Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft's Patches Go Dark (Secret) With Vista 10, Newspapers Say 'Microsoft is Recording EVERYTHING You Type'

'Upgrading' to Vista 10 means giving your PC to Microsoft and then renting it (buying computer time)

Vista 10 Made by Rami M. Amin



Summary: Microsoft is exposing all users of Windows (even their keystrokes are recorded in real time), whereas Microsoft's silent modifications to Windows become more secretive and frequent

Microsoft's Vista 10 'damage control' has become rather laughable. The operating system is so buggy that mega-patches are being released and forcibly installed (remotely) more than once a week, clogging up home and corporate networks. Lots of binaries are being changed with no 'paper trail', not even textual. It would seem like a joke if Windows wasn't so ubiquitous and Windows Update quite so banal. People cannot know what the programs running on their computers are doing and any behaviour of these programs can be silently changed by Microsoft at any time. Microsoft also reserves the 'right' to remotely delete programs (not just Microsoft's programs). People have grown accustomed to it (Stockholm Syndrome) and many blindly accept this or don't even know about this. The practice has been expanded to all post-Vista versions of Windows, which inherit all the malicious antifeatures of Windows Vista. Microsoft boosters euphemistically call this "Cumulative Update" even though it addresses "five critical flaws, including two hitting all versions of Windows," according to this headline. Over in our IRC channels, Ryan (ex-Microsoft MVP) wrote: "No changelog = coverup for true number of bugs."

It's "business as usual," as MinceR put it, for Microsoft already admitted secretly hiding severe bugs in order to game these numbers. Microsoft's close partner, the NSA, must be pleased.

"Microsoft Pushes a Dozen Security Updates," Krebs wrote, but NSA back doors remain and surveillance may have been silently expanded, not curtailed (the latest EULA shows almost no legal limitations). Vista 10 is a monstrous surveillance apparatus and every computer that it's put on becomes a bug. Vista 10 is little more than a 3GB keylogger. No sane person would touch it as it is hard to tell what it's actually doing and when, who for, etc. Vista 7 and Vista 8 have meanwhile been modified (by Windows Update) to incorporate many of the same surveillance capabilities, so it's time to escape to GNU/Linux or *BSD. The sooner, the better. Windows is being statically (in-place) modified for espionage purposes.

"Lots of binaries are being changed with no 'paper trail', not even textual. It would seem like a joke if Windows wasn't so ubiquitous and Windows Update quite so banal."Demonstrating that even the corporate media recognises the severe problems with Vista 10 (noting that it is piece of very malicious spyware), leading British papers said the other day (even in headlines) that "Microsoft is recording EVERYTHING you type". No doubt Microsoft is aware of this negative publicity and it working hard to change perceptions, not to change privacy infringements in Vista 10. Microsoft's propaganda network 1105 Media (includes "Redmond Channel Partner") is openwashing Windows again (see "Is It Time for Microsoft To Open Source Windows?") as if people will come to believe that Microsoft is moving in a direction other than making Windows even more malicious. People from inside Microsoft have told me explicitly that privacy violations are only going to get worse in future versions of Windows.

"Microsoft is so desperate to infect the enterprise with its Surface products," told us a source, "that it has compiled a list of companies you should no longer support under the guide of an "enterprise initiative" (IRC logs will have more details on that).

"'Microsoft Expands Surface Pro Options for the Enterprise,' says a blatant Microsoft booster," according to our source. "Dell will be reselling it and offer its own enterprise services for them."

