The Game Changed in Venezuela Last Night and the Media Is Asleep At the Switch - <AUTHOR> http://caracaschronicles.com/2014/02/20/the-game-changed/ <comment><USER2> > scan the press and find...Nothing.

Ah the old, "there's a conspiracy to suppress what my side thinks in the news".

Ten months ago, Maduro was elected president by the majority of the country.

Some of the opposition tried to create this spectacle ten months in. The whole point of staging a big spectacle blocking highways etc., with some rioting, is to get world headlines. This has been happening in Venezuela for over 16 years. If the country was really anti-Maduro, it wouldn't have voted for him ten months ago.

Also, it's not even like the opposition is united at all. It's completely factionalized, which is probably why it is out of power. It also reeks of that lazy, upper class, kind of slow and dumb Castillian Spanish aristocratic sense you sometimes find in Latin America. Like that man in the documentary "The Revolution will not be televised" who said "Watch your servants! They may be Chavistas!" Watch your servants, they may be Chavistas might as well be the slogan of the opposition. It's not something with much popular appeal, either in Venezuela, or even out.

<comment><USER3> I'm not addressing your post, or the situation in Venezuela at all, but:

> If the country was really anti-Maduro, it wouldn't have voted for him ten > months ago

Elections can be rigged. Votes can be bought. There always need to be more datapoints than _just_ that.

<comment><USER4> I can't fund much about the 2013 election, but Jimmy Carter had this to say about 2012: """ "As a matter of fact, of the 92 elections that we've monitored, I would say the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world," Mr. Carter said, noting the center's extensive work monitoring elections around the globe. """

<comment><USER5> Check out the media coverage table on pg 34.

"Comparing average coverage by private and state media outlets in Figures 1 and 2, we find imbalance in the tone of coverage among both but find it more pronounced among state media. On the one hand, in state-owned television, 95 percent of reporting was positive about Hugo Chávez, while in private outlets this number reached 48 percent." (pg34)

"...NGOs monitoring the campaign, such as Transparencia Venezuela and Grupo La Colina, have indicated broad use of government resources to support the Chávez campaign, such as vehicles to transport campaign workers and supporters to marches and also on voting day." (pg43)

"In the Venezuelan context, safeguards to prevent the abuses of ventajismo or to make violations of the law costly not just financially but politically, in terms of imposing sanctions against the perpetrating campaign, are crucially missing." (pg43)

[http://www.cartercenter.org/resources/pdfs/news/peace_public...](http://www.cartercenter.org/resources/pdfs/news/peace_publications/election_reports/venezuela-2012-election- study-mission-final-rpt.pdf)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> "International Media Is Asleep At the Switch", only this guy somehow manages to see the truth. Yeah, right.

Interesting so many people on hn seem to be jumping on this.

So I went back to his oldest blog entries to see what his general stance is and if his judgements merit consideration or are slanted, which can be better be judged with years of hindsight, judge for yourself:

"To my mind Chávez' hold on reality is so tenuous that he really does think that six million people poured onto the streets on April 13th to demand his return. And with a narcissist leader who's that cut-off from reality, political miscalculation is the order of the day."

He was hugely popular then, and stayed that way until his death, if polls, which actually have received praise from international observers, are an indication. Chavez not only had the absolute majority behind him, they actually supported him.

Just compare Venezuela's voter turnout with that in your own country. Wikipedia says about Venezuela's 2012 election:

"The elections showed a historically high turnout, above 80% of the electorate, in a country where voting is not mandatory"

</comment><comment><USER7> The challenges here are threefold:

1) Trying to get reliable information out of a country.

2) Trying to figure out if it will drive "page views" or "viewership" or anything that pays the bills at the "media" center.

3) Creating a credible narrative around 'justice' in the face of massive injustice.

That is why "global warming, you may die tomorrow" is a more important story than "far away government is repressing its own civilians."

FWIW: The Economist has covered Venezuela ([http://www.economist.com/search/gcs?ss=venezuela#masthead&gs...](http://www.economist.com/search/gcs?ss=venezuela#masthead&gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=venezuela&gsc.page=1)) but even it doesn't provide breaking news coverage.

</comment><comment><USER8> "Let me put this clearly. Y'all need to step it up. The time to discard what you thought you knew about the way things work in Venezuela is now."

Done. But I didn't really know how things worked there before either.

<comment><USER9> i posted this in another thread, but just as it slipped off front page.

[http://feministing.com/2014/02/20/toward-a-nuanced- feminist-...](http://feministing.com/2014/02/20/toward-a-nuanced-feminist- discussion-on-venezuela/)

it's a good description of what's happening (i know this is HN, and anything with "feminist" causes a shitstorm, but really it's just a very careful first person account that tries to explain all sides, so please skip the title).

but that was written before whatever happened today/last night.

<comment><USER10> Another brutal communist dictatorship. Why is it that some people think this one will somehow be different? It's always always always the same.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> The AP has a story out now:

[http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/02/20/world/americas/ap...](http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/02/20/world/americas/ap- lt-venezuela-protests.html?ref=americas)

EDIT: I googled to find the AP story, but I just now stumbled onto another article during my normal aimless coffee-break web surfing. So I think the story is picking up steam.

[http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2...](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2014/02/nicolas_maduro_s_venezuela_erupts_in_violence_the_venezuelan_president_appears.html)

</comment><comment><USER12> Just had an interesting thought when reading this article.

What if tomorrow, something similar happened in the U.S.? That is, what if government "forces" swept into a major city or cities and began arresting people on suspicion of terrorism, then sweeping them off to unknown locations? Simultaneously, what if drone strikes were called in on other "suspects"?

What in our current laws (or interpretation thereof) would prevent this or protect those who were targeted? The question may sound rhetorical or like hyperbole, but I mean this seriously: is a FISA court the only thing standing between us and such a potential reality?

</comment><comment><USER13> Increasingly, I predict that we'll see more and more of these unreported incidents worldwide, especially as corporate media becomes more and more consolidated. Thankfully there are alternative news outlets that are available if you dig. Accurate or not.

[http://www.alternet.org/world/washington-tries-regime- change...](http://www.alternet.org/world/washington-tries-regime-change- venezuela)

The lesson that this reinforces is that we can not rely on the media for the news. If ever we could.

<comment><USER14> Well, any US conspiracies seems like a waste of money, since the Venezuelan government seems to do the impossible -- running an oil country into the ground.

(But lots of people will be certain that all of that comes from _more_ conspiracies from the US. :-) )

<comment><USER15> > since the Venezuelan government seems to do the impossible -- running an oil > country into the ground.

Most oil countries are badly run; and whatever you think of Hugo Chavez and his party, Venezuela was already at least halfway into the ground before they came along, tbqfh.

<comment><USER14> Are there really other oil countries that have a hard time to even get credit?

And then there are the large social problems? A command economy that kills local business might be common, but the size must be worse in Venezuela? Etc.

To close the opposition media and using the TV is quite standard in places like that. But as much as in Venezuela?

(Libya and possibly Iraq has problems from violence and Iran has sanctions. They are a bit special cases.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> The good question for me is:

what would YOU do if this was happening in your city? What choices does the unorganized and disarmed people have against a massive State with an army and policemen?

<comment><USER17> Take pictures of the policemen while they are murdering/raping/ransacking. Be very careful that their faces show up as clearly as possible.

Then print 100's of copies and drop them at _their_ children's school, at _their_ neighbors' mailboxes, at the church they attend and the gym where they train.

Let them explain how a regular day at daddy's office looks like to the people they actually care about.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> What are the press companies outside of the USA saying? Are they just as disinterested?

<comment><USER19> In Brazil there was some notice, deep on the international sections of the written papers. I don't know about television.

<comment><USER20> Brazil television is covering.. saying the opposition is in prison (for a bunch of fabricated crimes) and that there are shooting at people.. like the girl that was a beauty queen and was shot as a example.. in cable TV GloboNews there was a special today.. all about the protests.. with journalists from Brazil, there in Caracas.. didnt see it..

