Microsoft Is Spying On You!
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- Опубліковано 15 лип 2024
- Microsoft's 365 Office Suite was recently banned in Germany over privacy concerns. Should you be using a more private office suite instead?
Microsoft Office is one of the most used suites of programs worldwide. They have become so common that their programs have worked their way into our daily vocabulary, and they set the standards for document formats.
It turns out that they collect a lot of data from their users, both when used online via their collaborative tooling, and "offline" with their downloaded software. Microsoft is also very closed lipped about the details of their data collection.
We dive into a report that recently came out of Germany looking at the privacy of Microsoft. We also look at a privacy-focused office suite alternative, LibreOffice, and how it compares.
00:00 Intro
00:42 What is Microsoft’s Office Suite?
01:37 Online vs Offline Products
03:08 Connected Experiences
04:27 Microsoft’s Data Collection Practices
07:20 Telemetry and Diagnostic Events Explained
08:52 Types of Diagnostic Data Microsoft Collects
10:05 Aria
11:22 LibreOffice
13:48 Other recommendations
Remember, your privacy is largely in your hands, and you can choose not to use products and services that collect all your data. If you have alternative products that you like and think we should check out, let us know!
If you're looking for online, collaborative alternatives to Google Docs and Microsoft 365, watch:
• PRIVATE Alternatives t...
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Here are a bunch of products I like and use. Using these links helps support the channel and future videos!
Recommended Books:
Beginner's Introduction To Privacy - Naomi Brockwell
amzn.to/3WDSfku
Permanent Record - Edward Snowden
amzn.to/305negc
What has the government done to our money - Rothbard
amzn.to/2KMzmcu
Extreme Privacy - Michael Bazzel (The best privacy book I've ever read)
amzn.to/3BLZ1gq
Digital version: inteltechniques.com/book7.html (non affiliate link)
No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State - Glenn Greenwald
amzn.to/2UQmJ4m
Some of my favorite products to help protect your privacy!
Brave browser: brave.com/nao076
Faraday bag (signal stopping, to protect your fob, credit card, computer, and phone)
amzn.to/3z02UiF
Data Blocker (if you're charging your phone in an unknown port, use this so that no data is transferred)
amzn.to/2SVh0J2
Camera tape (electrical tape is the best tape for covering phone and computer cameras)
amzn.to/3Xn8xBn
USB-C to ethernet adapter:
amzn.to/2lOVBoy
Privacy Screens (use your phone and computer in public? Keep your information safe!)
Computer: (Search for the size right for your computer)
MacBook Air 13" amzn.to/3VQvpZ7
HP/Dell/Acer/Asus/Lenovo 15.6" amzn.to/3KK1Oda
Lenovo Thinkpad/HP Elitebook/Dell 14" amzn.to/4enT2zq
Phone: (Search for the size for your phone, decide whether you want glass or plastic!)
Galaxy s24 - amzn.to/3VGgb8H
iPhone 15 - amzn.to/45vCd1h
Pixel 8 - amzn.to/3KFDuJF - Наука та технологія
It's amazing to me that here in the United States we have laws that are supposed to protect our privacy built right into our Bill of Rights but yet European countries seem to be doing a better job at creating and enforcing privacy laws.
In the US you also have politicians who literally spend half their time fund-raising.
We're supposed to believe that doesn't influence their decisions.🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Oh of course it does lol. They can only have a $2, 500 donations directly to their campaign from any one donor if I'm remembering correctly so they create foundations and other loopholes to get more money donated to them or their jobs after their political office is over.
Bill gates is a tech guy vaxxing people with experimental procedures. Things are way more crap than you think
@@keylanoslokj1806 I'm aware. Dudes creepy.
Privacy from the government, not from private industries where you sign a contract to use their products. You can always choose to not use their products.
At one point I had a bit of fear that Libre Office would not meet my needs because there are fewer features, but then i realized that anything advanced that MS Office was not even in my use case. It covers everything that I need and actually do.
And Office is mostly oriented towards group collaboration now, bloated with features not needed for small entrepreneurs. If I wanted to work with people I'd be working for someone else.
Libreoffice works for 95% of the population. A quick document, a quick presentation, a basic chart, etc.
I switched to LibreOffice for several years now, I would never, ever switch back to Microsoft Office again.
I just use pages
Well, I think LibreOffice is ISO compliant than MS Office. Two cents.
