[See the full post at: Air your grievances!]
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Air your grievances!
- This topic has 42 replies, 16 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 4 months ago.
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OK, I’ll start it off….. Festivus is such a bore! There, I’ve said it.
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For those wondering:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FestivusOn permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
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Pretty much anyone that was a fan of Jerry Seinfeld’s knows the Festivus thing.
I tell people that isn’t where it began, rather Gunsmoke was where it started.
Festus Hagan used to call the Dodge City square dance, a woman once said to Doc, “Festus will be the death of us with his dance calling.” Doc was not totally listening and replied, “he’s going to be the festivus?”
Dat’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
[ ] <—- all groans go into the box.As for grievances/complaining, the best retort to a unfortunate incident I ever heard was:
“If that’s the worst thing that happens to me this year, I’ll be okay.” -
I have a grievance!
Microsoft, what are you thinking?
Ahh, that one’s way too easy, isn’t it? Even Microsoft’s most ardent fans have to be scratching their heads at times in this “WaaS” era. I suppose that in some ways I owe you, MS, as I never would have discovered how fun Linux could be without you.
I tried Ubuntu “Feisty Fawn” a decade or more ago, and I got it working pretty dang well on my Turion single-core PC at the time (HP/Compaq laptop), including the wifi, it was more or less a novelty. I could boot to Linux and use Firefox and Thunderbird and do all that same stuff I already did in Windows, but without Windows. But I did have Windows, and no particular reason to want to move away from it (XP era), so when something happened and I inadvertently restored a backup without the Linux partition, I never bothered to go back and restore Linux separately. I only gave it a second try many years later once I saw where Microsoft “wanted to go today,” which looked to me like “off a cliff.”
As much as I like Linux, there are still a bunch of areas where it’s underdeveloped… not because of any specific architectural or inherent flaw, but because there are limited resources and no central authority who can tell someone to “get on it” when no one wants to do it. One such area is in support for OPAL self-encrypting drives, which were in the news not long ago. While it was reported that all the ones tested were vulnerable, it was notable that the Samsung offerings were only vulnerable using the ATA password encryption when in non-max security mode. OPAL mode was not found to be lacking on Samsung SSDs, and that’s the mode that MS Bitlocker uses. (Since then, Crucial has offered firmware updates for their SSDs, so it’s anyone’s guess what their current vulnerability is.)
I wish Linux had something comparable. There’s a rudimentary utility that creates a preboot authentication environment for OPAL, and it does work, but thus far it has no support for sleep mode. The reasons for not including this in the beginning were that the kernel needs to play a role, but had no support for it… but OPAL compatibility was added to the Linux kernel some time ago.
If I were still in the MS ecosystem, I could just enable Bitlocker (since I do have a TPM 2.0 and OPAL compliant SSD in my two main laptops, the Acer Swift and Dell G3, assuming the Windows in question was a Pro version). Linux hasn’t caught up yet, and while my interim solution (LUKS software-encrypted partition on the Swift, ATA self-encryption in max security mode on the G3) works, it’s not as good as it could be.
I’d be doing that if you hadn’t chased me off with your Windows 10 buffoonery, Microsoft! I don’t need to be serviced, and I’m definitely not interested in being monetized. Just a staid, boring, mouse/keyboard oriented desktop OS (that I can control) will do nicely! It doesn’t need to be cool, fun, or exciting, and it certainly doesn’t need to be designed to accommodate a touch UI that the vast majority of Windows users are still not using, and probably never will (since touch is a pain in the rump on anything other than handheld devices).
I don’t want to be your unpaid beta tester for software you expect me to pay for, I don’t need feature updates… well, ever, really. What I need is Windows to be an operating system, which is all it ever was, not a service. I would not say it was a good idea, since the actual outcome we’ve seen was completely predictable. It certainly was a bold idea, though, but it’s one that hasn’t worked. Can you come down out of the cloud(s) long enough to see that an OS that is only an OS and not a cloud service is still a good thing when what you need is an OS? It may only be mildly profitable per man-hour invested in its development, but you’re still in the black, and predictions of the PC’s imminent demise have continued to be refuted by reality.
