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As quoted by Alex:

“Examples of consumer harm from operating system self-preferencing

• Limited or frustrated choice – an operating system provider making it difficult
or impossible for a consumer to switch browsers ultimately removes their ability to choose for themselves. It also hampers existing competitors and deters
new products from entering the market and providing increased choice.
• Lower quality – where the monetary price for consumers is zero (as is the
case for browsers) providers might be expected to compete on quality. But
without effective competition from independent browsers, consumers may
receive products which are lower quality.s with what it calls “medical-grade” hearing enhancement.”
• Lower innovation – linked to quality is innovation. Consumers miss out on
developments (for example, improved features and functionality). And a reduced likelihood of disruptive innovation might be accompanied by reduced
choice for consumers.”

I imagine that operating systems could have built-in such limitations.
But I don’t know of any for computer users.
Maybe this is about some of those “iThings”?

I don’t get the “low quality” point.

I actually welcome less innovation these days, as it seems to come often from hyperactive people than just can’t leave well enough alone when it comes to many things, in this case browsers.
Because: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
(Wiser words have never been spoken as a colloquial common place.)
Or “improve” it, if it is already fit for purpose.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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wavy

PK: No, don’t do that, we’ll behave from now own. I swear.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
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JohnW

Microfix: “parity will be reached sometime next week”

And everybody will blame Charles, because that is one of the things he’s King for, right?

And: Wow! I had not even remotely realized how far down the $ <=> £ parity has gone!

Well, looking at it on the bright side, now at least the imported Mash and Bangers and Spotted Dick will be cheaper here.

One more thing to also look forward to, just as, on Monday, the very expensive NASA impactor vs. cheap (for free, actually) asteroid smash up.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

wavy, do you mean you can’t send a message to not just one, but to several people you have tried to send one?

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

Oh! I see the problem, his handle is unique, but there are others that start like his but have something at the end that makes them likely to be unique.

So, to avoid having trouble with PM, one should choose a handle with a hard-to-think ending. Myself and most people add numbers, letters or a mix of both after their names (which may not even be the real names, but are names nevertheless and, therefore, often also commonly used and so common words) to avoid that.

There seems to be no remedy, no “Tech” fix, other than for someone to let you know about either themselves, or someone else being in trouble sending PMs and then you taking the time to fix this. Sorry it is like that.

One possible workaround, though, might be to make mandatory the use of connected, not separate words and endings in handles, for example: Oscar_the_Mighty_Resident_Genius, not Oscar the Mighty  …

Not exactly super easy but, as with the Whale-swallowing, doing it over a reasonable period of time could make it easier.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

Susan: “Injecting more in the database occurred years ago and is not recent.”

Yes, that has to be the case.

The common practice is that when one new pseudonym is chosen by someone, it is taken and cannot be used by later comers. The system software sees to it. I am surprised that the one from WorldPress does not work like this.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

Susan, Good to know you are going to take care of this.

By the way, what I wrote was: “I have noticed just now that his handle, the one appearing in his comments, has been changed as well.”

Generally speaking, I agree that a lot has changed. Further up in this thread I mentioned “the swallowing of the Whale” (the moving of subscribers from “Windows Secrets” to “Ask Woody”) as one of the changes. A really big one; there have been other important ones, if not that big.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

JohnW quoted: “Crows Are Self-Aware and Capable of Analytical Thought.”

Too bad they are not commenting here, in AskWoody. We’ll never know what we are missing.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

Two relevant points come to mind:

(1) In, the case of Fred, I have always until now used “Fred” to address a PM message to him.
I have messaged him maybe twice this year, so this change in how to address him is recent. And I have noticed just now that his handle, the one appearing in his comments, has been changed as well. I exchanged email with him late last night, because he asked me what was going on, as he did know nothing about this. So he could not have authorized the change, because he had not heard about it.

So this has to be looked into and fixed. I know that this means dealing with WorldPress software, and that is too bad.

(2) The reason for having a handle, here and in any other public forum, is so one’s name remains private. The way to address people after the change mentioned in (1) is now much the same as requiring people to disclose their real names to others they know only by their handles — which in practice is the same as revealing one’s name to perfect strangers — so they can be contacted by them with PM.

The use of handles is not new: it goes back centuries and always have been used for the same reason outlined here. During the years before the American revolution, for example, the leading thinkers proposing a more liberal relationship with the Crown and eventually commenting in favor of the separatist option, such as Benjamin Franklin, published their opinions with handles that were the last names, or else the recognizable handles of the thinkers of the Enlightenment in Europe at the time. I think his was “Voltaire” (itself a handle). That might, with some luck, spare them also the real possibility of, at the very least, being charged with libeling the Crown and, at worst, of publishing subversive ideas and conspiracy, the penalty, depending on the judge, being a long term in prison at hard labor, or death.
Not to mention garden-variety harassment, including anonymous death threats.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

Susan, yes, you are right: I just tried that and it works. But this is perverse as all get out. Can anything be done to make the handle in the User Profile the same one used in PM, rather than to held a seance to ask the spirits of the wise ones dead? (And medium services don’t come cheap, you know?)

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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wavy

Still not working for Charlie in “New Message/TO:”, it’s the same problem as before there.

And with the other subscriber I found has the same problem too.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

How about Fred?

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

CyberSAR: Well, so I’m WordPress’ guess No. 5 eh? How many OscarCPs are here? Four? More than four? Whatever: I’ve never, until I first notice this problem trying to message Charlie, seen a list like you’ve seen now and the one shown in PK’s screenshots further up: I’d just enter in “TO:” the handle of the person I was messaging and then that name would appear in small letters below (I’d guess a drop list of one?) and I’ll click on that and move on to enter the “subject” and then write the message and then click “Send” and that was that. Easy peasy. But now with Charlie … (and at least one other).

But we’ll have to wait for Susan to get to it after she’s done enjoying the latest delight from MS she’s working on.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

Charlie: Yes, your message did get to me. I also replied. Something about “bears”?

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

I have been trying for sometime, on and off, to remember where I first heard the haunting theme of the dramatic background music in Akira Kurosawa’s “The Seven Samurai”, one of the movies great dramatic epics with one of the best battle sequences ever filmed.

Well, it is first heard right here, briefly being taken up by the oboe and the flute four minutes after the beginning of this truly electrifying performance of this work, later by the violins, and so on:

Jean Sibelius: Symphony No 1 in E minor, Op 39 – Orchestre de Paris, Paavo Järvi, conductor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCIw_4oJ4Gg

Compare to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ1TOratCTo

So: a giant of cinematography (who made famous adaptations of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” and “King Lear” to a Japanese historical context) and a giant of music (who wrote music with some of the most relentless earworms) both coming together in spite of time, distance and death: how perfect!

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV