The point XorNot made (and I agree) is that "it is switched on by default". And then you need to go to 5 different settings to switch them off (OS update, App update, iCloud login, iCloud sync of Backup-StockApps-Messages-etc).
The "welcome" should not be "all your data are belong to us". It should be "Hi, iCloud-Y/N, AutoUpdateOS-Y/N, Backup Message-Y/N, Backup Notes-Y/N, etc.).
I get it that for MANY reasons Apple wants everyone to run the latest OS/Apps versions, but.... did they ASK me?
Exiting their ecosystem is painful. Apple/Google rely on this. There are plenty of discussions on 'how to exit' and alternatives, but this is HN. The average HN-er is not exactly the same as the average smartphone user.
Honestly it's more that there's no reason to think any of those buttons do what they say they do. Why should they? I haven't inspected the source code which controls them, I didn't build the firmware images which go on my devices.
Without reproducible builds from multiple sources, how can we be sure of anything?
If there's a service we have a desperate need for, it's a change in ecosystem priorities that core functionality - OS's, chipsets, etc. - are open source, and updates go out as inspectable patches which get pulled into reproducible build farms and bittorrented out to users.
Start with C compilers and work your way outward from there, but I should be able to cryptographically prove to myself that the firmware update going into my Android phone was independently reproducible from public source code from users in a few different nations.
The "welcome" should not be "all your data are belong to us". It should be "Hi, iCloud-Y/N, AutoUpdateOS-Y/N, Backup Message-Y/N, Backup Notes-Y/N, etc.).
I get it that for MANY reasons Apple wants everyone to run the latest OS/Apps versions, but.... did they ASK me?
Exiting their ecosystem is painful. Apple/Google rely on this. There are plenty of discussions on 'how to exit' and alternatives, but this is HN. The average HN-er is not exactly the same as the average smartphone user.