I’ve bought more PCs this year than ever before, though I have to say there’s no way to say how many PCs you buy if you continually keep upgrading one self-assembled PC. Like the old yarn about the axe that has lasted forever, and it’s only needed five new heads and eleven new handles.
So about those PCs… they all came with Windows, and all but the one with the tiniest internal storage still have it on there, but it’s currently only used because it’s easier to use for backups than a USB drive (that I have to fumble for and find). I only bought these PCs (all laptops, since I would simply upgrade my desktop and not buy a new one, as mentioned above) with the intention to install Linux on each of them. If I could have saved a few bucks by omitting Windows, I certainly would have (it’s not THAT hard to find a USB drive for backing up). You’ve got an entire OS dedicated to performing backups of another OS– rather like how your browsers are mainly used for downloading Firefox or Chrome.
So, Mr. Nadella, how’s that desire you expressed to have people use Windows because they love Windows, not because they have no other choice but to use Windows, coming along?
Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11) -
Having switched to Linux with Windows (7/8.1) on a couple of partitions for legacy software you are correct the problems with Linux are due to the community nature of Linux distros not any inherent flaw with Linux or the distros themselves. No one is in central authority to make something happen so gets do when some decides to fix the problem themselves. The problem with this approach is the fix might be solid for me but not others.
One theme I see coming through with many for MS is respecting the user as an intelligent person who can make good decisions when given good information. The user is best one to judge their specific circumstances. So give the user enough control of the box and test your releases and patches before foisting them on the public.
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Air your Grievances! Not sure if this is a gripe, maybe should have posted over in the Suggestions area, but, first I want to say that I do not intend to offend anyone, especially those from the Windows Secrets forums, but I would like to recommend considering a small (?) change to the new AWWS Logo: I think the “AskWoody” part should be larger than the “Windows Secrets” part. If the merger is from WS to AW, then maybe AW should be more prominent?
Just a thought / recommendation / maybe ?
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Interesting idea. It may evolve over time….
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I don’t know … “AskWoody” does come first, kinda subdued with “Windows Secrets” second on the marquee, even if in larger letters.
I can equate it to the Nomad, some were called a Woody. (I love car names and metaphors)
If I were talking about a Woody, most car enthusiasts would know I was talking about the Nomad, while the manufacture was Chevy, it was still second in thought. Name recognition.
I think it has just the right amount of billboard appeal for both worlds, as is.It stars Woody, with Windows Secrets the draw, a tag-team . I will not go into marketing except to say if the numbers are anywhere close to the 400,000 Penton claims it has in circulation, this is a win-win situation for both, and of course all others involved.
As winning as this situation can be, I’m glad I’m not looking up at a dangling sword.
Then again, Woody is a sorcerers apprentice, he has magic we have yet to see.
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Brian and Tracey (and Susan and Fred) drove the subscription number up to 400,000 — and that included both paid and free subscribers. The number has since fallen precipitously. Orders of magnitude. Penton abandoned free subscriptions years ago.
My one big hope is that we can, once again, approach
The glory that was Greece
And the grandeur that was Rome1 user thanked author for this post.
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Seem to recall that Nomad had some sort of Alien/unknown, update/upgrade, sure glad it wasn’t M$ handling that who knows how that episode would have ended
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-Please make this site mobile friendly. The txt is too small to read without pinch zoomin like crazy. Very hard to do one handed while standing on the train.
The link to full post links. They dont seem to do anything but reload the comments page.
Aside from that, always appreciate the content.
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The link to full post links. They don’t seem to do anything but reload the comments page
… one of my bugbears. The “see the full post at:” link on the Comments forum page’s header post takes you to the full page of the blogpost which appears on the home page, rather than just seeing the truncated taster on the Comments forum page – it’s not meant to be possible to see or post a reply on that full page, but this has been broken since a fix to the site about 15 months ago. Any time anyone does post a reply from that “broken” full page, it removes all the topic tags that should be associated with it, and they need to be manually reapplied.
