Posts by bombastic bob

Cortana makes your PC's heart beat faster: Windows 10 update leaves some processors hot under the cooler

Re: Agile !

FRAgile you mean

The top three attributes for getting injured on e-scooters? Having no helmet, being drunk or drugged, oddly enough

Re: Scooter stoopid

Some local insight into this... it's been a topic for local radio in San Diego.

the e-scooters have been a plague in San Diego for a while now. The biggest problem is how they're just "left wherever" when people are done with them, and the rental companies need to pick them up to avoid them being scattered all over, etc..

But here's a scenario I was thinking of..

OK you drove to a bar, had too much, realize your'e WAY too drunk to drive, but instead of calling a cab ($50 ride, let's say) you GRAB A SCOOTER, thinking "it's ok to ride a scooter drunk, it's not a DUI".

Anyway, I have to say it's better to just hurt yourself in a drunken accident than to take others and/or their property with you. That being said, unlicensed operation of these scooters may simply have to end if their use becomes ABuse.

So far San Diego has banned them completely on college campuses and at the beach boardwalk [as I recall], and may ban them altogether if the rental companies can't get the "soft GPS wall" system that disables the scooters in those areas to work properly.

YouTube's radicalizing Alt-right trolls and Facebook's recruiting new language boffins

"click bait"

a nice summary of alt-right. good job!

Re: Alt Right is PC for Rascist, lets call them racist to be clear

"From my point of view, libertarianism is one of the dumbest things to come about in recent years."

Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Keep in mind that true libertarianism is to minimize government intervention into your life, not eliminate it. So a true libertarian would also believe that everyone should mind his OWN business, live and let live, and NOT be a pain in the butt to the rest of society (like imposing his "rights" upon others, getting all bent over use of pronouns or "offensive" terms, demanding all of society bend to political correctness, yotta yotta).

In other words, I think libertarianism is that natural human state when people are behaving in a SANE manner. Laws and regulations are only necessary to prevent abuses. when INSTEAD they become "impose the will of the ruler upon the ruled", such laws should be ELIMINATED. This is what libertarianism is all about.

It assumes that people are basically decent law abiding citizens who want the best for their own lives and the lives of their family. It assumes that people will behave and work towards their own bests interests when the consequences for bad behavior have NOT been eliminated nor the bad behavior excused. It also assumes that crime should be punished, that regulations should be enforced, and that society is more orderly when a minimal amount of regulation is present to ensure it.

Anything other than what I just said, unless I forgot something important, isn't libertarianism. It's something else, like anarchy or liberalism or social activism. Or maybe it's just the pot-heads wanting legal marijuana, and not caring about anything else. Whatever. Those people are LOONS anyway.

So yeah it might help to understand what libertarianism really is BEFORE saying it's "unintelligent" or "the dumbest thing" etc.. Because, chances are, you actually want what I just described...

Re: Alt Right is PC for Rascist, lets call them racist to be clear

I don't think you fully understand this.

If you were to spend time reading alt-right posts on various boards, maybe 4chan's "/pol" (which is not pure alt-right, but has a lot of alt-right in it) you'll see that many (or even most) people just say what they want for the shock value (or trolling). But sometimes a regular poster goes full-blown wacko IRL (it's happened a couple of times).

On youtube, I doubt you'll see more than the occasional pretenders and wannabes. The _real_ wackos end up arrested and make the 5PM news. Fortunately, not so many of those.

In My Bombastic Opinion, Alt-right is really just a reaction to the left's PC BULLYING. It'll stop when it's no longer "shocking". And when the trolling no longer works.

Call Windows 10 anything you like – Microsoft seems to

"How long until the rings become forks?"

A quote from a Robin Hood movie: "Use a spoon." "Why a spoon?" "It's dull, it'll hurt more."

(or something like that)

nobody has suggested SEMPRINI for the name, yet.

Re: "Naturally, all user data is wiped with this option"

"Why can Microsoft not understand that user data needs to be on its own partition ?"

