Meme-Free Zone

Thanks!

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The only possible problem is resources, if your PC can handle .NET.

Other than that, .NET is quickly becoming a SO requirement, that's MS gameplan I think.

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it's working here on a 256mb 400mhz machine, my home PC - 512mb and 1.8ghz - ought to be OK.

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gbsteve.livejournal.com

There's always GIMP as a reasonable alternative.

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I don't seem to have the sort of brain that can cope with GIMP - but I can just about get my head around this one.

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It'll periodically ping you to setup a .Net account, but once you do that it'll only track all of your network traffic and report it back to Microsoft.

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Are you kidding?

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Sadly, no.

http://www.epic.org/privacy/consumer/microsoft/stateagletter.html

Also, instead of just clicking away the user agreement, just read it. It tells you right there that they're collecting data and it'll only be used by Microsoft.

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Thanks - good thing I haven't installed it on this PC yet. OK, Monday morning it gets uninstalled at work...

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Ummm... just felt uneasy and took a look at the "Add/remove programs" thing in Control Panel, and it appears that it's been on here for a very long time, but hasn't been used in several months... Is the ping thing something I can switch off? I don't remember ever setting up an account.

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Heliograph confused things.

The .NET Framework does not require a .NET Passport account and as far as anyone knows does not send information to Microsoft.

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Thanks - I had a feeling something wasn't right, all of the license stuff I saw when I installed it today at work was about Microsoft wanting to beta test applications written for it - there wasn't anything about registering.

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After you've used it for awhile it'll start doing pop-ups while you're trying to work asking you to sign up for .Net Passport.

But by all means, go ahead and use it. You'll see what I mean.

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It's Microsoft's fault as much as anyone, they had the bad idea of branding everything with a similar name, trying to cash in on the Net craze, and branded things that have very little to do with each other with fairly similar names. NET Framework, NET Services, NET Passport...

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Nope, it is all or nothing.

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It depends on how much you care about privacy issues. The tradeoff is that the software developer can use the software bits from .Net to give you cheaper software. The downside is the privacy thing and overhead issues. Frex, when we got stuck with a "new" version of our print tracking software (Technesis), it required .Net. It is much, much slower and has a lot more overhead now.

Progess!

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You are confusing things.

.NET Framework does not require a Passport account and as far as anyone knows does not send information to Microsoft.

.NET Framework is a programming framework, not a component of Hailstorm or whatever the heck Microsoft "trust us with your data" scheme was.

It's actually a requirement for Microsoft's next generation OS'es. Perfectly safe. As safe as anything Microsoft can ever get.

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But it does ask you to setup a Passport account, and doesn't stop asking until to you do. And you should read the user agreement, too. It says in it that they collect data about .Net "performance" and send it to Microsoft.

You're also right that it'll be included in Vista automatically.

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I've installed .NET Framework 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0 in client machines and servers and I've never been asked to create a Passport account.

For Windows Messenger, or Beta software from Microsoft, or freebies like the new VS 2005 lite editions, yes, Passport is required.

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We didn't have .Net on any of our 25+ machines. After I installed 1.0, I went through and used the office dummy account on all of them after complaints. When I upgraded to .Net 1.1 I had to do it again.

It could be that Technesis counted as Beta software, I dunno. But it made me bitter. And if you read the fine print all of the tracking stuff is in there.

So Marcus: is the app you're using Beta?

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