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But it's still the case... Stallman is quoted every day here: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=Stallman
It is still under development, but try Keylime[1]. They have also a nice agent written in Rust[2] with low footprint.
I write some notes[3] about how to use it in openSUSE MicroOS / Tumbleweed, but can be extrapolated to many other distributions too.
[1] https://github.com/keylime/keylime
So basically, Cory Doctorow's "The Upcoming War Against General Computation"?
https://boingboing.net/2011/12/27/the-coming-war-on-general-...
https://github.com/jwise/28c3-doctorow/blob/master/transcrip...
Don't know enough about the subject to tell if his "attempts to control general computation will converge on rootkits" prediction has held up.
You really nailed it with that car analogy.
Most "car people" would agree that changing the oil in your car is super easy. To me, it is not easy. It's not something I'm willing to do, even though I know the steps of how to do it. I just don't know what I don't know. When I have my oil changed, the mechanic tells me what I should be concerned about. He tells me what upcoming work I need to have done, how much it will cost, and what could happen if I don't do it. He has experience, expertise, and specialized tools. He had knowledge gathered over years to be highly proficient in his profession.
I could do those things. I could read, and listen, and learn. I could be under my car every day learning new things about how to install this, or replace that. But I don't really have the drive or inclination to do so. I'd rather leave it to the pro. I also have the added novice-worry of screwing something up, and hurting myself or others as a result. I don't want that kind of pressure. I don't want my car breaking down while doing some long journey - I just want it to run when I need it to run, without any scary warning lights coming up on my dashboard.
To bring the analogy back to computers, I still know people - people in their 20's or 30's - who do not know how to copy and paste with keyboard shortcuts. I will sit there and see them highlight, right-click, click copy, move their cursor, left-click, right-click, choose paste. I'll tell them how much time they could save if they "just did ..." and get a basic "Yeah...I just don't really care though, ya know? This works." The thing is, there is no investment on their part to want or need to do that more efficiently. They get by well enough with not bothering.
They could get super into computers, and learn something as "technical" as `git clone https://github.com/some/repo` and follow the process to configure and run a script. They could learn to do those things. But they don't really have that time to invest in it, or don't have that passion for it, or have a professional investment in needing to do it.
They want it to work. They want to not get hacked. They want to not have to think about computers at all. Computers are the interface to do "the thing" more easily. And if the computer breaks? They want it fixed so it won't happen again. The computer "does the internet thing". And I can respect that because they focus their energy into knowledge into other topics that I don't have a clue about, the same way I don't have a clue about cars, even if I know oil changes are "easy".
Yes, you'll likely have to keep re-doing it.
As far as scripts for it, this thread has some sage advice:
https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/n3v0s5/disable_win...
The tools to disable telemetry and bloat:
https://github.com/irmatade/sharpapp
https://github.com/Sycnex/Windows10Debloater
MSFT doc on what all telemetry is gathered, and what is considered "required" telemetry (although they give you enough info to block it at the router):
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/privacy/configure-w...
I do like Win10 as an OS. On the whole I'd say the Satya era of MSFT is a mixed bag, but better on the whole than it was before.