It's really depressing. I have been wanting to switch to privacy respecting alternatives for most things. Some have worked, like stopping using Google, but my biggest barrier is being blind. The most accessible software is that created by the giant corporations, who want all of my data. Sadly with these really good, privacy respecting services that don't always work, I find that people either aren't willing to work on making their software accessible or perhaps just don't have the time with everything else that's going on. And I wouldn't even mind sorting these things out myself but I don't know where to start when it comes to learning to program accessibility modules... Great video as always though.
Yeah that's a flaw with many open source products, they don't have the time or resources to focus on ad many things, but in the long term offer time they typically get better.
You should offer to pay them to get a feature you might want. Like say I need a accessibility feature that meets these requirements & the bounty is $1,000.
It would likely be more cost effective for you to do that instead of learning how to program. You can earn 1k much faster than it would take to learn the skills to do why you want to do.
If you do offer feature bounties tho, make sure to offer them in Monero, a private digital currency which protects your privacy (& theirs).
The biggest hindrance is not being able to sell their products. There’s fundamentally no way to make money without either a corporate backing, donations, or advertising. Even if they did sell their products, it would no longer be able to be open source, and it would fall subject to the normal market economy where people would likely just opt into better commercial and privacy disrespecting products anyway. Even if they did start putting ads on their products, they would lose their user base and eventually ultimately their privacy respecting status as well. There’s no winning for FOSS.
@333Orobas 666 There you go you see. LINUX is another one. It's a fantastic system, but most desktop environments, other than those made by Gnome or based on it, are not accessible. The software itself exists when you think of something like a screen reader, but it's getting everything to work with it. Now, I could use CLI based software for everything, and that's actually probably doable, but that also has its flaws. I'm studying modern languages, and so having to read multilingual documents is very common. Screen readers on windows and MacOS can seemlessly switch between different languages. No such feature exists on Orca, the LINUX reader, and when I have requested it online I've heard nothing from anybody. I could do it manually, but that then reduces productivity because of having to read lines many times in a row, first to hear it read terribly by an English voice, then read again once I've changed the language. Sorry for going on a big rant, but I just thought it worth mentioning. What would you say is an idea for trying to get this improved? Of course, there are certain things. I use a DNS service that I can use to block tracking domains and ads and such, and that does a decent enough job on its own, but you never know whether even the ones that seem genuine aren't also tracking...
@@WitchMedusa Blind people probably don't have $1000 to pay that bounty. It would be much better to put together a grant for the bounty.
This is where the ADA Act should protect us disabled people from malicious companies that spy on us, yet the DOJ is pretty much worthless to protect us. I was completely blind for many years, the discrimination against the visually blind is horrible, all of my email & computers were constantly hacked and I could find no help anywhere from anyone. It will take a good attorney to force the DOJ to update the ADA Act for internet privacy.
I've been using Libreoffice for years, have never missed MS Office. The only thing Libreoffice isn't quite as good at is inserting photos into documents, can be difficult to get them to be where you want them. Otherwise it's excellent. I suspect that 90% of users would find it to be as good or better. The problem is that MS Office is the recognized default, and many people don't even consider alternatives. I've been trying to convince my mom to stop paying $100/year for it, but she's very hesitant to ditch MS Office. I feel like commercial software has been getting worse all the time, with this sort of spying, subscription models, higher costs, formerly included features now as paid extras, and so on. Honestly I hope it keeps getting worse, as that will convince people to ditch them in favor of Free Open Source alternatives.
Tried LibreOffice 3 days ago. Piece of garbage math editor.
Purchased downloaded installed MS Office Home & Student 2021 2 days ago. Piece of garbage in every way possible, including math editor. For absolutely no reason whatsoever, MS took a perfectly excellent product (MS Word 2000) and removed everything good about it, sh&t all over it, and made it OBSESSIVELY go online and log me into my online MS account for no reason at all & tried to recreate all this dumbphone app crap. MS Word 2000 never once did that.
And of course latex/tex are absolutely worthless useless garbage. I've been trying to figure them out since 1988, 35 years ago, and have still gotten nowhere with them.
Am stuck using now & forever MS Word 2000 + Mathtype 6.0 as the ONLY way of writing math papers.
There is OnlyOffice, it is also open-source, but it is more convenient than LibreOffice. Too There is a priori MyOffice, which is close to OpenOffice and LibreOffice, whose functionality works more adequately (inserting tables from a text file into a table, for example), although some functionality from the Libr/Open Office is missing. MyOffice does not follow anyone + There is a free German FreeOffice (free SoftMaker Office), but I do not know anything about the surveillance of this product at all.
I have used LibreOffice for several years, and find that using the DRAW app is much easier if the document is photo intensive.
