POV) You use Windows 11 and set up Pihole for the first time.

Praise Idleness@sh.itjust.works to Technology@lemmy.world – 1195 points –

This is AFTER debloating all the MS bs as much as I can.

The amount of MS telemetry is just mindboggling.

207

You are viewing a single comment
View all commentsShow the parent comment

The other side of that is that the telemetry data never gives you a "why" of something.

For example, users might spend a long time at a screen because they are thinking about what to do, or they are confused by the options and can't figure out which option they need.

This is why a QA team coupled with a large amount of beta testers is invaluable and necessary.

Telemetry, in the context of software development and UX design, is either a decision by the misinformed or just an excuse to save costs by axing the Windows QA department.

In reality it's likely the data is being sold off. But in either case, that's data Microsoft isn't entitled to (from a moral/privacy perspective).

For example, users might spend a long time at a screen because they are thinking about

... anything!

what am I gonna eat?

I should remember to feed the bicycle...

who stole my cat btw?

who am I to judge?

who am I?

what's the meaning of life?

what's the meaning of finding it?

what's the meaning of figuring out what the meaning is of finding it???

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

what does unladen swallow even mean?

Dammit! I forgot to feed my bicycle last night! No wonder it was at my bedroom door ringing its bell nonstop.

And you recently had your cat stolen because you forgot to lock it before you went into the bike shop to get more food, right?

I just couldn't get the lock looped properly. Cats do not obey the laws of physics.

I replied elsewhere but YES! Telemetry is notorious for causing devs to hyperfocus on shit features due to their high usage. Just because a user is clicking X over Y doesn’t mean Y sucks and X is better. Maybe Y is in their periphery, or camouflaged by the background artwork or worded badly. But hey, since X gets a lot of clicks, it must be good, right?

Telemetry, in the context of software development and UX design, is either a decision by the misinformed or just an excuse to save costs by axing the Windows QA department.

That's very silly. That's actually such a ridiculous opinion I'm pretty sure you've left out some assumption that would make it make sense.

Telemetry is useful, but there is no accountability on how it's being used, so ultimately it could be used in bad faith and the average user wouldn't ever know.

The other side of that is that the telemetry data never gives you a “why” of something.

Focus groups and customer surveys work really well for knowing the "why" of something