Android OS 2026

Cuppa n' Brew
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I don’t understand the hype behind this. People pretend to worry about privacy, yet they are willing to open up their entire system and everything they do on it to Google. I mean, if you have a Google account, and yes, I do have one because I have an Android phone and I was dumb enough to sign up for a gmail account years ago when it was invite only, Google already know so much about you. If you want to really be creeped out, check out your Google Timeline.

People complain about privacy and yet most folks just willinging give their info to hundreds of websites and corporations. You can’t even visit most websites without having to create an account of some kind. People worry about the govt getting our information, and they should, but corporations have way more info on us then our govt ever hopes to have.

It was one thing to be on a Chromebook which filled a niche for some students and adults, but now we have a whole new OS. I read an article about some CEO who loved it and was really excited about it. Well, of course he is because he will be able to buy all the data Google collects and use it to sell you ■■■■ you don’t need.

Linux has a great opportunity now as people are ■■■■■■ about Win 10 being sunset and forced to purchase 11, but linux is too fragmented for software companies to get behind it. Who wants to build a different version of their software for each distro? Sure, there has been an uptick in linux use and I am sure it will grow a bit more, but they are completely blowing this opportunity.

It kills me when people tell me all the Google stuff is free. It’s not. I would never, in a million years, put an original story I wrote in google docs, keep any legal documents in Google drive, or put any financial information in Google Sheets. Do you think Google can’t scan all the documents you create? If you read their privacy policy, it says your stuff can’t be accessed by 3rd parties, but they never explicitly state they do not have the ability to access your stuff. What they do say, is they will not use the info in Google docs for advertising. This tells me they have the ability to use your info. This is why writers have removed all thier writing from Google Docs because it was being used to train AI.

What if the Government or police forces want to access your stuff? Who is going to protect you? It’s like the people who have given their DNA to 23 and me/ancenstory.com. That company went bankrupt and all the DNA data was purchased by a massive Biotech company. Right now, it is at least an American owned company, but who is to say they will not sell your DNA info to anyone? I mean, how is your DNA protected? Seriously, just to find out if your 1/32 Cherokee, people just sent off their DNA.

Sigh….

/rant

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Yes. It was years ago, when Google was first coming onto the scene, and Facebook and MySpace were making the Internet "free" for everyone, someone very sagely observed, "If something is free, YOU are the product."

Say, isn't Linux free...?

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Yeah, this is nothing new, I remember like 25 years ago people complaining about Microsoft being a monopoly or something like that, screaming and yelling about not giving personal information to such company… and then they go to Google and get a Gmail account and give them all their personal stuff. And that was around year 2000.

Then there’s this: Windows has always been Windows, whatever the version number it was.

Linux is comprised of so many different distros, only a few outsiders dare to cross the line. Most people just want a system that is already set up and they don’t want to mess with any kind of command or anything like that. Even worse, they want it to be like Windows, they want all of their software to be the same on a totally different kind of system. They want everything to work right away, like on Windows, like on Android.

They want Linux to be Windows. And that will never happen. And so they will never get into Linux.

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I have a gmail account because you basically have to if you have an android phone. I use it very little, mostly when you need an email address to sign into a site like this forum. For personal use I use a security email service, mailfence.com and for when a site asks you to give your email to access their information I have Proton which gives me an alias to use for that. That cuts down on spam and preserves some privacy. Both are free, but have limited space and Proton nags you a bit to sign up for more services. Proton is out of Swtizerland with the best privacy laws, and if I remember correctly doesn’t even ask you your name to create an account, just an account name.

Other than that I actively block Google. On my phone all location stuff is shutdown. I have most anything google disabled, I only care about phone calls, texts and occasionally use the web while not at home. I am to cheap for a I-phone and Apple is as bad or worse than google. Yes I know they can still track you if needed like law enforcement, but I don’t break laws so that is not a big deal.

I use browser addons like Don't track me Google, Google Analytics Blocker, Opt-out for Analytics to stop some of Google spying. I never use Google search. It doesn’t stop all of it because every website you visit uses Google Analytics but it helps. I used to use Yahoo, but the spam got overwhelming. The only place I get spam now is gmail and I Just have it automatically go to the junk file and be deleted. I do care about privacy.

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You and I have similar approaches and you have taken a few more step then me, but most people are not aware or just don’t care. The stuff you do takes time to research and learn about and most people don’t do that.

Regardless, my main point about my post, before I devolved into a privacy rant, was to complain about all this hype around the new Android OS and once again Linux is going to be left out. At least these days Linux seems to be a larger part of the discussion.

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Let’s hope this is not prophetic… lol.

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I would try not to stress about what I call "adult children."

I live in a college town.

People at the local HEB walk across from the store without looking.

If they did that in Houston, Texas they would be "grave yard dead." :slight_smile:

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