Oh look new Windows 10 Mobile with even more added spying than Google's Android.
Congratulations, you've been MicroShafted.
Microsoft has rolled out Windows 10 Mobile build 10536 as part of its Insider Program Preview. It is likely that this build is close to the first full release, since the company has also sent out invitations to an event in New York on October 6, at which we are promised "exciting news about Windows 10 devices." Plausible …
Defending one company's bad practice by stating others do the same is a hollow argument.
I use a mobile running Cyanogen, privacy guard active. It never connects to Google unless I allow it to. Most of Google servers and services are in the hosts file on the phone, same with MS servers and services. Apple has absolutely nothing I want so I don't go anywhere near them.
Hadn't you noticed that many of the readers here are IT professionals or have at least some clue and are able to exercise control over the hardware/software they use?
No I didn't down vote you.
Actually, there seems to be even more granularity in privacy settings than with the PC version of Windows 10 - certainly more than with WP 8.1. Are you referring to something not managed by those settings (either PC or WP versions)? Have any of you checked out the settings?
Well, I just found a downside today: as with the PC version, MS pushes changes onto YOUR device without permission! I doubt the weird workaround for the PC updates would work, but not too interested in jumping through those hoops anyway (i.e., as I understand it: back out update on your PC AFTER it is applied, and mark it somehow for not being re-applied ... if it does not totally wreck the W10 installation to keep you from doing all that).
Guess I will stick with WP 8.1 on my new Lumia 640 (and wife's) till MS "fixes" that obnoxiousness, or I bite the bullet to go back to Android, and switch it to CyanogenMod, whichever comes first.
And, yes, I do primarily run Linux on my PC's (Mint 17 MATE). Also, I use Lynx (not Lync since that won't run on Linux of course), although mostly as a file browser - SeaMonkey is my preferred graphical browser since it still retains the old Netscape look/feel, and for its email client for my emails from back in those days. I just dabble in Windows 8.x and 10, mostly to keep up with OS trends, but also to update my Garmin PND maps.
Spying on consumers is very big currency. It can be done both directly as in the case of Microsoft or you you can do it via inference. A lot of us use loyalty cards in supermarkets, and many of those cards give the holder some small recompense. I am not so naive to think that my actions are not recorded without my consent (even if they are inferred) but I so far, I am not seeing the recompense with Microsoft so I figure that we are all just being ripped off. I would rather they used the more difficult and cleverer method of inference if they are not going to even give us a free cup of coffee....
It installed nicely on my 1020. It took about an hour and a half and the apps updated silently in the background after that.
This is the first preview version of 10 that I've installed and it certainly looks a lot cleaner than WP8.1. I'm not sure about the "burger" menus everywhere, the "..." in the lower right corner was always easier to access than the burger menu at the top of the screen, but otherwise it seems to be improved.
I also like that I can decide which apps get access to location information etc. Switching it on for Here+ navigation, but leaving WhatsApp and Twitter in the dark, for example, is a nice move in the right direction.
That's as maybe, but it's still a hack. The old WinPho 7 interface basically never required you to do this, because they very sensibly put all the buttons along the bottom of the screen.
It's like big_D said about the old ... versus the new ≡ menu button placement. I still can't for the life of me work out why they decided to move stuff that by any usability metric was better off where it was.