(I put my user data on /home and depending on the system, it very well COULD be on a different partition)

For Micro-shat, you have to remember, it's not YOUR computer, it's THEIR computer, for which they now have complete control over updating and installing things.[even if you do not want it].

So by THEIR standards, you use that computer by THEIR grace, at THEIR whim, and from THEIR blessings upon you. You should bow down and worship, sing praises to their names, grovel at their feet, accept their ads without question, and buy their advertised merchandise. Or at least, that's how it appears (to me) for what they want and expect...

Yeah, yeah, PCs are dead? Ask Texan Mick and his Dell empire if that's the case

Re: Dell does do Linux Bob...

you're pointing out some of what I've observed - too many boxen don't have a "linux option"

Re: Win-10-nic driving SALES? Only because 7 support and IT people unreasonably ...

"subsidise the cost of the laptop by filling it up with paid-for crapware"

you DO have a point...

Re: Dell does do Linux Bob...

unfortunately, when I have looked at Dell in the past, they ONLY offered "linux as an option" on their MORE EXPENSIVE hardware. The bulk of the machines were WINDOWS ONLY.

That's the problem - perhaps I should have been more specific?

So I'd like them (basically) to offer Linux as an OPTION, for ALL machines that come pre-shipped with Win-10-nic on them, at a discount because NO win-10-nic tax payed to MICROSHAFT.

That's what I meant.

(had to use a lot of extra words to explain it, thought maybe most of this was obvious, but oh well)

Win-10-nic driving SALES? Only because 7 support and IT people unreasonably fear alternatives...

It's time for Dell to PROMOTE LINUX. SAME hardware as Win-10-nic machines, but with Linux, and $50 CHEAPER because NO LICENSE FEE.

Dell: do THAT, and you'll see REAL success!!

Because the PC is _NOT_ dead. It's also NOT a slab, NOT a phone, NOT a touchie-feelie "device". It's a mouse, keyboard, and display, from which ACTUAL WORK can be done. And NEARLY ALL of it could be done with LINUX as the OS.

Developer reconsiders npm command-line ad caper after outcry

Re: Welcome to the 90s

Ok out of curiosity I found the thing in order to confirm my suspicions. I was VERY close...

It's a worthless utility that could be done by other existing utilities, except they won't have the DRACONIAN WRONG ATTITUDE like THIS (from the docs):

"I disagree with rule X, can you change it?

"No. "

That kinda says it all.

he's forcing Javascript code style, makes a point about "bike shedding" to justify the DICTATOR attitude about programming style (he also uses K&R style, WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!) for his so-called "standard" and then STOPS PEOPLE from DOING ANYTHING DIFFERENT (if they use his USELESS tool at any rate).

FreeBSD has the 'indent' utility. what more would you need??

no _WONDER_ he had the CHUTZPAH to put ADS in the command line! It's the *SAME* kind of thinkiing that has brought us (*ahem* finger-crack)

a) 2D FLATTY McFLATFACE FLATSO [and take away ALL user customization and alternatives]

b) ADWARE built into the OS

c) TRACK YOU javascript *EVERYWHERE* (no we're not violating privacy you AGREED to this)

d) monolithic scripting libraries "you must use" or you're accused of having "spaghetti code"

e) Australis

f) Change for the Sake of Change™ because WE FEEL™

etc.

worth a nuke explosion icon. I _HATE_ this kind of CRAP

Re: Stop moaning

or, fork it under a compatible license (suggested earlier as "tell him to fork off") without the ads

Re: Threat

good one!

Re: Maybe the expectation of making money off JavaScript should be adjusted?

merely blocking script from the ads and those monolithic CDN "libraries" would be a good start.. a utility that successfully does THAT through a constantly maintained BLACKLIST might be worth a subscription.

Re: Welcome to the 90s

or in the case of that (no doubt unnecessary) "standard" javascript thing [is there NOT already ENOUGH JavaScript POLLUTION out there already already?] a way to monetize something WE CAN DO WITHOUT.

