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Why you should uninstall Windows right now.

By Houtworm

And other software that takes away your fundamental human rights.

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Houtworm
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10 Jul, 2019 @ 3:00pm

24 May, 2020 @ 7:10pm

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Guide Index

Overview

Introduction

Proprietary software

Privacy, Security and Global Surveillance

Freedom of Speech/Thought, Censorship

Icing on the Cake

Sources

Sources 2

Conclusion

Comments

Introduction

Welcome, This guide is written to enhance our fundamental human rights as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights[www.un.org], It is a short overview of why proprietary software is bad and using Windows or Mac unless you absolutely have to is just plain stupid

It is also a nice guide to shut up trolls in various discussions claiming immoral and unethical statements, Let them all come here and discuss it in a single place. Any comment, positive or negative will contribute to this guide. I do not care about the rating, Trolls gonna troll, All claims are backed up by sources which are backed up by evidence I imagine anyone is capable to come to their own conclusions.

For Game Developers, This guide will explain in detail why Linux ports are important, Building a Linux version might not be the biggest profit, Ofcourse Profit is the driving factor, But porting to Linux is the right thing to do, It shows you care about the future of humanity, It shows you love your game, that It is not just built for Profit. It helps enhance our human rights, It is not hard, It is just something you need to keep in mind from beginning to end. And when people become more aware of the unjust that is proprietary software Those Linux ports will become more profitable by the day. Gabe Newell said; Linux is the Future of Gaming. Optionally using an Open Source Game Engine like Godot also has tons of benefits. Like no royalty fees, Absolute ownership of your complete game, You can even legally fork and adjust the engine to exactly fit your needs.

Proprietary software

Windows and OSX are both proprietary operating systems. This means the code is never really yours, You can not see the source, you may not reverse engineer anything. And this sounds useless. Why would you need to own software instead of a license, Why would you need to see the source or Why would you reverse engineer it? It all comes down to our fundamental human rights, Our right to privacy, And our right to freedom of association for example. To ensure the commitment of a piece of software to our human rights we need to audit the code, Which is impossible unless you reverse engineer it, which is illegal, and very hard to do.

And you may say, Yeah I don't care[en.wikipedia.org], But that is a very thoughtless statement, Ofcourse you care, our Right to Privacy[en.wikipedia.org] does not exist without reason. it is to protect people from from misintepretation, If i want to learn about certain subjects that does not make me a suspect. If i say I killed him with a shotgun to the face, I could be talking about a game. There is also a reason any good laywer[www.vice.com] will always tell you to not talk to the police[www.learnliberty.org] even if you are innocent[www.latimes.com]. Lots of innocent people get locked up because someone sees words in a completely different context. It is also to prevent abuse, Imagine if everyone knew everything about you, Criminals, Salesman, Employers, Everyone could prey on your weaknesses and trick you into things you don't even want to.

Sure it is a matter of trust, But can you really trust a company in securing your rights? Would you put your life in their hands? Because that is what most people are doing. it might sound silly, But your digital life is enough to take everything from you. your identity, Your money, even your friends. People can set you up for a crime you did not commit You can even go to prison in real life for something that your online identity did.

And you may think, Yeah governments, They are here to protect us from stuff like that, Well guess again. Governments are actually the leading cause of digital insecurity. The NSA for example forces companies like Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft to implement PRISM[en.wikipedia.org], Which is a piece of spyware that infiltrates Social Networks and Proprietary software. They are not allowed to disclose this information, And are forced to deny any claims of cooperation or existance of PRISM. Australia[www.zdnet.com] and China[en.wikipedia.org] made something similiar forced by law, Which is why the US bans Huawei, If the five eyes[en.wikipedia.org] (US, UK, CA, AU, NZ) track people it is ok, but if China does it, that is a big no no. More on Global surveillance Later

