Windows 8 kill switch – 478 days old

[floppybootstomp]

The very anticipated operating system Windows 8 will have a feature that was never found on PC’s before: A kill switch that can remotely delete software and edit code without the user’s permission. Although Microsoft claims the switch would only be used for software that is downloaded from its app store, no official policies clearly define the actual purpose of the kill switch.

http://vigilantcitizen.com/latestnew...a-kill-switch/

The history of kill switches on smartphones and e-readers suggests they’re double-edged swords for the companies that wield them. In 2009, Amazon reached into users’ Kindles to delete e-book copies of George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm that had been sold by a publisher without the necessary rights. The ensuing backlash caused Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos to call the move “stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles.”

Microsoft (MSFT) hasn’t spoken publicly about its reasons for including this capability in Windows 8 beyond a cryptic warning that it might be compelled to use it for legal or security reasons.

The reluctance of tech companies to set explicit policies for when they will and will not use kill switches contributes to the fear they’ll be abused. Civil rights and free speech advocates worry that tech companies could be pressured by governments to delete software or data for political reasons.

And there we have it

[Grogan]

I'm done buying Windows... my next PC is going to use one of the same copies of Windows 7 that I have. I don't care if I have to grant myself permission.

I only use Windows for games, so they can go and get stuffed.

Imagine, having your PC all loaded up with your games, and have some stupid kill switch decide that something isn't genuine and make a mistake and delete something in the wrong context. It wouldn't be the first time a software uninstall did that. (In the early days, there was a build of mozilla that deleted all of Program Files when uninstalled by being in the wrong directory context when issuing commands. I can also remember a hobbyist's cleanup utility that had a visual basic programming error that, in specific circumstances, caused the equivalent of "deltree /y c:\" when it was supposed to be cleaning temp files. It happened when the user didn't supply input properly, but still. Those are just examples I recall. Not relevant, but just to show that faeces happeneth)

The point is, they've got no business doing it and wouldn't even make apologies for mistakes. They would consider you collateral damage, just like product activation/validation misfires.

[MSUredux]

Damn it! Every time I find myself softening my opinion of that upcoming piece of shit, some new detail comes along and sours it again. I like Windows, have used every version since 3.11, have looked forward to every new release. Not this time... It's looking more and more like I'll be like the die hard XP crowd, 10 years from now I'll still be hanging on to Win7.

[floppybootstomp]

I think that may actually be the straw that broke the camel's back for me. Like Mark, I think I'll still be hanging out with Win 7 in ten year's time and hopefully for games only.

I'm still a novice when it comes to Linux and the expression 'write my own kernel' brings me out in a cold sweat but over the last 24 months or so I've found using Mint dead easy tbh and have been making an effort to try and use Linux (Mint) for more and more tasks.

There's a few things I'm not sure about, I have to try and connect to a network (wireless) printer, my Epson Scanner and I have a zillion Microsoft Publisher files which I use MS Office Publisher 2003 to open, create, edit and print. I can always keep a partition for XP for just that though so not really a prob. And the open source program 'Scribus' is very similar to Publisher so I'll probably teach myself how to use that. The wireless printer connects through a wireless router which is hard wired to the Mint machine so I expect as long as I have the printer's server and ISP details (?) I might get lucky.

Plus I have yet to find a video editing/burning program for Linux to burn DVD's with different video files and create a menu for them on the DVD but tbh so far I haven't looked that hard.

Both Microsoft and Apple look to me to be bully boys and I find the idea that somebody or some artificial intelligence could access my machine and make changes to it without my permission quite horrifying. Time, gentlemen, for me to take a step back, a deep breath and some serious thinking.

[Bad Haircut]

Not happenin' here on so many levels. I'll see what 9 or 10 looks like.

[Dark Angel]

If this doesn't kill Microsoft you can bet your last nickle that it will be in every release from now on. This is just more mobile phone shit dribbling out onto the desktop where it has no right existing.

Tony, there is definitely software in the Mint repositories to handle full DVD authoring, menus, chapters and all. I used one in Ubuntu 10.04 to build up a DVD presentation for my fire brigade, though I can't remember the name of it. I did have to do some manual file conversions to get it all working though. It might have been DeVeDe but I'm not sure. "Lives" is another one, though I haven't used it.

[Bad Haircut]

DVDStyler, 2ManDVD, are your usual choices.

[Dark Angel]

DVDstyler might have been what I used last time, that name is familiar.

[Bad Haircut]

Both I found easier and more intuitive to use than anything in Windows. Seemed less clicks to do a lot more.

[ZemaTalon]

I wouldn't put it past MS to try and force Win8 down our throats by restricting the next release of Direct-X to Win8 - same as they did with Vista and Direct-X 10. Not that there won't be work arounds for that though