So your mum pays microsoft 100 dollar's a year to strip her hard drive of person information.
You and every body needs to remember that your electronic devise is your private property, An ELUA cannot override property rights. and in my country your private property cannot be annexed bye any one but you, I cannot afford the legal cost of getting Microsoft into court to make a precedent, waiting on lotto so i can kick their arse and stop software companies from breaking and entering my house and devices without first paying me if i so which for them to invade my private property.
@@theultimatereductionist7592 latex is the standard for complicated math. If you mean just typing it into the word document.
Sure it has a steep learning curve, but once you get it, it's much faster then Word.
Have not typed a lot of math for 10 years, but as far as I remember Libre Writer, being descendant of StarOffice use similar tag oriented, keyboard centered math editor. Something inbetween latex and word. Word's math editor was mouse oriented, which to me works way slower constantly switching from keyboard to mouse.
I've actually switched to StarOffice for that sole reason.
Guess it's the matter of preferences.
Naomi is a bundle of gold.
I appreciate the commitment to the businesses suggestion defenestration meme. 🤣
And for those of us who prefer the ribbon interface of Office 2007+, LibreOffice has an option to change the old interface to the ribbon.
This is a little known feature. I like it a lot. I meet resistance wherever I try to introduce it "what's this knockoff excel??" I gave up on offering it altogether. MS and Adobe crap is what people want. (Work at an MSP)
@@Wahinies calc supports new line in a cell by ctrl+enter or shift+enter.
Excel no more.
MS is doing their best to dumb down their product.
There should be more people with the same mentality as you.
I mean the government, companies etc spy on you every single day!
I love your vids ❤️
Naomi spreading her actress wings, she's actually really good in character.
The draw of collecting personal data to turn into $$$ is huge, it's all but ubiquitous now. So it isn't surprising Microsoft would lean heavily into this revenue source (not just Office/O365, buying LinkedIn was another personal data goldmine). The MSFT financial reporting categories makes it difficult to see what revenue increase data harvesting and processing is happening. But I'd be shocked if this isn't one of their growing revenue categories.
We use Microsoft Office daily at my work so its kind of difficult to just jump ship right now. Even so, I have used Libre in the past but I always find myself coming back to Microsoft Office. The main problems I have with Libre Office is not knowing where some of the more niche options are fairly frequently and lots of formatting issues. There have been countless times where I will either work on a file or be sent a file from the Microsoft office platform and when I open it in Libre Office the formatting is different, pictures are misaligned, different fonts are used, etc. Similarly, when sending files from Libre to a Microsoft Office user the formatting tends to get messed up again even when using the office formats through Libre. When I was using Libre I found myself needing to fix formatting from my Libre created files using Microsoft Office to ensure formatting was consistent for the end user which was just extra unnecessary work. Libre Office is definitely a great alternative for simple/intermediate Office tasks but when dealing with a more complex/and or commercial setting Microsoft Office still feels superior to me. It is upsetting that Microsoft collects so much data though.
Well said.
OnlyOffice has very good compatibility with office formats. i recommend it
Exactly, I've used Libre Office and Open Office and while they are nice free alternatives, Office 365 is the standard and Libre and Open don't always play nicely. I'm back to Office 365.
I hadn't heard this, but I always suspected it. If people are in a position to gather more data & power, then they will do it (unless there are strong measures in place to prevent them.) All the corporations are attempting to capture & study customers in order to permanently extract from them.
I prefer the one-time license versions, mostly because I don't care about subscriptions when I have something that works for me. The one-time licenses are slightly less of a problem. That's because the subscription version offers features the one-time licenses can, such as transcriptions. I will probably keep one machine with a subscription for those additional services and to play games, and my other machines are transitioning to open source and eventually Linux. I had an issue once where LibreOffice would consistently take more than two minutes to open an Excel file which opened in just over a second using Excel on the same machine. Once open LibreOffice worked fine, but opening Excel files was ridiculously long. Word files worked fine.
Thanks Naomi for presenting. For what it's worth, I still use Office 2010 which doesn't go to the cloud for a license check and runs what I need. It's all about if you can live with "features" added in to the application but then subscriptions is a scary road for applications. Not a big fan of that!
Now I'd love to see a similar video on Apple's office suite. I used to use LibreOffice for many years and then switched to Apple and started to use their suite since it synced across devices. I mainly use it for writing resumes and personal finance and occasionally for writing documents for work. When it comes to excel I use gnumeric when I need to do some more advanced cell conditionals. I've tried different apps for LibreOffice on iOS/macOS and they work but they aren't good and painful to deal with versioning. Anyways great video as always
I'd like to know too, cause I like Apple's iWork.
That does it - I'm going back to a 1970's IBM Selectric typewritter for all my word processing needs. Well, maybe not, but I'm definitely going to try Libre Office. Thanks for another great privacy video.
I think I need to follow you on those choices you just made.
Latex is quite good for publishing. Once you go through it's steep learning curve.
Funny thing is i actually discovered the other day on the app store that microsoft word was collecting so much identifiable data and then boom now you made a video about it!
We can go back to decades over how Microsoft owned stuff always gets hit by security breaches and spyware. Thanks that I left Microsoft but Then again I am bouncing between Google Office and Libre office.
@@blogdesign7126
Google is even worse. Their income is from selling your data to everyone.
@@mrcvry Agreed too on this one about Google. In Fact I went to Google office and Chrome OS right when I left Microsoft and their constant spyware alerts for Windows and Office for some time before moving to Libreoffice and Linux.
@@blogdesign7126 I am also moving to GrapheneOS for the phone. So far all tested apps are working.
OMG thank God you made this video! I came out of therapy from a really strong traumatic childhood memory, I decided to type on Word what I said in session.
I started getting ads right after of toys( and other things)... Clearly 18+... I was triggered, horrified, very upset, cried. Never again did I used it.
That's absolutely nightmarish. I'm sorry you had to deal with that. There is no excuse for a corporation to have that kind of access to private thoughts.
@@josephm7667 I immediately knew it had been Microsoft Word because I've never researched such topic and when I spoke about it (message or spoken) I used other key words that are not directly related, I decided that typing would be faster than writing and that was the first time I opened up about it and decided to write it, so I was like... Interesting...
Libra office works if you don't need to share with MS Office users. Free Office seems to be better at this. Also Libra Office has issues when trying to manage and format large documents, i.e. 40+ pages with multiple sections and mixed styles.
Otherwise, it is quite good for small personal documents.
Notice how Naomi Brockwell didn't heart your post because you weren't going on about Libra but highlighting what she didnt Free Office!
Libre Office, you mean. It is not ‘libra’, yes I know it also means ‘freedom’, but Libraoffice never existed in this timelime lmao.
Also fuck sharing with other MS office users, what are you, a productive puppet of a society who obeys corpos and coordinates with normies? 🤣
Okay in all seriousness, meanness and trolling aside, you do you. If I want to collab and share, I would use Google Suite.
40+ pages? I've had no problems with 100, mixed styles and sections.
PDF for the win.
I highly recommend OnlyOffice which is compatible with office formats without problems
4:26 I've been having a rough day, this made me genuinely smile and chuckle. Thank you for that 💖
These videos are so awesome, but the skits are hilarious too. I appreciate the hard work in that department too 😅❤
I tried all the free alternatives and eventually settled on LibreOffice. You can also configure its interface to more closely resemble MSFT Office (if you like). Yes Win11 was the push I needed to abandon Windose competely. Now, using only Linux, if I have to use Win11 it feels stodgy, old and slow.
Which distro have you settled on, Larry? Using Linux Mint 21.1 on one of my machines and now also feel like giving Fedora 38 a try.
*Really happy with Mint. Not my main machine (main is macOS), but see how much better Linux became since the last time I gave it a try 5 years or so ago…
@@Ivan_1986 I do have Mint on my main machine Intel i7 (last year's model) with 64 GB RAM, dual monitor used for finance and video editing. I do use the nVidia driver for the graphics card, works without issue. I have tried al the popular distros and had no complaints but settled on Mint for the whole household, even on the laptops and tablets, Heck I run the stripped down version of Mint on the media server, too. Wife likes Mint on her laptop BETTER than windows. When guests come, I say nothing except "here's a computer to use" (and it has mint and guests don't even seem to know). More and more software runs on Linux but among the old, stodgy holdouts are: Garmin's app to update the GPS (Why can't they port it?), Adobe Lightroom (photographers' database), etc. So I keep a dual boot around when I MUST run something on WinDoze. But even the network storage is a Linux base. Also run Ubuntu which I'm updating to 23.04 as I type this.
It would have been handy to know how the Apple iWork apps (Pages, Numbers and keynote) compare from a privacy point of view.
I've been using LibreOffice for years... since swapping over to it from OpenOffice. It does have issues, and I consistently run into style/format problems when my friends need help with a .docx or .pptx, but generally I find it perfectly serviceable.
