Start Center phones home
Start Center is a good idea.
Start Center that automatically connects to the internet without the user's permission is a good idea . . . NOT.
Please give the user a choice.
Thank you.
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Comments
The Start Center can be disabled via the Preferences.
In reply to The Start Center can be by Thomas
As previously stated, the Start Center is a good idea.
I know I can disable it. Why would I want to disable something that is a 'good idea?'
Can the user remove, or disable, the pane that connects to the internet without his permission?
The developers should seriously consider giving the user an option to disable the connectivity, if they have not already done so.
Suppose the software is being used by a fugitive political dissident who writes songs against his oppressive government anonymously, and communicates over the internet via Tor?
Suppose Musescore inadvertently gives away his IP address (circumventing Tor), his government (conducting network surveillance) is able to track his location through Musescore, he is captured, imprisoned, and subjected to fiendish tortures?
In reply to As previously stated, the by RAMALAM
In that case, I would advice this user to build MuseScore from the sources with the adaptation that removes the webview from the StartCenter. The MuseScore build instructions can be found at http://musescore.org/en/developers-handbook/compilation
In reply to In that case, I would advice by Thomas
Or have his/her firewall setup to catch http://connect2.musescore.com/
In reply to Or have his/her firewall by Jojo-Schmitz
But wouldn't it be BETTER just to give the user the option to disable the webview while still keeping the Start Center's basic functionality?
Perhaps there's someone of influence who agrees with me.
We'll see.
In reply to But wouldn't it be BETTER by RAMALAM
Perhaps if you came up with a more believable real world scenario to make a case for why such a thing would be more important use of developers' time than fixing bugs or adding features that are of use to more than just a few political dissidents who for some reason need to create musical scores (?) but haven't figured out how to turn off their Internet connection? :-)
In reply to Perhaps if you came up with a by Marc Sabatella
"adding features" you say?
How many of the program's loyal and enthusiastic supporters requested THIS particular "feature"?
Can we see a show of hands, please.
And that is my final word on the subject.
In reply to "adding features" you by RAMALAM
The start center was actually in response to a quite common, and to me easily understandable and important, user request. It's a very useful feature.
This is not a matter of programming. If you are in an area where Internet use is hazardous, then the only safe thing to do is just remove the cable unless you really intend to use it.
Hi RAMALAM,
It's been a while, but I thought you should know that, starting with version 2.0.1, there has been a way to "remove, or disable, the pane that connects to the internet without permission"—i.e., run MuseScore with the Start Center, without the online part. Simply launch it from the command line with "-w": https://musescore.org/en/node/52626#comment-245566.
Also, I wanted to note that if you are on an ubuntu-based or debian-based OS, then if you install KXStudio's .deb repository http://kxstudio.linuxaudio.org/Repositories and then install their mscore build, the start center doesn't seem to have the "online community" view, as I believe their build does not include any Qt webkit components.
In reply to Also, I wanted to note that by ericfontainejazz
Note, If I monitor network packets using "tcpdump -X -i mynetworkinterface" and then start this kxstudio build of mscore, then I notice that I don't see any extra network packets. However, if I run a build with the community center panel, then I notice a bunch of accesses to amazon aws. So I think we can conclude that the kxstudio build does not "phone home". So maybe a privacy-conscious person should use their build.
Just how hard would it be to add an option to turn off the connect pane?
In reply to Just how hard would it be to by JGitar
@JGitar See https://musescore.org/en/node/43006#comment-194116