OK admit NOT having seen it, but 2 words "javascrit" and the name "standard" tells me that it's probably some B.S. "captain obvious wrote it" TRIVIAL module that can be completely OBLITERATED without causing damage to the open source world... (am I right?)

This is what happens when the SHEEPLE become complacent about OPERATING SYSTEMS SERVING UP ADVERTISEMENTS (you know, like Win-10-nic and all of that adware on phones). Next stop, the TV screen like you see in Idiocracy, which is like a 50" screen but only about 25" is actual content - ADS ALL AROUND with moving pictures and "click me" flashing etc. to the point where you just put the blinders on and ignore it all anyway.

From the article: many people who maintain open source projects have complained that companies and individuals take advantage of their labor and profit from it without giving something back

Open source has SEVERAL benefits to the author, some not so obvious:

a) proof of work/ability - people can see how you code, how you engineer things

b) public project management - if you manage one, your management abilities are on display

c) indirect payment - if you write open source, and you use open source, assume that your efforts of making open source are "paying" for the open source stuff you use already. You're "contributing".

that aside from just making something useful avaiilble for others. I've been trying to put trivial utilities online for others to use as sample code, even. At some point someone may find them useful, even if it's just sample code. And if I'm not doing anything special with those utilities, might as well put them on github or wherever and say "here are some useful things, use however you want".

But injecting ads in a COMMAND LINE UTILITY? That is WORSE than NAGWARE!!!

A big fat FAIL to the author who DARED to inject ads into a command line utility! SHAME! (and I bet your not-so-important library is just TRIVIAL CAPTAIN OBVIOUS stuff... without me even looking at it!)

Clutching at its Perl 6, developer community ponders language name with less baggage

Re: Why exactly is Perl any worse than Python? : About efficiency.

Unless you're writing a compiler from scratch, you don't need flex/bison to parse log files.

agreed. But I wouldn't use those libs for a compiler either. Bloatware. unnecessary.

parsing text files with a pair of pointers is easy. Typically I'll write a function like this:

char *p1 = the_buffer;

char *p2;

while(*p1)

{

while(*p1 && *p1 <= ' ') p1++; // ltrim

p2 = p1;

while(*p1 > ' ') p1++; // end of term

// pass p1 and p2 to a function that copies or compares

// if((p1 - p2)==5 && !strncmp(p2, "thing", 5)) <-- string 'thing' is first term

etc.

not hard. look for '\n' to terminate a line. in fact, simple. pretty bullet proof, too. You're welcome. I do this a LOT.

you can also use scanf if you only want simple parsing.

if you need something more complex, you can parse columns and/or quoted strings pretty easily. I've even witten a full blown XML parser. It could fit on a microcontroller if it had to. I've seen similar kinds of simple parsers used for JSON [not written by me] so there are others out there doing this sort of thing. The fact is that string parsing is NOT hard, there are basic techniques you can use (like what I did above, the 2 pointer method), and you can use standard libc functions and pointers to parse just about ANYTHING that's text. Switch to mbcs functions if you need that for UTF8, no big deal.

no need for bloatware, OR Python. Or special Perl modules, either.

''awk' does a good job too.

Re: Why exactly is Perl any worse than Python? : About efficiency.

"C is efficient as far as the machine is concerned. As far as the developer's time, though?"

most of th3e time I can crank out C code faster than Python or Perl. I am admittedly not that good at Perl.

For those things that can be done with a shell script, though, I normally do "that". And I've been known to write my own quicky utilities for that shell script to invoke, for special case things that aren't already part of the operating system.

So "the developer's time", at least if it's ME, isn't hampered by using C. In fact, on my resume I *BRAG* about being faster than most people and getting things DONE. And I do. And I use 'C' most of the time.

Re: "but here in the Unix world we like simplicity"

@AC - I don't know which parts to quote to give an example why I give you a ZILLION DOWNVOTES but full-quoting the entire post is kinda dumb.