Bravo. A wonderful presentation. I've been using LibreOffice since it started (before that I used Open Office). My ONLY beef with the program has to do with the Outline Mode. In Word, sub headings and text can be hidden. This is ONE function I would love to have in LibreOffice since I use Outline Mode a great deal.
You can throw this as a suggestion in a forum about the program, i m sure many people will take notice
@@dimifisher7942 Thank you. I will do that. Any idea which forum?
@@danieljackson654 i have to look into it, but i m sure on the ubuntu OS Page it must have a forum about program discussions, i m using Linux Mint.
@@danieljackson654 also you can check on the Official Page of the program for any contact info
Yeah ,I think back to G.R.R. martin interview where suggest using an older model of wordpress or never connecting to the Internet via wifi (or if you really need to use internet to connect with your literacy agent or send documents to your publishings representative editor to connect to a hardline)
Awesome video! I use libre office all the time, mostly LO Impress for academic presentations. It's an excellent piece of software, never looked back
Great content and great presented 🙂I switched over to Synology's Office suite, as I got one of their NAS. It was a coincident that I found it, but it is really good 🙂
so true... after activating office, block any internet access via firewall
LOL. Love the skit. Great points and video, as always!
Actually, you might want to clarify the ownership of all Microsoft Products, even if you purchase a full or OEM version of their products, you don't actually own it, you're renting it. I learnt early in the Windows 95 days, when 95C was released and came with networking built-in, Microsoft didn't have a complete Office Suite, or the vast options available for Office software, such as Excel, Publisher and so on. However, looking back, those things didn't become available until after Microsoft started doing Automatic Updates, which enabled them to know what software was being used on their systems, obviously, people were most commonly using different Office type software, Lotus Notes, Word Perfect come to mind. Think on that for a moment, most people were using some sort of Office productivity software. Microsoft wanted to corner that market, obviously after having the ability to determine what software people were using on their computer. It also allowed mass-surveilance to happen more easily. A researcher back in 2010 discovered an NSA/CIA backdoor key, that allows them direct access to anyone's computer, and that it had been present since Win95. Now have a think why it takes Microsoft so long to patch issues, and release updates that fix serious security issues, the same researcher determined, and from what's been brought to light by Ed Snowden, that the NSA/CIA have to green light updates, I wonder why, do you think they may be concerned about losing access. May seem like conspiracy theories, but consider how easily they've been able to track all sorts of devices, and why Microsoft had a war against Open Source, while the NSA/CIA use Linux in particular.
I like your Videos a lot! never seen such a nice way to show and, more important, also explain what Privacy Issues are in What Products. Thanks and Greetings from Germany :)
Thank you for watching!
We switched to 365 last year. Then I started getting Viva emails from Microsoft that try to help you manage your day. Problem is it had noted what I had said ON THE PHONE! to help me remember what I had said I would do. Never consented to that.
I TRULY APPRECIATE YOUR WORK NAOMI... THANK YOU. 🙏❤
We appreciate your support and being here 🙏
If it's not too late to comment .... We should all move to Horstmann's ChiWriter 4 for Dos. It was developed for technical writing, comes with its own font editor, prints to postscript, runs on an IBM XT
and never calls home. What more can you ask for!
Well, recreating the meme was a genius idea😄thank you as always for this interesting and scary news
You have absolutely beautiful hair! Also, I really appreciate getting some info on Microsoft! I use some of their products and never really found any good info about what data they collect and their stance on privacy. Thank you!
Thank you for keeping us informed.
Thank you for your informative videos. I use both Windows and linux mint. The only thing that keeps me from getting rid of Windows completely is that I have several databases in Filemaker Pro, and I have yet to find a linux equivelant.
Your report is spot-on!
I first noticed this problem in 2012 when I got my MacBook Pro. I was looking forward to using the speech-to-text software that came with OS X. But to use that program I had to check a box allowing everything I did with it to flow to Apple. Hell no!
I predict that having at least two computers, removing all wireless cards from one of them and forsaking updates on the air-gapped machine will become extremely popular. It's already happening.
We've slid backwards hugely over the last couple of decades. If the software license agreements had a clause that said, "By the way, everything you do with this software will be sent to agencies of the U.S. government," people wouldn't have gone along with it. But because the information goes to a private company as part of a for-profit of business model it's supposed to be OK. This is nuts. It's really a way to circumvent the 4th Amendment. We just have to keep the computers we use for serious work air-gapped and offline as far as possible. Does this mean we have something to hide? Of course not! What I do with my own computer is just nobody else's damn business! Remember when most people understood this concept?
