Posts by NewModelArmy 176 publicly visible posts • joined 3 May 2022
There seems to be an article every week or so about some software company or other trying to fleece customers or existing customers.
Not sure if this was covered by The Register but Logitech wanted you to "lease" your mouse :
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/07/logitech-has-an-idea-for-a-forever-mouse-thatrequires-a-subscription/
All these shenanigans is just pure intense greed.
When will it end ?
This is quite an astounding article about price gouging by a monopoly.
Is someone being greedy ?
The article states :
".....and rationalized the portfolio into a few large bundles that are only available on subscription with a three-year minimum commitment."
Also, the article states :
"....It goes on to say that when customers agree to three-year fixed contracts, Broadcom entertains discounts of 30 to 50 percent on the price hike."
This does not seem to make sense. If all you can get is a 3 year contract, then why offer discounts for taking that option ?
Are they trying the game of "You are too stooopid to realise the true cost of 30% to 50% less, but we do it that way to make you feel better" ?
Hey, Microsoft, are you learning yet ?
Why don't you [Microsoft] do this too ?
I have had no notification of Linux Format ceasing although i am a subscriber.
I get pocketmags e-mails, and also futureplc ones too. Mymagazine manages my subscription, and i am paid up until April 2026 issue.
So i have spent the last hour downloading all issues as a subscriber and used the following :
https://www.linuxformat.com/archives
Once you have logged in, you can access all issues.
It is a shame that the magazine does not continue to exist even as a digital download. There was always something in every magazine that was of interest.
The issue was Tory privatisation.
When the Tories sold off the oil and gas industry for the North sea, we only ever received the tax from the sales.
If we kept the oil and gas industry we would have received all proceeds from the sale of the oil and gas, similar to Norway.
Your link refers predominantly to tax revenues, which are variable based on accounting techniques, and tax changes.
Here s a link from the BBC where BP paid no tax for about 5 years, and in fact we the UK people paid them.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60295177
I ran a very simple calculation on Microsoft revenues from the UK (£8bn) and how many households there are in the UK (28.4million).
Each household "pays" £281 per year for Microsoft.
Of course businesses etc., pay vast sums, so each household analogy is just to show how much they cost the UK in simple terms.Yet, everything in the UK exists in part due to the people using business products and services.
I had an issue of a Linux update showing an error in the download based on a failed checksum. I asked the question in Google, and the AI response provided the response which i could see was extracted from a forum entry.
The DNF documentation did not provide the details required.
If the forum entry was incorrect (possibly is), then the AI response would be incorrect.
Of course, people on this site know AI is a lot of bollocks, but how will a person know it is if they are unfamiliar with the subject matter ?
The key issue is that e-waste is a problem based on a Microsoft whim. TPM 2.0 offers benefits over TPM 1.2, but do we really need it for personal/home computing environments ?
Does anyone get physically targeted for the information on their PC ? (apart from financial purposes - recall crypto kidnaps that have happened).
A recent article on this site shows that only now is support for the Intel 486 processor is being dropped for Linux, which is a 30+ year old processor. Not exactly the 10 years claim by yourself.
It still amazes me that Microsoft has a (near ?) monopoly on the global PC systems, with their actions causing vast e-waste, and yet no government or the EU have batted an eyelid.
Microsoft are treating the global population with utter contempt, and although there are options (Linux), i don't see any campaigns, whether government/EU based, or media, to educate people that Linux is more than a valid alternative.
I thought holding my breath comment gave away my sarcasm.
The reason the populist rubbish gets people to vote for them is because the truth is never explained to the people, and the "news" and "political" channels also ignore the truth, and allow the populists to make false comments unchallenged.
For Birmingham, i am with the refuse collectors - why should they take up to £8k per year pay cut.
It seems to be a mix on public facing UK government websites for downloads.
Some are pdf, csv, ods, or xlsx formats.
I am not sure if this is prevalent, but some programmes about students, they are mandated by Universities to use Word format. This seems to imply that students must have Microsoft products. If this is the state at the moment, then it is a shame that people are supporting a monopoly position which costs.
From your text, even those people working in the civil service don't follow mandated requirements internally.
Maybe Reform UK could take up the challenge in their threats to implement a DOGE like approach to the recent wins in the UK local council referendums.
(i shall not be holding my breath)
OK, i do not follow Microsoft offering details, so is Windows 11 on your "unsupported" PC hardware using the Cloud for the TPM 2.0 ?
Which means Microsoft have your "keys" etc., on the Cloud, which also have to traverse the Internet ?
Is that more secure than having a lower version of TPM locally ?
