scaramanga

6 месяцев назадdiscuss

I've observed that most "enthusiasts" are really just brand ambassadors. They've been captured by some proprietary software that doesn't run on Linux, and that's the problem of Linux. The day their set of products runs perfectly on Linux is the day Linux will be ready for them.

scaramanga

6 месяцев назадdiscuss

Switched in, ooh i dunno, '98 or '99. Quality is about where it was then relatively speaking. Sure things have improved, mainly just systemd, and we got ACPI and later power management stuff for laptops.

Prior to that windows was better on laptops due to having the proprietary drivers or working ACPI. But it was pretty poor quality in terms of reliability, and the main problem of the included software being incredibly bare bones, combined with the experience of finding and installing software was so awful (especially if you've not got an unlimited credit card to pay for "big professional solutions").

Every time the year of the Linux desktop arrives, I'm baffled, since not much has changed on this end.

scaramanga

7 месяцев назадdiscuss

Actually yes, that would be an ideal intervention of state into computing infrastructure.

It could even be revenue generating as, once developed, it could be sold out to the private sector, instead of essentially being taxed by foreign corporations for such basic digital infrastructure as hypervisors and key/value stores.

It could also act as a buffer and wage-stabiliser for people like us, who work in tech, by providing guaranteed employment when the private sector implements layoffs.

I don't know why anyone in our position wouldn't support that.

scaramanga

7 месяцев назадdiscuss

Billionaires have sabotaged pretty much every aspect of life by using their enormous wealth, power, and influence to hijack our public institutions. They're destroying our country and our way of life. We don't have to bend over passively to receive a shafting.

The insinuation is that they'll use their market position and political influence to extract funds for costly products and services that should be being spent on improving the NHS instead, happily driving the NHS towards a crisis so that they can privatise it. This is the project, and has always been the project of the billionaires. And even if all the current billionaires die and are replaced tomorrow, it will still be the project of the billionaires who replace them. The only solution is to eradicate billionaires.

scaramanga

9 месяцев назадdiscuss

Another possibility not mentioned here is simply demonstrating that they can get away with not doing so.

scaramanga

9 месяцев назадdiscuss

Assuming there is even a venue where evidence would be provided for the purpose of being looked at

scaramanga

9 месяцев назадdiscuss

yes, ICE strike me as deeply and sincerely concerned about both agitators and bringing robust cases to courts :)

scaramanga

9 месяцев назадdiscuss

Probably for the best...

Like, anyone who would work with some of my previous employers, are places I wouldn't want to work anyway. It's a big wide world out there.

scaramanga

10 месяцев назадdiscuss

CEOs: the real victims of capitalism.

scaramanga

3 года назадdiscuss

There's a great documentary about waco on Netflix and at the end, the guy who is was in command of the troops who massacred 80 women and children concluded (after 30 years of reflection), "you know the real victim was? Me, because the whole fiasco made me look bad."

It's interesting to see how those who appear outwardly evil manage to cling to a self-serving and distorted view of the world in which, if anything, they are the maligned victims.

You can just as easily imagine a SWAT member saying "when we were training to assault civilian homes, it was a wonderful time, everybody was competent and had the right motivations, we were there to protect the good guys and hurt the bad guys - but only as a last resort! Then when we got to the branch davidian compound we applied all of our methods and tactics and it all went downhill from there and, tragically, we ended up in a dark place."

When, from the perspective of even the most casual observer, it was evident from very early on that given the material, resources, methods, tactics, organization, and leadership that was deployed, the outcome that unfolded was actually inevitable.

Getting back on topic, it's not particularly news to anyone to find out that there can be very well run, collegiate, bubbles full of well-meaning individuals doing great work who nevertheless operate within institutions which, on the whole, are a cancer upon society. It's a wonderful privilege and a joy to find yourself inside one of these bubbles compared to all of the worse things that you could be doing to make a living.

scaramanga

3 года назадdiscuss

Also he's saying "don't be evil" was the motto, but he joined a year after gmail and in the same year when the CEO was saying "don't be evil is purely marketing" in interviews in forbes in order to allay the fears of investors who were wondering whether to take that as an admission that google is defrauding investors and neglecting its fiduciary duties, clarifying that the only "evil" that matters is that which has no impact on, or that which materially harms shareholder returns. By that definition, their philosophy is no different from that of a tobacco company or Chevron.

So i mean ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

scaramanga

3 года назадdiscuss

If you work hard, in the fields, every day, perhaps one day you, too, could be a successful pharaoh like me. Said the great wise pharaoh.

scaramanga

3 года назадdiscuss

Fascinated as I might be to read an approximately 11 trillion word article which says "if you want to be great then work on things you are passionate about stay fresh and curious"

I have to first stop and wonder if this is advice that I've already seen being given in embroideries, on countless coffee mugs, or along the side of a ballpoint pen.

scaramanga

3 года назадdiscuss

Develop a habit of having a lot of dollars. Don't let life be something you do without at least a billion of them.

You're totally welcome for the sage advice. Have a nice day.

haha.

scaramanga

4 года назадdiscuss

What is interesting to me is that these questions never arise of eg. South Korea.

scaramanga

4 года назадdiscuss

Don't worry, I'm sure the state will find some way to bail them out :)

scaramanga

4 года назадdiscuss

I wonder if the author lives in a democracy or in a state which has rule of law. Because it strikes me that the solution space also includes many political, legislative, and judicial options such as, perhaps most obviously, the regulation of tech, or the effective policing of online abuse.

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