Cannonical loves my data as much as Microsoft. Unlike Microsoft, they love sending to Amazon for sales purposes and the search engine du jure for "personalization" and to websites to download their Ubuntu "app" things.
TANSTAAFL.
With Linux, there is a free lunch.
Please explain how one can permanently or even significantly delay a security update in Windows 10 Home and Professional? While one generally wants security updates, there are time when one does not. There could be something in the new patch that clashes with some hardware combinations and a new patch could render my machine unusable.
As far as privacy and data protection, here are some quotes from a recent article in pcadvisor.com:
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/feature/windows/should-i-upgrade-...
> "After writing this article in June 2015 before Windows 10 was released, there was quite the backlash from people who felt that their privacy was being invaded by Windows 10, and rightfully so. Not only is Microsoft now urging people to upgrade to Windows 10, but it's almost forcing them.
The reason appears to be data harvesting. Windows 10 collects a variety of data, some for improving the effectiveness of features such as Cortana. There are ways (as you can see below), even before installing Windows 10 to disable most of these features and prevent your information from being captured in the first place."
> "By switching them off, you'll have more privacy, but how much more data Microsoft is collecting is anyone's guess. We certainly can't say that you can prevent 100 percent of your data from being sent to Microsoft, but it's safe to say that Windows 10 does have the most data harvesting of any version of Windows yet. By switching them off, you'll have more privacy, but how much more data Microsoft is collecting is anyone's guess. We certainly can't say that you can prevent 100 percent of your data from being sent to Microsoft, but it's safe to say that Windows 10 does have the most data harvesting of any version of Windows yet."
The UI for granular control of updates in Windows 10 has been removed putting more in line with macOS, iOS, Android, etc. The features are still there and configurable in the registry though it's primarily intended for enterprise customers to leverage.
I think the scenario you describe where an individual actively monitors and selectively chooses which updates to install is pretty insignificant. One of the problems with Windows has been that users or software (e.g. AV, AntiMalware, etc) will disable the Windows Update Service or set it to manual and then neglect to update the system. This leaves the user vulnerable. The changes Microsoft has made are to benefit the majority and not to cater to the minority.
In Windows 10 the UI doesn't allow you to disable automatic updates, it only allows you to disable automatic reboots. If you are hell bent on disabling them however you can do it via registry changes or various tools that have been released. That being said it's generally a bad idea to do this.
> As far as privacy and data protection, here are some quotes from a recent article in pcadvisor.com:
None of your quotes are proof of spying, they're reactions to the EULA or default settings. Hell one of your quotes even says "felt". And they use such menacing terms as "data harvesting" to describe pretty routine behavior.
Why do you naturally assume malicious intent? Is the Android Keyboard (which does the same thing) a keylogger? What about every search engine's suggested searches?
Did you know that OSX's Spotlight feature sends your queries to Bing by default? If Apple is so protective of your personal information, why on god's green earth would they choose big bad Microsoft as their default search provider for OS level search?
There's this dichotomy that exists between Microsoft and everyone else. Microsoft can do no good, and everyone else is given benefit of doubt. Google's search assistant cross references a search you made on your desktop Firefox browser with a contact in your Android phonebook and suggests a Google Now car based on it and your response is "Thanks Google!". Microsoft grants it's search assistant access to it's contacts app on your device so that if you type your friend's name in the Windows 10 search bar it can display his contact info and you lose your mind. How is that fair?