You buy a license instead of a copy, You sign an agreement instead of getting ownership and control over your hardware. I understand companies have to protect their IP, And if something is Open Source anyone can fork it and use it however they like. But doesn't that drive innovation? Doesn't that push companies like Microsoft to push the best Windows they can? Yes it will, Else someone else will. It might be a risk, But it ensures progress, It makes something for the greater good. Microsoft, Apple, They are not in it for the greater good, They are in it for the money, They will never have enough, and sadly money talks, People say Epic is anti-consumer, Well take a good look at Microsoft. They both do good things, But that does not compensate for the evil. Tim Sweeney saves forests and destroys PC gaming with his fortnite profit model for his own gain. Bill Gates has a great charity and destroys human rights with his proprietary OS for his own gain.

I am not saying you should abandon everything that is proprietary, But your Operating System is the base for everything you do, I don't know about you guys, But my PC is an extension of my brain, It knows everything about me, It might even know me better than I know myself. Every key I ever pressed, Every page I ever visited, All my personal files, literally everything goes through the Operating System. Having this vital part of your system infected with spyware is just bad on so many levels, Like what is the use of SSL or any security measure when you use Windows?

Sure Steam is Proprietary, And i wish it was Open Source, But I understand we are far from a digital utopia. Steam is also not my major concern, Sure i chat through Steam, I write reviews, I play games, But everything I do is public, I do not write personal notes in Steam, I do not store Passwords in Steam, I don't store private photos and Valve doesn't even need to know your real identity. Sure there is a big possibility PRISM is in Steam, But i don't care they know I am a gamer, They can read my review, because i chose to publish it. It is also hard to mask malicious intent for a program, An OS can mask anything it pleases when it is not Open Source.

Sure most games are proprietary, But this is kinda obvious, If games where open source people could just compile the games themselfes without paying for it, Honestly i would be more likely pay for a donation DLC of a game on Steam if it was Open source, But sadly I am not most people, so I understand that this is not an option for game developers that expect certain profits. But games are not very likely to contain spyware, Any game has too low of a userbase to be interesting, A game does not collect much usefull information and if it did the risk would be very high for the company itself.

Privacy, Security and Global Surveillance

The problem with proprietary software is that it can claim security, It doesn't matter what companies claim about their software, If it is proprietary that's all it ever will be, claims without anything to back it up, We need to put our trust in companies that they ensure our safety while being forced to do otherwise by governments, Open source software has the security advantage because anyone can audit the code for potential security leaks. If they use it, they have good reason to. Especially in the case of Linux, This is being audited by millions of skilled people all the time.

Governments also force companies to not patch security leaks so they can abuse it, They even know of Zero days and won't share them with the public. But if they can abuse it, anyone can. Any black hat hacker can abuse these same leaks and get access to systems to do all sorts of evil. Why do you think Spies, Journalists, Diplomats, Hackers, these government agencies and security focused people in general use Linux? Because proprietary software can not be trusted, Even if the company's motto is "Don't be Evil" then the government will make sure of it.

Windows has full control over all your hardware, it has a built in keylogger that registers every keystroke you make, It also listens to your voice all the time in the case you want to search something, Sure you can disable these functions, But really? It also has access to other connected devices, like your hard drives, USB Sticks, your Phone, Other devices in the network, They can even remotely install software and watch the webcam on your computer without your permission or knowledge. Mac, iOS, Android all do the same thing, It would be hypocritical to only look at Windows.

What if this data leaks, Maybe they get hacked, Maybe they make a mistake, Maybe A war breaks out and they take physical control over the data centers, All this data would ensure a flawless victory, Knowledge is power, Nobody should have this amount of power over anyone. It is a security risk and this is exactly why the right to privacy exists. All this data should be destroyed

This is becoming more and more of a pressing issue, Now we have GPS enabled internet connected cameras and microphones in our pockets, But IoT is becoming more and more of a thing, Smart homes, smart watches, Smart TVs, IP Cameras, All kinds of sensors, Face recognition, voice recognition, Heartbeat recognition. And 95% of all this stuff is proprietary. It is not yours, it works against you, to abuse and manipulate you

This raping of our human rights is all being done in the name of "war on terror" Funny when you realize John Hanke Founder of Niantic (The company behind Pokemon GO) has been funded by the NSA for several of his projects and augmented reality in general. The NSA does not need Pokemon GO to get access to your location your camera or your microphone, But they sure work better when they are held in front of people all the time. Terrorists don't go playing around some augmented reality game. The NSA is nothing without Google, And Google would not have existed without funding from the CIA, Google was pushed to be spyware from the beginning.

