In reply to a post by andynormancx:

I didn’t just post that to tell you what it was.

It was to demonstrate that Apple AI isn’t a single thing, but a whole series of very different features. Some of which seem likely to be popular and most which would have been enabled by default in the past without anyone making a comment, because they wouldn’t have had the scary “AI” attached to them.

I know what it is and what it does, I do read and watch videos, it is not just about the AI part, it is like Microsoft that seems to think that we all want these new things and features and while Apple does make it easier to disable them, and Apple privacy is certainly better than MS, they need to leave the choice to people and ask them if they want these features.

I can understand why a mate changed to Linux years ago, and he said he still doesn't regret it. I wish I changed to it years ago, when I was younger and could grasp things better, but such is life.

There is one problem he has found, his wife likes my Cricut and is thinking of getting one herself, which means she will have to either get a tablet running Android or IOS, or a computer running Windows or a Mac. There used to be an online version of Design space, but it looks as if it is not available now. I did try to get it running on Wine, but it did not work.
I suppose a VM could be used. His wife uses Linux as well.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

I don't have an echo show, I will not have a camera connected to the net in my house and the show has one. I know my phone have cameras, but most of the time they will either see the ceiling or not see anything at all as it is on the table.

I do have a webcam, that I use for discord now and again, but it is not permanently plugged in.

If you are really that paranoid then you could the built in physical camera cover or just put some tape over it. Easily solved.

Physical camera cover

Just who you do think wants to watch you anyway ?

I'm sure you'll have other reasons you don't want a Show, but objecting to the camera is daft for multiple reasons.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

I can understand why a mate changed to Linux years ago, and he said he still doesn't regret it. I wish I changed to it years ago, when I was younger and could grasp things better, but such is life.

You know what other software adds features to new releases without ask the user to say "yes" to every one of them ?

Linux and its many distributions.

Hell, occasionally distros swap out the whole windowing system with a new version.

In reply to a post by andynormancx:

If you are really that paranoid then you could the built in physical camera cover or just put some tape over it. Easily solved.

Physical camera cover

Just who you do think wants to watch you anyway ?

You don't know, they can be hacked, I don't mean just shows, I mean any cameras. i do have some outside, but that is just showing the steps to the house and the other one is facing the gate of my next door neighbour as it is a right of way for me, but no one else.

I do know of someone who have tape over the camera on her laptop, I said I could disable the camera if she wanted. I did not go that far when I had a laptop with a camera. The camera I use for chats now and again is getting on now, not that i use it that often, most of the chats are audio only.

I'm sure you'll have other reasons you don't want a Show, but objecting to the camera is daft for multiple reasons.

I did think about getting one a few years back, but decided I had no need for one, the dots I have do the job I want, I have no need for one with a screen.

Going back to Sequoia, i wonder what stuff they will dump in the next version and how much further they will take this AI stuff?

In reply to a post by andynormancx:

You know what other software adds features to new releases without ask the user to say "yes" to every one of them ?

Linux and its many distributions.

Hell, occasionally distros swap out the whole windowing system with a new version.

As my mate says to me, you have more control over Linux than windows or MacOs. He don't use a desktop. But i have never known a distro to swop out a desktop, unless for some reason they do change it. But if I downloaded say mint with Cinnamon, it will keep with cinnamon.


The fact that there is choice is a good thing, you can have light Linux distros with hardly anything or no apps, or heavy distros with a load of apps.

The thing with windows is that they put apps in, which is difficult if not impossible to uninstall, i have noticed that with Apple and macOS, podcast, stocks, Books, not possible to remove, or not that I can see anyway. I have an e-book, so certainly not going to read books on my Mac, not interested in stocks and certainly would not listen to podcasts on my Mac, so why not allow them to be removed?

I will have a look to see if they can be removed some other way, but they can't be dragged into the bin

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

As my mate says to me, you have more control over Linux than windows or MacOs. He don't use a desktop.

Linux without a desktop is a server; not a computer for domestic use. The likes of Zoom, Webex, Teams are all painful on Linux too.

But i have never known a distro to swop out a desktop, unless for some reason they do change it.

Same, and all the distros I use don't install a desktop as they are designed for servers.

The thing with windows is that they put apps in, which is difficult if not impossible to uninstall,

maybe on Home edition.

so why not allow them to be removed?

you can remove the icons on iOS/iPadOS but it may not give you storage back. Apple assumes you only buy their products to use the software that they provide. At least Keynote/Numbers/Pages can be fully deleted along with Garageband.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Linux without a desktop is a server; not a computer for domestic use. The likes of Zoom, Webex, Teams are all painful on Linux too.

