Posts by Charles 9 16605 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009
"I'd rather hold off on my browsing or computing until I get home than to try to make it work on that tiny touch-screen with my big fat fingers."
Even if it meant missing out on a deal you need to research on the spot to find out if it's legit or not? There ARE times when you just can't wait (you snooze, you lose).
"When did playing some childish game become a reason for making a committal decision that could destroy your privacy and eventually cost you a lot of money?"
Some people play games for a living. Think professional gaming clans. If they need to earn their daily bread by competing in Overwatch, guess what that means for their rigs?
The problem is that Microsoft knows all the tricks.
- DNS blackholing won't help you because the most important ones are hardcoded into Microsoft's DNS API DLL, and the DLL for it is signed so it can't be replaced with a neutered version.
- As for blacklisting IPs, I heard they use the same IP and ports for the telemetry as they use for Windows Update, meaning if you block the telemetry, you ALSO block the security updates, leaving you a nasty choice: get tagged or get pwned?
"One fine commentard (Charles 9, I think) opined that the only way to ensure privacy is to become a Luddite. Well, only if you want absolute privacy, I think. This guy managed to maintain excellent privacy for 27 years, but they caught him at last. Isn't everything shades of gray and a matter of degrees? You can get "pretty good" privacy if you eschew a few things. And if you manage your usage, and don't need full-on shields-up privacy all the time."
Which actually shows privacy can't be shades of gray. It's black and white: all or nothing. Just one slip is all it takes to let the plods in and start unraveling everything.
Which means for many of us it's already too late. They're just holding the bombshells in reserve.
That still doesn't stop the telemetry that's built into the OS and cannot be turned off (not even at the DNS level because the DNS client hardcodes a number of domains). You really need an external safeguard to block that telemetry, and that's not assuming Microsoft potholes the telemetry into the same IP as Windows Update, meaning blocking the telemetry also blocks the security updates, leaving you in a dilemma: get tagged or get pwned?
"Interestingly you can get lists for firewalls specifically to block the domains used by Microsoft's data slurping - but not Google... double-standards on the part of the tech community or what?"
No, probably Google's using SNI and other tricks to pothole too many of their services onto the same IP address, meaning too much risk of collateral damage, which you already noted.
"The biggest problem is availability of software."
That's where Microsoft gets you. They've dominated the OS atmosphere for so long that most software has no viable substitutes outside Windows. Combine this with hardware ONLY supported in Windows and you've got the recipe for a captive market. Now they're trying to pull everyone into the repeat business of a subscription model, using all the Windows lockdown as hostages.
The "Scanning for Errors" notification has been there since XP. It indicates the drive wasn't cleanly unmounted the last time it was used, and that could've come from whatever last used it, some of which lack the facility to to properly unmount the drive. Windows installs can be instructed to treat highly-portable USB drives differently so you don't have this problem, at the cost of performance since it means Windows can't use advanced drive management on them.
Simple. They FULLY grasp the concept of a CAPTIVE MARKET, as most people are held hostage by their applications which have no acceptable substitutes. Especially people like enterprises with custom jobs (meaning jumping risks them going under in the attempt) or gamers (just compare the compatibility lists, especially for newer games; they simply DO NOT compare).
"Even one of the inveterate gamers I know is talking about installing Linux and is researching just what Windows games can be got to run on Linux via Steam/Wine/PlayOnLinux etc. as well as going dual-boot until they wean themselves off the games that just cant be got to work on Linux."
And he'll soon find out most of the games DON'T work well on Linux. Trust me, I looked. Especially the newer games like Fallout 4 and Overwatch. Bethesda swore off Linux, and all reports concerning Overwatch are listed as Garbage. And they are not alone. Otherwise, I'd have already jumped.
The way I see it, there are two obstacles to machines taking over every job at this time: dexterity and Uncanny Valley.
Some jobs require not just fine motor control but also simultaneous adaptability (such as a position where no two jobs are the same). The first problem is being worked on steadily with more articulate mechanics, but the second one goes to machine learning and will be more difficult to apply in a generic form.
And then there's the natural human instinctual desire to see a friendly face (we have pretty strong evidence this is instinct since the behavior is shown even in newborns). If a job requires (or even just highly recommends) a face-to-face interaction, then it'll naturally prefer a human in it to provide that face.
Thing was, the 20th Century still had room to grow (the population was a fraction of today and lots of resources were still being discovered), plus a couple major wars and a pandemic thinned the population and provided more space. Now, the circumstances are different. The post-war baby boom is coming home to roost, resources are trickier to get, and we haven't had an inequality of wealth of this scale since before the Black Death.
"If everyone can make what they want or need, then we are on the path to universal wealth."
That's assuming everyone CAN make what they want or need. Trouble is, in the future, many will lack the skills, the rest will lack the resources. Making things requires BOTH, and NEITHER are guaranteed, and there's no way the haves will EVER let the governments take their wealth away. They can either move or usurp the government, and if the proles rise up, call out the killer drones; if that doesn't work, nukes.
""They" will have to do nothing. It's up to the 7,000,000,000 individuals involved to make their own choices about what they feel like doing."
Oh? What about when it comes time to find a way to earn their daily bread and nothing's available? Kinda harsh to be telling 7 billion people, "You lose. Game Over. Better luck next life."
Plus, most people using the self check-out would probably qualify for the Express lane (if it was open and not running to the back). They scan a few things, pack up and go. A minute of effort to beat a wait of several minutes at the checkout is a win for them. And before you say hire more cashiers, that would raise the labor costs which would in turn be passed to the customer: another trade-off.
"Most people will just go to Walmart and buy their disposable crap products rather than spend a little more on something that will last 10 times longer."
The way things are, the more expensive things get abused more and end up wasted sooner. Cheap Walmart goods these days are being bought by penny-pinchers that eke out the most use out of their Chinese and secondhand goods. A bit like how Sam Vimes still preferred cardboard-sole boots (he liked the thin soles so he could orient himself by his feet).
Some things have intrinsic wealth, like land (especially arable land; we gotta EAT). The richest of the rich know this, which is why most of their assets get turned into real estate. It's not only the most stable asset out there, but because its value is constantly mutable, it's hard to tax.
"Even if that doesn't end up being the case you only need to look as far as countries like France & Russia to see what happens when the poor are pushed too far and for too long."
Problem is this time, the State has a lot more resources with which to control the population. Think why the proles don't rebel in Nineteen Eighty-Four. There's the carrot-and-stick approach. Distract them with bread and circuses, and if that doesn't work, bring out the nukes.
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