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> [http://lab.org.uk/venezuela-–-student- protests](http://lab.org.uk/venezuela-–-student-protests)

[http://lab.org.uk/venezuela-violent-demonstrations-and- the-m...](http://lab.org.uk/venezuela-violent-demonstrations-and-the-media)

Not claiming these are unbiased sources, because they aren't (especially the second link). But even so, they can provide a good balance regarding what most western media (NY Times, CNN, Guardian, etc) reports (and omits from those reports).

Some more and again, don't claim they are unbiased, but it's good to balance the coverage and these say a lot that isn't said in other places):

"What's going on in Venezuela?" \-- [http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10381](http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10381)

"Venezuelan Government Reiterates Calls For Dialogue With Opposition" \- [http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10379](http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10379)

[http://www.reddit.com/r/socialism/comments/1xt9pf/venezuela_...](http://www.reddit.com/r/socialism/comments/1xt9pf/venezuela_rightwing_provokes_violence_in_timeworn/cfeevit)

And regarding the general situation (not current events necessarily:

"Despite Shortages, Venezuelans Are Eating Better Statistics Say" \- [http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/7632](http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/7632)

"The Pros and Cons of Venezuela's Currency Controls" \- [http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10317](http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10317)

"Could smuggling be to blame for Venezuela's food shortages?" \- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin- america-23885377](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23885377) (small examples: [http://pastebin.com/BFHKHdCG](http://pastebin.com/BFHKHdCG) )

Regarding crime, read about the Policia Nacional Bolivariana, who controls the local polices, who is the Governor of the State of Miranda and which force controls most boroughs (Municipios) in Caracas and that in general, they refuse the that the Policia Nacional Bolivariana to act and prefer instead to keep their mostly corrupt police force (understand that they see it as another way for the Government to have more control, but the truth is the PNB reduces crime, you can read more here, but also other places - [http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/Latin-America- Monito...](http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/Latin-America- Monitor/2013/0215/How-does-Venezuela-s-police-reform-measure-up))

Also, note that before Chavez, most foreign oil companies were paying 1-17% royalties, after 20-30% ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_policy_of_Venezuela#Deve...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_policy_of_Venezuela#Development_of_energy_policies)) and that most of the oil profits go into housing, social, education, security and infrastructure (power plants - fixed and movable -, roads, ports, railways).

Just another thing, believe that according to Article 72 of the Venezuelan Constitution, after the middle of the Presidential mandate, if 20% of the voters sign a petition, recall elections are scheduled. This has happened in 2004.

Not claiming there aren't any problems, there certainly are. Not claiming I'm a fan of the style the Government adopt, I'm not. However we've all seen in the past what happens to democratically elected Governments when they don't play ball with US companies, and Latin America knows this more than anyone (but also Iran back in the first independence days, before the Shah...).

My thoughts to the innocents that are caught in the crossfire and have their peaceful demonstrations hijacked by extremists. Hopefully Venezuela can overcome all current issues, become a better country and not go back to the almost oligarchic past of poverty (which none of the wealthy opposition ever tried to change) but not become a dictatorship. In summary, a place where people of all political quadrants can live and let others live.</comment>


First Malicious Use of 'Master Key' Android Vulnerability Discovered - <AUTHOR> http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/first-malicious-use-master-key-android-vulnerability-discovered

<comment><USER2> Useless self marketing report.

The bug is useless unless you target a specific carrier deployed app with the right permissions. No mention what allowed the exploit to happen. this is more important to know than that there are exploits in the wild.

And the fact that Google should just be checking for the existence of one single file on the packages and it still missed it and allowed (a cloned one no less) app to show in the market is inexcusable.</comment>


Edward Snowden's Email Provider Shuts Down Amid Secret Court Battle - <AUTHOR> http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/08/lavabit-snowden/

<comment><USER2> "Court records show that, in June, Lavabit complied with a routine search warrant targeting a child pornography suspect in a federal case in Maryland. That suggests that Levison isn't a privacy absolutist. Whatever compelled him to shut down now must have been exceptional."

Wow. Now I'm even more interested at what the NSL/court order was looking for here.

<comment><USER3> I will put dollars to donuts they were after Snowden's contact list. They want to know about his deadman's switch, who holds the keys, and who they have to squeeze to defuse that particular landline.

<comment><USER4> They're not asking for any particular information that lavabit has now. If they were, shutting down wouldn't be a solution to not handing it over. They are asking for additional access going forward.

<comment><USER3> I know, but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that Snowden may be in contact with people that his pursuers are not yet aware of. Tapping his communications would give them a much larger attack surface.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> TL,DR: "This experience has taught me one very important lesson: without congressional action or a strong judicial precedent, I would _strongly_ recommend against anyone trusting their private data to a company with physical ties to the United States."

<comment><USER6> If this is happening in the USA with its famous constitution, then well, I think the end of this statement can be easily converted just to _any_country_.

<comment><USER7> What makes the American Constitution exceptional is not its content but the fact that it was written in the late 18th century. In the intervening two centuries, several other industrialized liberal democracies have adopted constitutions that are broader and more inclusive than the Bill of Rights.

<comment><USER8> There are very few countries with as broad a constitutional protection for speech as the United States.

The problem now is that we have a government which has discovered effective work arounds for those protections. The government can pressure intermediaries who don't have the right incentives to vigorously defend their users by going to court, and then the actual targets of First Amendment violations never encounter a court proceeding in which to raise a constitutional defense, they just get cut off by the "private" service provider. The government can try to gag everyone involved so that, again, the people whose privacy or right to anonymous speech is invaded are never told and so they can't challenge the constitutionality of the invasion.

If any of this could be challenged in a public court proceeding there is a good chance the courts would find it unconstitutional. That's why they're twisting themselves into such contortions to make sure that never happens.

<comment><USER9> With "Parallel Construction", we see an explicit attempt to avoid Judicial Review, with the DEA mysteriously dropping charges whenever a case goes to court. Which is bad, as we've now trusted the constitution entirely to Judicial Review - congress has washed their hands of a responsibility to uphold it.

I suppose you could argue that the DEA knows it's unconstitutional and is willfully violating, and that raises even more troubling questions.

I also wish the constitutionality of FISC court itself could be challenged, as I think it clearly doesn't fall under article 3. But I have no idea how this would be done.

Some countries, like Germany, have Supreme Courts with more interventionist abilities, and more recourse against willful violations.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> So for those of you wondering about Jury nullification, the way it would work in this case is that Levison would reveal that the NSA was hounding him with NSL letters, they would charge him with violating the terms of the NSL and the jury would acquit him anyway.

I hope we can get a case like that to move that aspect of the conversation forward. It helped get bad laws off the books in the civil rights cases and it would help here.

<comment><USER11> Who would risk their own life to do that for "the good of many"? People like Snowden are exceptions, not a rule, because the guns are out there pointed to everyone. Why don't we instead of asking individual heroes to fight a killing machine called "the state", do that:

1\. Acknowledge the evil of the state. 2\. Find practical non-violent ways to boycott it. E.g. blacklist personally everyone involved in violent aggression. Switch off USD to Bitcoin. Expose violence of the state consistently in every relevant circumstance etc.

<comment><USER12> I doubt, even in our current situation, that Jury members would become targets if they refused to convict.

<comment><USER13> It would never get that far. The "jury selection" process weeds out average people and leaves only the most boring, dumb, and/or untruthful jurors.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Extensive discussion here: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6181081](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6181081) and here [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6180846](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6180846).

</comment><comment><USER15> Distributed cryptography/services in multiple jurisdictions is the only permanent solution or as a delaying tactic at a minimum. Where keys or parts of data or multiple onion style encryption rests in a chain of services distributed globally in multiple jurisdictions. Something like the Ceph file system but for everything.

<comment><USER16> Sounds like anonymous remailers to me. Unfortunately it is impractical to run a remailer in many countries, the USA included, because of the approach law enforcement agencies take to remailers (basically, "attack the datacenter with a team of soldiers").

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> So, since HN is filled with smart engineers, how should one build a sustainable, fully encrypted email service untouchable by the Feds?

<comment><USER16> It already exists. Use PGP, send messages through anonymous remailers. If you cannot use anonymous remailers, post messages to Usenet in alt.anonymous.messages using Tor. If not Tor, then via a proxy server. If none of the above, just make sure you are not doing it from your house. If even that is impossible, know that traffic analysis will be possible.

