Bonum Certa Men Certa

Choosing Between Apple and Microsoft in an Age of Mass Surveillance and State-Mandated Back Doors

Apple and Microsoft



Summary: Why proprietary operating systems are universally dangerous and what we recommend instead

MARKET "FORCES" -- as the mass media likes to call them (this media is among these forces) -- tell us that we're being given a "choice". This choice, however, often excludes practical alternatives and instead presents a choice of brands, a choice of trade marks.



It is quite frankly worrying to see people choosing to pay for operating systems they very well know to be full of back doors. Some complement these with listening devices inside homes (eavesdropping on all the tenants) and sometimes even de facto CCTV, constantly connected to (and streaming to) surveillance companies in another country.

"There's a business model there and it's covertly hostile towards users. Many just aren't aware of it. It's a 'sausage factory'..."In its early days (13 years ago) this site did a lot of GNU/Linux advocacy. Back in 2006 it wasn't so clear whether GNU/Linux would dominate the market (even in servers GNU/Linux hadn't yet reached the inflection point or "critical mass"). Nowadays GNU/Linux is a lot more popular everywhere, including the mobile market dominated by Android (Google never put GNU in it and it's planning to remove Linux as well); GNU/Linux made strides in the laptop/desktop market (desktops, however, gradually become more extinct), e.g. with the Gentoo-derived Chrome OS. But these platforms do not offer freedom; instead, they're all about surveillance. There's a business model there and it's covertly hostile towards users. Many just aren't aware of it. It's a 'sausage factory'...

At the moment we're hosted by Alpine Linux (the hypervisor). It has been running smoothly, without even a single reboot, since we began the site's migration around October. "A fork of the distribution, postmarketOS, is designed to run on mobile devices," Wikipedia says, and "it's heavily used in containers providing quick boot up times." For desktop we nowadays recommend more or less the same things the FSF recommends and endorses. See "Free GNU/Linux distributions" and "Explaining Why We Don't Endorse Other Systems".

Recent Techrights' Posts

Materialistic Culture of Fake Possessions and Fake Popularity
Fake popularity is part of a "chicken and egg" thing
There Are More Devuan-Based Distros of GNU/Linux Each Year
"The Veteran Unix Admin collective salutes you"
In Gambia, According to statCounter, Windows "Market Share" is Down to 3%
in some countries Windows is already down to 1%
The Web is Becoming Social Control Media Junk and Fake Text Crafted by Machines (Boosted by Social Control Media via Bots Which Game Visibility/Popularity)
The misinformation machines are being increasingly automated to promote dictators and bigots
 
Links 27/11/2024: “Writing Month”, "Cybertorture", and Qualcomm Trouble
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/11/2024: How the Exoteric Relates to the Esoteric, a Look at BASIC
Links for the day
If the Reputation of the European Union for Rule of Law Has Diminished, Blame EPO and the German (Also the Dutch) Government for Facilitating It
We'll soon publish some new EPO material
[Meme] Same Thing, Different Job Title
"Server sysadmin; Clown computing consultant"
Imagine Patents on Musical Compositions and Cooking Recipes
The very existence of software patents must come to an end
"Latest Technology News" in BetaNews is Press Release SPAM (or LLM Slop, Marketing, Fake 'Review')
What they call "reviews" are just ads
[Meme] Kramer is Done
Devuan is turning 10
Go Offline for a Bit
yup!
Windows Falls to All-Time Low (12%) in Gabon
Gabon's data from statCounter shows this
[Meme] When Words Come to Mean the Opposite
"Keep the 'dumb' stuff, be smart about it"
In Defence of Analog (Sometimes Digital and/or "Smart" is Objectively a Lot Worse)
This past weekend (2-3 days) I spent a few hours per day saving us 250 - 400 pounds in repair bills
It Takes Microsoft Over a Day to Restore 'Microsoft 365' (360, 5 Days of Downtime)
Microsoft/Windows TCO will always be huge
[Meme] In Some Countries, Android (Linux) is Already 'the Standard'
"Wait. Sorry, we don't do Windows here, we barely use laptops."
In Defence of CDs...
Let's say that some environmentalists focus only on visible things like plastics
This Holiday Season Dump Companies That Offload Everything to Skinnerbox "Apps", Un-Encrypted E-mail, and 'Webapps' (Proprietary JS Applications in 'Web Site' Clothing)
bot disservice
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, November 26, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, November 26, 2024
When Social Control Media in the European Union is Controlled by BRICS
Who controls TikTok?
Links 27/11/2024: Zoom Waning (Stock Falls), More Microsoft Shutdowns, and European Commission Flags Bluesky for Breaches
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/11/2024: Disease, Vibrations, and Grief
Links for the day
Links 26/11/2024: Microsoft 360 Users Report Outages, Attacks on Journalists Plentiful Worldwide
Links for the day
Same Month Judge Suggests Selling Chrome (Compelling Google to Give It Away) Chrome Surpasses Two-Thirds of "The Market", Based on Surveyor
tackling Google's browser monoculture is still a priority
[Meme] Trying to Terrorise Critics
How Microsofters roll...
Illegitimi Non Carborundum
If you try to suppress our publication, we'll not just bark back but also bite
Why This Site Became "Simple" a Year Ago
Light is good, heavy is bad
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, November 25, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, November 25, 2024
Links 26/11/2024: International Microsoft Outages, Microsoft Mass Layoffs Bigger Than Reported Last Friday
Links for the day, Deutsche Welle and CBC focus
Gemini Links 26/11/2024: Not Pagan, Emacs Wiki, and More
Links for the day
Links 25/11/2024: Egypt Harasses Bloggers, The University of Michigan Has Become Like a Corporation
Links for the day
Links 25/11/2024: Climate News, Daniel Pocock Receives a Fake/Fraudulent €17,000 Electricity Bill
Links for the day
On Groupthink, Mindless 'Sheep', and Toxic Online Cults
This week, treat yourself to a life free of social control media
[Meme] Microsoft: Our "Hey Hi" Hype is Going So Well That We Have MASS Layoffs Every Month. Makes Sense?
Contradiction
Latest Mass Layoffs at Microsoft Are Confirmed, Bing and Vista 11 Losing Market Share
They tried to hide this. They misuse NDAs.
BetaNews is Run and Written by Bots That Make Clickbait
At least one author is doing this
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, November 24, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, November 24, 2024
Gemini Links 25/11/2024: Purity and Cory Doctorow's Ulysses Pact, Smolnet Portal and SGI
Links for the day