Why wait for Microsoft to catch up with what we've been doing for decades?
Get Plasma, a modern, fully functional, clean, privacy-respecting, non-intrusive operating system now, regardless from where you live and ditch Windows for good.
this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2023
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@kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social Never heard of Plasma, nor am I in linux ecosystem yet, but from brief googling Plasma telemetry and developer attitude towards it is concerning
https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/f2bg69/kde_plasma_518_comes_with_builtin_telemetry_optin/
@shved @kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social
You mean the completely opt-in thing that is off by default and enables people to anonymously contribute user information so the developers know they're on the right track for new features, support, and updates?
There's even a slider after you opt in to determine how much information you want to share. I'm concerned about software that develops with no user input.
@shved @kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social
It's open source, too. You can delete the whole module with a single click and a sudo if it bothers you. Try that on MacOS or Windows.
@jex @kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social @radioactiveradio While its FOSS, the telemetry is a slippery slope, and a single module now is the sign of a direction they've chosen. The flippant attitude of a developer mentioned in that reddit thread is worrying to say the least.
I'm aware its a single example about a project I know nothing about.
@shved @kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social @radioactiveradio
I can't think of a single project that is concerned with directly user-facing elements that doesn't gather data about its users needs. Gnome uses telemetry, too. Otherwise, we end up with KDE 2007 again.
What flippant attitude? The part where they tell the poster to just read the source code? That's not flippant that's the exact answer to the question. If you don't trust it just check out the source, it's all out in the open. If you don't like it don't use it, same as the telemetry alsame as the desktop. FOSS is about choice, you can choose to use Gnome or fork KDE and remove the telemetry yourself. Or maybe just flip a switch and turn it off.
Edit: Also the whole argument about how the "average user can't read source code" is useless. Remember when audacity put 'actually questionable' telemetry in their code? Everyone was up and arms about it, distros still don't provide the new updated versions of audacity in their repos. Now imagine that with KDE, it's a much bigger project, any average user would figure it out with 5 seconds of reddit or a simple google search.
Been using it for over a year now and there's just one slider for telemetry that sends them anonymous desktop/KDE apps usage data, and you can limit how much you wanna send them. And i personally haven't heard of any controversy surrounding that. Also its opt in unlike windows.
The telemetry is transparent, you literally know everything that gets sent. You don't even have to read the source code, it deadass tells you. Unlike Windows.
Yep, and it's opt-in so if you've never turned it on explicitly, then it's off.
Seriously though, KDE's slider that lets you adjust how much / how little data to send (if any) is probably the best implementation of opt-in telemetry that I've seen in a while.
@shved @kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social Sorry, but this is a pretty opinionates post about a simple feature. Yes, KDE has Telemetry options. But these are entirely opt in, so unless you explicitely choose to send data you will never send data. The data that is being sent is fully transparent, as we have access to the source code. I belief it is mostly used for interface decisions (such as what window sizes are people using). So I cannot see the point.
@shved @kde@floss.social @kde@lemmy.kde.social is opt-in, not opt-out.
No telemetry gets collected unless you explicitly give permission (and they don't nag or try to trick you into giving it). Overall, KDE is incredibly good for privacy