Firefox accessibility is the main reason I wouldn't consider Linux at the moment. It's still way too brittle and unpredictable.

Windows 10 gathers a lot of information, though most of it is through the mandatory collection when the assistant is enabled (US only). This and most other privacy options can be switched off, except for diagnostics tracking and telemetry, which can only be disabled through Group Policy. Unacceptable, IMO. As noted above the situation is currently reversable on Win7/8/8.1.

Doom and gloom everywhere; honestly the amount of paranoia is somewhat, suffocating?  I don't know how anxiety can fail to create more as its contemplated.  I think post 24 is about the best post I've seen on this topic.  Forget buying a new iOS device or even upgrading to iOS 9; that hey Siri thing is going to be on by default.  Any ideas about how much Apple will be catching regarding your conversation while it waits for you to say those two magical words?  Any idea if that functionality disappears simply because you turn the feature off?  We've been under the assumption that companies are dedicated to us and our business, but the rules have changed with facebook and google doing a number of numbers on us and pulling fast ones with their policy changes and goodness only knows what other schemes that we just haven't managed to catch.  Our info is not our info anymore.  We shared it consentually without reading terms of service with fine toothed combs time and time again with software and hardware developers alike around the world because the internet is just that much more convenient.  Who has it?  I don't know, and neither do you. Who can use it?  I don't know, and neither does anyone else.  The internet is much like outer space; it belongs to no one entity because it belongs to everyone, and as such, it's hard to regulate or create laws for or with or in regards to it and its uses and functionality with it developing so quickly and with so much else to tackle.  I have no doubt, however, that we allowed all of this to happen by being who we are.

@Sebby,
I too can respect your position on this matter; my point is simply that we should look at the situation as a whole rather than blaming this or that company of being responsible.  It's similar to how people who are against violent video games because they have the potential of polluting our children's minds with ideas and simply assuming or suggesting that all we need do is stamp out the problem by eradicating them, never fully willing to accept that we are the problem.  It's kind of hard to destroy something humanity has given birth to, once it has spread to enough people and enough people have taken to the concept so mightily.  For what it's worth, I don't like the idea that my data will float around for ever and a million years because corporations believe it should.  It seems like I have no way of getting away from telemarketing firms who pay handsomely for my phone number and goodness only knows what other information.  Even if I have my number blacklisted or put under some watchdog service, that doesn't stop the information from being passed around, bought, sold, etc.  We take care of the symptom with full realization that the disease will persist.  Where it begins and ends, I do not know, but I still feel we're collectively responsible.

@Sebby,
Nor would I suggest that your concerns are illegitimate or simply a stretch of the mind, but I do believe that every system that is designed to bring about some form of good can be reverse assembled so as to easily do the opposite.  Consider any and every advancement we have made in regards to trying to control devices with our minds so that people without arms and legs can enjoy the use of computers.  The question I still have is, what if those devices eventually begin responding in the other direction?  I don't care much for making conspiracy theories or adding to the mountain of fear that seems to circulate around communities concentrated on schemes and the like, so I simply do my best to understand a system for what it is and what it is not.  Every system will have perks and faults; sad but true.  Sometimes we just have to pick our poison, I guess.

Right. Well, this isn't exactly data collection, but now it seems that you'll get the Windows 10 installer, whether you like it or not.

And what do you know, my connections are metered. Thankfully, I'm on OS X here, in most places, and I'd notice something like that at home even if I weren't on 3G. But this is yet another dick move by MS.

No. I do not want Windows 10. Do not bloody want!

@Wanderer: It's because people who use computers, like people who just wanna get stuff done, write stuff, emails, stuff like that, do not care about the actual inner-workings of the operating system and such, or how good a system you get. In deed, if someone's that old-schooled, they could get a 486 for next to nothing at a garage sale, get an dial-up/ethernet  cable, and an isp, and be completely satisfied. Of course, that's frowned upon, being such an old system to actually use for daily use, but I mean hey, if it fits their need, it fits their need. That's what these companies like ms take advantage of, that that kind of people won't care that their system will be upgraded without their concent, that their system is being watched, etc. They are the voiceless in this case. This is another slap-in-the-face to anyone and everyone satisfied with windows 7, especially! corporations or schools who may in deed have incompatibility, all because Ms threw this party, hey, let's get windows10 on every computer in the world that we can! Hell, it may not even be that big of a problem for someone who has large amounts of storage, and unlimited bandwidth, that would be me in this case, but do I wanna keep the temporary install folder? Certainly not. if I said no, that means no. I may change my mind later, but for now, no is no. I can't understand why in the business world most people just, won't, get it. No, is, no.

And this, is exactly why, on the windows side, I will be sticking strictly to xp and below, and also attempting to install windows xp 32bit on my older 64bit alternate dell machine which should work, the thing only has just above 3gb of ram anyway. With a huge, massive increase of people getting connected in this decade, there have become factions, people who just want something to get stuff done, and people who actually want a computer and know the inner-workings. The former is what corporations take advantage of, because when they make a dick-move, the former won't be crying out, and the former is most of the people today who are connected today, whether it be via pc or mobile phone. Apple has fortunately kept the taking advantage of down to an incredibly inferior amount compared to Microsoft. Google's pulled a few fast ones on their privacy policy in the past few years, but have learned from their mistakes, and always remember there's the data collection permissions bit whenever you install an app on google play which anyone and everyone should read before installing an app on their android device. And on chrome/chrome os, if an app gets an update and requires new special permissions, it asks for your consent before making the app work again. Microsoft has not done this, and they have not, and probably will not, learn from their mistakes. They have also refused to answer tech support questions about the force-feeding of the windows 10 setup. I make this statement to everyone, it is in your best interests at this point int time to turn away from MS, go to another platform, an retain your right to privacy.

Yep. Microsoft, the outmoded crappy company we have come to know, has turned viol at our privacy. Guyss, just, get linux, it's free so why not? If you can't afford a mac, just get linux. I'm not forcing anyone directly, but this is safety here so privacy isn't violated.

All right. Here we go again.

Microsoft apparently pushing the Win10 installation as a pre-selected "Optional" update, they say by mistake.

Watch out ...

Mmm. Well they say they've corrected the issue, but I don't like it. Perhaps people who don't want automatic updates have a point.

@Wanderer: WSUS Offline Update is your friend.

I "like" how I disabled updates and ran the block windows script, and still got the "installing updates xx% don't turn off your computer" screen. ... Or how I'm on Windows 8.1 for some reason, even though I never agreed to install that particular update.

It's because Microsoft had force-ticked the windows 10 update, so even blocking scripts won't work.