This war on terror only costs money, People lose their freedoms over it, they blur the lines of ethical and they never actually stopped a terrorist attack, Terrorists sadly are smarter than to use proprietary spyware. This war on terror is an excuse to spy on people It is not about the war on terror, It is about world domination through information. In the truest form of the word Terrorism, The war on terror is Terrorism.

Freedom of Speech/Thought, Censorship

Even your thoughts are affected by the software you use. Proprietary social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc literally control the world media. It allows for idiots like Alex Jones to get a hold onto "useful Idiots". I am not saying social media is a bad thing. But it is a bad thing when they control what is relevant and what is not, Nobody should have that control. It is putting people in bubbles showing them what they want to see and not actually giving them what they need to see.

Allow everything or allow nothing. Sure fake news is a bad thing, But censorship is even worse It also allows real news to be censored. And Search bubbles are exactly the same, Google shows you want you want to see, It does not list reliable sources first, It lists the people who pay first, And the rest of the results are just results that align with your believes. It is a form of censorship, We find what we want to find, not what we need to find.

Without anonymity we can't have free thought, Because we all get placed in our own bubbles, With that we all get our own "facts" that confirm our believes, our thoughts influence what we talk about and with that said, Are your thoughts even your own? Do you have free thought? And is your opinion your opinion? Do you have free speech, Or is it a manifestation of pushed propaganda over the years?

It is extremely hard to battle this, And nothing can protect you from it, Else it would be another form of censorship. The best thing you can do is fact check everything, Confirm it with multiple trustworthy sources, use your brain. Inform people to do the same. The only way we can get our rights back is to stay anonymous, Stop feeding data to social media, Stop funding proprietary software, Vote against any depreciation of our fundamental human rights.

Icing on the Cake

Windows is pre loaded with all kinds of Malware, PRISM ofcourse, Advertisements or Adware, Then there is the telemetry, And you can turn it "off" But really? The software will still be there, You can't remove it. Just expect Microsoft (and its 3rd parties) to track every little bit of you regardless of your settings.

Windows is just annoying, Looking for a particular setting? Well search probably won't help, It probably is somewhere in one of the thousands of setting menus. Do you want to run software? Well not before pressing yes 3 times. Oh you need your computer? Well better press not now every 15 minutes or your computer will reboot and take forever to install 2 updates.

The way you have to install software is just a security risk, If you search for any program on google you can be sure 50% is malware. Then there is the issue of updating every piece of software on your computer seperately. On Linux it is all done with 1 program, and it installs hundreds of updates within minutes.

Most software on Windows costs money, Which is fine if it where actual useful tools, But the amount of crappy "freemium" software out there is astonishing. People buy it and install it because they paid for it, They might even use it while it displays ads, hogs up resources or while there are much better alternatives availalbe.

Virus scanners hog up resources and most of the time they give false alerts and if you have foreign malware (as in not pre installed malware) like ransomware it fails to detect it because Hackers just use a crypter and it wil repackage a program so that anti virus software doesn't recognize it anymore. Even if you have 10 virus scanners installed, it will just execute the malware.

If you run Windows, there is a big chance you are someones "slave" And they are just waiting for the right moment to blackmail you, You can buy slaves for a few cents, They watch slaves trough the webcam, listen to them trough the microphone. They just watch what you do with your on and around your computer, and if they find a way to exploit you they will do it.