So "everything in that post of yours" - a big fat THUMBS DOWN

You obviously DO NOT USE the things you appear to act like "an expert" on. I bet your C coding skills are 101-level at best.

Re: add a proper string type in C

Only char arrays."

which is JUST FINE and MORE FLEXIBLE, especially when you're not LAZY and/or spoiled by Java or BASIC.

mastering strings in C/C++ is *SIMPLE*. I've been doing it for YEARS. DECADES even. More than TWO decades.

I suppose this means we need more COMPETENT programmers in the world...

maybe it should be like CW for HAM operators. Code in C only until you're competent in it.

Re: Why exactly is Perl any worse than Python?

"If a professional deems C to be the language required for a project, let her use C"

grammar note: the correct pronoun to use, when the sex of the subjwect is not known, is 'he' (as a subject) or 'him' (as an object). If you don't want to specify a sex, "the programmer" would work, even though it has an awkward style.

In any case, using 'she' sounds like SJW/political-correctness *EXCREMENT* and if, in fact, it *IS* politically correct *EXCREMENT*, it should be shunned, ridiculed, etc. until he who uttered/wrote such an abomination is COMPLETELY EMBARRASSED.

there. I said it.

(but I agree, allow the programmer to use whatever language HE is familiar with in order to provide a useful and maintainable solution within the shortest amount of time and least amount of effort, balanced against reliability).

Re: Why exactly is Perl any worse than Python?

"Python allows for pretty elegant code"

read: cryptic, difficult to maintain code that only works because you were lucky

Re: The COW says.....

it's Perl, so CAMEL

Re: Why not split the difference

Maybe change its name to Semprini - or Chlamydia

(seriously, it's just a victim of feature creep and millennial "it's our turn now" madness .like everything else)

GIMP open source image editor forked to fix 'problematic' name

Re: Divide and rule

"I could definitely see how a school *may* be put off."

no, no, NO! Don't let *THEM* have a foothold in your mind!

It's all just another big, fat, manipulative LIE. Wrapped in false "caring". Don't buy it. Your life will be better NOT being hypersensitive about what MIGHT offend.

Re: Divide and rule

"you are likely to be uncomfortable suggesting software that has a name that some may find offensive"

Then, let's change it to SEMPRINI

/me ducks

Re: Eh?

*ahem* - gender refers to LANGUAGES like French, Spanish, German (La pluma, Die Wienerschnitzel) and *NOT* to chromosomes. For chromosomes, the correct term is 'sex'. And there are only two.

Re: Eh?

heh. Mongo. heh.

Re: Eh?

we need a new name for hypersensitive SJW "foist my will upon the world" types... something similar to 'gimp' in sound and context, except aimed at the SJW's. Then name the graphical editor after THAT.

Except 'ASSHOLE' doesn't start with a 'G'

Re: People can feel insulted by anything if they want, it is their choice and it is their right

yes but they have NO DAMN RIGHT to FORCE THEIR WILL upon the REST of us because *THEY* happen to be overly-sensitive snowflakes in need of a good "attitude adjustment" with a cluebat or cat-5-o-nine-tails

Re: Eh?

"If Gimp is an ableist insult, how about a Spazz wheelchair?"

careful, some hypersensitive SJW will *FLAG* *YOUR* *POST* as *ABUSIVE* over the 's' word that you used...

even though it was a common nicname in the 80's

Re: Eh?

"Gimp icon because, duh!"

well played

Re: Eh?

I think the name GIMP is AWESOME. It reminds me of a scene from Pulp Fiction.

As for the SJW's who have *NOTHING* *BETTER* *TO* *DO* than to *ANGST* over a *PROGRAM* *NAME*...

GET A LIFE you WORTHLESS SJW SCUMBAGS!!! and STOP FORNICATING WITH THE REST OF US and whatever NAMES WE WANT TO USE.

