[Bio-Linux] A Unity Lens (ie. a better applications menu) for Bio-Linux

[Tim Booth]

Hi,

Sasa is right that this controversial feature (unity-lens-shopping) is
not in Ubuntu 12.04 and therefore has no relevance to Bio-Linux 7.

When releasing Bio-Linux, I know that the system is used in both
corporate and government environments where data protection is a legal
requirement, and so it's imperative that the system doesn't leak data to
third parties.  It's probably worth noting that I already remove things
like the Ubuntu One client and automated crash reporting from Bio-Linux
as these can send data to third parties and I don't think they are
services most Bio-Linux users will want.  I'd almost certainly remove
things like the shopping lens for the same reason.

My personal opinion, as an Ubuntu user, is that Canonical should be able
to achieve their aims for Ubuntu, and make themselves some cash, in a
way that leaves the user in control and does not compromise privacy.  I
hope we'll see these changes in forthcoming releases, and if so I'll
probably use the features happily at home but I'll also remove them from
Bio-Linux.

(BTW - I can assure you, the new Bioinformatics lens for Bio-Linux
doesn't do any web searching at all)

Cheers,

TIM

On Wed, 2012-12-26 at 14:25 +0000, Sasa Paporovic wrote:
> The switch to Debian is one possibility, but you can also do on a
> terminal
> 
> sudo apt-get remove unity-lens-shopping
> 
> This deletes the component(unity shopping lens) of the unity desktop
> that causes the information traffic to amazon and canonical.
> 
> BTW: AFAIK Biolinux 7 is based on Ubuntu12.04(Precise). In this
> version is no unity shopping lens. It was first introduced at the end
> of the development phase of Ubuntu12.10(Quantal). With this it has
> never reached Biolinux.
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Damien Zammit <damien.zammit at gmail.com>
> Date: Wednesday, December 26, 2012 9:12
> Subject: Re: [Bio-Linux] A Unity Lens (ie. a better applications menu)
> for Bio-Linux
> To: Bio-Linux help and discussion <bio-linux at nebclists.nerc.ac.uk>
> 
> > On 22 December 2012 04:32, Tim Booth <tbooth at ceh.ac.uk> wrote:
> > > taken a few days while things are quiet before Christmas and 
> > I've made a
> > > package that adds a bioinformatics section (or a lens, as they are
> > > called) into the main menu panel.  It looks like this:
> > 
> > Hi there,
> > I realise I am just a single user and my opinion doesn't count for
> > much in terms of a survey of user opinions.  However, for 
> > what it's
> > worth, it has come to my attention that Canonical have been
> collecting
> > information about what people search for in the Unity search bar and
> > your Ubuntu computer sends this information to Amazon for marketing
> > purposes automatically.
> > I'm so disappointed by this feature that I made the switch to
> Debian,
> > since the presence of this feature circumvents the freedom of a user
> > to their privacy.
> > 
> > Regards,
> > Damien
> > _______________________________________________
> > Bio-Linux mailing list
> > Bio-Linux at nebclists.nerc.ac.uk
> > http://nebclists.nerc.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/bio-linux

-- 
Tim Booth <tbooth at ceh.ac.uk>
NERC Environmental Bioinformatics Centre 

Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Maclean Bldg, Benson Lane
Crowmarsh Gifford
Wallingford, England
OX10 8BB 

http://nebc.nerc.ac.uk
+44 1491 69 2705