A server is still a Computer. I presume there is some GUI on his machine for software, but he uses the command line. Been using Linux for years, so he knows his way around it.

Same, and all the distros I use don't install a desktop as they are designed for servers.

That is nice for you, at home or work? I have watched videos on You Tube, with some people having server racks in their homes, what the hell do they need them for? Granted my mate has a few machines that are used for some sort of server, one to control the cameras, one a Nas, one for the router and I have no idea what the other one is for. but it certainly not a large rack like some people have.

The thing with windows is that they put apps in, which is difficult if not impossible to uninstall,

maybe on Home edition.

And on pro, maybe Enterprise is different.

you can remove the icons on iOS/iPadOS but it may not give you storage back. Apple assumes you only buy their products to use the software that they provide. At least Keynote/Numbers/Pages can be fully deleted along with Garageband.

it is possible to remove the apps, so I have read, but because of the way Mac Os works, it will not make any difference in space.

i like Number and pages, I have no use Keynote or Garageband

There is no need to wonder, they said back at WWDC 2024 what the next bit is.

It is all the major Siri improvements that I laid out elsewhere in the thread. All the usage of your own data to inform Siri queries and Siri reaching into apps to take actions on your behalf.

I suspect it will only come to iPhone in the first version. It is far from clear where it will actually appear in iOS 18, this next step is the really hard problem to crack.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

In reply to a post by andynormancx:

You know what other software adds features to new releases without ask the user to say "yes" to every one of them ?

Linux and its many distributions.

Hell, occasionally distros swap out the whole windowing system with a new version.

As my mate says to me, you have more control over Linux than windows or MacOs. He don't use a desktop. But i have never known a distro to swop out a desktop, unless for some reason they do change it. But if I downloaded say mint with Cinnamon, it will keep with cinnamon.

If I remember correctly Ubuntu swapped out the whole window management and related apps between one version and the next. And I believe they aren't the only distro to do this at some point (which has more than once lead to forks of the distro when people disagree with the decision).

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

The fact that there is choice is a good thing, you can have light Linux distros with hardly anything or no apps, or heavy distros with a load of apps.

It definitely is a plus in many ways. But it also means that there is no one "Linux", there is an ever expanding spectrum of favours of Linux (and many more flavours of the different components that go together to make up a distro). I think this is the main thing that has prevented Linux from ever getting traction in the desktop market.

(and before the GNU folks arrive, yes I know that Linux is technically just the kernel, though GNU was dead in the water until the Linux kernel kick started it)

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

i have noticed that with Apple and macOS, podcast, stocks, Books, not possible to remove, or not that I can see anyway. I have an e-book, so certainly not going to read books on my Mac, not interested in stocks and certainly would not listen to podcasts on my Mac, so why not allow them to be removed?

I will have a look to see if they can be removed some other way, but they can't be dragged into the bin

This is down to the way modern macOS secures the operating system. In the past you could have just deleted things like that.

But now the whole OS, including those apps, is stored in a readonly filesystem that is signed to stop malicious software from changing any of the OS. There is a separate read write file system that sits alongside it, that has you data in it.

macOS does some magic to combine these two filesystems to make them appear to be one disk. This also allows you to restore the OS if something has broken it in some way, with the guarantee that none of the user data is changed during that restore.

I am surprised they've not yet given users the option to at least hide those built in apps then don't want (like the have on iPhone).

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

I have watched videos on You Tube, with some people having server racks in their homes, what the hell do they need them for? Granted my mate has a few machines that are used for some sort of server, one to control the cameras, one a Nas, one for the router and I have no idea what the other one is for. but it certainly not a large rack like some people have.

Who says they need them ? For many people a home server rack is a hobby, just more machines to tinker with.

Many of those racks only have a couple of machines and a switch in them.

I don't have a rack, but my home office does have a Linux server (my main file store and it runs half a dozen Linux virtual machines for various things), a Mac mini that runs a few things (and it also my spare Mac incase of problems with my MacBook), a Ubiquiti rackmount CCTV server (that is just sat on the floor) and a Windows machine that is effectively a server (being used for playing around with running various "AI" stuff locally).

And there is a whole network of Ubiquiti switches/access points/gateways/cameras throughout out the house.

I certainly don't "need" most of this stuff, but I do enjoy messing about with it.