Clippy "You seem to be writing a manifesto. Shall I alert the authorities?"
I couldn't agree more. Though admittedly I've been using LibreOffice since it was StarOffice. It's come a long way.
That said, I suppose I should confess to writing most of my documents in LaTeX using gedit, rather than any office suite.
Lol obscure editors are fun, I use to use software called Final Draft for screen play.
I find sublime text a great alternative for gedit. At least for coding and writing tex documents, which is basically coding as well
I am very impressed with how you described everything in such simple, yet interesting, terms. Hopefully, you can convince more people to use open source software that respects privacy.
Thank you!
Sorry but open source does not respect privacy. That`s why it`s open source.
@@ossiedunstan4419 Work for Microsoft?
I tried Libre years ago. It was not polished enough to viably compete with paid software. Glad to see it's improved substantially.
I’ve been using Open Office or Libre Office on all my computers. In our office we even use secure voice/video to secure our virtual PBX and our own cloud servers.
If we have a client or company we do substantial business we provide a secure voice/video/data app with complete encryption end to end.
this is why i use open source office suites , they even support Microsoft document formats , i also use chris titus techs win tool box to disable every data collection component i can
I LOVE the MEME touch... 4:25
And I love your accent, had i mentioned it before? :D
Install a pi-hole DNS filter on your network. It automatically blocks tracking/ads/telemetry sites. Currently over 166000 blacklisted sites in its database. I run mine on an ubuntu VM, doesn't have to be raspberry pi hardware.
May you provide a clear tutorial?
I use apache open office. Which I think is a related program to libre office any computer I work on I highly recomend switching over due to privacy. The great thing about apache open office is that there is a huge community constantly developing formulas and modules to add in. This allows 99% of what Microsoft is offering and sometimes more.
I love your channel I discovered it a few days ago! Your videos are excellent!!! Thanks, Thanks, Thanks ❤
OnlyOffice is also another alternative to MS Office. It's pretty nice and it also has darkmode.
Redhead ♥️. Thank you for the info
Naomi's different characters made me laugh out loud, especially when she said the wrong thing to Microsoft's sales team!
Everything in tech spies on you, Naomi. Everything.
Thanks for doing these videos Naomi. They are always very interesting and helpful. All the best!
Thanks for watching!
Love your style, I love your offering love the bright light that you are. Thank you for making these technology decisions easier.😊
This is my first time viewing one of your videos. You are an absolutely incredible presenter! Very well done!
Thank you!
I've just caught up with you Naomi. Another great informative video. I use Open Office and find it really good. I don't trust ANY products that have anything to do with Billy Gates. Thank you once again.
welcome!
I once made a call to their tech support for an issue that I was having with a copy of Windows I just installed on my DIY PC build.. All the guy (in India) did was just ask me "What's your email address?"
After I gave it, I accidentally hit an icon on my desktop which caused a "System Sound" - a fraction of a second later, I heard the same sound come back at me through my phone. That means that just by knowing your email address, their techs can be logged in viewing and listening to everything you're doing on your desktop from anywhere in the world - if they're bored - you would normally, never be aware of it.
That's why my main daily driver is a Linux distro. My system is set up to quickly switch between operating systems so I only access windows to do updates, printing or scanning and then I'm out.
Thanks for info about Libre, Naomi. And you look lovely, as usual Naomi.
Just downloaded Libre and it is extremely easy to use. Great alternative and kicking myself for paying microsoft. Thanks Naomi for the great research and work you do.
That's why I'm already blocking the telemetry on a router level. It doesn't block it all (no one does) but up to 99.4% on a recent test I did
I also use and support a free open source document and page layout software called Scribus and also Krita for photo editing.
Wait they're alternatives to Google docs for online collaborative work?
This I gotta see!
The only thing keeping me stuck with Microsoft 365 is dragon naturally speaking is not compatible with LibreOffice.
OnlyOffice is fully compatible
I absolutely LOVED your appearance on Michael's podcast. Superb.
Thanks so much!!
@@NaomiBrockwellTV Dar-TA.
I have been using Libre Office for years and it works quite well.
Not surprised. I'm sure Google docs does too.
one important thing you forgot to mention is: the reason why we can trust libre office that much is because its open source, programmers can read the code to make sure its not spying on users, and non programmers can trust programmers to review the code for then and let then know if something goes wrong with the code.
another thing to consider is, since its open source, if you know how to code you can add your own features to if, if you dont know , you can hire any programmer to add new features to it, if you cant afford you can crowd fund it, or simply donate to the project.