Why is this something that needs to be repeated to the technically skilled people on HN?

<comment><USER18> Tor is funded directly by the US govt. Something like 60-80% of their annual million-dollar budget.

Maybe being superstitious isn't helpful, but in this instance, I'm not so sure Tor is able to be relied on.

A proxy server won't work for the same reason a personal server wouldn't work. It's tied to you eventually, either through a paper trail or a packet trail.

Oh, and drop the condescending attitude, okay?

<comment><USER16> "Maybe being superstitious isn't helpful, but in this instance, I'm not so sure Tor is able to be relied on."

Tor has been analyzed extensively by cryptographers and security researchers; there is literally a mountain of published research about it. It is operated by an independent organization. I would be more cautious about the Linux kernel, a vastly larger codebase that could and probably does have numerous back doors, than about Tor.

"A proxy server won't work for the same reason a personal server wouldn't work. It's tied to you eventually, either through a paper trail or a packet trail."

Which is why it is below anonymous remailers and Tor on my list. Proxy servers are better than nothing at all.

<comment><USER18> _Tor has been analyzed extensively by cryptographers and security researchers; there is literally a mountain of published research about it._

And that research says that if an entry node and an exit node are both under control of an adversary, then that adversary can deannonymize the target.

I don't know enough about it, but I know that deannonymizing someone is a matter of resources, not a matter of ability. And the USG has a _lot_ of resources.

<comment><USER19> Much in the same way that communicating insecurely with 90% of your contacts is not going to help PGP keep your emails encrypted, requesting sites from outside of the tor network is not going to help keep your internet usage anonymous. It's a problem of behavior and adoption rate

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> If you are looking for an alternative to Lavabit, try RiseUp [1].

There is a nice read in their "About Us" page [2]

[1] - [https://riseup.net/en](https://riseup.net/en)

[2] - [https://help.riseup.net/en/about-us](https://help.riseup.net/en/about- us)

Added:

Though, it is based in Seattle, so what happened to Lavabit can happen to them too, unfortuneately.

<comment><USER20> There's also [https://mykolab.com](https://mykolab.com) hosted in Switzerland. What's more: It is 100% Open Source, so you can host it yourself decentrally.

<comment><USER2> And you probably should, if you want to maximize your legal protections against governments where third-party access to your data gives the government easier access to your data.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> So what happens if this guy starts telling people what happened in that courtroom? He gets arrested? What happened to freedom of speech?

<comment><USER22> It has been passed over in favor of fighting the terrorist boogieman.

<comment><USER23> ... Harry Wayne Casey?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> " _after_ secret court battle"?

I got the impression the court battle hasn't started yet over this. Or is he talking about that child porn subpoena? But the headline is confusing.

<comment> grey-area His letter states that he has already made representations twice to the authorities (the FISA court?), but is obliged to keep those secret:

 _As things currently stand, I cannot share my experiences over the last six weeks, even though I have twice made the appropriate requests._

[https://lavabit.com/](https://lavabit.com/)

<comment><USER25> > His letter states that he has already made representations twice to the > authorities (the FISA court?)

A Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order wouldn't be appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, it would be appealed to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review and from there to the US Supreme Court; from the context, then, its likely either a District Court under the Fourth Circuit or the Fourth Circuit itself (possibly both, given the "twice made the appropriate requests") to which application has been made.

Which would make sense if Snowden was targetted, since he is a US person, and an order for surveillance targetting him would go through the regular District Courts, not the FISC/FISCR.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> Do not use webapps.</comment>


World's fastest computer find chemicals that can stop Coronavirus from spreading - <AUTHOR> https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/19/us/fastest-supercomputer-coronavirus-scn-trnd/index.html <comment><AUTHOR> Paper: [https://chemrxiv.org/articles/Repurposing_Therapeutics_for_t...](https://chemrxiv.org/articles/Repurposing_Therapeutics_for_the_Wuhan_Coronavirus_nCov-2019_Supercomputer- Based_Docking_to_the_Viral_S_Protein_and_Human_ACE2_Interface/11871402/3)</comment>


Finger extension for large phone screens - <AUTHOR> http://www.thanko.jp/sp/product/5154.html

<comment><USER2> [http://i.imgur.com/a9ckvXP.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/a9ckvXP.jpg)</comment>


Rejected by YC? This VC anti-portfolio will give you perspective. - <AUTHOR> http://www.bvp.com/portfolio/antiportfolio#

<comment><USER2> We received rejection email from YC last night and we think we knew the reason for it. We will put together a better presentation for the coming batch.</comment>


Interview with Stephen Lake, Co-Founder of Thalmic Labs (YC W13) - <AUTHOR> https://www.shoplocket.com/blueprint/thalmic <comment><USER2> _"Something is going on in Waterloo," says Y Combinator founder Paul Graham, "because the applications we get from Waterloo students are better than those we get from students of any other university."_ [1]

So it begins...

1\. [http://www.fastcompany.com/3004344/rims-mike-lazaridis- takes...](http://www.fastcompany.com/3004344/rims-mike-lazaridis-takes- quantum-leap-faith-waterloo)

</comment><comment><USER3> One unstated, but probably critically important, point in the article is the teams' work ethic. There was a thread on HN and I believe it was one of the YC partners or founders saying that these guys barely slept. They really demanded a lot out of themselves and were all accountable. To go from concept to a large round of funding in such short time probably speaks more to their relentless work ethic than anything. And it probably wasn't just hard work, but also working smart. Hope I can one day be on a team like that.

I'll also add that I absolutely love the product, it has so much potential for future applications. And the market for it is essentially everyone IMO.

<comment><USER4> This is one of those projects that probably made it really easy to keep working and get up in the morning to work on. Amazing product and very clean/stylish. Definitely one of the most exciting YC companies. The evolution pictures on their site really look great. Clearly one of the most exciting wearable projects out there.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is a really neat idea, one thing that I've always disliked about gloves and other input devices is how intrusive they are, this is very well packaged and un-obtrusive.

Can't wait to play with one.

</comment><comment><USER6> I m sure,these 12 months were preceded by lot of hard work and sacrifices. Success doesn't happen overnight. It often arrives, when market timing meets intense preparations.

</comment><comment><USER7> Just a quick thank you to Katherine Hague of Shoplocket for putting together the interview. Her team has a great sense of design and has been a huge supporter of hardware startups and kick starter projects in particular.

She tells me that she has a great lineup of other founders for the upcoming installments. Looking forward to it!

</comment><comment><USER8> This style of advertising never gets boring no matter how many startups do it.

</comment><comment><USER9> This site is super annoying.

<comment><USER10> Really? I love the design. What don't you like about it?

<comment><USER9> I didn't like the rollover Q/A. The tiles were absolutely huge, but then again I'm on a 2560x1600 monitor. Also the image at the top takes up most of my screen and is kinda creepy. Looks more reasonable on my phone however.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Beautiful design. Great work Shoplocket!</comment>


Windows Now Showing Full-Screen Ads - <AUTHOR> http://www.howtogeek.com/243263/how-to-disable-ads-on-your-windows-10-lock-screen/ <comment><USER2> With Windows 10 doing things like this, and Windows 7 being aggressively deprecated, I decided I finally wanted to ditch Windows as my daily driver. It was good timing, then, that I watched the "7 Gamers 1 CPU" video from LinuxTechTips, which showed me how to do it without sacrificing gaming.

Most everything I use runs in Linux, and for the few things that don't I can spin up a VM. But there's the caveat that is as old as Windows itself ... gaming. Dual booting isn't an option for me, because I tend to run various server VMs 24/7\. I also didn't want a second tower just for Windows; that's non-ideal. But wait! Apparently modern CPUs have this fancy thing called IOMMU I never knew about, which lets you give direct access to PCI-E devices, like GPUs, to a VM.

So I bought up a 5820K, a X99 motherboard, and an extra graphics card, and away I went. I now have Arch Linux running as the host system where I do all my work. Windows 10 sits in a VM where it's given direct and exclusive access to a GTX 970 for graphics. So far, things are working well and Windows runs the benchmark apps just fine.

