they're probably patching a security flaw, because we live in the future now and it is perfectly normal for a simple clock to have backdoors that can read your bank accounts
"My dishwasher is on the internet!" - "Why is on the internet?" - "To download software updates!" - "Why does it need software updates?" - "To fix security vulnerabilities!" - "Why would it have security vulnerabilities?" -"Because it's on the internet!"
I never connected my refrigerator to the internet. Why the fuck would I need Bixby on my refrigerator? I don't even use the voice assistant on my phone.
And here we have why I have not connected my smart dishwasher to the Internet. Those 2 extra wash cycles don't seem worth it. Especially considering I only ever use the most powerful sounding wash cycle.
The fuck a smart dishwasher gonna do, play Mozart while my dishes get smashed around inside then receive a text message later saying "Oi it's me ur dishwasher I just finished the dishes" while it plays Mozart again but at max volume until you waddle your fatass over and press the 'shut the fuck up' button?
The companies BUILD IN backdoors so that they can steal your data.
But because the backdoor is built in, they have to constantly monitor and update the security around it so that "bad guys" (they don't think they are the bad guys) don't get in.
They only do security updates to prevent liability iirc.
The whole thing stinks.
Note: I'm not a software developer just an outraged bystander with tech hobbies and techy friends, it's possible this isn't true.
No need for backdoors when the front door is perfectly legal. The need to monitor for bad actors is still correct, though; mostly because they skimp on development costs and penetration testing. Like they say, "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence." Or in this case, slashing budgets.
My biggest question to this type of thing is, what data? Why is it you're all so concerned about a tech company knowing how you use their services or what you're spending your money on?
The only ones I'm worried about doing that are foreign owned companies that operate in realms where my personal data could be actively harmful. I don't use TikTok because our only real military adversary is using it to assemble Petabytes worth of data on Western populations which they can turn into cyberware via reactionary propaganda.
Know what I don't care about? Doordash knowing what I'm more likely to spend my money on. Microsoft trying to sell me an Office365 subscription.
"Outraged bystander" yeah, clearly. Most of you are just parrots who follow the FOSS crowd but don't know enough to actually vet their information. You think they're all these full stack programmers who have deep insights but most of them are just paranoid hobbyists who think any shred of data on their spending habits = the end of the free world. As if Wingstop knowing your propensity of eating dry rub versus buffalo is worth anything at all beyond trying to sell you a product.
Click the clock on the taskbar, which has worked as far as I remember, maybe even before Windows 95. Notifications and calendar pop up but no seconds.
Search “seconds” in settings. Apparently you can only have them shown on the taskbar permanently (with implied distraction and CPU usage).
Look in time settings. No seconds, either.
Open the Clock app. The update takes a minute. No seconds there, either.
Search the internet. Apparently this is a function Microsoft disabled in Windows 11 but can be restored with Explorer Patcher, along with the option to set taskbar transparency via Classic Shell (so that you can watch the status in another window while others are maximized).
Don't have time for that, install Linux instead
(I’m not even kodding. The only place where a vanilla Windows 11 installation will show seconds in GUI is a very obscure page deep in the unintuitive jungle of settings. Interesting that a $3 watch does something a Windows computer with a million times more transistors doesn't.)
Welcome to Clock 2.0, the new time and reminder experience from Microsoft! Powered by Bing AI and Microsoft OneDrive.
Sync your time zones, alarms, and reminders to all your devices via Microsoft OneDrive
Get suggested wake-up times powered by Bing AI and your calendar!
Use of Clock is governed by the Microsoft Cloud Connected Experiences Privacy Policy (click here to view).
Click I Agree to start your use of Microsoft Clock!
and for all this, your alarm reminders become yet another datapoint for personalized ads, your phone alarm to wake you up then plays at full blast through the living room computer and wakes everybody else up, and you agreed to a 750kb privacy policy that displays in a 2"x3" window with 500 pages to scroll through.
Estimated update time is being updated please wait [Estimated update time is being updated please wait[Estimated update time is being updated please wait…] minutes] minutes
"We're making the clock app cloud enabled! Now you'll be able to set and clear alarms from any of your Windows™ connected devices! We've also implemented customisable actions with PowerShell scripting now fully integrated! Want your display to show a lovely sunrise every morning? Clock App can do it!"
Next minute -
"Security update 13112023-33: A malicious user can access the internet-exposed ClockAccess™ interface on your devices, setting alarms with scripted actions that can cause complete loss or exfiltration of your data.
To mitigate this issue, we have shifted ClockAccess™ to a more secure, fully cloud-based service. This also means that once updated, the application will be unavailable if there is no internet access. Please adjust your usage of the application accordingly.
As the Clock app runs under a Local Administrator account on consumer versions of Windows™ and Domain Administrator on Windows Server™ machines, this is a high priority update and it will be installed on application startup without user confirmation. You may notice increased resource utilisation by the Clock App, this is a necessary increase due to new and improved security features. It is recommended that at least one vCPU and 1.5GB of memory be made available at all times for efficient operation of the app."