The average Windows PC has 14 weaponized vulnerabilities[www.forbes.com], Which is just insane to me. The fact that some people choose to pay for and use Windows just to have their human rights violated is just out of this world.

Sources

Sources 2

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2020/04/21/the-average-windows-10-pc-has-14-weaponized-vulnerabilities-new-research-finds/#2b74c33f2fd9
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=june-2018-gpus&num=1
https://beardedgiant.games/benefits-of-supporting-linux-if-you-are-a-small-indie-developer/
http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/faster-zombies/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2019/07/17/these-windows-10-vs-pop-os-benchmarks-reveal-a-surprising-truth-about-linux-gaming-performance/#704e38985e74
https://www.wired.com/2004/12/linux-fewer-bugs-than-rivals/
https://www.lifewire.com/windows-vs-linux-mint-2200609
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2019/03/01/windows-10-versus-linux-6-steam-games-benchmarked-on-intels-hades-canyon-nuc/#7ed2c61c78ce
https://www.diffen.com/difference/Linux_vs_Windows
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/5-fundamental-differences-between-windows-10-and-linux/
https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000575.htm
https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/nsa-linux-journal-extremist-forum-and-its-readers-get-flagged-extra-surveillance
https://daserste.ndr.de/panorama/aktuell/NSA-targets-the-privacy-conscious,nsa230.html
https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/are-you-extremist

Conclusion

I hope i have convinced you to at least put a bit more thought in the software you use, and how you use it.

If I have convinced you to try Linux, Check out my other guide, How to choose the right Linux Distribution.

Any Questions, Suggestions, Comments are more than welcome. The guide is far from complete and any help is greatly appreciated.

145 Comments

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Margen67 19 Apr, 2023 @ 4:37am

Penguins need HUGS

Cray 28 Feb, 2023 @ 4:28am

Games and operating systems are different things. One is an accessory, the other is fundamental.

Valve comes nowhere close to microsoft, apple, google, et al when it comes to privacy, opting out, giving the user control, and what data they feel they should help themselves to. Games come nowhere close to proprietary systems in terms of how you can lock them down, turn them off, uninstall them, or choose when they should be running.

Apples and oranges, my boy.

Unknown 30 Jan, 2023 @ 9:10am

You are using Steam which makes you a hypocrite. Steam is drm and anti consumer, yet you only choose to pick on specific companies because valve cant do no wrong to you fanboys.

TacoDogg 21 Dec, 2022 @ 1:19pm

Amazing. I have dual booted Windows 10 for over a year now with kubuntu. Loved it from the start.

forums.jeff.pro has a lot of info about Linux. I have had many problems fixed through the people on there.

wp- 27 Nov, 2022 @ 8:33pm

{LINK REMOVED}

14trees 4 Oct, 2022 @ 3:21pm

Woah bud chill out you sound like a conspiracy theorist. I get it privacy is cool and we should be able to buy software without being borderline legally robbed. Same with the open source software/R2R argument. But this is too far man

Niedersächsischer Bauer 22 Jul, 2022 @ 10:41am

Libreoffice is good enough for my cases to work with ms formats.
Also onlyoffice is designed to be 100% compatible with ms office.

Why shouldn't something simple like a keyboard work? Aren't there standards for such simple hardware?

But i agree that Proton, although good if not perfect in many cases. Is not sn ideal solution.
Hopefully the steamdeck will change this if it becomes popular.

For the rest. I dunno, use windows if you like it. Gnu/linux rarely ever crashes for me.
Like once every 2 months or so???
Use what you like

ARNO 12 Jul, 2022 @ 3:33pm

linux is for nerds with no bitches

GNU+Swag 21 Jun, 2022 @ 2:12pm

my operating system is easily hackable and that's a good thing!

Niedersächsischer Bauer 23 Feb, 2022 @ 1:09am

Linux is a unix like.
And Linux never saw a hack like wannacry.
There are almost no viruses and tho who exist are much less efficiant.

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