I am pretty sure Microsoft are taking the piss out of everyone...
If you want to know what sort of publication the Telegraph is, then a few links to the Columnists "issues" that certain people are facing :
https://www.thepoke.com/2024/09/17/break-out-tiny-violins-for-telegraph-columnists-millionaire-friends/
https://www.thepoke.com/2024/10/31/this-telegraph-couple-complaining-theyd-been-hung-out-to-dry-by-rachel-reeves-budget-had-people-hollering-into-next-week/
https://www.thepoke.com/2024/06/19/telegraph-column-people-should-remember-how-had-they-good-it-under-the-tories/
And my favourite :
https://www.thepoke.com/2024/11/25/no-sympathy-for-castle-owner-complaining-that-tax-changes-will-affect-him/
Here are some links to the details of Microsoft ability to access your PC remotely :
https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-telemetry-secrets/
https://www.theregister.com/2016/02/24/windows_10_telemetry/
Of note :
=====
However, before more info is gathered, Microsoft's privacy governance team, including privacy and other subject matter experts, must approve the diagnostics request made by a Microsoft engineer. If the request is approved, Microsoft engineers can use the following capabilities to get the information:
Ability to run a limited, pre-approved list of Microsoft certified diagnostic tools, such as msinfo32.exe, powercfg.exe, and dxdiag.exe.
Ability to get registry keys.
Ability to gather user content, such as documents, if they might have been the trigger for the issue.
=====
I think people forget that Microsoft can extract your files from YOUR PC.
I have read this a few times, that people use the search to open programs in Windows. Is this prevalent ?
I use Linux with KDE desktop, and even though it is easy to locate the program, you can add it to the Favourites, or add it to Task Manager. Everything is GUI based, no searching required.
If you have to search by typing on the keyboard for a program, in a GUI based system (Windows 11), then surely that GUI has failed the basic reason for having the GUI in the first place.
The russian economy is near failing, so we could continue with sanctions, increase them to ensure russia extracts itself from a sovereign country.
Everything Trump/US is doing is against Ukraine, and absolutely zero against russia.
The fact that Trump/US has withdrawn support for the smaller nation and has done nothing against russia tells you something about Trump/US intentions and lack of concern for Ukraine people (russia as of now have intensified the killing).
Is this only an issue in the UK or Europe as opposed to in the US ?
It is irony or hypocrisy that Amazon and Google are complaining about Microsofts practices, when Amazon and Google (and the US administration) are baulking at the UK taxing of their services in the UK.
Fuck the lot of them. They are all bastards.
I have seen some news items where the rubbish goes through a high intensity magnetic field to remove the steel based cans and lids.
Although the hard disks are not made of steel, or the casing is non-ferrous, and will not have been attracted to the electro-magnet, surely its data has been wiped ?
My response was about those who need a computer (everyone as everything is online - banking, government information etc), and the poorest such as minimum wage, pensioners etc., are struggling a lot right now due to the cost of living.
A needless upgrade costing a lot of money (relatively) is just not needed, if their current PC is all they can afford, and works as required for their usage.
The average UK salary is £35k, and this translates to $42k, so the US average wage is a lot higher than the UK. This may be true for many other countries having a lower average wage.
Microsoft is forcing people to Windows 11, which means an upgrade in hardware that they just DO NOT need.
The impact on the "other than the US" poorest is far more severe than the US average person.
Whenever a general person purchases a PC, a TPM module is never an issue that they are aware of, let alone think about.
Since 2016 i have run Linux as my main OS, so not sure if there is something specific that Windows must have to function securely (ha ha ha ha ha) that was required before.
Microsoft has a monopoly, and it is abusing that monopoly.
Maybe the lawmakers or media have a duty to inform people of alternatives, to show people that they don't need to purchase a new Windows PC.
On a recent political programme (last week) the Tory said that Brexit was a 50 year project.
They soon changed their tune once the almighty fuck up that Brexit was shown to be a monumental mistake.
Tariffs placed against the US in retaliation is simply forcing the country not to buy US goods.
What may happen is that those countries hit by tariffs may find alternative customers, and so isolate the US in the long term.
Wasn't the rubbishing of Windows 10 due to the telemetry, forcing Windows 10 upon the user when they did not want it (recall the close window button (top right) was reprogrammed to mean accept the upgrade, etc.)
Microsoft behaved abhorrently and arrogantly, so peoples ire was well deserved. The link below is a reminder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Windows_10
Isn't Microsofts Recall the wet dream for the micro-managing managers ?
A manager could see your every mouse move and text operation if the Microsoft Recall store was sent to a central store in the corporation ?