The end result is that I can use Linux as my daily driver, but flip over to my Windows VM whenever I want to game. It keeps Windows isolated, which is great from a privacy/security perspective, I don't have to dual-boot, and best of all I can spin up different VMs if I want to use the beastly GTX 970 for other work like machine learning. Thanks to using the 5820K which has a few Xeon features in it, the entire process when smoothly. The biggest caveat is I haven't found a DisplayPort switch yet, so I can't hook up the Windows VM to my primary Cinema monitor, and I haven't nailed down the mouse+keyboard thing yet. QEMU's virtual mouse+keyboard doesn't normally work with these kinds of VMs, so you have to hack it in, and even then it likes to randomly stop working. I could just grab a second set of physical mouse+keyboard but that's not ideal. Steam Steaming will probably be the best option for now.

<comment><USER3> Have you considered: you don't really need to play video games anyway

<comment><USER4> You don't really _need_ to do anything that doesn't provide for your economic well-being. Some things a just for fun and that's great!

<comment><USER5> You don't _need_ to provide for your economic well-being either.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Seems like the only way people want to make money these days is through invasive advertising without the end-user's explicit consent. Granted the expectation of free software is driving most of this, but it starts a vicious cycle because those who get annoyed with them develop countermeasures, which the creator responds to with more aggressive ads, ad infinitum.

It does start explaining some of the highly controversial telemetry MS was collecting in Win10 - turning everyone's PCs into billboards.

<comment><USER7> People want free. Things aren't free. But people want free, so let's give them "free" and monetize them indirectly with surveillance, invasive advertising, etc.

The entire Internet has gone down this road since it's _very_ hard to compete with someone who is giving something away for "free" (note quotes). Free has given us George Orwell's bidirectional it-watches-you TV set.

<comment><USER8> I want a fully supported OS that will see upgrades. I'm willing to pay. I guess that means OSX or Linux for the forseeable future.

I used to think PCs that were sold had some vendor bloatware, but now the OS itself is bloatware.

Were Stallman & Torvalds simply precient for their viewpoints 20+ years ago?

<comment><USER9> What's the difference between OSX and Windows, in your mind? It's even more "free" than Windows is, since you can't buy it separately and all OS updates for the last few versions have been free.

<comment><USER8> Telemetry: [http://arstechnica.com/information- technology/2015/08/even-w...](http://arstechnica.com/information- technology/2015/08/even-when-told-not-to-windows-10-just-cant-stop-talking-to- microsoft/)

Can't disable unless it's Win10 Enterprise or Education editions (does any PC sold come with Win10 enterprise or education editions)?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Microsoft added the Spotlight feature last year, and this is pretty much exactly what it was billed as: if you don't have a lock screen image of your own, you get random wallpaper images from Bing, and also occasional app offers and tips. You can upvote/downvote the offers to personalize the suggestions in the future. It's an app discovery mechanism, and you can turn it off by picking your own lock screen image. I don't know why it's only in the news now. This isn't the first time wallpapers for an app have been in the rotation.

<comment><USER11> Amazon Kindle does the exact same thing with their "Special Offers"

<comment><USER12> Only on the Kindle With Special Offers which is priced lower than the standard Kindle. A way more upfront approach. It's literally in the title of the product that you are purchasing something with advertising on the lock screen.

<comment><USER13> > Only on the Kindle With Special Offers which is priced lower than the > standard Kindle.

There is also advertising on-by-default on the full-priced Kindles, but they call it 'Recommended Content' . It takes-up a chunk of the home screen.

Easy enough to disable but it's still advertising.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Does anyone find it unpleasant how these new OSs are increasingly embedding online content everywhere, presumably opening many network connections and using bandwidth while increasing attack area unnecessarily? The start screen tiles in Win8, which continue into Win10's start menu, are the most obvious example here.

It isn't that I hate the Internet or anything like that; I've certainly spent long hours online visiting various sites. Nonetheless, the idea of some parts of the OS that --- by default and with no explicit action of the user --- at some undisclosed time, reaching out somewhere to some server that I have no idea of, and retrieving content to be rendered on my machine, just doesn't feel right to me. If some of that "promiscuity" resulted in malware being installed, it would be extremely difficult to determine the cause; according to the list in [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10053622](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10053622) , Windows 10 by default contacts a rather large list of domains, many of which are third-party and not even Microsoft-controlled.

As I write this post I have a total of _one_ network connection from my machine, an IM client; and at all times I am aware of what connections it's making, and which processes are doing it, so there is nothing unaccounted for. That's the way I like it --- my machine does not "talk to strangers" without me being unaware.

<comment><USER15> Yes! As Windows moves closer to an ad-supported model it's only going to get worse. All the bloatware was bad enough, adware is taking the abuse of OS users to a new level.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> I was shocked and very worried when ads for Microsoft Office started popping up in the Action Center (10's centralized notification area) last year. When I wrote about my concerns on a Windows forum, most pf the responses were along the lines of, "why are you complaining, Windows 10 is free." If people no longer feel that they own their operating systems, then there is no check on Microsoft's behavior. Inevitably, ads will become personalized and telemetry that Microsoft now uses to improve the operating system will be used to improve ads. The challenges to privacy that we currently experience online will expand to the desktop.

<comment><USER17> What is the harm done? Of course you don't "own" your operating system. You also paid nothing for it. I also struggle to grasp the double standard of why Google, Facebook, et al are able to endlessly track and personalize ads, but when Microsoft follows a similar model, there is outrage.

<comment><USER6> The argument that Win10 is free won't hold for much longer, it's only 'free' if you upgrade from Win7 or 8. It's already being sold retail in stores for a similar price to the old versions. And from later this year, people will have to pay for upgrades too.

On the flipside, you don't "own" your software anyway, you own a license to use it (EULA).

The double-standard probably has something to do with the ability to block most of Google's ads and tracking, or use another search platform if you really want. This is the OS on top of which you'll be using all of your other software (web platforms included), and it's impossible to control what is going on in the background.

<comment><USER18> While I agree with the difference, it should still be possible to block these types of ads with some kind of firewall. Unless the OS is blocking the blocking at a lower level (which I'd be VERY surprised by), something like Privoxy and using that as the system proxy for http[s] should be able to knock these out if they're loaded dynamically. I haven't tested this, so it would require some inspection and network monitoring to figure out what's serving these. Some hosts file entries may even be enough.

<comment><USER19> I think that's different because you are subverted the OS's attempts to advertise to you. Most people are not willing to go to this level. Changing search engines is not subverting Google, it's just not using their product.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> I really don't like this direction that MS is heading. I'd rather they charger for Windows 10 and newer and not start bundling software and pushing ads by default.

Also, fuck buying games off the Windows store, Steam and any other service that locks you into DRM. My steam client in Linux is hopelessly broken due to updates. Some of my games will still play, but most require the stupid Steam DRM layer. I should have bought them off Humble instead.

<comment><USER21> I'm in the same boat. Steam was DESTROYING my PC for a long time. I couldn't figure out what it was and finally tracked the random spikes and focus losses to Steam's update service being corrupt. Re-installing Steam means uninstalling everything you've downloaded with steam, possibly losing save games and stuff like that, then having to wait for everything to re-download and install. There are ways around it, which I found later but I had already screwed up half of my downloaded games because I had assumed that I would be able to just do a uninstall-reinstall on it without losing all of my stuff. Total garbage. I will definitely not be using anything like steam, in the future, if I have any choice in the matter.

<comment><USER22> Sorry you got burned, but I installed a whole new primary drive and didn't have to reinstall all my games. There's also a backup feature that you didn't use.

Games have also generally always put their saves in your documents folder.

I appreciate it might have been an easy assumption to make, but it's even right there in google searches instant answer thing[1] so it must be a common question.

It obviously caused you a lot of hassle but steam's wildly popular and mainly loved, not total garbage. I'm really only commentating to make it clear to non-steam users that this poster has a minority opinion on the service, it's been years since there was any wide user dissatisfaction in steam (mainly when it first came out).

They even recently added a no-questions-asked refund system if you bought a game in the last 2 weeks and have played the game less than 2 hours[1].

[1][https://www.google.com/search?q=does+uninstalling+steam+dele...](https://www.google.com/search?q=does+uninstalling+steam+delete+games) [2][http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/](http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/)

<comment><USER23> > Games have also generally always put their saves in your documents folder.

