- > ...it doesn't fit because it does not, in fact, serve the same purpose.
For many people and purposes, it does indeed serve the same purpose. I use it all the time for coding, which is still very tricky, and for writing emails. For writing emails in particular, it is already a life-changing technology. I have always wanted my own secretary to dictate and finalize various letters. But, for some reason, companies don't provide secretaries anymore. Now, I can finally have an LLM instead. I guess there's no discussion that a good secretary must have always been quite intelligent.
- > They also are actively decreasing the value by sunsetting Publisher in October 2026.
You have my sympathy. I was also a frequent MS Publisher user, and I always felt that not many people knew about it. It's a useful, simple DTP package suitable for many less complex page layout scenarios. After the End-of-Support announcement, I switched to the LibreOffice Draw already. Fortunately, LibreOffice Draw works quite nicely as a Publisher replacement for me. There is also Scribus [1].
- I think we can call LLMs artificial intelligence. They don't represent real intelligence. LLMs lack real-life experience, and so they cannot verify any information or claim by experiencing it with their own senses. However, "artificial intelligence" is a good name. Just as artificial grass is not real grass, it still makes sense to include "grass" in its name.
- > Cassettes suck hard.
Exactly. We need DAT Walkman back [1] [2].
[1]: https://www.dcaudiovisuel.com/product_info.php/products_id/1...
[2]: https://www.just-cassette.com/post/digital-audio-cassette-da...
- There are few more photos of this HW here [1] and [2]. Apparently a real HW already exists. Also, it seems there is a storage space inside the box [3] and that the keyboard is foldable..
[1]: https://www.pentagram.com/news/caligra-computers-for-experts
- Great story! At first, I got the impression that your dad was receiving a video stream directly from Voyager's signal. Of course, that would be technically impossible, since Voyager 1 requires approx. 70-meter radio telescopes and specialized equipment to obtain data.
So, what was the "satellite feed" mentioned in the story? Was it a regular TV broadcast, or something more internal distributed by NASA?
- This would help for sure. Ideally, the phone should stay in "expert mode" for a limited time only, like 1 hour.
However, there is still a danger that scammers will call after 12 hours, and they will be more convincing than educational material (or the user may not have read it).
- > Meta would have been better off doing like Telegram and just using Qt.
Qt would certainly be the better choice. However, since Meta already has a web version of the WhatsApp client, the WebView2 path was an easy and inexpensive option. After all, MS itself paved the way with Teams, Visual Studio Code, and Outlook.
- > "Never enable software installation if someone asks you..."
Imagine a situation in which a frightened, stressed user sees such a message on their screen. Meanwhile, a very convincing fake police officer or bank representative is telling them over the phone that they must ignore this message due to specific dangerous emergency situation to save the money in their bank account. Would the user realize at that moment that the message is right and the person on the phone is a thief? I'm not so sure.
- Apparently it didn't work last time, so why not try again with a more vague language, an expanded scope and even slapping the age verification on top of it? And all of this while still preserving our privacy.
This time, we should feel 100% completely reassured (from the proposal):
Regulation whilst still allowing for end-to-end encryption, nothing in this Regulation should be interpreted as prohibiting, weakening or circumventing, requiring to disable, or making end-to-end encryption impossible. - There is a link to github commit in the "Notes" section for each CVE [1].
[1]: https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/source-package/r...
- Related and useful (work in progress): Breaking changes in .NET 10 [1]
[1]: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/compatibility/...
- > I’ve had too many experiences with seeing decent contributions get worse and worse as they go through successive rounds of feedback.
This is a great observation. Having a PR feedback process that involves everyone commenting on every tiny decision is a guaranteed way to end up with "design by committee" syndrome. Everyone feels obligated to push their little agenda, no matter how insignificant it may be. The end result is what the original article tries to explain: When everyone is responsible for every PR, no one is really responsible for any PR. The quality and suitability of the code are not proportional to the volume of feedback the pull request receives. There is a sweet spot, and beyond that, quality and development velocity deteriorate quickly
- > ...that the rational market myth is dead.
Was there ever such myth? There is a quote attributed to John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946): "The markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent."
- From the article:
> Otherwise, please make sure you de-Apple, de-Google, and de-American Stack yourself when you have time, clarity, and focus to do it. Start today.
I don't understand the core of this advice. So if you're in the UK and do all the above, can you suddenly get similar E2EE cloud storage from a different provider without a UK government-mandated backdoor?
- > One day, some bacteria is going to figure out how to digest plastic.
The problem is that day may be millions of years away. It allegedly took nature several million years to evolve bacteria that can digest lignin and cellulose, allowing old fallen wood to decompose in the forest. Coal deposits are from an era when such bacteria were not present.
Even if we had such bacteria, they would only be able to digest plastic under certain conditions. Overall, plastic pollution is here to stay for a very long time.
- > ...the same happens with C++ runtime libraries
I don't think so. Upgrading to a newer major version of the C++ runtime essentially involves recompiling, unless you're dealing with an application that's 15 years or older. You can even instruct the compiler to use an older C++ standard if your code won't compile with the newer one. There is also an option to compile the runtime statically, though it is obviously not recommended.
.NET is a different story [1]
[1]: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/compatibility/...
- While I agree with most points, .NET or JRE introduce additional complexity that may not be welcome in every setting. I've worked for several companies where upgrading to a newer version of .NET was always a major pain point, especially for applications that weren't very actively developed. There is limited security support for each major .NET version, so at some point, you and your customers need to upgrade. Such problems are non-existent if you don't have a separate VM runtime dependency.
- > "adults smoke opium"
That's a bad comparison. The main reason for importing opium to Hong Kong at that time was to use it as a sedative drug. Smartphones, on the other hand, have many legitimate uses for every user. The addiction to social networks is not a primary motivation to sell smartphones.
> A smartphone is not at all needed to be a highly functioning adult.
It depends on your definition of "highly functioning." You probably also don't need a Google account, a tablet, a TV, books, or a Kindle to be a highly functioning adult. I guess I can just go on. Arguing this way is meaningless.
When your kid reports that 90% of the other kids in their classroom already have a smartphone, you either give your kid a smartphone or make them feel like a loser in their social group.
Besides, having a smartphone doesn't mean having access to social networks, the open internet, or the ability to install any application. It's up to parents to properly configure parental controls for the respective age group.
> Except for GPS directions, there is actually very very little actual need to use a smartphone.
It conveniently replaces many things, usually in a more secure way. For example, paying with a phone is more secure than paying with a plastic card. And most importantly, kids listen to music on their smartphones, just as I used a Walkman/Discman in the past.
There a nice Mozilla Manifesto explaining the Mozilla mission and their values [1].
Apparently, it's difficult to find a stable, independent, and effective revenue model for an open-source browser that is completely free as a product, should not contain shady ads or product promotions, does not sell user data, and always puts the user first.
This is especially difficult because there are other free browsers with a similar mission that don't need to incur the cost of developing their own web engine.
[1]: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/manifesto/