No need to analyse logs, just view your work output as a video sequence when they feel like it.
I just checked Dell - a Copilot+ Laptop which is NOT Qualcomm Snapdragon based for a 13" is £1,249.
To me, that is a massive amount extra for such a small machine, with just 2 expansion slots (Thunderbolt).
They really are taking the piss with these "AI" PCs.
I just read the preview link, and it does indicate that for seconds boot up that it must have a resident OS to run Webex or Teams, though the wording
"Windows 365 Link will be simple to manage using Microsoft Intune alongside other PCs, with a small Windows-based OS footprint with minimal applicable configuration policies"
Looks like a cut down version of Windows ?
This i perceive is Microsoft offering a piece of hardware and service, where the enterprise just has to rent the service with all the hard work of maintenance and support done for them.
I get that the product is costly, but enterprises may through "accounting" determine that the cost is acceptable for the gains elsewhere.
If it is a thin client, and no local storage, then all apps are in the cloud, and hence they are downloaded as is the OS at boot time ?
The company has full control on who can do what. Which may appeal to many enterprises.
As per the article, this is aimed at the Enterprise sector, and does not run local apps and has no local storage. It has the ports for comms and USB devices, so i assume ??? that moving data from the Cloud to a local USB drive may be possible.
To me, as others have mentioned Citrix, this is for further control on what the employees can do, whilst paying a monthly fee to ensure that the OS is up to date security wise, as it is on the Cloud.
Whether the device is under a maintenance agreement whilst you are renting the OS, is not clear, but if it is, then that is the hardware aspect removed from business costs.
Microsoft are asking the "enterprise" customers to put full faith in their ability to maintain the system for 24/7 and 365. He he.
Only obvious snag is that if the comms goes down, then no one can work.
This is a difficult one. The EU has article 102 for :
"Any abuse by one or more undertakings of a dominant position within the internal market or in a substantial part of it shall be prohibited as incompatible with the internal market in so far as it may affect trade between Member States.""
A sub statement is :
(b) limiting production, markets or technical development to the prejudice of consumers;
Microsoft is not affecting trade between states, nor is it prejudicing customers as per sub statement.
Yet, Microsoft does have a monopoly, and uses that to ensure that it can force the majority of people to either scrap their functional machine and purchase a new one, or pay a subscription to continue to secure their product (Windows 10).
Microsoft is prejudicing customers by nature of forcing them to take one option or the other, based on their customers ignorance.
Microsoft Recall is "now" an option, yet there is bad behaviour with Microsoft forcing people to use their online account system (from what i have read, as i use Linux) when using their software, unless you jump through hoops to stop it. Not everyone knows how to do this.
Even now, the UK government documents use Microsoft proprietary formats for documentation such as Word or Excel. Although LibreOffice can open them, it is still supporting a closed standard.
For people on this site, then Microsofts approach is an issue, but there is ignorance and acceptance by the authorities and the UK people (and others) of Microsofts abuse of power.
I do find it strange that for PC's, everyone (in general) just accepts it is either a Mac (OS and hardware) or Windows (OS for PC), yet for so many other products, a single supplier would never be accepted.
For the security, isn't the problem that some sites can be compromised, and then your machine can be infected ?
Anyway, Microsoft have a monopoly, and for the requirements for Windows 11 they are knowingly forcing people to purchase a new machine, when they really don't need to purchase a new one.
The $30 for the year (initial, but later ?) is something "helpful" to use the machine securely, but Microsoft should not have such control over what is nearly the entire home computing deployment (ignoring mobiles and tablets)
The general public are not aware of other operating systems, just Windows PC's or Apple Macs.
Unless there is a campaign to show the general public that Linux exists, and most of what they want to do is possible on Linux, then Microsoft will keep their monopoly.
We are also a throwaway culture here in the west, so those good enough machines will just be scrapped.
It is sad that Microsofts attitude has a severe environmental impact, but again, unless the US or EU do something, then we are stuck with them.
Isn't this a no brainer for people who have a laptop (or desktop) which is more than capable of running their applications so don't need a new machine ?
Even if you pay $30 per year for 5 years, then that is $150 which is a lot cheaper than a new laptop (or desktop), by quite a margin.
It seems to be a wait and see what happens. I run Linux, and i can see that Fedora is on Arm as a maintained distro, but the devices it is limited for Qualcomm do not include the latest Snapdragon processors. So despite that the latest Snapdragon processor is comparable to the latest Intel for laptops (X1E-80-100, i5-1335U), it seems that it will be a gamble to go the Qualcomm route.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2025