Many games do, but there are still plenty that put them elsewhere. You probably want to use something like Gamesave Manager [1] to find them all.

[1] [http://www.gamesave-manager.com](http://www.gamesave-manager.com)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Ever since switching to Windows 10 I have found myself using Ubuntu more and more. To the point where I mostly boot Windows 10 once a week just to keep it and some software up to date.

I like some things about Windows 10, for example the new snap features for programs is nice, overall the system looks quite nice as well. Their virtual desktop implementation is kind of lacking but at least it is there. Explorer is actually quite decent these days as well.

However it just keeps pissing me off. I use SumatraPDF as my PDF reader, it is a great program. I can't think of a time when it hasn't worked perfectly yet for the 5th time now Windows has _helpfully_ informed me it _had_ to restore Edge as the default PDF reader for "reasons", of course I have no idea what these reasons are!

I have Office 2016 installed and yet the stupid "Get Office 365" bullshit constantly nags me and _reinstalls_ itself when the Store does some background updating. I had to hunt down a bloody PowerShell command to _force_ remove it.

Oh yes and in Microsoft's infinite wisdom they auto-install Twitter and Candy Crush Saga on my so-called "Professional" version of Windows _which I paid for on a new machine_!

Honestly it is a fucking horrible experience. Their own modern Universal apps are garbage. They release these totally _shit_ apps with the idea that "oh we can update constantly via the Store!" but the apps they are releasing are just plain awful. I have used tech demos that work better ffs.

I honestly can't stand the Windows 10 experience. The new way of doing things is just horrible. I end up using Windows 10 just like I used Windows 7/8 with Win32 apps because there are still not any good Universal apps as the platform is just garbage by the looks of it. I mean if the _maker_ of the platform can't even make decent apps what does that say about the platform?!

Ubuntu isn't perfect but at least it doesn't fuck with me every other day to the point where I just want to walk away from the computer.

Yes Linux still has some rough around the edges but I have found that installing Chrome makes everything web-related "just work" as well as on Windows. Netflix? Check! Flash? Check! Also TIS-100 has a Linux version so that keeps me happy :)

<comment><USER25> There are Universal apps which I actually like: Mail, Calendar, Weather, Edge, OneNote, Groove. I feel like your comment is over-exaggerated.

<comment><USER24> Weather is the only app that I actually use. Groove is a joke, Edge is a tech demo and a pretty poor one at that. OneNote is junk compared to the Win32 version. I don't use Mail or Calendar as I find web applications work so much better for my workflow.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> I didn't even realize that it was an advertisement. But if it is, it's not the first one. The Beatles images shown in December were then probably also technically ads for the just-released-on-streaming Beatles catalog.

Disclosures: I work at Microsoft and really don't like advertising-supported products.

</comment><comment><USER27> I still remember the last time I used Windows (outside of a VM for testing.) I had been given a Surface to develop on for my video game. At one point, it started playing an advertisement as a part of the operating experience. My reaction:

1\. What is happening?

2\. Why is this happening?

3\. How do I shut this off?

4\. Who the hell decided this was a good idea?

5\. Where's the nearest trash bin?

</comment><comment><USER28> That particular example does not seem too bad.

I personally would have just assumed the ad to be yet another random lock screen image. Which I like for the most part.

<comment><USER29> Yeah, by the author's standard, any nice picture would be an ad for the photographer.

Pretty picture of a New Zeeland countryside? Ad for NZ tourism office.

Pretty picture of a data center chockfull of network equipment and mainframes? Ad for IBM and Cisco.

Microsoft have been doing that since Bing, show a pretty interesting picture with a little icon to know where that picture is from. It just happens that one is from a game.

People are so tired of obnoxious and disgusting ads that they tend to forget why they hate obnoxious and disgusting ads; because they are obnoxious and disgusting. Then they go on an irrational crusade about every picture, awesome viral video, mystery public campaign just because it originates from a corporation.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> When I was a kid and learning basic manners, there were certain things taught that separated good from bad.

And you know, advertising methods are starting to look a lot like pure _rudeness_ to me.

It wouldn't be socially acceptable to walk up to somebody sitting on a park bench and just start randomly bothering them. It wouldn't be socially acceptable to just start dumping signs all over someone's front porch and gluing them to the windows of the house. Why, then, aren't companies downright _ashamed_ (and publicly shamed) when they create a product that feels the need to periodically pop messages in front of the user's face that are by definition completely unnecessary to the function of the product?

Build a product; make it nice; make it functional; and make it show things to the user only when necessary. Anything else is mere distraction, and frankly taints the product's perceived value.

We are spiraling down into a cesspool of "free" products that tax users with a thousand needles every day.

We used to know how to pay $40 for software, or even $10, and demand better. We need to return to that.

</comment><comment><USER31> And look what Google did with Chromecast - beautiful, national geographic style pictures you could sit and watch for hours. Clearly there's a team spending money at Google to create the best experience for me.

If I went into a business meeting and Laura Croft showed up as my screen saver so MS could pocket $0.000001 for showing me an ad I would go ballistic. And I'm a MS guy. It's these type of shortsighted ad-in-the-os decisions which are making me doubt the future of MS as a serious company.

<comment><USER32> Lara, not Laura.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> This is the price for the "free" upgrade to windows 10.

I really don't like this trend of turning your personal computer into a thin client, where its properties can be manipulated remotely by the vendor like if it was a web app.

This is why I stayed away of products like Windows 10 and ChromeOS.

<comment><USER34> Why Chrome OS?

<comment><USER33> > ... turning your personal computer into a thin client ...

Because, ChromeOS seems to be mostly about web apps, thus can suffer from the same issue that this post describes, for example.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> Probably a good time to remind people about ReactOS: [https://www.reactos.org/project- news/reactos-040-released](https://www.reactos.org/project- news/reactos-040-released)

One day it may be the only way to use Windows programs without this kind of end-user harassment.

<comment><USER36> > One day [ReactOS] may be the only way to use Windows programs without this > kind of end-user harassment.

There's a _lot_ of code sharing between ReactOS and Wine. For the most part, Wine works _really_ well to run Windows software... there's no need to run an _entire_ somewhat-Windows-compatible OS that has limited hardware compatibility when you're _just_ interested in running a particular Windows application. [0]

However, I expect that you neither meant to imply that Wine wasn't a good option for running Windows software, nor that work on Wine was likely to stop before work on ReactOS stopped. :)

[0] Edit: To be clear, I'm quite aware that the task that the ReactOS devs face is monumental. I also acknowledge that those devs have put in a _lot_ of good work over the past ~eighteen years.

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> Malware straight to the lock screen now? Wow. This behaviour just goes to show the advertising industry still has no idea about real-world concerns and opinions on advertising. I wonder how long it'll take for this to start getting farmed out to malware brokers/bidding platforms that Microsoft's MSN uses, such as AppNexus, AdSpirit etc.

<comment><USER38> In your opinion, what is malware?

<comment><USER37> Microsoft's advertising. Specifically, those they choose to do business with allowing exploit kits to deliver malware payload, such as cryptolocker-style viruses.

<comment><USER38> So you're assuming that the channel this tomb raider wallpaper came through is able to transmit a virus? Or do you have knowledge that it's true?

<comment><USER37> I know that Microsoft are not to be trusted with advertisements, and this is advertising. Who knows what executable code, like javascript, fonts or GDI+ objects, are involved with the wallpaper? If not today, what about tomorrow?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER39> "When the item is free, you are the product" is the lesson of this past decade. I am at least repeatedly learning this over and over again.

<comment><USER40> That doesn't necessarily hold true for FOSS, though.

<comment><USER41> Oh man, it's absolutely true for FOSS, unless you develop FOSS purely because of idealogical reasons, Richard Stallman-style. FOSS development can be turned into reputation and popularity, which can be turned into cash. It's much easier to get your startup off the ground (or find a good job or decent clients as a contractor, etc.) if you have 10,000 Twitter followers, because you write popular FOSS.

<comment><USER42> Which is exactly how FOSS is supposed to work. You give away something free of charge and available to everyone and you're getting something back from your users.

