OneGuyFromBarlick

About a week ago I started to write a quote here on OG and keyed in the double quote symbol...but instead the @ symbol appeared. At first I thought I must be sleepy and tried again. Still got @. Out of curiosity I pressed the @ key...and got double quotes! Later I found several other symbols were exchanged. I looked in my system settings and couldn't find anything unusual so then searched on google to see if anyone else had encountered the same glitch. I found a Canadian who had similar trouble and he was advised to go to his system keyboard settings and delete all languages there except English-Canadian. His settings had that and English-US so he deleted the US and his problem went away. I did the same and found I had English-UK and English-US listed, although only UK was highlighted. Deleted the US entry and now all is back to normal. Strange. I hadn't deliberately changed anything in my settings recently so I suspect the problem has arisen from a software update. Mrs Tiz's PC hasn't had the problem but she's on 32-bit and I'm on 64-bit Ubuntu.

That explains things! Mine also reverted to the US keyboard last week so I think it must have been triggered by a Windows 10 update. I knew about the settings for the US/UK keyboards so I just changed them back. I frequently use the language bar to change to simplified Chinese input.

If I had that one Tiz I never noticed!

Listening to more news about `cyber warfare' a question entered my head - what operating system do the Russian public, government and military use on their computers? Surely they don't use Windows OS, a product of the hated giant capitalist western nation? Well I got a surprise when I googled for information. It seems that most computers in Russia have been running Windows and it's only now that the state is trying to shift away from Microsoft and is looking at Linux instead. The military did have a so-called Mobile Operating System although references to that seem to be in the past tense. China appears to be in a similar situation and I read one report saying that the government has a deal with Microsoft under which the company provides them with updates to keep their Windows XP secure and up to date. Another report claimed that payment of public service salaries in China is achieved using Windows 98.

Microsoft isn't beyond making offers that can't be refused to keep people on side. Their history is littered with dubious deals to keep people using Microsoft. There was a time not so long ago when the so called netbook (aka the SCC - small cheap computer) where the cost of putting windows on them became an unrealistic proportion of the cost of the computer. So the manufacturers turned to Linux . Cue Microsoft wading in with first stick (Threatening reprisals that there would be consequences for the computers they did sell with Windows) and then carrot incentives (effectively giving away operating systems for cheap computers) for companies to continue down the path of righteousness. They're better politicians, bureaucrats (and worse) than the average Roman emperor - which is saying something.

Tripps wrote: ↑08 Mar 2018, 13:16 Thu Mar 08, 2018 1:16 pm
In a further small step towards digital emancipation - I closed my Facebook account yesterday.

Didn't think it would have such a big effect though. . .

facebook

I like it David...
I hadn't thought about Windows and foreign powers. Bit of a problem!

Stanley wrote: ↑20 Mar 2018, 04:39 I hadn't thought about Windows and foreign powers. Bit of a problem!

Does it trigger thoughts of how British and German businesses were buying each others weapons and munitions right up to the outbreak of WW1 and even into the war itself? Vickers and Krupp Vickers/Krupp. In the 1930s RR sold Kestrel engines to Messerschmidt for the Me109 and to Junkers for the Stuka.

Sorry, I've gone a bit off topic!

Not really Tiz, it's pertinent. We were using Krupp designed fuses all through the Great War and actually paid them a royalty charge after the Armistice. The 'Armour Plate Cartel' was active well into the war and it was composed of both Allied and German firms....
Now we see a 'weaponising' of data with the revelations about the Facebook data. It's serious enough to have wiped almost $50billion That's right, billion) off their share price in two days (LINK) and the reports are that in Silicon Valley the talk is of the end of the ability of big data firms to self-regulate. Other big data holders like Google and Amazon must be watching these developments with a degree of concern.
So David and I were quite right to ditch Facebook, once again, we were ahead of the curve!

Perhaps I was even further ahead of the curve, I've never used it!
`Is leaving Facebook the only way to protect your data?' LINK

When you read this article you get a better idea of all the ways Facebook is monitoring and recording personal data. Unfortunately human beings are too gullible for their own good. It will only ever be cured with education.

The last few posts about data gathering is only the tip of the iceberg and ditching, as in Stanley's case an account that he only had for a very short while is a bit pointless to say the least! You only have to look on this forum to see a complete history of Stanley's life published on here and of course in book form quite freely available to all. Most other regular posters have also surrendered voluntarily snippets of their lives. I know Stanley uses his credit card on line so that's another breach of an attempt to "stay off grid". Shutting the door after the horse has bolted comes to mind.

Sorry Ian but you have missed the point. Of course I know that online privacy is non-existent but all the examples you have given are initiated by me, they are my choice and support my belief that the more open we are with each other the better the world will be. That's the key difference.
What I object to is the surreptitious theft of data on the spurious basis of some fine print in the terms and conditions and even worse, the sale of that data, even from actions like buying a book online. But I can't do anything about that so I have to ignore it whilst refusing to let the data gatherers alter the course and policies I have chosen.
What prompted me to leave Facebook was the realisation that they were combining that data across platforms, in that case Google and Facebook. Again I can't stop that but I can vote with my feet.....

I'd say the fundamental concern is that these very, very big, ultra-rich companies regard themselves outside of national and international laws and regulations. They go their own way and assume they are too big and too important to fail or to be reined in. It first began to show itself many years ago when Google started ignoring copyright law and publishing books on their web pages without even consulting the true publishers and authors who held copyright.

Google popped up yesterday - surely as a result of this Facebook 'affair' - and would not let me proceed until I had renewed my vows with them, and promise to faithfully abide by their terms and conditions. It was a long process, as they pointed out how I could change my preferences at every stage of the process, which included Youtube.

I did my best to opt out of everything I could, even the ones that made no sense at all to me. I now find that I will not in future have carefully targeted adverts, but must just put up with a random selection.

I may have to seek counselling.

They haven't reached me yet David, must be working their way down their customer list in order of importance...... If and when, I shall do the same as you.

I frequently clear all cookies from my Firefox browser and that triggers the Google demand every time.

How come the local surgery knows my mobile telephone number when I have not divulged it?

Perhaps one of your relatives had to give it to them at some point?

Did you use it when you registered for Patient Access?

No on both counts......

Ask the surgery how they acquired a number that you regard as private and only available to family members. Someone must have given them the number.

Bought a new laptop for my 60th birthday. My old one (My daughters cast off) was dropping in bits and tediously slow alongside my desktop.. First job is I wiped the Windows 10 off it and installed Ubuntu 16.04 on it. Bleargh its got new chipsets and stuff in it and 16.04 was struggling. The screen flickered and The Wifi didn't work. I tried several things to stop the annoying screen flicker to no avail. So I thought whats the new 17.10 going to do on it. So I downloaded that and instatled it. All new desktop system but everything worked without issue. When I started using the new desktop, I found it a huge improvement on 16.04. Easier to use and much prettier. Its Gnome 3 on the latest 17,10 and Unity on 16.04. Its not a long term support but 18.04 which will be Gnome 3, LTS and just around the corner. (Next Month). Gnome 3 gets my vote.

As soon as it's appropriate Pluggy, give me a RING AND WE'LL ARRANGE A VISIT AND update to the new OS. (Bugger caps lock)
Isn't it nice to have a test pilot on the staff!

I's recommend waiting for 18.04 on an already working system which is an LTS version. The incoming LTS (18.04) is traditionally very similar to the last non LTS (17.10). I'll be keeping my desktop at 16.04 for the time being. It should be out in another month.

That's fine, give me a shout when you think it's the right time.....