The dumbest shittiest, most fucking god-awful aspect in all of this is the following...
Linux Mint exists as a distro, conceived as a response to the fact that Ubuntu refused to package proprietary binaries because they were not open source. Since Ubuntu wouldn't bundle popular software packages, such as Flash, Sun/Oracle Java and codecs, such as MP3, Mint stepped up to fill the gap.
One might misinterpret the reason Ubuntu refused to bundle said software as per the normal Copyleft reason behind an aversion to proprietary binaries: It erodes the trust of the end user, and forces them into agreements that might not be in their best interests.
But then.
Then, they fucking include spyware that transmits your local desktop searches to remote third-party private interests.
Actually, I hold the opposite opinion, and there are a few reasons why I think "www" is probably the best choice.
1. Communicating it by phone or radio is unmistakable. Have you ever had to spell things out for people over the phone? It's awful, even when using the NATO phonetic alphabet. Abandon all hope if you have to relay case sensitive camel-case directory paths, class names or passwords. This is why I always encourage the use of underscores, particularly with table names. EM-AS-IN-MARE-EE-UNN-DER-SCORE-PEE-AS-IN-PAUL over the phone just flows, when the person on the other end tries to reconstruct your words, but having to say CAP-EE-TAL-BEE-AS-IN-BOY-LOW-ERR-CASE-VEE-AS-IN-VIC-TOR feels as cumbersome as being a Cherokee code talker, and you repeat yourself like five times, restarting in the middle, pausing, and then repeating end-to-end, the same confusing sequences of letters, over and over again. WAIT, ALL CAPITAL??? NO. WHICH IS LOWER-CASE??? ALL ONE WORD OR WITH SPACES??? WHAT'S A KUMQUAT???
2. It's better than EIGHTCH-TEE-TEE-PEE-KOH-LONN-SLASH-SLASH
3. The best defaults are always optional, changable things that no one wants for themselves.
4. It's highly specific and unique to the internet. And even the most inept people can tell the difference between an e-mail address and a website, if you include the dub dub dub subdomain as an optional prefix. This is invaluable, when trying to inform non-technical people about your new thing on the interwebs. (..."oh, just go to www.intarderp.ly.io" sparks less confusion in the uninitiated than "intarderp.ly.io" might)
has the ability to use high-frequency transmissions
passed between computer speakers and microphones to
bridge airgaps.
FUCK. FUUUUCK ME.
God fucking damn it. That shit right there just blows the fucking lid off damn near everything. It's worse than fucking laser interferometers as far as I'm concerned.
That, combined with a nasty firmware hack, pretty much fucks everything. Like, in addition to BIOS, consider the ramifications of hard drive firmware...
I guess the audio attack vector isn't so outlandish after all, considering fax machines have piggybacked on audio channels for decades, but the whole bug-inside-the-iron thing is still pretty random.
Well, yeah. Because you don't have to root/jailbreak normal computers.
The true horror of "appified-zomg-everyting-in-teh-cloud" tablets, smart phones and other mobile devices is that the walled garden model leaves most people benumbed to the concept of DRM, as if it were a novocaine injection.
Then, to top it off, the combination of shitty cell phone reception along with the price of a required data plan behaves like some continuous supply of laughing gas, and net neutrality just goes out the window.
It's different when you use a real computer, because you haven't acquiesced to all the limitations of cramming every last tidbit of computation and networking into the space of a 3' x 5' index card. People stop caring about standards compliance, page rendering consistency, and the whole works. Most people are still amazed that full motion video, megapixel cameras, the internet, and gigabytes of storage can fit in the palm of their hand, and then get put on pause and stuffed in their pocket for later. We don't complain as much because we're so happy for the convenience.
The Web does not exist within the mobile domain as it does among laptops and desktops. Your standards are 1,000 times higher, sitting at a desk in a controlled environment, than they are while standing in a train station or an airport, or sitting in the back of a taxi cab.
HEY POOR PERSON, INSTEAD OF TRYING TO PREVENT A MISERABLE DEATH FROM STARVATION AND EXPOSURE WHEN YOU'RE CAST OUT ON THE STREETS FOR NOT PAYING RENT, JUST TELL JOKES OR PAINT PRETTY PICTURES ALL DAY, OR WRITE LOVE NOTES, OR JUST STARE OUT THE WINDOW AND DREAMMMMMM!!! BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT YOU LOVE TO DO ISN'T IT? GOD, IT'S ALL SO SIMPLE AND OBVIOUS, WHY DON'T YOU JUST "GET IT"???
...oh, and by the way, stop hitting yourself. stop hitting yourself. stop hitting yourself. why do you keep hitting yourself. stop hitting yourself.
Vandalizing these idiotic tombstones will be great sport, and guilt-free.
I thought we had an understanding with the great beyond, that the living only take heed when communication is conveyed in the form of plagues or nightmares?
Montezuma's revenge isn't a pop-up window that reads "click here". The curse of The Mummy isn't a flash animation. Ebenezer Scrooge didn't turn over a new leaf after taking an online survey.
I mean sure, we may read their pithy stone carvings, but we certainly aren't compelled to obey them. Why would the dead place their trust in the availability of a civilian internet, to convey their message?
...and why, pray tell, are they still providing turing tests to humans, if they already know who the humans are, you ask?
Well! Very obviously, any human can behave just as maliciously as a bot might! So captchas are there to slow us down. Point blank. They are flood control. They prevent spam, be it from bot or human.
The real question is, why would Ars Technica be so chicken-shit, that they can't come out and say that?
The author explains what he did to produce this output, and provides links to his program's source code in his post, so OP's link is still a worthwhile read, but that link cuts to the chase.
Linux Mint exists as a distro, conceived as a response to the fact that Ubuntu refused to package proprietary binaries because they were not open source. Since Ubuntu wouldn't bundle popular software packages, such as Flash, Sun/Oracle Java and codecs, such as MP3, Mint stepped up to fill the gap.
One might misinterpret the reason Ubuntu refused to bundle said software as per the normal Copyleft reason behind an aversion to proprietary binaries: It erodes the trust of the end user, and forces them into agreements that might not be in their best interests.
But then.
Then, they fucking include spyware that transmits your local desktop searches to remote third-party private interests.
Seriously. Fuck Mark Shuttleworth.