Hell freezes over...

[Nominal Animal]

That's why we now enforce separate administrator accounts...

On Linux systems, whenever a fellow admin uses sudo su - , I die inside a little.

(Well over a decade ago, I developed a simple group-based rights management for overlapping web admins.  When I became an admin of a computing cluster, with admins who have never physically met each other, and who all had that I-do-everything-as-root habit and disliked sudo, I started researching a way to transparently track changes in configuration directories based on processes, tracked back (via processes and controlling terminals) to an user account even if done as root.  I found a way to do it (several: audit subsystem, individual file leases, and later fanotify), but unsurprisingly, everyone else felt it was "not necessary"...  Apparently tracking changes back to the person who made them is not something many admins would appreciate.  Me, I'm paranoid: I don't trust even myself )

[bd139]

Yeah that kills me. I worked on one of those deployments circa 2003. The dude was running a fairly old at that point RH box (think it was 7.2) and it was running perl CGI serving an online record shop and I mistakenly picked up the job of attempting to move it to a new machine. The previous sysadmin made his 15 minutes of fame on BBC news web site by riding his motorbike into the front of a truck. Everything was one offs and he coded the entire site in production on the live site!  . He liked living it risky by the sounds. Fed up of the mess he left I actually basically wrote ansible in perl to give "desired state configuration" before it was even a thing. I didn't see the value of it as a business opportunity and used it for nearly 10 years. Then I discovered ansible. Then ansible got bought by redhat for $150M. Fucks sake! Missed out on that one

[SiliconWizard]

Windows is just an enabler for stupid

I liked that one.

I don't think that's quite true though. It's not that it's an enabler for stupid (well, not any more, and maybe a little less, than MacOS or Android for that matter), but it's that it still sits between two chairs after over 25 years. It has done everything it could  to appeal to the stupid more and more, yet is still completely manageable only by computer savvy people. So, you basically get treated like stupid while you need to be knowledgeable to use it properly at some point.
 

[techman-001]

Windows is just an enabler for stupid

I liked that one.

I don't think that's quite true though. It's not that it's an enabler for stupid (well, not any more, and maybe a little less, than MacOS or Android for that matter), but it's that it still sits between two chairs after over 25 years. It has done everything it could  to appeal to the stupid more and more, yet is still completely manageable only by computer savvy people. So, you basically get treated like stupid while you need to be knowledgeable to use it properly at some point.
 

Are you sure you want to say the above ?

Are you really sure you want to say the above ?

Are you really, really sure you want to say the above ?

[bsfeechannel]

See how life is ironic. Before Microsoft bought Skype I used it on a regular basis. They bought them out and after some time I still could use it on my Linux box. Then Microsoft announced that my version would not be able to transmit video or audio, just text. Because of that I abandoned Skype.

Today I needed to send a text message to someone that's in my Skype contact list. But to my surprise I discovered that Microsoft doesn't let my Skype client even establish a connection. I can't even login.

Ok. So I opened my browser and tried to use Skype online. My browser is not supported. They say that I need a supported browser because with that they can provide a better "Skype experience". Their supported browser can't be installed on this machine running Linux. Only running Windows.

No need to say that I'm already having the worst Skype experience possible because they unilaterally decided that my hardware and software are not good enough for them. So their supported browser will certainly give me a better Skype experience: the experience of at least being able to login. Holy crap!

We're back to the 90s and early 2000's when this type of thing was created by them. Only their browser was allowed to access certain web pages, because of the browser wars.

Ok. So I have a "supported" browser on my phone. Now my device is not supported. They are forcing me to download their app. No, sir. I don't have storage space for Skype on my phone. Dogdarnit! Wasn't my browser the problem? I'm using their recommended browser, now. So they defeated the purpose of Skype online.

If I felt that I was being discriminated, now I feel like I'm being treated like an idiot. 

But, Ok. I have Windows 7 with the Skype app and their recommended browser. Rebooted and called Windows. It took 5 minutes to boot. Told me not to turn off my computer because it was finishing the previous update. Then it rebooted before I could login and took another 5 minutes to configure the computer.

I ran Skype. Same thing. Could not establish a connection.

Ok. I have a "supported" browser on Windows 7. Yay! I finally sent the message.

Then Windows said that it had 4 updates to install. It took 45 minutes to download little more than 300MB. Where I am right now, I don't have the fastest internet connection in the world, but 300MB certainly takes much less than 45 minutes to download. It took another 35 minutes to install the updates and it is asking me to reboot my computer which will take an entire geological era to perform.   

Days ago someone told me about Zoom. It installed smoothly on my Linux machine. No discrimination, no hassle, no "experience" bullshit. It just gets the job done.