That doesn't make the software's user "the product" though. In your case the developer is making himself the product he tries to sell, not the users. This is really not comparable to advertisement and data collection.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER43> It's so funny to watch MSFT completely miss the lessons that have turned Google into the World's Most Valuable Advertising Business.

HEY YOU GUYS LETS PLASTER ADVERTISING ALL OVER ALL OF THE THINGS!

Look at Gmail: [http://imgur.com/M8RF1TV](http://imgur.com/M8RF1TV)

Look at Yahoo Mail: [http://imgur.com/Cjwxspc](http://imgur.com/Cjwxspc)

Look at AOL Mail: [http://imgur.com/ZeaIe1L](http://imgur.com/ZeaIe1L)

Which email product do you use?

Which would you rather use?

The advertising business that is sustainable is owning the user at a moment of high-intent, aka SEARCH.

Slapping ads all over my login page is a great way render the fat from brand advertisers into short-term revenue gains at the price of ENRAGING me.

MSFT get the tracking and the ads the fuck out of my kitchen and my OS or at least give me a REAL way to pay you for a clean, no ad version!

<comment><USER44> This is the exact reason why Google is so valuable- when I use Google, I'm actively searching for something, so I'm happy to see relevant ads in my search results.

If I search "bike shop London," I want to find a bike shop in London, so if I see an ad for a bike shop in London, I'm ecstatic, and I'll probably go there.

When I go to check my inbox, on the other hand, that's because I want to see what email I've received. I don't want to see ads there.

This is the inherent problem with Facebook/Twitter- I go to Facebook/Twitter to find what my friends are up to, not to search for something. I have no interest in seeing ads in my Facebook/Twitter feed.

<comment><USER45> I proactively do not click on adwords or suggested links or anything. In fact if I see an ad for bikes shops in London I will scroll down and click on the next link.

<comment><USER46> Agreed. Clicking advertisements encourages advertising. Google's actual results are far more relevant than any paid placed advertisement anyway.

<comment><USER47> Clicking advertisements also helps to pay for the service you are using for free. In the case of google search the ads don't significantly diminish the product, so I'm happy to give google a bit of ad revenue.

<comment><USER48> >Clicking advertisements also helps to pay for the service you are using for free.

Yeah, well, I'm part of the 47% in this situation.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER49> Recently, I bought one of the cheapo Amazon tablets to have a "beater" I didn't need to worry about.

Sure, the price was nice. But the full-page ad upon every lock screen, that is too easy to trigger into video play when trying to swipe to unlock, has rather put me off.

I won't be buying another Amazon tablet. And I'm glad I never got one of their phones -- I shudder to think.

It's _my_ computer / tablet / phone / computing device. The more you work to make and demonstrate otherwise, the more I'm going to move away from you.

I just hope I keep having a choice. And I have to consider my individual role in making sure that is the case.

</comment><comment><USER50> Seems like the "new Microsoft" honeymoon period has been brought to an abrupt end.

Did every single Windows 7 user get this? Perhaps they can recover from this by learning quickly from the backlash that's about to happen.

<comment><USER51> Backlash from needing to go into settings and flick a toggle switch from on to off? Oh the horror!

<comment><USER52> You could say the same about installers bundled with some crapware toolbars installed by default - you just need to uncheck one checkbox! It's not about how much effort it requires to turn such bullshit off, to me it's a clear message from the company that you're just a sucker to be milked as hard as possible. "Oh, you've turned it off? No problem, we'll be more clever next time!" I refuse to use anything coming from such companies, even if it means more effort in everyday life.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> I'm more annoyed that they pop up desktop notifications just to advertise Office 365.

<comment><USER53> The irony here is that you still see those ads even if you have a running Office 365 subscription associated with the same Microsoft account you've used to create your Windows account.

</comment></comment><comment><USER54> Aren't plentiful, unrequested ads for games an integral part of Microsoft's XBox systems? I don't remember hearing too much outrage about those. Is that a different situation somehow?

<comment><USER55> Great point. I've always had an issue with those ads on the home screen. One ad that stands out in my memory was a particularly gruesome looking game ad, something about zombies. I thought it was way too dark for the little kids in my house to be seeing, but had no way to turn it off.

</comment></comment><comment><USER56> Kind of an alarmist headline for what's essentially a screen saver type thing that's set as the default but can be changed to something else.

</comment><comment><USER57> Can you buy an single enterprise version of Windows 10 without the ads and the snooping ("telemetry")? How much does it cost? How do you buy it? Microsoft makes this info very hard to find.[1]

[1] [https://www.microsoft.com/en- us/WindowsForBusiness/windows-f...](https://www.microsoft.com/en- us/WindowsForBusiness/windows-for-enterprise)

<comment><USER58> As far as I know the W10 machine needs to be also joined to an AD domain for this to work (the telemetry is disabled via a group policy on the DC).

</comment></comment><comment><USER59> One aspect of OS X I've always appreciated is the absence of bundled bloatware and obtrusive advertising. Sure, you can disable the ads and uninstall any unwanted software Microsoft is aggressively pushing on you, but how many people actually do this?

Most of my parent's friends that I've helped to resolve OS issues don't even try to find out how to switch off or delete Windows annoyances. Their machines are bogged down with junk that they don't want or need and some suffer silently while others complain loudly, but very few from either camp take the initiative and learn how the OS works.

I don't know what percentage of the Windows owning public is unable or unwilling to wrest control of their OS from default setting tyranny, but anecdotal evidence suggests it's a not insignificant number.

</comment><comment><USER60> I haven't seen this on the two devices I have running Windows 10 at home. I believe opting out of all the personalisation at [http://choice.microsoft.com](http://choice.microsoft.com) has stopped this "feature".

</comment><comment><USER61> They are out of their minds. All of them.

Board of directors to ceo to product manager to project managers to designers to coders to the company that bought the advertising. All of them.

</comment><comment><USER62> I seem to remember some recent articles about MSFT which detailed how they had really turned things around. They've been missing the boat for years, and finally got their act together. They had a really aggressive goal for getting windows 10 on XYZ millions of devices by June or July this year. And now....this?! This does not fit Satya Nadella's recent narrative. Why would MSFT do this?

</comment><comment><USER63> As always, the future moves closer and closer to Black Mirror's S01E02.

</comment><comment><USER64> Ubuntu baked Amazon products into Unity several years ago. Google bakes....well, where do I start? Anyway, this is the Microsoft everyone was screaming for...more just like everyone else. At least Facebook doesn't inject ads into information about my friends...[puts finger to ear ala Jon Stewart]...what's that?

</comment><comment><USER65> For those that want to make sure you never are forced upgraded to Windows 10

[http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/](http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/)

GWX Control Panel - blocks Windows 7/8 from ever installing W10

</comment><comment><USER66> They are beating Google at their own game. I wouldn't be surprised if Google announced a real desktop OS, since they basically pulled the plug on Chrome OS and Android isn't even fit for Tablet.

Microsoft is basically trying to outgoogle Google, and they are trying to do that at the OS level, not at the browser level. From a purely strategic standpoint this is brillant. From a user stand point it's obnoxious of course, because good luck blocking ads if Microsoft decides Windows won't allow you to. Clearly web advertising is drying up, so Native ads,i.e. at the OS level is where the growth is.

EDIT: correction

<comment><USER67> > I wouldn't be surprised if Google announced a real desktop OS

It has taken MS almost all it has to get Windows to the point where it currently is, while the best thing Google can claim is to have made a browser using someone else's engine, while skipping 90% of the features that other browsers have. This works for the web, but on the OS front they cannot compete.

<comment><USER68> Sorry which features is it lacking in?

[https://html5test.com/compare/browser/chromemobile-44/firefo...](https://html5test.com/compare/browser/chromemobile-44/firefox-40/ie- Edge%2013/safari-9.0.html)

<comment><USER67> User interface customizability. It has almost none whatsoever. The rendering engine and what it supports doesn't matter, since Webkit wasn't made by Google.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER69> Kind of complete bullshit to do that, but at the same time it's very easy to disable via settings. It's not as though you have to tinker with the register or modify your hosts file or whatever else.

<comment><USER51> On the other hand, it's a static Tomb Raider image on your lock screen.

I'd prefer that to say an "arty" photo of a new father holding his newborn baby to his bare chest in the morning sun or something... That would fill me with rage.

