And this is the way the world ends,
And this is the way the world ends,
Not with a bang, but with telemetry.
Seems a little too dramatic, don’t you think?
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I’m not talking about telemetry, but religious following of whatever you happen to be using.
I’m laughing too. I mean who takes a poll so seriously when all that’s required is making a forum account?
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You realise, don’t you, that your comment only supports the validity of the comment from @ydar that you quoted?
Comedy, indeed. 
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It probably does in a bubble reality of yours.
May I ask, what is your purpose here;
Do you actually use Manjaro, or are you here to generally post derogative comments to the best of your limited ability?
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Then why are you here, in this thread?
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That’s an interesting question they appear to only ever posted in this thread, from 2 days ago.
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He’s probably afraid that mdd would upload the size of his pr0n collection to the Manjaro servers. 
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there are forum-rules and it’s sad when even the moderators don’t care anymore.
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Indeed, but then again…
there is that adage about enough rope to consider…
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Do you honestly think that I’d be taking an ostensible troll seriously? It’s pretty obvious why he’s here, isn’t it?
Hint: Look at his posting history. This is the only thread he has posted on, and for that matter, he’s being quite arrogant and hostile.
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Just for the record, that started with their very first post.
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no, you went into trolls honey-trap. your blood-pressure is at limit and if he’s a troll, well then his mission is accomplished…
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“I’m not talking about telemetry, but religious following of whatever you happen to be using.”
Oooooo … a new idea for Manjaro merch – Druid robes with the green M on the chest!! Capes an optional extra!!
But seriously, religions and religious beliefs can be very black and white – my religion gets you to Heaven, yours ends in Hell. Period. No thoughts, no considerations, just my way and nothing else.
The problem is, we live in a fuzzy gray world. Things are no longer simply black and white, or maybe they never were and we just want to think that they were. Of course, it’s easier and takes less energy to live as though things were black and white. There is no real need to examine things too closely; it’s either yes or no, decide and move on, time is money, life won’t wait. Or, one could take the time to examine and weigh and judge and then come to a conclusion that may be somewhere in between yes and no. Black and white or fuzzy gray? Neither is better or worse than the other. It all depends on what the situation is, what it calls for and how much it might matter to you.
In a black and white world, I would simply say Opt-in as the way to go and NO ONE gets my data unless I say so. But I took some time to think about this situation, the product, the company, how my data would be used. If this were an unknown company with a new product, I might say Opt-in. If this were Microsnot instead of Manjaro, I would have said HECK NO, in fact it would not have been Opt-out OR Opt-in – I wouldn’t touch their crappy spyware product at all. But Manjaro IS a good product, one that I want to and intend to use for the long haul, AND I want the Manjaro Team to be able to continue improving the OS and if that means giving them transparent and above board access to my hardware information, I have no problem with that. Even more importantly, I trust the Team; I have not experienced anything in the few years that I have used the OS and lurked on this forum that has even remotely made me question that trust.
So IN THIS SPECIFIC SITUATION, for this particular product and this specific Team, I thought through why I do the things I do, changed my usual approach and chose something in between the simple yes or no. I would fully support Opt-out.
If that makes me a religious follower, then let me know when those Druid robes are ready for purchase.
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In lieu of a trifecta...
Though, I concede… Data may have been more on topic.
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This emotional discussion when the word “telemetry” is mentioned was to be expected. Things like fingerprints, personal & impersonal data and financial interests are mixed up.
Many come from Windows or Mac and experienced trauma there when telemetry was used so extensively that it not only seemed like spyware, but was actually spyware. That’s why I understand this overcaution in choosing “opt-in” rather than “opt-out” and also in speaking out against telemetry.
Rationally speaking, the Manjaro team just wants to communicate the following openly (in my opinion):
We need a credible counting method and hardware data so that we have facts when we talk to hardware or software manufacturers about partnerships.
This data is useful for questions like:
- Is it worth pre-installing Manjaro on PCs for the masses?
- What is the growth potential?
- Which computers are compatible with Manjaro?
- Which hardware could sell well in combination with Manjaro?
- Is it worth including Manjaro as a development/targeted platform for software?
I don’t see anything more than that. Making Money is just a side effect through profit sharing. In my opinion, opting out is the only sensible method. Whether you are asked or not. With such hardware data, this is mandatory, purely rationally speaking, but for most people it is an emotional consideration: “Do I feel that my hardware data is safe on the Manjaro server?”
Of course, the question then arises: “If MDD is a logical second step after counting IPs, what stops a company from collecting more data?” And that is exactly the problem: “Who guarantees that?”
It is about trust.
Telemetry is not evil. Just because a knife (telemetry) was used improperly by a butcher (company) does not mean that the knife is evil, but the butcher is. So a good butcher who shows how he uses the knife and communicates it openly can also create trust by not attacking customers with the knife or waving it around, but using it in a purposeful and goal-oriented way: to cut meat.
And I see no valid reason not to trust the Manjaro team, especially since it is impersonal and anonymous, and data is used for its intended purpose as well as being made publicly available.
The good thing is that the IP address is not used, as with the old counting method, which is an absolute plus.
But what I clearly criticize is that it is not clearly communicated from the outset what the data is needed for! Instead, it is simply put out there and everyone has to make sense of it.
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