Might as well call it S&MSUBMISSIVE as opposed to 'GIMP'.

FORNICATING SJW's... !!! NUKE 'EM 'till they GLOW, then SHOOT 'EM in the DARK! (see icon)

Hey, it's 2019. Quit making battery-draining webpages – say makers of webpage-displaying battery-powered kit

Re: Good luck that

"Lost fight, it is."

So you do WHAT, roll over and GET RAPED by it? "Don't hurt me bad". Right...

At least SWEAT HARD so they don't enjoy it... yeah, make it HARD for them. Fight at every turn. Kick, scream, bite, make ugly noises, send complaints to everyone in charge, And comment everywhere.

Re: Do you like money?

/me hands you a clue-bat, a clue-by-four, and a cat-5-o-nine-tails. For emergency use.

You have my pity.

Re: An easy way to save power...

this would be great, if you change "over a 14.4k dial-up connection" to "so that you COULD use a 14.4k dial-up connection if you wanted to".

Imagine the bandwidth savings! What, YOU never get cell carrier "overage" problems? way too many people DO and this is STILL a big problem - bandwidth waste.

all of that script-fluff in web pages and inefficient formatting - TOTALLY NOT NECESSARY.

Re: There's little incentive to do this

yeah this is all "Captain Obvious" stuff, stuff _I_ have been saying (along with many others) for a VERY, VERY, LOOONG TIME!

Web sites are TOO scripty, waste TOO much bandwidth AND CPU AND MEMORY by hauling in (and worse, making use of) generic monolithic CSS and JS source, and *ADS* are the *WORST* offenders!

Things like 'Materialize' - this is the *WORST* of it. Things like JQuery come in second, I'd say. BOTH should be NUKED FROM ORBIT and NEVER seen again!

Now, being able to DISABLE specific "features" might help, especially if Apple decides that they are PRIVACY ISSUES...

Microsoft's only gone and published the exFAT spec, now supports popping it in the Linux kernel

Re: And so we move on to stage two ..

it's really ok as-is with fuse support. FreeBSD has fuse support in the kernel. I can't recall if fuse support is build into Linux now [if so, excellent!]. So fuseFS is probably the best way to put ANY file system with patent or other encumberances into Linux, since it's not required to be "part of the kernel" [but might as WELL be]

Re: Bring compatibility problems to Window, not the other way around

FuseFS for windows would solve this. But ONLY if the file system drivers DO NOT REQUIRE SIGNED CERTS [which Micro-shaft would NEVER approve of]. Since THEY are the keepers of the keys (aka STRANGLEHOLD) on that, no sneaking any drivers through that allow pure userland file systems, either.

Re: What if ...

actually Mac and Linux _DO_ have exFAT support, via fuse

it's been that way for a while. and the fuse drivers are pretty good. It's a little klunky but works fine (and also in FreeBSD, worth pointing out).

What I'd like to see: universal userland FUSE support in WINDOWS - WITHOUT the need of SIGNED DRIVERS.

Git the news here! Code quality doesn't count for much when it comes to pull requests

Re: quality measured by tool

"Perhaps this tool isn't that great. I've seen this sort of thing be crap at actually judging code quality."

I can think of a number of reaons why a pull request should not be accepted...

a) use of global variables for no good reason. I had someone submit a patch that did this to a simple utility I wrote, years before github actually. I basically shelved it. NOT polluting the desgn.

b) use of hard tabs. *NO* - just *NO* (it doesn't display the same on every editor, duh)

the only exception are when required by the file format, like make utilities

c) violating basic code standard. If everything is ALLMAN STYLE, don't you DARE put a K&R style 'if()' block in there.

d) single character variable names - NO

e) anything whitesmith's style - double indenting is an irritation and an eyesore

f) you didn't include comments to explain anything? Even if it's trivial PUT FRICKING COMMENTS. The next confused person might be YOU 5 years from now, going "what was I thinking?"

g) code is just "unreadable" by people like me, who don't like looking at alphabet soup code and having to 'figure things out' instead of getting work done. Do the work up front, use comments and format it in a readable and consistent manner.

h) fears using 'goto' when it's not only practical, it's more efficient to use it. You find a lot of 'goto' in kernel code, worthy of mention.

