Discord has reportedly ended talks with Microsoft to remain independent

To be honest, I'm not sure becoming a publicly tradeable company on one's own is giving more independence than being a small part of Microsoft.

I applaud their not becoming another WhatsApp

Beyond Microsoft being Microsoft, one should simply look at the history of Microsoft applications, from messenger, to teams to skype, there is a large amount of those communication apps own by them that are but shells of what they used to be. The reasons? Most likely the landscape changed and they couldn't follow it as they wouldn't dictate it (Microsoft is a behemoth with so much inertia those "side" apps seems to always end up abandoned)

It's some good news but it could get worst depending on the IPO result. Imagine it being Tencent or Facebook acquiring it, I'm not sure it'd be better, but I'm pretty sure it'd be a problematic.

It's some good news but it could get worst depending on the IPO result. Imagine it being Tencent or Facebook acquiring it, I'm not sure it'd be better, but I'm pretty sure it'd be a problematic.

Depends what you mean by being better.

M$ issue is that it slowly corrupt and destroy any social app it touches. Messenger, Skype, Skyper for Business (God save us!) and even Teams (though Teams design imho was good, the issue I had with it was that it was down 2 days per week when I was using that - before covid. Dunno how's now. My new employer uses SfB. Sadly.). So bad would mean non viable Discord in 3 to 5 years, but likely an attractive alternative will appear and people would flock there as they always when it comes to M$ building crappy walls.

FB and Tencent though are good at what they do so I don't think they would destroy Discord. On the contrary. But one uses his services to spy and manipolate you while the other spies, then profile and occasionally even censor you. So either you bend the knee or you outcast yourself to some open source and free alternative... with the other handful of outcasts.


Last edited by Mal on 21 April 2021 at 5:34 pm UTC

So the embrace phase haven't started (yet)


Last edited by BielFPs on 21 April 2021 at 4:20 pm UTC

So either you bend the knee or you outcast yourself to some open source and free alternative... the other handful of outcasts.

I embrace being an outcast.

I think it may be a good thing for the Discord employees. Any with shares could get a nice profit after the IPO. If MS bought them outright then only the execs would benefit.

How about some good news to start your Wednesday off?

Enterprise A selling your private data is not going to join Enterprise B selling your private data. I do not understand where the good news is here.

It's good news for me. I'm comfortable with the little data that I share by using Discord while they conduct their business an independent firm. However, I'm not at all comfortable with the idea that my account, data or use of that system is contributing to a statistic that enhances Microsoft's death grip on the tech industry.

I won't support anything to do with Microsoft or Apple. They're poison to my passion - technology and innovation. Discord remaining free of their control is definitely good news, for me.

I'm comfortable with the little data that I share by using Discord while they conduct their business an independent firm. (…) I won't support anything to do with Microsoft or Apple.

I do not share your point of view, but I can understand it

Secondarily, what makes the data thing important is that it all gets combined to make a surprisingly comprehensive picture. The more your data is collected by separate silos rather than conglomerates that can aggregate it all, the better.

Like I say, I'm comfortable with the data I share - I treat Discord like a public forum, along the same lines as Twitter. Otherwise, Discord has only the usual information for such a service - Email, IP address, DeviceID, messages. They can probably glean a few other things, like the browser or O/S I use.

I don't like that it collects process information, so I don't use the full-fat app anymore.

If you're uncomfortable with the data Discord collects, you're probably uncomfortable using pretty much every messaging service out there, certainly all the social media services.

What I'm not comfortable with is supporting a company that is ethically compromised. I've stopped using plenty of services as a result of what they did, or who owns them. Everyone will find their own footing on this stuff. For me, MS and Apple are a hard no. Amazon is an avoid if possible (which is hard) and Google is an air of resignation - I'm too invested in their infrastructure now, so I accept it for convenience sake. If they ever cross a line, I'll reconsider, but it would difficult to give up... well, nearly everything - Gmail, Calendar, Android, Youtube mainly, but a host of other services too, like Calendar, some light Drive use, even DNS on my router. Google are everywhere.

Of course, having it sprayed around multiple data gatherers/resellers means that the companies wanting to get full profiles will need to buy data from multiple sources, making their work harder.

Actually, no, not exactly. What has happened is middle men companies that do that for you have taken over that part. So, in reality, it's actually easier for the end company. They just call up IBM or Lexis Nexus or someone else and get all the data they want, sometimes in already the format your need.

You might think it's more expensive since the middle company needs to make money, but not always. Sometimes they take data as payment, so it's free or discounted. Basically trading data.