I remember the fuss back in the day when they found out that MS was collecting machine and user data and putting it in the metadata as far back as office '95
on an old machine of mine, I had Office 2003 running in Wine with all networking turned off to it. If I recall correctly, it only had access to one folder.
Would such a setup be secure enough to use, do you think?
Same. I sometimes have to edit docs with very special formatting that only word displays correctly. Keep a VM for this sole task. Other then that Libre
Naomi, what's the word (no pun intended) on using iWork/Apple document apps like Pages, Numbers and Keynote? I'd hope they're MUCH BETTER on privacy than MS Office. Glad I switched away from Office to iWork a long time ago.
Apple is not much better. The only difference is Apple keeps all the masses of personal information they collect for their own purposes to strengthen their market position rather than selling it to third parties.
Naomi Brockwell: NBTV Thanks Much !
Dear Naomi is it safe True Caller (cellphone app)? Or do you recommend other?
But no mention here that the email/Outlook option is not included in LibreOffice. Are there issues with this and do they integrate with anything out there?
Personally, I have been using Microsoft Office, since 2002, when I received my first microcomputer. I am fortunate that I discovered many techniques in using the individual application programs that I would unlikely learn in a job. I began working with Microsoft Office XP Professional and Microsoft Publisher 2002 Professional, until 2017. Today, I am using Microsoft Office 2021 Professional under Microsoft Windows 10 Pro. I feel not to be in a position to purchase more hardware again as I did in 2017. I hope that LibreOffice will include a desktop organization application like Microsoft Outlook, and a desktop publishing program like Microsoft Publisher, before I make a major move. This show is vitally important to me.
My trouble with Libreoffice is that it fails to show some special fonts of rare languages as properly as Microsoft Office. Except that, Libreoffice is an excellent alternative to MS Office.
I think we need to be careful when we’re talking about whether you own software or not and comparing it to how long it’s supported for. I’m a big fan of only a piece of software and never having it stop working, and I do feel like if I buy something I should be able to continue to use it. But I think it’s stretching the definition of only a piece of software if you require that software to continually be changed over a decade. Certainly not over more than a decade.
If I had my ideal situation, a piece of software should be released completed, and never need another update unless something goes wrong with it. That to me as well only a piece of software is.
The moment that you want that software responsible to the Internet environment, it starts to make more sense both from the consumer and from the producers points of you that you would subscribe to it rather than pay a one time fee. It just doesn’t make sense to expect a company to continue to provide updates over a long period of time unless you pay an exorbitant amount at the beginning.
That said, I recognize that there is an ecosystem for documents, and then if you Connect your computer to the Internet, then you create vulnerabilities. In that case, it would seem to me that in order to have a secure piece of software that you actually own under my definition, you would technically need two computers. One computer with an OS and the tools you require that you basically never update but also never connect to the Internet, and one computer that you do connect to the Internet and that you are constantly battling against vulnerabilities and viruses.
That is in a way essentially what I do by the way. Only not for software like a word processor. Instead, I do this for my video editing systems. Generally speaking, although slightly less so at my home office, I have a computer which I install all the things I need, so that it works with all the tools that I require, and then I disconnected from the Internet and essentially never upgrade it from there. I am never adding new things to it, I’m never changing the features, I only ever connect a USB drive to remove files or copy them. I do this because that computer Hass to work all the time. I can’t afford to do an incremental upgrade and have it put my computer down for days or weeks. But by not connecting it to the Internet, and not introducing vulnerable files to it, I can maintain it as a functioning computer with a piece of software that I’ve bought , and not have to worry about these kinds of security issues.
It all depends on your use case.
as a student i have been using WORD a lot throughout the years and at one point i realized how slow the newer versions of WORD had become. i am a very fast typer (130-160 WPM) so the slight stuttering when typing was very noticeable to me. i started to do some research and was appalled by how much data they were actively collecting. knowing this, and how slow it is to type on there, i immediately ditched the entire office suite. im pretty sure they were reading everything that i was writing. it kinda sucks cause i actually really like WORDs workflow and have not found that yet in any private alternatives since most of them feel too basic. i make do with what i have, but it sucks that we live in a day and age where we like using certain software but have to ditch it over privacy reasons.
pirating in this case can be an option since most pirates block programs from connecting to the internet and often remove the data collection parts of a certain software, but other than that i really hope we will see more private software alternatives pop up in the near future since the choices we have these days are very sparse.