Now... how does that tool do on THOSE things ???

YouTube algorithms mistake sparring robots for animal cruelty, gamers snooped on via Xbox AI, and more

End User License Agreements

suddenly, because Micro-shaft's "SOLUTION" was simply to UPDATE their EULA to say "oh and you agree to this too" (so it appears anyway), I'm reminded of THIS SOUTH PARK EPISODE

Qualcomm gets to keep its chip tech to itself – for now – after federal agencies gang up on FTC

You forgot to mention

that the FTC lawsuit against Qualcomm is *LITERALLY* *SIDING* *WITH* *CHINA*

Article

And this is why DOJ and others are AGAINST the FTC on this one.

Female-free speaker list causes PHP show to collapse when diversity-oriented devs jump ship

"The prime group is typically something like INTJ on the Myers-Briggs scale."

That would depend on the TYPE of coding. For IT, probably INTJ since you have to have a stick up your backside for some o' that. On the other hand, for SOFTWARE ENGINEERING, ENTP is more likely...

ENTPs are the mad scientists of the Myers-Briggs scale. In a funny demotivational, there was a trebuchet made of pencils and batteries with a caption similar to "making a trebuchet out of office supplies and the pencils off of your INTJ boss's desk"

yeah he probably lined them up, ordered by size.

(oh wait that was ISTJ boss... so maybe INTJ not so anal retentive then?)

Re: White men complain that there are too many white men…

don't work for big "divirsity first" companies. Let their bureaucratic mindset and stupid hiring practices cause them to collapse under their own monolithic weight

'Not productive for our business'... Michael Dell urges end to US-China tariff tit-for-tat spat

Re: Trade wars leads to real wars. Our planet is at stake for both.

so what do you want to do, ROLL OVER and let "Bully China" RAPE you?

Grow a freaking SPINE, you're acting like a WIMP.

This really boils down to whether you want COMMUNISTS in China to RUN YOUR LIFE, eventually. _I_ certainly do NOT. As long as we allow the current situation (see my earlier post) to continue, it will ONLY get worse, and YOUR job might be NEXT.

And then, YOUR country. And YOUR life.

"Dell is not a "compute-making giant". It doesn't make anything."

You must include their OEM suppliers IN CHINA to identify them as "manufacturers".

My suggestion: find alternate suppliers, NOT in China. Pay the tariffs as long as you have to, then reap the rewards of NOT having your company taken over by China and/or your intellectual property STOLEN in the future.

Dell: you didn't think about THAT, didja?

Oh, and one more thing, Dell: STFU. You don't understand what's going on. Let Trump *FINISH*. It's working. Reporting your IGNORANCE on these matters is nice fodder for the 'hate-Trump' media, who are ALL exhibiting what Sean Hannity calls "Trump Derangement Syndrome". If Trump cured cancer, ended all worldwide hunger, and agreed to every liberal policy INCLUDING that ridiculous "climate change" B.S., you'd STILL be treating him the same way, because he's Trump. That is what "Trump Derangement Syndrome" is.

The thing is, China has been bullying the world since the 1990's. They do it through UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES, and NOBODY ELSE has been calling them OUT on it.

a) they "dump" their products, undercutting competition, with GOVERNMENT RUN companies. Yes, they're GOVERNMENT RUN by hand-selected "private individuals" "owning" them. China isw a COMMUNIST country. Don't forget that.

b) they regularly STEAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. Some of it is only consumed within China itself, but THEY are a large segment of the world population, right?

c) they STILL pay SLAVE WAGES to their employees.

d) working conditions and environmental pollution appear to be WORSE than any 1st world country EVER had in the 20th, let alone 21st century. (I welcome any proof to the contrary, I doubt it exists though)

e) they openly CENSOR what their people can and can not see, hear, and say.

f) they quietly support (read: enable) Kim Jong Un's activities, making it HARDER to deal with him

g) They use "our money" to build up their internal infrastructure *AND* PURCHASE INTEREST IN FOREIGN COMPANIES, which gives them access to RESEARCH and INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY that can THEN be used "back in China".

h) take a look at what China Telecom is doing with 5G. Yeah. Then think about it for a while.

