New
#70
A Dog's Life...
First time posting here, hope I'm in the right place [I clicked on (+ Reply to Thread)]...
I dunno, this whole privacy thing is somewhat confusing on many fronts. I think it just rubs people the wrong way. It's also interesting that people feel the need to go on the defensive on both sides of the issue; to either express concern about telemetry collection practices, or to defend such practices.
One wonders why Microsoft would put itself into a position where the users of it's product are engaging in such a debate... Negative publicity? The old "any publicity is good publicity" marketing strategy whereby it's fine to be loved, but it's also fine to "love to be hated", as both increase public visibility AND the bottom line. Microsoft, the giant we love to hate. You can go a long way, as a company or a mega-corporation, if you can get under people's skin in a personal way... Whether it's right, wrong, up, down or sideways, as long as people are talking about you, the bottom line will reflect it. That's why I always find these sort of discussions interesting. How people personalize the issue. How passionate and defensive their positions can become! Stand back for a moment. Don't lose sight of the fact that we are talking about a corporation here! Somewhere, deep in the coffers of the giant we call Microsoft, there must be a group of middle aged balding men who are gleefully cheering; "Yes, YES! Make it personal, defend us or hate us, but do so with passion!... That will be $59.95 for the experience, thank you."
You don't get really rich by actually caring a hoot about anybody. I don't for a second think Microsoft cares about me one iota. I do believe they are interested in getting rich though... You can bank on it.
Which will help Microsoft's bottom line the most?
A) Collecting telemetry data to actually make a better operating system, or, as the marketing team likes to say "A better Windows Experience"... Or
B) Getting every tech journalist and user forum humming about those very same telemetry data collection practices, keeping the word "Microsoft" in a dozen headlines a day, from minor to major media outlets like tenforums (relatively minor) to the New York Times (pretty major)?
Hmmm.
Back to my opening thought. I think all the data collection just rubs folks the wrong way. In the small part of the globe I occupy, even if a dog is snooping around your trash, most people will go ahead an throw a rock in its general direction. Encourage the pooch to move along. It may be just garbage, but it's MY garbage, and who knows what kind of mess that dog is gonna make of it.
Is Microsoft a dog? Don't be a dog. Don't sniff around other people's trash.
Regards from the bayou,
Mr. Joey