16.8.15

Moving to Windows 10, Politics, and Other Things


Some things that have been on my mind and in the news this week.  As well as some thoughts that are just generally related to my measly little life

Windows 10 Update:

Windows 10 will no doubt be a blight on the cultural landscape, as is the custom.  To do otherwise would be a far to strenuous a task for the drones Microsoft employs.  

The initial security concerns should have, and were for the most part, were expected by the community.  If you have a 'professional' -- which is a whole other conversation -- setting up your machine, don't be overly concerned -- you make the choice -- they make it work -- that is what you are paying for.  If you are setting up your machine; be especially concerned.(ie. lot's of reading required.) 

Technology changes. Expect this. Though Windows 10 won't be a huge change in the end, it doesn't add anything that I would say is significant other than Xbox and PC integration. (one source, though there are many: Search Much?)

So should you upgrade?  I guess, if you want.  If you don't, Windows 7 will be supported for a while yet.  Probably far longer than it should be in fact.  

Why is anyone talking about Donald Trump?

Getting beyond the hair, and just the general silliness of someone so transparently privileged being president: there is his lack of any sense of consideration for cultural, geographic or social differences, either in his comical attempts at speaking and certainly not when he is dreaming up policy.   Also, his obvious lack of any depth of knowledge in any particular area of study, Including, but certainly not limited to, business.  His complete lack of ability to utilize anything even closely resembling forethought when speaking in public or private, should --alone-- disqualify him from being president, in the mind of rational beings.  

Just because you know a bunch of lawyers, does not then mean you are making correct decision based on their advice; a deliberate and unabashed use of false authority to gain some level of political agency.  Anyone that has ever been faced with making legal decisions can tell you just how contrived and obtuse lawyers 'advice' can be.  Similarly: just because poor people work for you, does not then mean you understand the level and depth of their despair surrounding or have any insight on providing relief from their privation.  

Trump should be the new Hitler  of conversations.  Meaning: once someone mentions him in conversation it is a clear sign that nothing positive can further be extracted from its continuation. 

Oracle doesn't want your help.  Well yeah. 

First it is important to say that this isn't a person that is saying that they don't want help.  Not that I agree with her in the least -- though, in an attempt at full disclosure, I am not a fan of corporate cultures.  She is saying that she doesn't want bad help.  This should be an expected response from programmers in general.  It should be understood that she is talking about the license agreement, because that is the sort of thing you have to do as opposed to calling people stupid and useless, which to be fair, she does a bit of as well.  As per the community, she is supposed to be stating policy instead of calling people useless, which most of them are. 

As we have all come to know, in the tech industry, many times a bug is just the software highlighting someones stupidity.  

So she is saying some things that people may not like, but frankly, I am sure they get sent on a lot of wild goose chases, as well as the occasional real security hole.  Perhaps it may have been a smarter move, both technically and politically for her to focus her time on finding a solution to the problem on there end.  Where perhaps she could have employed a group of interns or created a lower-paid/entry-level position to monitor such traffic; filtering the noise.    

Though she choose the more aggressive approach, and it is hard not to stare and wonder if, at least in part, the response from the tech-public isn't more rooted in her being a woman, then it is in her being wrong.  

Often women get labeled as a bitch, just for stating a case.  Which essentially means that they are not being as approachable as is expected.  Which is clearly an admission that they should act in a way appropriate to their sex, which is clearly sexist.

It seems inappropriate not to mention that the people that often say such things just happen to be women.

I say this because it has been an awful harsh response when you consider how Apple, as a company and a culture, thinks about and acts toward their users and those that choose alternate directions.  Especially when it comes to reverse engineering, or in any way changing/adding-to/debugging their software.

This is also an argument that could be made about Nvidia, or Adobe as well.  I guess you can hold whatever opinions you want, as long as you do it in the right way, and your not a woman?   

Cutting the cord, kinda. 

Since I am moving, I am changing cable companies.  In doing this, I am cutting the proverbial cord.  Well kinda, but not really.  The TV that I do watch is all available through direct or third party services online, but this doesn't mean that I don't pay for it. I pay for cable to get access to it, although I don't watch it live.

I pay for the basic subscription, plus the internet access.  What I don't do is hook the TV up to the cable or box, other than using an antenna to get weather and emergency updates when needed.

The media center, basically a Linux box with some extra packages, is hooked up to the TV so that we can watch the handful of shows that we like and record those that we want to watch at some point(Usually well after the season and/or show itself has long ago ended.).  We get movies through a bunch of services.  Total, we probably have an expenditure of $65.00+/-$20.00 or so, per month for this, most of which $39.00 is the cost of the internet connection.  The rest is Amazon $38.00 per year, and HBO, $10.00 per month and the occasional movie rental($2-$7 or so.).   This is still rather expensive, based solely on my opinion, but I think it is the best that you can do and still get most of the live entertainment and TV shows that one would like from time to time. 

This works well for us, basically because we spend the majority of our time reading or doing something else that is more hands on (gaming, chess, model_building, etc) - so really the amount of time, and therefor need, is far less than some have grown accustomed to.  The only reason that I have TV services at all is because I like to be able to get access to a few shows, online, from the publisher or watch the occasional event(Olympics, football, rugby, bbc specials, and such.).  This it is fairly cheap and the least restrictive way of doing things, I've found. 

Especially since we are already paying the cost for the internet.  I don't have any real need for most live TV programming, especially since I don't take part in cable news but in only the most rare of circumstances. 

This has not been a smooth transition for the cable companies, mostly because they are losing shit tons of money.  Which, if you anything like me, the mere though of such a thing, just made you crack a smile.

I think they are starting to realize that  they can't stop the bleeding, no matter what they do.  Ultimately, the only step now, that should make sense to them from a profits and margins, is to slow the transition.  While they are trying to find new revenue streams and refine the current ones, they can make you pay a little more here and their to buffer their portfolios.  This won't be something that will scale well.  In fact, it is already starting to break down, since a lot of people, like me, are just starting to say that we just don't need it. 

They are reaching for relevancy right now.  A relevancy that is beginning to be all the more hard to find.  Not that this has not always been the case.  The suits are not particularly good at spotting something that will be popular with anyone other than their corny friends, who are almost by definition, not very popular -- even with those that like them.  

The door has been propped open for the amateur directors, DJ's, broadcasters, podcasters, artists, and makers.  Many have started stepping through it.  

Not to that we should forget about the professionals that have started their own, personal multimedia empires.  Like Adam Corolla, Dr. Drew, Joe Rogan, Marc Marion, Joey Diaz, and Ari Shaffir, just to name a few.  

These changes will likely have drastic effects on the spread of not only wealth, but also greatly affect the direction of the conversation in world.   We are in a time where a lot of people that didn't, and some that arguably shouldn't, have the ability to challenge the general consensus, and speak freely on the issues where their passions reside, now have that ability.  Almost at a level that is unchecked.  

So I would say that what entertainment that you choose, and the methods in which you choose to consume it, are equally important. 


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