I’m hoping that gets fixed, very soon…
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Keep that one in your hip pocket, for the first round of changes after we get settled in.
And, yep, mobile-friendly is a top priority. I find myself looking at the site from my phone all the time. We have to re-design the “theme” anyway, so mobile’s a main concern.
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Woody when you change the web site to accommodate the hand-held, it usually makes it worse for the keyboard people. If there could be 2 differing addresses, that would work. EVERY TIME we see a site try to please everyone, it usually fails after a few years. I have seen this for years with radio stations that try to play music for all, then go bankrupt in 3 years.
Please keep your ASKWOODY site the way it is, with MINOR changes to the site. I too do not like change. It is change for the sake of change, like Microsoft, that make people upset.
Thank you.
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A grievance with a suggestion, if I may…
Grievance: Posters who write very lengthy posts. They can get very verbose.
Suggestion: Truncate lengthy posts, but not by setting a limit on the number of characters or words in that post. I suggest, for your consideration, the use of the ‘expand’ button. To implement, only show the opening few lines of the lengthy post and if the reader wants to read more, they can expand it. The idea is to allow the entire comment to be revealed so the poster’s opinion is not altered in any way. Sometimes posters feel the need to include an experience as background as it adds weight to their position. That can be a good thing. On the other hand long-winded responses can become tedious.
I have seen the ‘expand’ button implemented on other forums and it has been well received by members and visitors alike. I think this site would benefit from it.
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Most people tend to forget that Internet is a different medium for writing.
- Posts have to be shorter.
- Posts require plenty of white space for readability.
- Sentences must be shorter and more concise.
- Summarization is necessary either at the beginning or end of each post.
- Paragraphs need to be in general three or four sentences.
- Pictures help.
- Enumerated text helps.
- Posts are frequently misquoted or pilloried.
On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
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@ anonymous post # 242178
Truncate lengthy posts, but not by setting a limit on the number of characters or words in that post. I suggest, for your consideration, the use of the ‘expand’ button.
Ah, yes–we can use technology to solve many of our idiosyncrasies–such as being unable to simply read the first couple lines of a long post, decide it’s not to ones liking, and simply scrolling down to the next entry. (One does not *have to* read the long post–or short post for that matter.)
I find having to use the *expand* link, (or the *more* link on Amazon) a waste of effort. There has to be a *size limit* at which point you create that *expand* link, and when you have to press it, and you only get 4-5 more words to the sentence–and no more! But I had to go through the motion to find that out.
One person’s solution to a *grievance*, may be another person’s *grievance*. Kinda like *be careful what you wish for*.
Just a thought.
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First, this site askwoody.com is changing. Not happy about it
Second, MS is bad and need to find another OS.
Third, several of my post do not get posted on this site.
Fourth, Bill Gates left MS and now everything went down the drain which is why he is working as a plumber now.
Fifth, tech writes that take money from MS to write good review about Windows 10.
Sixth, I am running out of time to write this.
Seventh, getting pulled out from the computer to go fix a family member’s computer with MS Windows 10
Eight, etc etc…1 user thanked author for this post.
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To increase your chances of getting posted, just register. Use a throwaway email address if you must.
As for taking money from MS to write good reviews of Win10… Not on this site. Never. As the saying goes, we’re “fiercely independent.”
And about getting called away to fix a friend’s Windows computer… you ‘n me both, bro.
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To increase your chances of getting posted, just register…
The odds are better than any contest or lottery.
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While the anonymous poster above had a few complaints, we do agree that the Woody site is changing and we do not look forward to that. Woody has a great site that stands on its own. Other people and now defunct forums want to jump into the askwoody world for self preservation. Tread carefully Woody. This is your site not theirs. We come here to hear what you have to say, not them.
Thank you for your excellent site ‘askwoody.com”
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I appreciate the concern!