I could go on, but THESE are reasons NOT to trust China's government any more. How many broken promises have they made? How many promises have they KEPT? Probably not very many, I don't have statistics on hand...

SOMEONE has to do SOMETHING. That someone is Trump. That "something" is A TRADE WAR.

As Musashi would say: Never pick up a sword if you aren't willing to cut.

icon, because, FACEPALM

Can't bear to part with that well-worn copy of Windows 7? Microsoft might let you keep it updated an extra year

THey don't get it, do they?

from the article (quoting a Kaspersky rep)

"The reasons behind the lag in updating OS vary depending on the software in place, which may be unable to run on the newest OS versions, to economic reasons and even down to comfortability of routinely using the same OS,"

*WRONG* (well not totally but missing the boat on most of it)

Reasons for NOT switching to Win-10-nic:

a) IT support costs [for businesses] - all those licenses, changing everything around - ok that's economic but it's only a small fraction of it all

b) *DOWNTIME* due to *FORCED UPDATES* on *THEIR SCHEDULE* (and not IT doing it overnight or on a weekend when it's convenient FOR THE BUSINESS)

c) re-training costs since "rules" changed between 7 and 10 for no damn good reason except "they felt"

d) 2D FLATTY McFLATFACE FLATSO FLUGLY vs 3D Skeuomorphic. who WANTS the FLAT ??? And don't EVEN get me started on end-user customization...

e) the "start thing" - so full of CRAPP that's HARD to GET RID OF (CRAPP keeps re-installing itself)

f) Adware, spyware, Cortana

g) "The Store" in general

h) "Microsoft Login" aka "spy on you at work as well as at home" and uniquely identifying you WHEREVER YOU ARE ON THE WEB. Oh yeah. didn't you know?

i) why must _I_ change to MICRO-SHIT's NEW (read: inferior) WAY of doing things? I liked it better BEFORE

j) why is my hard drive light blinking whenever the system is idle? WHAT the HELL is it DOING? And don't get me started on how much POWER (and/or bandwidth) all that is wasting...

and so on. yeah, they missed THAT bit of info, didn't they?

I would happily go to a Linux distro if the majority of software I need to use actually ran on it.

Ack. problem identified. needs A SOLUTION. _I_ have been saying this for YEARS, about people like you, who think this way. thanks for confirming.

Re: MS Missing a trick?

When you're NOT trying to control everyone (aka being an *EVIL* *OVERLORD*) you think of and actually implement things *like* what you suggested.

In Micro-shaft's case, I think they *ARE* trying to be *EVIL* *OVERLORDS* and as such, can't fathom the possibilities of DEVIATING FROM 'THE PLAN'.

that being said, a few years back MS made a "Windows on Mac" extension that ran on OSX that allowed you to run WINDOWS APPLICATIONS NATIVELY. It was a bit like Wine yeah.

They should do EXACTLY THAT for Linux. Let people have their LINUX DESKTOPS, but then use MS's "layer" to RUN WINDOWS APPLICATIONS.

Except, they don't WANT that. THey want you to run *CRapps* from "The Store" that use 2D FLATTY McFLATFACE FLATSO FLUGLY "UWP" INTERFACES.

And if you do *NOT* they will find ways to *PUNISH* you, like convincing EVERY developer out there to NOT develop for ANY OTHER PLATFORM *EXCEPT* UWP on WIn-10-nic.

And they're trying. Hard. SERIOUSLY hard. Fortunately I think it's not working so well as they'd like.