Enterprise A selling your private data is not going to join Enterprise B selling your private data. I do not understand where the good news is here.

Who do Discord currently sell your data to?

Also, I was not of the impression that Discord track all that much, which is the exact opposite of Microsoft, who infamously track virtually everything you do on "your" computer... Am I wrong?

For me, MS and Apple are a hard no. Amazon is an avoid if possible (which is hard) and Google is an air of resignation - I'm too invested in their infrastructure now, so I accept it for convenience sake. If they ever cross a line, I'll reconsider, but it would difficult to give up... well, nearly everything - Gmail, Calendar, Android, Youtube mainly, but a host of other services too, like Calendar, some light Drive use, even DNS on my router. Google are everywhere.

Apple is a hard "no", but Google is okay?

You do realize that Google infamously harvests waaaaaaaaay more data than what Apple has ever harvested, right? And pretty much all of their (Google's) stuff can be replaced with privacy-friendly alternatives that are just as good - if not better - than what Google currently offer...

Yes, that’s me

Outside of a couple small scale forums and IRC channels, most of my communication means are self-hosted. On a server that is physically under my full control.

I'd do this if I had the money and infrastructure to do so... But I'm in Australia and we use the NBN, which is slow and unreliable at the best of times, not to mention the cost involved in such a goal.

Like you though, I have taken steps to gain more control over my stuff... Most of my online stuff is run via my own domains on shared hosting, I don't have social media accounts (I have a Discord account, but don't really use it) and there's not a whole lot of forums I use.

Someday, I'd like to move to fully self-hosting everything, though I probably wouldn't have said server located in Australia, because we're basically China of the Western World (i.e. a "surveillance state").

I think YouTube is the only Google service I use. And since it is only to follow a couple low-activity channels, I do not go there every day.

But you don't even need an account for this... I mostly use Odysee - which is fantastic, by the way - but I do use YouTube for a few channels (mostly when watching something on GamingonLinux or on the TV whilst eating dinner), without a Google account.

There's a whole lotta people making the jump to Odysee these days, too... Mostly people that cross-post (i.e. post their content to both Odysee and YouTube), but still, it's a step in the right direction.


Last edited by Cyba.Cowboy on 25 April 2021 at 1:48 am UTC

Someday, I'd like to move to fully self-hosting everything, though I probably wouldn't have said server located in Australia, because we're basically China of the Western World (i.e. a "surveillance state").

Ehhh, the whole Anglosphere is really. The Americans spy on everyone, the British helpfully spy on the Americans, and everyone swaps all their data so they get to effectively spy on themselves even if their laws say theoretically they can't. That's Five Eyes in a nutshell.

Imagine it being Tencent or Facebook acquiring it, I'm not sure it'd be better, but I'm pretty sure it'd be a problematic.

Fun fact: Tencent is one of the six initial investors of discord. So I'm not sure how this works but I would guess they already own 1/6 of the company.

For me, MS and Apple are a hard no. Amazon is an avoid if possible (which is hard) and Google is an air of resignation - I'm too invested in their infrastructure now, so I accept it for convenience sake. If they ever cross a line, I'll reconsider, but it would difficult to give up... well, nearly everything - Gmail, Calendar, Android, Youtube mainly, but a host of other services too, like Calendar, some light Drive use, even DNS on my router. Google are everywhere.

Apple is a hard "no", but Google is okay?

You do realize that Google infamously harvests waaaaaaaaay more data than what Apple has ever harvested, right? And pretty much all of their (Google's) stuff can be replaced with privacy-friendly alternatives that are just as good - if not better - than what Google currently offer...

You don't see to have picked up on the words "air of resignation" for some reason? Of course Google sell my data. It's literally their business model. It's an air of resignation, because, as I already said, I'm too invested in their products already. That doesn't mean that I have to give up my privacy to absolutely every other company though, does it? Even if Google "sell my data" to Microsoft or Apple, that's still better than using MS or Apple, because it's not really "my data" at that point. I'm just a statistic in an aggregated model that Google sell to say "we can give you better advertising audiences than just throwing ads at random". Ironically, if I see an MS or Apple advert as a result of Google doing this, I'll actively try to sabotage that engagement, so it kind of backfires for them. This is especially easy on Twitter, where any promoted content still allows comments.

But as I mentioned earlier and in other discussions on this topic, I don't not use Microsoft and Apple because they might sell my data -it's not about data. I don't use them because (bluntly) they're absolute scum, ethically compromised and actively harm the technological landscape. They represent the antithesis of Linux and OSS.