The Windows Secrets folks cover a much, much broader base of information than we’ve traditionally covered here. I welcome them with open (if over-stuffed) arms. There’s plenty of room for all of us.
We made a big change in February 2017 — less than two years ago, when we jumped from being a one-way blog to a two-way Lounge. There were teething pains. But it worked out pretty well, methinks.
Don’t worry about me losing my cantankerous voice.
All of the people involved in the new effort are dedicated to helping people, not kowtowing to big companies. I feel very confident saying that because I’ve known them for decades. Good folks, with your best interests at heart.It’s a tough row to hoe, but we can do it.
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Had to share, this caused a laugh in my imagination. Scene: Woody Leonhard receives an envelope, return address Microsoft. Long pause as Woody stares at this strange item, allowing the audience time to debate within themselves what could be inside. Check for services, or letter of intimidation from a firm with at least four senior partner names in the expensive letterhead. Which could it be?
Yes I am out of touch. Postage is so last century. But snail mail creates a visual object of tension in a way that shadows on a monitor just don’t.
Benefit of doubt to anonymous, they may have been sharing a grievance found in another writer; leaving the praise for AskWoody unwritten from the rush to fix another problem.
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The Stock Market and how it’s affecting my IRA currently. I’ll let it go at that.
Insanely loud noise made by the vehicles of those who seemingly have nothing better to do than annoy everyone.
Newer laptops so thin you can barely get a USB port to fit in the back, and small screens.
I’ve always loved to drive; now I only drive when it’s necessary due to distracted drivers just to name one of the many reasons.
The weather. I don’t think an explanation is needed here for anyone who gets the news or has lived through one of the numerous hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, wildfires, mudslides, etc., etc.
Even astrophysicist Carl Sagan when speaking astronomically used Billions, not Trillions.3 users thanked author for this post.
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A few months ago I was helping a neighbour, a gentleman in his 80s, with his Acer Aspire, a low spec Atom computer that had been force upgraded from Windows 7 which barely ran well, to Windows 10, which runs very badly. All that is annoying enough. As I finished the work I noticed a little insect crawling over my hand and then the desk. It was tiny, maybe 1.5mm at most, but it was unmistakable – a bedbug nymph! It had just bit my hand right at the computer in broad daylight and was scurrying for cover.
I had previous experience with those [*] pests (bedbugs not Windows and Microsoft, well ok, all of them) so with gathering dread I looked around and discovered the poor fellow had a really bad infestation, and we reported it to the landlord. Then I had to go through the ‘protocols’ (separate clothes and heat them in a dryer) when I got home to ensure I hadn’t brought any with me.
Well my grievance is this. Servicing WAAS problems put me at risk of getting bedbugs! Can it get any worse?
Happy Solstice!
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Why is it when you think its a good quiet time around the stores to get all the xmas grocery shopping done, everyone else has had the same idea and the Stores are choked and you have to park 2 blocks away Grrrr
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I don’t much like change…
I like simple, I like continuity, I like familiarity. I don’t mind improvement, but I do not like change just for the sake of change as in new features no one asked for and most won’t use. I don’t like when resources merge and blend with other resources becoming an unwieldy behemoth obscured by clutter, lack of focus and poor organization.
I don’t like some people and I don’t like some people’s ideas, their way of thinking or the superior attitude they exude as they pontificate to the masses assembled at the foot of the mount. If I have decided I don’t like someone or something, I resent having them and their ideas pushed into my face, forcing me to actively skip over the material – as if by frequent exposure I might be persuaded to change my position or opinion.
I dislike when people try to be all things to all people at the same time. Business computing and personal computing should never be mixed. The approach is different, the needs are certainly different, and the focus is different. Too much unnecessary and unrelated information only clutters the mind and gobbles up precious time.
Bigger is not always better. More is not always needed. Simple, straight forward clarity of purpose, concise presentation of information and ideas, accurate non-personalized reporting is of value, a clear distinction between fact and opinion is useful. A sea of conflicting ideas, clutter and a mishmash of random unrelated musings can be irksome (see what I am doing here?)
