I’m not seeing so much “cheating” in this article. …but just a bunch of hypothetical situations that’ll never happen in RL. :shrug:

…and Big Tech (there user tracking/profiling becomes much more valuable when there is a real name associated with it).

I completely agree - I’m even dreading installing updates, wondering: “oh, what features will I lose now? What additional AI harvester will be installed? Why am I not allowed to turn this off?”

“While you’re waiting here are some interesting full screen ads, by 500 of our closest affiliates.”

AI of course /s

Yeah, I’ve got a custom domain and have zero problems making github accounts.

I think the OP is suggesting that Windows OS has been/is a loss leader for Microsoft.

(Akin to Costco selling hot dogs for cheap)

The Microsoft playbook was “make windows accessible, then use it as a platform to up sell Office, Exchange, etc”.

Now with their shift and focus into the cloud and cloud subscriptions. All the users need is a web browser and a dumb terminal: they don’t have to run windows anymore.

Thus, Microsoft’s investment in Windows and developing and cough testing cough a platform that will never be profitable is only costing MS money.

And in order to try to gain some net profit from Windows, they’re turning it into the GeoCities of ad-ridden Operating Systems.

I have no idea how much it costs to make one of these props, but if the estimated values is between $5,000 - $10,000 - this doesn’t really sound like an auction as in “my grandmother died and I need to liquidate everything”, rather “hey, let’s make a quick buck and fleece fans of the show of their disposable income”. (eyeroll)

This is the number one reason, why I have hundreds of open tabs - I welcome this improvement.

Now do the same for hijacking control-f to replace my browsers “find” functionality.

…no matter…

This is a good article, especially if you’re the lucky 10,000.

vim/neovim

You’d still need “developer mode” to install f-droid or epic games apk.

People shouldn’t be scared or intimidated out of installing non-google store fronts.

…but yes, Grandma should avoid random apks pulled from the internet.

I understand and agree with your sentiment, but try explaining how ”developer mode" does not make you a developer to my Grandma.

It’s the same b.s. optics that invented “sideloading” as some technically shady practice, when it has always been: just installing the stupid app.

Enjoy it while it lasts. With Google forcing developers to register their Android apps (or they’re not allowed to be installed, unless you’re a developer), it puts pressure on applications like Firefox (or ublock origin) to tow-the-line.

This won’t happen tomorrow or next year, but the writing is on the wall, unless people push back or the government begins to push back on Big Tech.

The removal of device owner rights has always been a slow boil.

edit: fixed typo

That’s the strength of public/private key encryption.

The application (or OS) knows what the hardware vendors public key is. Thus ,it can verify that any message (or application key) claiming to come from that hardware (TPM) is legitimate or not. Thus, the OS is just a proxy or the middle man.

Now what you could do (in theory) is to start modifying the application and replace the hardware vendor public key with your own. …but you’d need to do this with every application and they’ll probably have some sort of anti-tampering or (more likely) you won’t even be allowed to install the application because your OS isn’t “safe/secure”.

disclaimer: I’m a bit hazy on some of these details. There are probably more elegant solutions.

They’re two sides of the same coin. Can’t have privacy without security and can’t have security without privacy.

Hmmm… I half agree with what you said. The corner stone of most security is an element of initial trust.

With SSL, we’re trusting that the certificate authority is valid.

With tools like GPG, I (as the sender) are trusting that the key I’m using to sign a message is really yours.

With Android we (the users) and the application developers are trusting Google (hence why “sideloading” is now “bad”, because Google says it is).

I absolutely agree that privacy cannot exist without security. But, your privacy is dependent on who your security model trusts.

I don’t trust Google with my privacy (hence, I degoogle) , but my bank app doesn’t trust my security (hence, the app can only be installed via Google Play).

So, privacy is dependent on security, but security is built on trust.

To expand on this a bit:

It’s all built on top of the concept of “a chain of trust”, starting at the hardware level.

(as mentioned) TPM is a chip that’ll store encryption keys at a hardware level and retrieval of these keys can only happen if the hardware is unmodified.

I assume that part of this key is derived from aspects of your OS (ie: all device drivers are signed by MS).

The OS will fetch this key, if it’s valid - the OS knows that the hardware is untampered, it can then verify that the OS is unmodified, which can then be used by application to determine that their not modified, etc.

Now you could spoof your own TPM chip (similar to how Switch 1’s are chipped/nodded), but the deal-breaker is that when you add your key to the TPM chip, you sign it with a hardware vendor specific public key. And that vendor private key is baked into the hardware (often into the CPU, so the private key never crosses the hardware bus).

It’s totally possible to achieve. TPM is the desktop equivalent of the technology that runs on your cellphone to have apps detect if you have an unlocked bootloader or root. It’s the same technology prevents your favorite concole (ie: switch 2, ect) from running pirated games.

This improved security does come at a price: we/the users are the enemy and cannot be trusted. This means modifying your system will be prohibited and we (the consumer) will have to trust that Big Tech has our best interests in mind. /s

They forgot to add “… otherwise, my boss will fire me” /s