Tomb Raider image, not so bad.

</comment></comment><comment><USER70> Amazing. This was exactly what we needed right now as a society. More ads.

</comment><comment><USER71> It's easy enough to disable the adds. Also check the Microsoft account and there are various preferences with toggle buttons associated with "targeted ads." To be honest, some people like having targeted ads if it's something consumers may be interested in.. Why not inform them?

And for those who don't like them.. Just go through those settings and change them. As long as these ads are configurable it's not a big deal.

That being said, if they became something customers can not opt out of that is a different story.

</comment><comment><USER72> I've been using Windows 10 for a while now at work and I haven't seen any ads yet. I was really enjoying the different pictures on the lock screen and the way you can like/dislike them to get more of the types of pictures you like. If they start running ads on it and I have to disable it that's going to be pretty sad. I mean, not really in the grand scheme of things, but it was a pleasant, enjoyable feature that made me like Windows. Why ruin it with ads?

</comment><comment><USER73> Well, this is exactly what I would expect if I left any "Give me something random, I don't want to think too much" option activated. These are the first things I disable on any OS.

With that said, I recently switched my home PC to Linux. It was not due to the privacy issues, rather buggy experience (probably due to older hardware). Overall happy, although the UX in KDE 4 and Gnome 3.1x is still lagging behind Windows/OS X noticeably IMHO.

<comment><USER74> Then switch to a distro using KDE Plasma 5.5, and be _ahead_ of Windows' UX.

</comment></comment><comment><USER75> Maybe now the Year of the Linux Desktop has truly arrived.

<comment><USER76> At least for me - yes. Currently I'm using dual boot with Ubuntu and Windows 7. But when Win7 expires, no more Windows on my machine(s). There's no way I'm letting malware, called Windows 10, near my data.

</comment></comment><comment><USER77> This is so anti-user it boggles the mind.

</comment><comment><USER78> I will run Windows 7 as long as I can. When it goes the way of XP, I'll go back to Linux.

</comment><comment><USER79> I think I'm finally going back to Windows 7.

I'd rather pay full price for a OS release than become a product.

Of course, another issue is that the Windows Store is completely broken on my computer and quite a few apps no longer work (including Windows Calculator, Photos, etc.).

<comment><USER51> Or just turn off the spotlight thing in settings.

<comment><USER77> This is not how you design good products and tools. If I grab my drill, it's because I want to make a hole. I don't want to click through even one annoyance. Also, in the real world, it's one annoyance today, but it'll be five tomorrow if people don't push back.

Computers are annoying because apologists keep saying things like "just turn that off".

<comment><USER51> I don't disagree with your general point. But we have here a relatively new image showcase feature called "spotlight". I'm not really seeing the deception or poor design if you chose to enable this new feature in the first place.

Edit - I've just found out Spotlight is enabled by default. I don't have Windows 10, didn't know.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER80> Seriously, what is wrong with people? It's SPOTLIGHT UBUNTU shows me ads too . . calm yourselves down. Ads on installers are normal, also.

If you didn't want microsoft to randomly send you a sign-on wallpaper, then disable spotlight.

</comment><comment><USER81> I don't have any data to back this up but it really feels more and more like the fabled "Year of Linux" to me. Microsoft last it's way when Gates left and hardware manufacturers are starting to get on board.

</comment><comment> UK-AL Heh, I didn't know windows had this feature. I just turned it on.

</comment><comment><USER82> Now, you can be the customer _and_ the product!

Innovation: Only From Microsoft.

</comment><comment><USER83> Not surprised. Some of us have been predicting this for years, but we tended to get shouted down for committing the Slippery Slope fallacy.

<comment><USER51> Predicting what exactly?

1\. New spotlight feature = on; 2\. Toggle "fun facts and more" = on;

You know that images will stream in from the internet along with "fun facts and more" whatever that is. And when a Tomb Raider image appears, you're suddenly in Orwellian future shock mode?

The day MS takes away the toggle so you can't switch ads off, is the day to be outraged. Not before.

<comment><USER84> _The day MS takes away the toggle so you can 't switch ads off, is the day to be outraged. Not before._

GWX certainly qualifies as an "ad." Just curious, where is the "toggle switch" in the "settings" that I can turn "off" to disable GWX?

Oh, there isn't one?

I thought so.

<comment><USER51> Okay... that would annoy me too. I'm still on Windows 7 and haven't seen anything like that. Not one Windows 10 ad, and I've been doing Windows updates (manual ones from time to time). On both my laptop and desktop - Win 7 and Win 8, I have yet to see any GWX ad. Maybe I will see it one day.

<comment> vic-traill This is interesting. In my experience any off-domain (i.e. workgroup) Win 7 installation which is taking Windows Updates (required, not optional) gets the GWX update. The relevant Update is KB 3035583.

"To install this update, you must have April 2014 update rollup for Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 (2919355) installed in Windows 8.1. Or, install Windows 7 SP1" [0]

Apparently it also does not apply to Enterprise Edition. [0]

[0] [https://support.microsoft.com/en- ca/kb/3035583](https://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/kb/3035583)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER85> I just disabled Windows Lockscreen (not to be confused with Login Screen) right after installation.

</comment><comment><USER86> I don't like the direction they are going. What's next? Sending a U2 Album on the PCs?

</comment><comment><USER87> I thought they started embedding full screen tomb raider ad through UEFI, my bad.

</comment><comment><USER88> They should add bitcoin miner next. That way they will make even more money.

</comment><comment><USER89> I have suggested before that MS should sell Windows to a non-profit foundation. It is probably not trivial though.

</comment><comment><USER90> Has Microsoft gone too far?

<comment><USER91> 9 out of 10 PC's still run Windows so I guess not.

<comment><USER92> The PC market is shrinking quickly, so maybe they have.

<comment><USER93> > _The PC market is shrinking quickly_

There were 275 million PC units sold in 2015, and approximately the same number is expected for 2016. Sales were growing until 2011, when they peaked at around 360 million units. So certainly sales have shrunk, but I wouldn't describe them as "shrinking quickly", according to forecasts.

<comment><USER92> Shipments were down in 2015 even if you include Apple computers, which outperformed the rest. [https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS40909316](https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS40909316) Things look even worse when you take them out. Which forecasts are you using?

<comment><USER94> IDC PC numbers are depressed partly because it doesn't count tablets/2-in-1s as PCs, it counts them as tablets.

The story to which you link notes that "The impact for 2016 will be larger as detachable tablet volume grows, boosting earlier forecasts of PC growth in 2016 from -3.1% to growth of 1 to 2%."

The quote is saying that if you add those "tablets" back, it's predicting that the PC market will grow this year.

Another important point is that the vast majority of Windows 7/8/8.1 PCs will run Windows 10, and the upgrade is free. There's very little need for most users to buy a new PC.

If users only buy a new PC every six years, then Windows PC sales should halve, compared with a three-year upgrade cycle. It doesn't mean that PC usage is declining (though it might be), it just means that PCs are lasting twice as long.

Smartphone sales were, of course, hugely inflated by the fact that they only lasted for 18 months or so. When people keep their smartphones for three years, smartphone sales with halve as well.

<comment><USER92> You're right, I'm still not used to Windows running on so many tablets. Also, tablet sales were also down last year so I didn't expect it to help. [http://www.businessinsider.com/tablet-sales-down-in- addition...](http://www.businessinsider.com/tablet-sales-down-in-addition-to- ipad-2015-10)

<comment><USER94> Windows runs on everything from USB thumbdrivess to supercomputers. Windows 10 also runs on phones and games consoles. The IoT version runs on the Raspberry Pi etc. I'm not sure how many of those I'd want to count, but Windows 10 on a Asus T100 looks like a legitimate PC to me, whatever IDC says ;-)

[https://www.asus.com/2-in-1-PCs/ASUS_Transformer_Book_T100TA...](https://www.asus.com/2-in-1-PCs/ASUS_Transformer_Book_T100TA/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER95> That's terrible. How long until its not an option.

</comment><comment><USER96> Wow! This is really just unbelievable to me.

<comment><USER51> Yep, it is quite a spectacular Tomb Raider image.