I dislike change disguised as evolution and foisted on the pions without their consultation. I dislike change that results from an incorrect assumption that bigger or more is always better. I dislike having to change the way I procure information or accomplish necessary tasks because some do not understand or cannot accept that some things are already pretty good the way they are.
I dislike being made to feel that I am on some kind of ride and then compelled at the first opportunity to jump off the treadmill and run away, to another smaller more focused option, until that too succumbs to the unrelenting pressures to monetize, to grow and change for the sake of growth/change. I dislike that people are made to feel uncomfortable and inadequate in their own skin necessitating constant makeovers, a bigger this or better that.
I dislike knowing that I am but one opinion and that I am doomed to another year of disappointment with my OS, my “real” news sources, my computer info sources, my need to continually upgrade hardware so that I can play the latest game or enjoyed continued software support on my platform that already greatly exceeds my practical needs.
I dislike having to fight the pressures to become a “hater”. I dislike that the bad appears to overpower the good most of the time – privacy this, hacking that and most of all that some company somewhere has figured out I use on average three squares of toilet paper at a time.
I dislike where all this is going and I dislike being powerless to stop it. I dislike giving up and I really dislike how that makes me feel.
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Be nice to each other. Please.
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Thank you, Woody, for giving us a chance to express our grievances…
I really dislike when things are obfuscated so that someone (person or group) can maintain control and power. I’m a grandma, a mother, part of a community, part of a family… and when I apply what I do to my personal computer, I am overjoyed that a childhood friend, on another continent, can communicate with me as effortlessly and clearly as a friend might do, with me in the same small town… but that the privacy that was once available to young girlfriends giggling together (and believe me, our secrets were important to us), is used as a magic act (choose to share all your secrets… or just some of them) to dazzle and distract so that those that produce nothing of real value can milk humanity of their resources…
False choices… misleading choices… and stage theatrics that remove choice as long as the audience remains distracted… Microsoft has given us (shoved down our throats) an operating system designed to allow them the control, and power, and choices of how to fleece their beta testers. It was offered “FREE”… just like bait on a hook… to obscure that there is a hook designed to capture each and every end user as thoroughly as the drug dealers to be found offering new customers a hit… knowing that the “customer” who gets hooked will beg, borrow, and steal for them in order to maintain their habit. I have the same respect for Microsoft as I do the street corner dealer, seeing them as exploiting communities for their own profit. How many say that they can’t do with out it (the hook worked, whether years ago, or this gift-giving season?). If they can do things cloaked in the name of security, getting people to fear hacking and bad actors at the same time they are providing the hardware/software that is more intrusive than any one time break in and theft… why, they can continue to fleece people day in and day out, channeling their resources to support WAAS, Office, Cloud, planned obsolescence, and they will control how often, how much, and how they will suck their beta testers and other “customers” dry. After all, using the model of drug pushers hooking their customers, it is proven to work… and very profitable. Much more profitable than actually providing something that empowers customers, that could give them the choice to walk away, that someone could use for their own purposes and profit… just offer free something that feels and looks good so you can latch on and suck… I have all the respect for Microsoft that I have for a drug dealer… for the mistletoe that parasitically drains its host (and ask why people are kissing each other under where it hangs?).
I grieve… for my community that suffers as individual addicts are hooked… for the people around me that are attracted to the flashy “new and better” distractions… and who cannot walk away, any more than a street addict… from their supplier, named Microsoft. Their supplier has the fancy car, the stylish clothes, the support of Wall Street… so they must be the ones to hook up with… but look at their community… are the small businesses thriving, safe, productive and part of a healthy community?… or are they being ‘updated’ and manipulated and rebooted in ways that destroy their ability to provide value? Are individuals empowered, thriving, communicating, and sharing… or spending their time putting heavier bars on the windows and better, stronger locks on their doors?
