Posts by Dudley-Smith 4 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Jun 2022
First they all but eliminated blogs and sites not using a certificate from search results. Now they want to do this all over again? To achieve what? To exclude everyone not trying to extract a quid from people yet again from their search results? Are they all just terminally stupid at Google? Or are only mountebanks considered worthy of being found in a Google search?
Entertaining though the comment is, and many of the replies, I think everyone missed the point, mainly because no one here seems to be able to conceptualize of writing and written work as anything but some nuisance side issue.
When I write a letter, or a manual, or a business proposal, I want it to look the way I layed it out in Word, or InDesign, or Scribus. I want the fonts of my choice, not some programmer's amateur effort at a crappy sans serif foisted on us endlessly by the technology cartels. I want images to be precisely where I placed them. I want the documents I create to not be merely throwaways with a marginal utility, but to ooze the mood, atmosphere, and aesthetics I put into them.
Until you tell me how to do all of that, and make the document portable except by PDF, there is no real argument here.
It's the same reason why Linux desktops aren't a scratch on Windows or OSx: the open source community is full of programmers who seem to never have met a writer, a designer, or an editor to understand how they use their software tools.
Nothing against Linux desktops. Love my Mint machines. But the simple fact is that malware will target OS configs in order of popularity: the maximum chance of achieving given outcomes.
In business, some forms of 'productivity' software will be required regardless of OS, and cloud-based options are not always suitable, for handing over IP to SaaS providers.
So, Linux updates (requiring admin access) and Libre Office macros are just as prone to malware as current Microsoft alternatives. The real test is scale. Once enough Linux desktops are active across the globe, malware will organically grow to target those systems.
The real present advantage of Linux desktops is lower footprint and cost. I can't quite work out why business hasn't cottoned on to this obvious cost saving. Libre Office and other productivity software alternatives are a little rough around the edges, but a significant uplift in users should boost open source development motivation, especially if there were some token corporate fees to underwrite user wish lists.
Why do I have to verify that I am human when using Google search while connected to my VPN? And why do I have to do that multiple times each session (ie, same VPN IP)? Is it that Google hates VPNs? It's really annoying, as are the capcha images displayed so small the boat/bus/traffic lights I'm supposed to identify could be in each image, or not.
Below the pissed off tone is a serious question: why is it so, and can it be avoided?
TIA for any insightful answers.
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