You need to evaluate the situation. Supplying weapons might feel good as a sign of defiance, but it will only prolong the conflict and lead to more dead. Nobody wins if you die a martyr in this conflict. The political capital is on the Ukrainians side, so any situation aside from a direct war is preferable. There are direct conflicts, but they are also involved in a proxy war.
And no, I would not enjoy suggesting surrender to any Ukrainian either and I understand that people want to fight. But a better future can only be build with acknowledging the present and taking options from there.
Of course there could be opportunities if Ukrainians hold out as long as they can, but either case of getting outside help or being able to repel the invaders currently seems almost impossible. You can make the war more expensive for the Russian, I guess, but that would cost more lives and might result in the same end.
SWIFT was already questioned when it was already used against Iran, a supposed exception. The service relies on neutrality towards any transaction, it is not a vehicle for war.
Keeping as much communications channels open is of severe strategic interest. Transparency is a weapon of democracy. In the age of information media images can help in a war and cutting off any lines would only solidify the grasp of domestic propaganda for everyone.
I don't really expect soothing words, I expect honesty. To me that is actually a more sincere expression of kindness.
Engineers are certainly fast with critique which is not restricted to online spaces. But I want to hear that in most cases. I think it is often far more insightful than naive positivism, especially since so many in tech now work for advertisers or there is much content on crypto-currency hype. At some point cynicism can become pathological, but so can being wide-eyed. There certainly is a point where everything is talked down, but I don't really see much of that to be honest.
Negative moods can be as contagious as laughter, but you have an easier life if you remind yourself that angry people do care. Maybe more than they should, but that can itself be endearing if you try to understand their perspective. And isn't complaining about toxicity just falling into the same trap?
Possible. Although a lot of gaming companies that got bought never did amount to much after the acquisition.
If Microsoft locks down their environment, I believe they are in danger of losing their dominance on PC.
I have yet to meet a developer that likes UWP and I believe it is dead by now. There is WinUI 3, but I fail to see how they learned from their mistakes. They believe they can work it out with rebranding, but I heavily doubt it. Don't know if my info is current, but you can only deploy WinUI through their store. I just shorty looked into it, laughed a bit and went elsewhere. I have already left the MS stack behind completely.
Indeed. Valve established DRM to a degree many previously hoped it would get rejected. But they offered a decent service and proved that piracy is a service problem. What they did for Linux as a gaming platform is spectacular. Not many people use it yet, but Windows does look less and less like a dependable long term solution, especially with Microsofts other ambitions in that industry.
Not even sure the data is correct on Azure, seeing how O365 is allegedly shrinking in revenue.
Questionable in my opinion and might be very dependent on how you separate here.
Are all these AD users that use Azure AD users of Azure? What if their MS 365 licence counted for Office or Azure? I believe revenue is trimmed to make it look good.
But they don't capture them to develop against their frameworks. I liked WPF, but their APIs were clearly influenced by business decisions like forcing software into their store, especially in UWP.
I am not yet if they are a reliable partner to invest time in. Apple uses such a model, but then why would I use Windows if it just morphs into a worse clone of it? I dislike that model and believe it is extremely bad for digital/technical education.
Those that use open systems with software freedom will shield others from the worst exploits MS or Apple might come up with in the future.
These are strong requirements, but I fear the government just wants more transparency of citizens. Remote-attestation of trusted platforms could lead to the worst surveillance attempts we have ever seen. And it would require you to trust your government. That is a bad idea from a security point of view.
edit: The source of my claim that governments tend to extend surveillance is pretty well documented I believe. So much so that I believe it is worthy to insert the problem into debates about anything relating to security. Because security often serves as the raison d'être for such ambitions.
The technical problem is that you would need files to be encrypted in case the phone gets stolen. Security mechanism like a pin obviously don't help if someone can just pull the card with the interesting data. Still, even the "worst" users are able to understand the concept.
I don't know how you read blame out of it honestly. I am not blaming anyone aside from the one that uploaded the pictures, I though that was understood.
The recommendation to not ever send a device with secret information to maintenance and repair still applies. As I said perhaps the device never reached Google. That is probably relevant for liability, perhaps the delivery service is at fault.
It doesn't even have to be a malicious actor, the repair process could expose such images to the technician in some cases.
Really should think about just paying another few hundred bucks and just keep the device if it contains nude photos of your wife which you cannot wipe. Don't send that device anywhere...
Provided this story is true, I would guess the device might never have reached Google and it might have been stolen on the way there. Don't know what that would mean for liability.
To be fair, I think PC has probably more exclusive games than consoles by a very large margin. Not necessarily mainstream AAA games, but great ones nonetheless. It really depends on the types of games you play. Whether it is action adventures or games like Factorio, one system might be better suited for you or not.
> with all the mental overhead that comes with PC gaming
On a modern system you buy in the next electronic store that is ready to use the mental load is the same as using any Sony OS.
The advantage I see in consoles is that they are more multiplayer friendly. It is mostly more comfortable to share a large couch, but PC maintenance is as easy as it is on console. You cannot play instantly. I use a console 3 times a month when friends come around to play. I often have to wait for a fairly long update of OS and games. Can happen on PC too, but with modern boot times, there really isn't much difference anymore aside from input/output.
And no, I would not enjoy suggesting surrender to any Ukrainian either and I understand that people want to fight. But a better future can only be build with acknowledging the present and taking options from there.
Of course there could be opportunities if Ukrainians hold out as long as they can, but either case of getting outside help or being able to repel the invaders currently seems almost impossible. You can make the war more expensive for the Russian, I guess, but that would cost more lives and might result in the same end.