There was a time that I never even new that my home had locks on the doors… because we never needed them. No neighbor would think of walking in without having been greeted and given permission first… and we were safe, safer than all the personal alarm systems and barred windows and security video could ever make us. BUT if there was a bad actor in the community, be assured that everyone would turn away from them, and if they tried to act out further, they would be soundly corrected… they weren’t allowed to walk in and out and take what they wanted at will. I’m curious, in this day and age, why people are worrying about limiting what times the bad actors walk in and out of their homes/computers, rather than totally giving them the boot…
And if you think that we were naive, or defenseless… think again… in her 90’s my grandma’s neighbors were all polite and respectful… but her shotgun had eliminated all the marauding coyotes and thieves… and more than once surprised those bent on random acts of vandalism and destruction… and the neighbors saw to it that they backed each other up, rather than running to pay off the local hoodlums to avoid being the next victim. And this old lady, following her grandmother’s example, scared the heck out of a would-be thief, sneaking up to steal from me in a parking lot… old…. with tremors… and difficulty walking… a ‘perfect’ victim who had the young, tall, able-bodied man backing up and apologizing and leaving with empty hands, and feeling more than a little sorry for himself… I never forget how to protect myself… I just don’t play fair (but what is fair about someone bigger and stronger trying to strong arm?) anymore…
I am grateful… for those that provide real value and choice… that seek to empower others in their community, to teach, to share, to support… that, when they are done, have made others stronger, safer, empowered to make their own choices… the parents, the teachers, the leaders that didn’t use others to make themselves richer, or more important, or have more status… but that strengthened and grew and enriched individuals and their communities… On-line, I find those kinds of people here, at the AskWoody Lounge. People willing to ask questions, seek answers, share solutions, support a variety of individual choices.
How different from that are those that say you, too, must fall in line with the power and control and authority of those bigger than you… allow the bullies to suck data at will, update and reboot at their pleasure, and pay for the privilege with prematurely outdated hardware and software… ‘rent’ (pay ransom for?) your software by the month or year… while any attempts to use it how and when it may suit you are disrupted, so that you are conditioned to accept their power and control… their say so over your lives… sheeple flock together and pretend to be safe and secure, while even accepting that HIPPA ‘protected’ data may be exposed and that it is not only ‘okay’ but necessary…
I grieve that I am old… that my hands and head shake… that pain envelops my body until I can’t think straight and must rest… but I refuse to volunteer to join the flock of sheeple to be be herded and fleeced by Microsoft… I thought, once, that Microsoft was a solid citizen, a company to be trusted… but now that they are acting no better than the local drug pusher, I will do what I can not to let them them into my home, my family, my community. My Windows 7 is still of use… but without telemetry… it doesn’t have diagtrack, or CompatTel (having avoided any updates related to them, in a clean install). It isn’t updating… (very stable and useful)… I still have awareness of, and accept the risk of, any malware that might be out there… but I’m not accepting Microsoft’s coercion, bullying, and control to ‘protect’ me from that stuff.
One more thing… once a bully or bad guy is identified, I don’t do business with them, as much as possible… I’m not ceding the neighborhood over to them, paying them off for protection, or meekly pretending they don’t exist… I want a strong and healthy community. I’m going to keep asking questions, learning, and making choices that benefit me… I will use what I have (waste not, want not) but I will not volunteer to be a victim, no matter how many ‘new’ and ‘better’ features they might come up with… At some time in the future, Microsoft may be able to offer value without hidden ‘hooks’ and IF they are able to be a good citizen, refrain from abusing power, invading privacy and personal boundaries at will, and otherwise show that they understand and respect what it is to be a good neighbor… and continue to act in that matter for as long as they have been a disruptive, power seeking parasite… well, then, maybe, I’ll purchase a product they offer.
I just don’t see it happening.
