I think Ubuntu is mostly there.
I'm running it. The company that makes it harvests data from the machine, they tell you that.
Several years ago I ran an ubuntu machine for about a year, I liked it better than this one. This one is buggy.
Re:data harvesting
Then run debian. It won't be as easy as Ubuntu, but...
Even Ubuntu is only when youre using Unity, so use another desktop environment, or even Unity you can opt-out.
Good points, Telesphorus and Iuvenalis!
If I understand you right, you should try Xubuntu: the Ubuntu version which replaces the fat and slow Gnome desktop with the European trimmed XFCE desktop. You're not bothered with that non-starter "Unity"; you got all the comfort of Ubuntu; you have the Ubuntu software center and can run all Ubuntu programs because Xubuntu is Ubuntu with a clearer and non-bloated user interface.
As with Ubuntu, be sure to download the Long Term Support (LTS) release, i.e. with even version numbers v10, v12, etc, so you don't have to upgrade every year: www.xubuntu.org
I thought it was interesting there was no terminal icon on the left.
They seem to want to keep the new users from doing things the old way.
Yes, with Unity they go the Win8 route: users have to be kept dumb and only "need" to click through some flashy big Internet buttons. No control of the machine anymore, no control of your data, etc. It's bad.
In the end instead of real Personal Computers (PC) there will be hermetically sealed consoles for the masses and owned by the money-masters. See Micro$oft's sick UEFI system which brings into practice their old totalitarian "Palladium", http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/can-you-trust.en.html
We experience the total sell-out to the globalists: religiously (Vatican II), historically, economically, financially, technically, etc etc. May God have mercy upon us.
This is interesting. I was thinking along this line when I was talking to the
Staples salesman. When he told me that more and more laptops are becoming
more like cell phones, inasmuch as they are getting away from repairable
systems, and more into disposable systems. You get a sealed system (you
say hermetically sealed - it's just about there already) and you use it until it
develops problems then you turn it in for a new one, as a trade-in.
He said that it makes more money for the manufacturers because nobody can
do salvage parts and repairs. As it is, laptop repairs are getting to be too
expensive. To replace an LCD screen costs about $600, and the cables that
hook up to the motherboard many times have to be soldered on, and there
are 20 terminals - none of which can touch each other, so it takes a lot of
careful, close work. The don't have to make it that difficult to repair, but they
do so in order to discourage end users from making such repairs.
I told him it sounds a lot like automotive automatic transmissions, which are
coming more and more as "sealed units" that cannot be overhauled. You run
your transmission until it quits or has shifting problems, then you junk it for
a new transmission -- No repairs, because the housing cannot be opened up.
The Swiss watch company, Swatch, came out with this concept in watches in
the early 1980's, and it was revolutionary. First issue Swatch of particular
designs, unopened, in their original package today are going for thousands
of dollars, when they only cost about $25 new at the time, in Switzerland.
And Swatch is steadily growing, buying up other watch companies. They still
have a full line of disposable watches, that cannot be repaired. Use them
until they stop - you can replace their battery very easily, but when they
won't run anymore with a fresh battery, then RECYCLE them.
There are some countries now with laws in place where it is illegal to throw
away an old watch. I have heard of a fine of $600 when you are convicted
of throwing a watch away in the trash. So it comes down to
a choice between
getting a new LCD laptop screen or throwing your watch away! HAHAHAHA
From a
Raymond Weil website:
NOTICE
Disposal of a watch by non-compliant methods
may cause harm to the environment and is heavily
fined according to the regulations
established by each one of the EU member
countries in application of the Directive on Waste Electrical
and Electronic Equipment (Directive 2002/96/EC WEEE).
Should you need to dispose of an old watch, please set it
aside for separate waste collection or give it to a
retailer
when purchasing a new watch.
RAYMOND WEIL and its approved dealers are at your
disposal to provide you with additional information on
the subject.
[It's a bit ironic that "approved dealers are at your disposal" when you are
looking for information about disposal of your old watch.]
The manufacturers want you to be entirely dependent upon them for your
needs. And that fits very nicely in with the nєω ωσrℓ∂ σr∂єr agenda.
The old days of a backyard mechanic who can rebuild an engine or fix a
broken machine are becoming a thing of the past, before our eyes.
It's starting to look like computers are being designed such that man is
becoming the servant of the machine. One would expect that the machine
should be at the service of man, but the opposite is more convenient for
the Globalists, apparently.
Make machines such that
man learns to serve the BEAST. That is the new trend. Make it seem normal. Make it expected, and no one
will complain about it.