In today's lesson, we'll look at the following operating systems on an older Mac Mini (2 GHz, 2 gigs of RAM):
Our first contestant: OS X Mountain Lion
Apple has decided that OS X Mountain Lion won't run on this device. Technically game over, but for poops and giggles let's look at some nuggets from a device that it DOES run on:
Some of OS X's processes flat out refuse to use whatever proxy settings you've hard set in your Network settings, and will fail if you attempt to proxy transparently (Dictation). Why is that? I suspect it's because of this:
"When you use the keyboard dictation feature on your computer, the things you dictate will be recorded and sent to Apple to convert what you say into text. Your computer will also send Apple other information, such as your first name and nickname; and the names, nicknames, and relationship with you (for example, “my dad”) of your address book contacts."
The "such as" is especially exciting...I'm betting it's far more, and Apple doesn't want you to see it, hence proxy fail
In Lion, most of your jazz (contacts, notes, etc...) sync'd via iTunes to your iPhone and life was good. In Mountain Lion, Apple has removed that and now you MUST use iCloud. Have you LOOKED at the iCloud privacy statement? Some tidbits below:
To provide such features or services, where available, Apple and its partners and licensors must collect, use, transmit, process and maintain your location data, including but not limited to the geographic location of your device and information related to your iCloud account (“Account”) and any devices registered thereunder, including but not limited to your Apple ID, device ID and name, and device type.
When you create an Apple ID, register your products, apply for commercial credit, purchase a product, download a software update, register for a class at an Apple Retail Store, or participate in an online survey, we may collect a variety of information, including your name, mailing address, phone number, email address, contact preferences, and credit card information.
When you share your content with family and friends using Apple products, send gift certificates and products, or invite others to join you on Apple forums, Apple may collect the information you provide about those people such as name, mailing address, email address, and phone number.
In the U.S., we may ask for your Social Security number (SSN) but only in limited circumstances such as when setting up a wireless account and activating your iPhone or when determining whether to extend commercial credit.
We also use personal information to help us develop, deliver, and improve our products, services, content, and advertising.
We also use personal information to help us develop, deliver, and improve our products, services, content, and advertising.
We may collect information such as occupation, language, zip code, area code, unique device identifier, location, and the time zone where an Apple product is used so that we can better understand customer behavior and improve our products, services, and advertising.
As is true of most websites, we gather some information automatically and store it in log files. This information includes Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, browser type and language, Internet service provider (ISP), referring and exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and clickstream data.
We use this information to understand and analyze trends, to administer the site, to learn about user behavior on the site, and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. Apple may use this information in our marketing and advertising services.
Yea pass thanks. Apple is forcing you to use their service so they can sell your info...nice. Fail..and done with OS X!
Next up, Ubuntu 12.10 Client!
One of the staples of Linux, is the fact that you can just about throw it on anything and it will work, and do it well. Ubuntu 12.10 gives a fat "shove it" to that notion. Ubuntu 12.10 on this same Mac Mini fails to work with the aging Intel 945GM graphic card (the ancient 1024x768 is the max res you'll get). This "modern OS" was released just last month, yet can't see my card. A fresh install with a 2009 Windows 7 cd, and Windows sees the card and gives me full res's right out the gate, not even with SP1. WTH. Couple this with the shameless (and insecure) bundling of desktop search with Amazon (link here) and this OS, is fail.
NEXT
Windows 8
Now I must admit, that Windows 8 is worse than I thought it would be :) Taking a queue from Apple, certain process will happily disregard your proxy settings and go direct to the Net. Again, why is that? It's not to hide their in-app advertisements (link here), those are bad enough (this is my DESKTOP OPERATION SYSTEM, NOT MY PHONE). I have yet to try and transparently proxy the traffic to see what it's doing. And they there's the new Store...a shameless (and late) copy of Apple's Store. Come to think of it, isn't the whole Metro UI about...5 years late if they wanted to be like Apple? Fail.
And there it is! So what's a tech person to do when the big three of OS's are going in directions that are technically questionable, clearly made for the masses, and seem hell bent on acquiring (and selling) my data? It's a sad way.