This may be a rant… but it is followed by action… and, no, I’m not turning to another gang leader/bully/mobster (Google) as a less vile option. It will take a lot of people to make that individual decision, for the ‘leaders’ to decide we need to go in that direction… but just like in my neighborhood, I don’t wait for cops to patrol and notice that a house has been broken in to… this is my neighborhood, my computer and operating system, and my choice… and I’ll be backing up any neighbor, to the best of my ability, as long as I can…
Funny thing is… there are no porch pirates or break ins or bullies setting up here… it just takes neighbors with similar values and willingness to step up and help others… Until IoT is ready to protect my home and community with the same dedication, respect, and ferocity as my grandmother protected hers, as I protect mine, and my children and grandchildren protect theirs… it will not be invited in.
Our cities and technologies may be riddled with thievery, addiction, and depravity, and laud those who prey on others, and fill social media (or even tech support sites) with those that coerce others to go along with it… but that doesn’t mean I have to accept it…
Non-techy Win 10 Pro and Linux Mint experimenter
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Grievance: Posters who write very lengthy posts. They can get very verbose.
For those that don’t like long replies, who want posts provided in short bits… who have been conditioned by advertising and media to not think, reason, question, and dispute… who already do not know what they have lost… I was going to say something spiffy and pointed…
Instead… I just grieve…
Non-techy Win 10 Pro and Linux Mint experimenter
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I’m one of those who is “guilty” of often writing very long posts (which I prefer to think of as delivering far more value for your non-dollar!).
I got into a debate on another site not long ago regarding Firefox and whether it was or was attempting to become a Chrome clone, where my opponent repeatedly dished out non-sequiturs, ad hominem attacks, proof surrogates, claims that his own opinions were “objective fact,” and other fallacies, but little or no actual information. I backed up my claims with reason and information, accompanied by a clear delineation between fact and opinion, and he told me that I was writing “novels” (accompanied by insults about how sane people don’t do that, of course) and that I should stop it or stop writing posts on the internet.
In a word, “No.”
I am verbose, but I am communicating a lot in my verbosity. I try to provide a high signal to noise ratio– there’s a lot of “stuff” packed into those words, if I have done my job correctly. Anything I wrote can and probably will be eventually found (perhaps years later!) by someone searching the web for the very topic I was writing about, even if I was just making a comment on Disqus. I try to make what I write as able to stand on its own as I can, so that present and future readers will have the context to know what I am really trying to say, and to know my thought process so that they can evaluate for themselves whether they agree with the conclusion or not. These things are probably of no use to people unaccustomed to critical thinking, but to those who do think critically, I think they’re essential.
If this means I get tl;dr’d sometimes, then so be it. I probably was not going to get anywhere in any kind of in-depth discussion with someone who grows bored after thirty seconds of reading. Complex, nuanced ideas don’t fit in Twitter-esque messages! Short attention spans are a problem of modern technology, not a design parameter for writing posts using technology.
Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)
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First — thanks Woody for this Festivus post — I do love the fun of Festivus for the Restivus!
As for my grievances:
I also am angry that the very technology that makes life easier is so fraught with lack of privacy and hacking etc. Add to that Facebook, Google, etc. etc. After all of the breaches it’s more than likely that everyone has had their privacy/ identity stolen. And once our identity is stolen the onus is on us to prove we are who we are.
I’m angry that it takes so much time and energy to try to be private and safe (look how hard we try to help each other on Woody’s) and that cat is probably totally out of that bag anyway!
I’m also angry when I see folks sitting next to each other and texting each other — or eating at a restaurant and being on their smart phones. Spoiler alert: I don’t text — at all — and have a plain flip phone. Therefore I am immune to the lure of texting and playing with a phone — I imagine folks who have these would have a hard time not using them.
Let me finish by saying how grateful I am to Woody et.al. for sharing and helping me when I had windows and now that I have my IMac I still get valuable advice here. I am sending my year-end monetary thanks to Ask Woody and look forward to the upcoming happy merger.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to all and to all a Good Night!
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Let me finish by saying how grateful I am to Woody et.al. for sharing and helping me when I had windows and now that I have my IMac I still get valuable advice here. I am sending my year-end monetary thanks to Ask Woody and look forward to the upcoming happy merger.
Hi Woody et.al. – I just saw today that my check was cashed. Will I be seeing the plus membership avatar on my pic?
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