Yes, I agree that it's not really a problem for everyone. The issue isn't actually privacy. The issue is "find a reason to bash on MS for this month".
Now, I think the incentive structures for FOSS projects are a little different such that the FOSS environment isn't going to converge on the idea of collecting such data. But clearly, throw any sort of system that wants to make money into the mix, coupled with the fact that users just refuse to pay for software anymore, and every giganto corp from Mozilla to Canonical are going to independently come to the same conclusion of collecting this sort of data.
The problem is not that privacy is important. The problem is that privacy isn't as important to people as not having to pay cash for software. So the people who are complaining about this are never going to be happy with anything Microsoft does. Either MS collects too much data, or they are tone-deaf to the market and aren't keeping up with cutting edge features. Either MS "hides" non-default settings, or they are falling behind in the state of the art of UI design.
I mean, Apple or Google wouldn't have even given you the little link that people have been complaining about as "hidden", even though it's right there on the screen. They would have expected you to hunt the setting down in some settings dialog somewhere. What MS has done here is standard MS UI design theory, has been for over two decades.
But it's cool to bash on MS. And the only way such people are going to be satisfied and stay consistent, is to completely bail out of any software where anyone involved has a need to make income.
"Now, I think the incentive structures for FOSS projects are a little different such that the FOSS environment isn't going to converge on the idea of collecting such data. But clearly, throw any sort of system that wants to make money into the mix, coupled with the fact that users just refuse to pay for software anymore, and every giganto corp from Mozilla to Canonical are going to independently come to the same conclusion of collecting this sort of data."
Making money from either advertising or additional services are definitely incentives.
The other one worth mentioning is that trying to make platforms popular with users drives integrating on-line services as well as using more information from the user to deliver advanced services. At the moment local applications are at a disadvantage compared to on-line ones because they don't have as much data to do clever things with: Gmail vs Thunderbird is a good example. General users want the convenience of services like digital assistants - and while some of it can be done with local processing, some cannot.
apple and google are scumbag corporations (not only) when it comes to privacy... so is it OK if another big corp joins them? you basically say yes, I say NO.
Now, I think the incentive structures for FOSS projects are a little different such that the FOSS environment isn't going to converge on the idea of collecting such data. But clearly, throw any sort of system that wants to make money into the mix, coupled with the fact that users just refuse to pay for software anymore, and every giganto corp from Mozilla to Canonical are going to independently come to the same conclusion of collecting this sort of data.
The problem is not that privacy is important. The problem is that privacy isn't as important to people as not having to pay cash for software. So the people who are complaining about this are never going to be happy with anything Microsoft does. Either MS collects too much data, or they are tone-deaf to the market and aren't keeping up with cutting edge features. Either MS "hides" non-default settings, or they are falling behind in the state of the art of UI design.
I mean, Apple or Google wouldn't have even given you the little link that people have been complaining about as "hidden", even though it's right there on the screen. They would have expected you to hunt the setting down in some settings dialog somewhere. What MS has done here is standard MS UI design theory, has been for over two decades.
But it's cool to bash on MS. And the only way such people are going to be satisfied and stay consistent, is to completely bail out of any software where anyone involved has a need to make income.