Microsoft hoses user data - again!

ZDNet ^ | January 3rd, 2008 | by Robin Harris

[rockrr]

Ah the micro-brains from micro-soft strike again!

[Vinnie]

I’m using Office 2002 SP1 on my Dells.
They came w/ the 2003 upgrade but I’ve never loaded it.
Haven’t seen 2002 mentioned so I guess I’m OK.

Neo Office is the Office program for a Mac?

I’d like to put an Office program on my Mac.

[dayglored]

> Does this line from that blog entry not send shivers down your spine?...

From the data we have on file opens, very few users open files in these formats, so we decided to modify the default behavior to this safer approach.

Holy crap.

Don'tcha just HATE IT when it turns out your paranoia was justified?!?

[Swordmaker]

From the data we have on file opens,

...and exactly how do they gather these data???

[dayglored]

> ...and exactly how do they gather these data???

There is ABSOLUTELY NO guarantee of privacy with ANY software you use. Any software, from the big Office suites down to the smallest utility, can get on the network and "phone home" to send anything at all.

That's the single biggest argument for open-source software. You can see any back-doors or privacy breaches, and avoid them.

With proprietary software (and I have to include Apple's here, of course), you are TRUSTING THE VENDOR COMPLETELY.

"Trust me." -- Bill Gates

[Swordmaker]

With proprietary software (and I have to include Apple's here, of course), you are TRUSTING THE VENDOR COMPLETELY.

You could install a bi-directional firewall and close everything down...

[dayglored]

>> With proprietary software (and I have to include Apple's here, of course), you are TRUSTING THE VENDOR COMPLETELY.

> You could install a bi-directional firewall and close everything down...

What's the point of being on the network then?

At home my perimeter router allows all outbound, and forward 22, 80, 443 in to my server, on which I run ipfw to only allow outside access from certain IP ranges (my office, a few known IPs where I have accounts). Outgoing is basically open; I could of course add rules to ipfw to close off whatever I wish. But most outgoing services pick random high ports, so I don't know how one could selectively shut off some "phone home" calls without effectively taking yourself offline.

I assume I misunderstand you. What did you mean?

Seems like it would be more effective to find and nuke the offending outgoing services, if one only could (in proprietary close-source software it's pretty tough).