Well, Dell has (with few exceptions) become an extension of Microsoft, so it's not terribly shocking. Enterprise are especially sensitive to data leaks, so there will be resistance for sure. Microsoft knows that OEMs are increasingly leaning towards GNU/Linux and Android, so Microsoft pays a lot of money to get them under Microsoft's control and to get patent royalties on Linux (yes, Dell recently signed yet another patent deal covering Linux-based operating systems). As we noted last week, "Microsoft's Vista 10 Still a Failure, So Focus Shifts to Attacks on GNU/Linux, Android". It mostly alludes to and pertains to patent monopolies, not technical merit or anything ethical.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Links 28/03/2024: Sega, Nintendo, and Bell Layoffs
Links for the day
Open letter to the ACM regarding Codes of Conduct impersonating the Code of Ethics
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
With 9 Mentions of Azure In Its Latest Blog Post, Canonical is Again Promoting Microsoft and Intel Vendor Lock-in, Surveillance, Back Doors, Considerable Power Waste, and Defects That Cannot be Fixed
Microsoft did not even have to buy Canonical (for Canonical to act like it happened)
Links 28/03/2024: GAFAM Replacing Full-Time Workers With Interns Now
Links for the day
Consent & Debian's illegitimate constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
The Time Our Server Host Died in a Car Accident
If Debian has internal problems, then they need to be illuminated and then tackled, at the very least in order to ensure we do not end up with "Deadian"
China's New 'IT' Rules Are a Massive Headache for Microsoft
On the issue of China we're neutral except when it comes to human rights issues
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 27, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, March 27, 2024
WeMakeFedora.org: harassment decision, victory for volunteers and Fedora Foundations
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 27/03/2024: Terrorism Grows in Africa, Unemployment in Finland Rose Sharply in a Year, Chinese Aggression Escalates
Links for the day
Links 27/03/2024: Ericsson and Tencent Layoffs
Links for the day
Amid Online Reports of XBox Sales Collapsing, Mass Layoffs in More Teams, and Windows Making Things Worse (Admission of Losses, Rumours About XBox Canceled as a Hardware Unit)...
Windows has loads of issues, also as a gaming platform
Links 27/03/2024: BBC Resorts to CG Cruft, Akamai Blocking Blunders in Piracy Shield
Links for the day
Android Approaches 90% of the Operating Systems Market in Chad (Windows Down From 99.5% 15 Years Ago to Just 2.5% Right Now)
Windows is down to about 2% on the Web-connected client side as measured by statCounter
Sainsbury's: Let Them Eat Yoghurts (and Microsoft Downtimes When They Need Proper Food)
a social control media 'scandal' this week
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 26, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Windows/Client at Microsoft Falling Sharply (Well Over 10% Decline Every Quarter), So For His Next Trick the Ponzi in Chief Merges Units, Spices Everything Up With "AI"
Hiding the steep decline of Windows/Client at Microsoft?
Free technology in housing and construction
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
We Need Open Standards With Free Software Implementations, Not "Interoperability" Alone
Sadly we're confronting misguided managers and a bunch of clowns trying to herd us all - sometimes without consent - into "clown computing"
Microsoft's Collapse in the Web Server Space Continued This Month
Microsoft is the "2%", just like Windows in some countries
Links 26/03/2024: Inflation Problems, Strikes in Finland
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/03/2024: Losing Children, Carbon Tax Discussed
Links for the day
Mark Shuttleworth resigns from Debian: volunteer suicide and Albania questions unanswered, mass resignations continue
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 26/03/2024: 6,000 Layoffs at Dell, Microsoft “XBox is in Real Trouble as a Hardware Manufacturer”
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/03/2024: Microsofters Still Trying to 'Extend' Gemini Protocol
Links for the day
Look What IBM's Red Hat is Turning CentOS Into
For 17 years our site ran on CentOS. Thankfully we're done with that...
The Julian Paul Assange Verdict: The High Court Has Granted Assange Leave to Appeal Extradition to the United States, Decision Adjourned to May 20th Pending Assurances
The decision is out
The Microsoft and Apple Antitrust Issues Have Some But Not Many Commonalities
gist of the comparison to Microsoft
ZDNet, Sponsored by Microsoft for Paid-for Propaganda (in 'Article' Clothing), Has Added Pop-Up or Overlay to All Pages, Saying "813 Partners Will Store and Access Information on Your Device"
Avoiding ZDNet may become imperative given what it has turned into
Julian Assange Verdict 3 Hours Away
Their decision is due to be published at 1030 GMT
People Who Cover Suicide Aren't Suicidal
Assange didn't just "deteriorate". This deterioration was involuntary and very much imposed upon him.
Overworking Kills
The body usually (but not always) knows best
Former Red Hat Chief (CEO), Who Decided to Leave the Company Earlier This Month, Talks About "Cloud Company Red Hat" to CNBC
shows a lack of foresight and dependence on buzzwords
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 25, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 25, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Discord Does Not Make Money, It's Spying on People and Selling Data/Control (38% is Allegedly Controlled by the Communist Party of China)
a considerable share exists
In At Least Two Nations Windows is Now Measured at 2% "Market Share" (Microsoft Really Does Not Want People to Notice That)
Ignore the mindless "AI"-washing
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Still Has Hundreds of Thousands of Simultaneously-Online Unique Users
The scale of IRC