tell me with one hand that I am
> > safe
> > from this that and the other, while tracking what I do and giving it to
> > big
> > brother. Complete liars.
> > 
> > Linus had the right idea, when asked if the NSA approached him about Linux
> > he
> > nodded yes and said "no". !!!
> > 
> > On Sunday, December 29, 2013 01:40:39 PM keith smith wrote:
> >> Thought this list might enjoy this article.  One point that came to mind
> >> is
> >> Google is very big and tracks our activities.  M$ is doing evil also,
> >> however we do not want Google to become the only player do we??
> >> 
> >> 
> >> http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2013/12/29/heres-why-microsoft
> >> -is -worried-about-google-chromebooks/?partner=yahootix
> >> 
> >> 
> >> ------------------------
> >> Keith Smith
> > 
> > --
> > Regards,
> > 
> > Nathan England
> > 
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > NME Consulting Services http://www.nmecs.com
> > Nathan England (nathan at nmecs.com)
> > Systems Administration / Web Application Development
> > Information Security Consulting
> > (480) 559.9681
> > 
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