It’s possible Putin asked for them as a little loyalty test, and a story to have in his back pocket.

I agree that it gets bogged down and needs a reinstall sometimes. But after I recently installed it on a new machine that also has Linux, Windows 11 still feels comparatively slow. I get the impression that even out of the box it has too much baggage and unoptimized code. Edge is fast though, and a perfectly good browser. Edge even runs on Linux too, which is surprising.

OpenSUSE Tumbleweed most of the time on the desktop, and some Debian and Ubuntu servers.

I use Windows a lot of the time, because I need to use several pieces of professional Windows software. But yes, I use Linux some of the time too, and I find it more relaxing.

Well, I used to be quite positive about Windows 11. The WSL thing is cool, being able to use bash and Linux tools. The hypervisor thing is cool, enabling fast virtual machines. And the styling is all round better than any previous Windows at least since Windows 7. But then I’ve had systems broken by updates more than once recently, everything feels slow, applications hang all the time, the Start menu still doesn’t work, even opening File Explorer leaves me wondering whether it noticed my mouse click, I have to fight it to create a local user account instead of a Microsoft account, fight it to avoid unwanted tracking, fight it to stop the ads popping up in all kinds of corners by running a network-wide DNS filter which reports huge amounts of requests to Microsoft telemetry domains, fight it to make sure file don’t end up in OneDrive, and it still can’t handle USB sticks reliably, it still steals focus constantly from wherever I’m typing, there are far too many services eating up resources, and so on.

It’s just constant low-level frustration that I just don’t have with other operating systems, because Microsoft has cut out QA and spent years prioritizing marketing strategies, gimmicks and cosmetics instead of improving the things that matter to users.

I’m getting heavily downvoted for even suggesting it’s worth reporting on what the President is doing. Either this sub is full of reactionaries, or people are terrified that saying anything negative about Biden will cause Trump to get elected. I’m as nervous as anyone else about Trump, but I think we should acknowledge that Biden has done harm with his staunch support for Israel over the last year. But maybe we can’t expect people to appreciate balance at this point in the election cycle when the stakes are so high.

And yet his supporters when polled say they like him because he’ll do the best at reducing the cost of living. They probably believe he will reduce their taxes. They live in an information vacuum and only listen to media that tells them lies. No amount of campaigning will overcome this, because it’s the dynamics of a cult, not a political debate.

It hasn’t been steadily downhill. There was a plunge downwards with Windows 8, then 8.1 recovered a little and 10 more, before Windows 11 undid the gains.

It would be nice to press these people on why they think that, though it’s probably just “that’s what I heard.”

It’s still worth reporting on what the President of the USA does, even when he’s not standing for re-election.

You know your bosses will be long gone. Look after yourself. If your workplace is under water they’ll have other things to worry about than your unplanned absence.

The strong win and the weak cry about injustice. Maybe next time they’ll not bombard Israel with rockets if the price tag is too high.

Spoken like a true fascist.

International phone calls are under surveillance and the data collected includes domestic calls. Agencies have been abusing this to monitor domestic calls since at least the 2000s.

Article from 2013: https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/surveillance-timeline

More recent: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/05/fbi-misused-foreign-surveillance-law-280k-times-to-snoop-on-people-in-the-us/

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/04/us-senate-and-biden-administration-shamefully-renew-and-expand-fisa-section-702-0?language=en

If he’s talking about the AI we have in any near future, it’s not figuring anything out. But I think he’s just saying whatever he can pull out of his ass to deflect attention from how his kind are the problem.

“I don’t wanna stop exploiting, so let’s just carry on. Maybe the magic machine will fix the problem somehow, who knows? Or maybe it won’t. I don’t really give a fuck as long as I get more money. But you guys are probably dumb enough to believe in the magic machine, seeing as how you’re poor, so I don’t really even need to try to disguise my bullshit.”

I’d be surprised if they haven’t already put in constraints to prevent it recommending we abolish capitalism.

I’ve never seen Eric Schmidt say anything that wasn’t utter idiocy. And he says a lot of things, and is always given a platform to say more, just because he’s rich.

It’s slightly different but no smarter.

Everyone is under surveillance all the time these days. There would have to be some very secure way for women to contact any organization trying to help without raising any flags that could be used to tip off the police. This would be a real challenge.