This is an example that options, alternative, choice create efficiency and that they're not mutually exclusive.

So, what is Microsoft? It is a retarded company, run by retarded people, that produces retarded software for retarded people.

Before someone says that I am bullying and being offensive, the word retarded comes from latin retardare, which means to delay, protract, move slowly, hold up.

So Microsoft is a retarded company: they still want to control how people have access to technology. They live in the past when technology was a specialty. Now it is a commodity. So they are retarded.

They are run by retarded people: do they really believe that conforming to their stupid requirements just to send a text message is the smartest thing in the world? Now you understand why people still use IRC.

Their software is retarded: man, almost two hours for an update? Gimme a break!

And it is for retarded people: I was instantly retarded after I decided to use Microsoft's Skype. It was a waste of my time trying figure out how to send the message, and on top of that I had to babysit this piece of crap until it finished the update.

Before Microsoft, Skype was a wonderful experience. Worked ok on my machine no problems. It seems that they have a reverse Midas touch: they turn everything they touch into shit.

That's why we are still suspicious about their approach to Linux.

[RoGeorge]

See how life is ironic. Before Microsoft bought Skype I used it on a regular basis. They bought them out and after some time I still could use it on my Linux box. Then Microsoft announced that my version would not be able to transmit video or audio, just text. Because of that I abandoned Skype.

Today I needed to send a text message to someone that's in my Skype contact list. But to my surprise I discovered that Microsoft doesn't let my Skype client even establish a connection. I can't even login.

Ok. So I opened my browser and tried to use Skype online. My browser is not supported. They say that I need a supported browser because with that they can provide a better "Skype experience". Their supported browser can't be installed on this machine running Linux. Only running Windows.

No need to say that I'm already having the worst Skype experience possible because they unilaterally decided that my hardware and software are not good enough for them. So their supported browser will certainly give me a better Skype experience: the experience of at least being able to login. Holy crap!

LOL, hold my beer!
Microsoft doesn't let me to login to my GitHub account because it thinks my password is too weak.  I never asked them for such protection, same way I never ask for "enhanced experiences".

[Karel]

When microsoft bought github, I moved everything to Gitlab.

Facebook and whatsapp are offlimits here. I use Telegram. My colleagues as well.

The same problems are happening now with google. I recently moved to Protonmail.

The thing is: stay away from proprietary software giants.

"Proprietary Software Giants Tell Open Source ‘Communities’ That Proprietary Software Giants Are ‘Friends’"

http://techrights.org/2019/09/14/proprietary-software-giants-as-friends/

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a communist. But in order for capitalism to work correctly, monopoly abuse needs to be punished.

[Simon]

Capitalism is supposed to be about a free market, not a monopoly, that is called a.... monopoly, although too much free market does make for other problems.

[Karel]

In a free market there will be a monopoly eventualy.
That's why most "free" markets are not really free but have rules to keep the competition
and try to avoid monopolies where possible and, if a monopoly exists, to check for and punish abuse.

So, a really free market is not what you want.

[Warhawk]

I feel windows is mainly plagued by 'windows haters' these days. Windows is actually for most users quite stable and efficient to work with.

A large part of the problem is that Windows 8 / 10 is really easy to hate and this is coming from a veteran of Windows. It's honestly the most retarded version of Windows I have *ever* used.

Over the past 12 months, I've been learning Linux and have switched to it as my daily driver just so I don't have to use Windows 10. At work, I use expensive HP Workstations and at times Windows 10 still runs like crap or glitches out for no apparent reason. Even on my less powerful (Intel i5 based PC), Windows 7 was more responsive and stable with half the amount of RAM.

Interesting, I wanted to write identical thing.

[Simon]

I have no end of problems on the work PC that don't happen at home mainly becaue it is a remotely administered system that locks us users down. I cannot write code on my work PC in atmel studio which is dumb, neither can I send a sketch to an arduino....

[SiliconWizard]

Capitalism and free market are two different things though. The fact that they seem to go hand in hand does not make them the same.

[Monkeh]

See how life is ironic. Before Microsoft bought Skype I used it on a regular basis. They bought them out and after some time I still could use it on my Linux box. Then Microsoft announced that my version would not be able to transmit video or audio, just text. Because of that I abandoned Skype.

Today I needed to send a text message to someone that's in my Skype contact list. But to my surprise I discovered that Microsoft doesn't let my Skype client even establish a connection. I can't even login.

Ok. So I opened my browser and tried to use Skype online. My browser is not supported. They say that I need a supported browser because with that they can provide a better "Skype experience". Their supported browser can't be installed on this machine running Linux. Only running Windows.

No need to say that I'm already having the worst Skype experience possible because they unilaterally decided that my hardware and software are not good enough for them. So their supported browser will certainly give me a better Skype experience: the experience of at least being able to login. Holy crap!

LOL, hold my beer!
Microsoft doesn't let me to login to my GitHub account because it thinks my password is too weak.  I never asked them for such protection, same way I never ask for "enhanced experiences".

The only reason you're whinging about Microsoft is because Github have made a decision you don't agree with, for your own good. Microsoft likely had little or nothing to do with it. Get over it.

[RoGeorge]

The only reason you're whinging about Microsoft is because Github have made a decision you don't agree with, for your own good. Microsoft likely had little or nothing to do with it. Get over it.

Not at all, what really annoys is why there is no Windows 9?
One can not just jump from 8 to 10, and expect people to live happily ever after!
 

Later edit:
If you really care why I don't like what happened, is the part I underlined in the quoted words.  First of all, it is NOT for my own good, it's for Microsoft's own good, to spare them for any trouble that might come.  At most, you can say is for the herd's good, like vaccination, but don't tell it's for my own good.

No company cares about RoGeorge's own good, or about your own good.  That would be a lie.

Apart from that, my philosophy in life is rather like this one:

"- Do you know how many electrical cords I chewed?"



For those that can not play YouTube, the answer is at around minute 1:05

"- One!  It shocked me.  I walked backwards for a week, but I never chew a cord again."

[Simon]

Every even numbered windows has been bad. this time we did not get the usual reprieve and then 7 was snatched from us. 10 is so bad that they had to make it free to upgrade whilst threatening to end support for 7.

[bd139]

7 was bloody awful.

[drussell]

Not at all, what really annoys is why there is no Windows 9?

The reason is very simple.  Many programmers write terrible code.  Many pieces of code that tried to detect what type of Windows version they were running, rather than actually checking capabilities, like if they were "NT" or not, for example, looked at the version string and assumed that anything beginning with a 9 was Windows 95/98.  Microsoft found this was going to be a significant issue very early on in the development process (well, probably didn't "find" it, it was already well known) that it would cause a myriad of problems, therefore was essentially always planned to be skipped.

[james_s]

Not at all, what really annoys is why there is no Windows 9?
One can not just jump from 8 to 10, and expect people to live happily ever after!

The thing I thought was funny is the way they talked about skipping 9 because 10 was such a massive departure from 8. That was a laugh, I would have called it Windows 8.5, it is practically the same OS with a start menu that is inferior to that in all previous versions, a horrible update system and a whole bunch of marketing baked in. One step forward, two steps back.

[Nominal Animal]

That's one reason why having competing OSes/distros is important: the users get to choose which one they like better.

[bd139]

I don’t like any of them 

[RoGeorge]

I don’t like any of them 

Then you should do what Stallman and Linus did.  Build a new one exactly the way you'd like it to be.
After you'll accomplish those goals, prepare to hand away your lifetime work to an angry mob.   

[drussell]

I don’t like any of them 

I've been running FreeBSD since 1994, version 1.1....

Ever since the first day that I saw it was running wcarchive.cdrom.com, it has been my favorite OS.

Have you tried it?

[bd139]

Yes I have. I ran FreeBSD for the best part of a decade from 2.2 when it dropped. Also NetBSD on SPARC.

I jest when I say I like nothing as FreeBSD is pretty much excellent. If anything it suffers a little from neglect as a lot of stuff is Linux only these days due to laziness on the part of the developers and the creeping bits of Linux working their way into the software (everything depends on fucking systemd-devel now at compile time)

[Nominal Animal]

the creeping bits of Linux working their way into the software (everything depends on fucking systemd-devel now at compile time)

Hey!   systemd isn't Linux!  I don't know what shit it is, but just because most, but not all, Linux distros use it, does not make it Linux either.  We still have Devuan and Gentoo at least.

I don't care what systemd developers say, either.  They obviously want to subsume all of Linux, like frigging Borg (but with a shitload of bugs built-in, on top of a silly fragile internal structure; so, shitty Borg defeatable with a toothpick.. but popular, like Kardashians).

The actual Linux-isms, like using /proc/PID/ pseudofiles for process information, are usually separated into functions so one can rather easily provide the same facilities on BSDs in the native BSD-way.

[bd139]

Redhat says its linux therefore it is. I'm not happy either for ref.

Worst one is assuming the default shell is bash. Plus the 9 million "GNU extensions" (aka fuck ups) of literally every damn command line tool. gawk vs awk is a favourite of mine. I must say I shook my head for a bit when they made bash the default shell in OSX.