This problem really stinks. I never knew that Microsoft is like that!
Have used LibreOffice, and OpenOffice before that, for over a decade. I use it personally and in a professional context and have never had a problem. I recommend it wholeheartedly
Great interview with michael.
Does Apple's office suite like Pages, Numbers, and Keynote collect similar data?
For most home users, Office 2000 has more than enough features. Libre Office is way more than enough for all home users. The problem is that the file types used by Libre Office may not be compatible with businesses. I use Libre Office, and if I have to use MS Office, I use 2016 on a VM that never gets Internet access on a Linux host, also with no Internet access.
2:30 "You shouldn't run the old software that's no longer maintained and doesn't receive security patches." Well, I agree 1000%. Unfortunately, I still can't get my spousal unit to stop using our old copy of Office 2010. I've got LibreOffice installed on her machine. But, regardless of the "discussions" we have, she continues to use that old, deprecated, spying office suite.
And Microsoft responded to this saying the findings of the DSK " do not appropriately reflect the changes we have already undertaken
and are based on several misunderstandings regarding how our services operate and measures we
already have in place. We also believe that the DSK’s report fails to reflect important legal changes that
will provide greater privacy protections for data flows between the EU and U.S. A more detailed
response to some of the issues raised is available here (in German)[link removed for UA-cam]. For greater transparency, we would
welcome the publication of the detailed DSK report, with appropriate redaction, alongside the detailed
responses Microsoft had provided the DSK.
". Why no mention of this, whether you believe it or not?
Whenever I purchased a new laptop, the first thing I do is uninstall MS Office 365 pre-installed on the Windows. I've been using either LibreOffice or ONLYOFFICE for years and never miss MS Office even a minute. And people should stop exchanging office files in MS format since that locks down the usage to only one ecosystem. The open format is the right way to go.
I am surprises you did not look at WordPerfect Suite as alternative. The once king of word processors of the 1980s & 1990s is still around . One can download a trial version to check it out. I use it once a while as I still have documents that is write in WordPerfect 5.0 DOS version that curent version of WrodPerfect 2021 can still open.
really good video, but absolutely what I have suspected for years.
I finally got on Linux (xubuntu) a few years ago and think Libre Office is great.
You can operate windows packages and not even know you're on Linux!
As long as large corporate companies use Micro$ apps and Windows operating system nothing will change. And as long as software companies do not offer a Linux version of their software nothing will change much at all.
You are the hero of the 21th century ❤️
I love Libre Office!
I have several linux builds that came with Libre too. Can boot with a cd or usb from nearly any pc
I KNEW IT! thanks.
if you loose internet, you can't use ms office 365!
i wonder what synology office is like on this issue
3:49 I love how all us girls when we imitate male voices we sound like this XD That skit was sososo funny. Hahaha
Well put together Naomi!
Shared, so that the (privacy) igornant Aussies may take more notice.... Good luck there, lolz.
WOW! Great tutorial!
And what about apple suite of standard products? Is pages and numbers ok?
No European country which has implemented GDPR should be using any Microsoft software in any government or educational environment, or in any business which handles data by which individual users or data subjects may be identified (except on an isolated LAN firewalled by extreme measures (ideally air-gapped and WiFi and Bluetooth disabled) from any online link.
Anyone with knowledge of any such use should report it to their national data protection office, registrar or ombudsman - whoever is responsible for enforcing the GDPR in your country. It is actually rare for me not to have a case open with the UK regulator, as abuse is so common. And yes, I'm retired and disabled, so have the time to chase down particularly bad cases and spend my time reporting them.
I've been using LibreOffice for years now, and OpenOffice before that, and have made small financial contributions to both I think the OpenOffice contribution was larger because I was using it for business and could afford it in those days.
LibreOffice does not have OneNote.
Without that, you can't make flexible outlines or tags or to-do lists.
And you can't manage large amounts of notes.
No my word processor isn't, I use libre office which is open source. So if there is any spyware in it is removed really quickly in an update is posted
What about Apple's version and also about Open Office?
I use Apple Pages for my writing, I email my documents to my editor/proofreader who uses Open Office, which I also use for viewing the replies.
I do like the look of Libra Office and thank you for doing this video.
First time viewer here. I agree that Microsoft needs to be reined in and that LibreOffice is a marvelous replacement for Office...but I also would like to know more about the "ship in a bottle rocket" in the background...
welcome! The rocket is a bitcoin price ticker :)
@@NaomiBrockwellTV Thanks!
...though aren't you worried it's going to fall off the shelf? ;)