You guys are just very annoying. We all know linux exists but I kinda like being able to play all games I want without needing to check if my OS can handle it lmao
Any app that chooses to update or ask you a bunch of questions when you just want to use it CAN GET FUCKED. Open a loyalty app: would you like to rate our app? No. Would you like to see nearby deals? NO. Notifications for nearby deals would be useful.. NOOO! Earn double points tomorrow... MOther F*)(&^*&(%!!1
And we made it better by removing several features, but we made the font really big and thin, and added a bunch of whitespace around everything so it takes up a ton of room. That makes it modern and "accessible," see?
Well, either roll such updates out centrally, which Windows is capable of, I don't know why they don't use it here.
Or make it an entirely optional download, where the user can decide when to download.
Or just make the update process less shit. Don't block usage until the update is applied. And ideally just swap out the files in the background, although unfortunately that really isn't easily doable on Windows.
And updates at non-intrusive times for the rest. I've been late for so many meetings when Zoom insists on doing some painfully slow update. (I know I could open it 5 minutes earlier but it's still a bad user experience.)
little things like this that would have only gotten updates for one version of windows to another, for ui changes or sumsuch, now get updates frequently, and since they're 'store' updates now, you have even less control over them. it's rather annoying.
little things like this that would have only gotten updates for one version of windows to another, for ui changes or sumsuch, now get updates frequently, and since they’re ‘store’ updates now, you have even less control over them. it’s rather annoying.
This is actually not a Windows but a general modern development issue. Things need to change. Change! CHAAAAANGE! Value! Effort! Work! Endlessly! GROWTH!
Look at how many apps update every 1-3 days. It's crazy.
I was hoping once Moore's law crapped out companies would switch their focus from "CHANGE! FEATURES! MOAR CHANGR11!1" to performance and stability. What a fool I was.
This has driven me nuts about computers for 30 years at least. More things used to be built for a couple lifetimes. I guess capitalism (or maybe stock investments) pushed ever increasing consumption. And so we get this need for everything changing all the time.
Out in my garage I have a set of wood planes that are basically the same design for the last 120 years. My oldest is, I think, 1940s. Stanley is still selling these without any changes because they're not needed. My newest plane I got in 2022. They don't need new features. They work.
Software could be like this. Focus on stability first, then performance, then truly helpful, necessary features third. The latter are a lot rarer when you stop changing for the sake of changing.
shit drives me bonkers. I tried to get the Dolby Atmos plugin. Has to be done on the store, which HAS to be signed into windows. No i dont want any of that. let me buy it from your site and redeem a code or something. I dont want to sign into the store. at all.
I just went with the alternative. Installing the logitech control software, restricting its internet access but using its dolby DTS features.
Because as dumb as the Windows Store is, you can still download and install anything provided it's a free app without a Microsoft account still. I just tried it and it still works, although I didn't try an exhaustive list of apps. If it gives you a pop up nagging about a Microsoft account, just cancel out of the log in pop up and the app will still download and install.
Just yesterday it requested me to verify my account (with a full UAC dialog) before opening the clock app.
I guess it was trying to sync (?) the custom alarms/timers (??) between my devices (???) but... WTF, Microsoft.
I get updating the clock app, what I don't get is why update it like this and why would it take so long that the user felt the need to complain?
Also we are getting the update ready for you? So they're stopping the user use the clock app while they download and prepare the update? Has updating the app even started yet?
Has the update process crashed completely?Or will I have to wait all this time again if I restart the process? With windows you eventually get used to not knowing these things.
Which is why they won't join, they see it as being only a place for vegan Linux bros. It's a self destructive cycle that you can only end with better moderation.
The most annoying thing with these updates is the way they don't give you any kind of indication of what's happening on your system during an update.
Have had cases where an application was 'updating' and looking in task manager/networking tab I can see no network traffic and no disk usage, seemingly hung up for 15 minutes or longer.
I got you OP. Pull up YouTube. The microwave time for 12 pizza rolls is exactly the length of the song "Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel" by Frank Hudson.
Whenever my dad's tablet gets an OS update it takes about five minutes to "optimize your apps". I don't know if it's effective because the tablet is slow as hell despite being pretty new.
Yeah that's the case for all Android devices. That's because Android apps are delivered in a platform-independent way (.apk files) and to make apps faster, some code that would normally be run in a VM is compiled to native code to be faster. Updates may change the optimization process, that's why it's always done after one.
Also fuck most Android tablets being slow as hell.
If it is a Samsung, boot into recovery mode and clear cache then optimize apps every time after a system update. It's annoying but it helps with performance and battery life (my experience is with Samsung, could be an android thing)
My digital timers have a ton of labeled times I've set for various things. One press and I'm set, and I can have multiple going at once and know at a glance which one is done or nearly so. My memory isn't good enough to keep track of how long things take, and I lose physical notes. Having those notes all saved within a clock app attached to their own timers is far too convenient for me to do away with
That's likely the case, but the clock application is very much something I would not only expect to come with the operating system, but would consider it a solved problem in the first place. I should not need to look for a FOSS clock. It should be standard feature everywhere, and just work. I could have whipped out a passible clock app second year of university.