</comment></comment><comment><USER97> Direct link to HTG guide: [http://www.howtogeek.com/243263/how-to-disable-ads- on-your-w...](http://www.howtogeek.com/243263/how-to-disable-ads-on-your- windows-10-lock-screen/)

<comment><USER98> We changed the URL to that from [https://mobile.twitter.com/howtogeek/status/7022751534394163...](https://mobile.twitter.com/howtogeek/status/702275153439416322), which points to it. If someone suggests a better URL for this story, we can change it again.

<comment><USER58> Maybe change the title, too? It's absurdly inaccurate, just look at how all the comments here are completely unrepresentative of what is stipulated in the article, everyone has read only the title and assumes:

* Ads are popping up on the desktop ("full-screen"). Which they are not - it is restricted to the lock screen. Neither the tweet nor the article mentions "full-screen" _once._

* You can't opt-out of this process. The central point of the entire article is how to opt-out.

* This is new. I personally opted out of this feature a while back.

Possibly something like: "Windows is Showing Lock-Screen Ads (How to Opt- Out)". As per the guidelines:

 _> Otherwise please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait._

This post not only fails to adhere to the guidelines, it does the exact opposite by changing the meaning of the article _entirely._ It should actually be deleted and I have flagged it due to such a blatant disregard for the guidelines.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER99> What the fuck ? You choose to let Microsoft show you whatever they want on the login screen and complain their show you an ad ?

Seriously ? Disable the spotlight crap and be on your merry way. Or install Ubuntu and watch Amazon ads :D

<comment><USER100> Ubuntu has removed the Amazon ads with newer versions.

</comment></comment><comment><USER101> If only gaming on Linux would be as easy as it is on Windows...

</comment><comment><USER102> If only it were April fools...

</comment><comment><USER103> Does ReactOS plan to copy this business model?

</comment><comment><USER104> It's funny to read all those irritating comments: "oh, my OS is showing me ads", people complaining after they got a pirate OS without paying for it.

<comment><USER105> Are you joking? Windows 10 actually does cost money. And the people who pay for it _still_ get to see ads.</comment></comment>


What To Do If Prosecuted For Sharing Culture: STFU - <AUTHOR> http://falkvinge.net/2012/07/11/what-to-do-if-prosecuted-for-sharing-culture-stfu/ <comment><USER2> No matter what you're being prosecuted for, it's always a good idea to STFU. Police can and do lie to extract information from you. They will make it seem like the case against you is ironclad and if you cooperate they will go easy on you. It's all bullshit, they do not have your interests at heart. Their only goal is to obtain a conviction and they see you as the enemy. You should not discuss ANYTHING with them until you talk to a lawyer.

<comment><AUTHOR> If we learned anything from the TV show Cops, this is it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Sharing culture? Copyright monopoly? What the hell is this article?

<comment><USER4> The language comes from a desire to forward an agenda. You find the same pattern of strange little phrases in most ideologically self-reinforcing political communities.

<comment><USER3> Yeah I figured as much. I don't consider pirating movies 'sharing culture', and I don't think 'Copyright Monopoly' is accurate or well-informed.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The advice to run your wifi router unencrypted is not right. Too much of a security risk, too much chance of abuse in a city. It may reduce the chance of successful prosecution of copyright infringement, but it seems like it opens you to being implicated for more serious crimes.

<comment><USER6> I've read at least one news story (sorry, forgot the details) of a guy who had a SWAT team break down his door because someone had used his open Wi-Fi router to send a threatening message.

You could also get the police at your door if your neighbor (or someone driving by in a car) uses your Wi-Fi to visit a child porn site, or something like that.

Still, not talking to the police seems to be good advice. For more information on that, see this video:

"Don't Talk to the Police" by Professor James Duane (27:25)

<http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4097602514885833865>

<comment><USER7> In some states you are required to identify yourself and a recent court ruling showed that merely remaining silence was not enough to invoke one's right to silence. One must paradoxically, speak up to have the right to remain silent. Here are 2 relevant links:

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_and_Identify_statutes>

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_silence#United_States>

<comment><USER8> I've never seen this as especially paradoxical. As long as you choose not to speak, you are free to remain silent. As soon as you start speaking, you are choosing to speak, and not be silent.

The only effect of verbally invoking your right to remain silent, as far as I'm aware, is that the police have to stop interrogating you. It would make sense for the police to have to stop after you refuse to answer their questions for some defined period, but it also makes sense (and this is more or less the reasoning of the court as I understand it) to say that, while you are free to be silent, the cops are free to keep asking questions unless you affirmatively indicate your desire that they stop.

The main problem remaining, I think, is the fact that people do not know they can so ask.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: A hand-picked selection of the worst computer puns on the Internet - <AUTHOR> http://puns.dev/ <comment><USER2> I like the puns and the visual style a lot but the randomisation sucks balls: I've seen the one about the spider and his website three times in a row, plus multiple repeats of many others. Can you implement a proper deck of cards style shuffle for them to avoid repeats?

<comment><AUTHOR> It's on my todo list, along with better transitions and an option for list view

<comment><USER3> Also not copy-pastable, how shall I entertain the masses on IRC, boo! :)

<comment><AUTHOR> That's not by design really, I was just lazy in fixing a highlighting bug :) Maybe screenshot until I fix it?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I hope you can C that there aren't enough puns, so get with the program. You need beta testing than this, and then come back. If I were your boss I would not give you arrays.

</comment><comment><USER5> there are only 14 jokes on it [[https://github.com/AlexLakatos/computer- puns/blob/master/pun...](https://github.com/AlexLakatos/computer- puns/blob/master/puns.json)]

and the font and background change between them does not goes very smooth.

<comment><AUTHOR> It's on GitHub so people can help make it better.

<comment><USER6> Or worse. I think worse is better.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I'd add a 'next' button that cycles through them (in addition to a random starting point or button). Now I have to read them over and over just to see if there might be a new one.

<comment><AUTHOR> I have a feeling that might be implemented today, thanks for the feedback!

<comment><AUTHOR> Changed the randomness a bit. It now starts at a random position but then continues sequentially from there. Also people added some more puns, so yay!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Robin Hanson's The Elephant in the Brain asserts that there was once an imperial Chinese court that banned punning with the penalty of death. I haven't found another reference for that. But reading puns.dev makes it somehow more plausible.

</comment><comment><USER9>
        {{ pun.pun }}
        {{ pun.punchline }}

That pretty much sums it up.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yup, that was the point. Plus a head nod to my old ZX Spectrum.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I have nothing useful to add here, other than this brought a smile to my face at the end of a long day. That's what I love about HN -- tons of serious posts, and then gems like this.

PS: "None. It's a hardware problem." said no programmer ever :)

</comment><comment><USER11> The classic UNIX "fortune" program has rather a lot more jokes, although oddly doesn't seem to be hosted at a single canonical place on the internet.

</comment><comment><USER12> Here's one for programming puns: [http://www.codepuns.com](http://www.codepuns.com)

</comment><comment><USER13> It looks too big on mobile. It doesn't fit the screen...

<comment><USER14> Fits my tiny iPhone SE screen fine. What phone do you have?

<comment><USER15> I have a 2:1 aspect ratio phone and I had to shift the view slightly to see everything. Could be that.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I wish this was not random.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback, I'll add a non random mode!

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> I've been writing shitty puns since years. You might know me from my greatest hits such as:

Confessions from the Sex life of a Network Engineer [https://thequickword.wordpress.com/2014/05/17/confessions- fr...](https://thequickword.wordpress.com/2014/05/17/confessions-from-the-sex- life-of-a-network-engineer/)

Olatunkboh Prosper Goodluck [https://thequickword.wordpress.com/2014/09/20/olatunkboh- pro...](https://thequickword.wordpress.com/2014/09/20/olatunkboh-prosper- goodluck/)

The Code from Ipanema's not working [https://thequickword.wordpress.com/2014/08/25/your-code- is-l...](https://thequickword.wordpress.com/2014/08/25/your-code-is-like- elevator-music/)

The dream which made me reconsider Java [https://thequickword.wordpress.com/2014/08/22/the-dream- whic...](https://thequickword.wordpress.com/2014/08/22/the-dream-which-made- me-reconsider-java/)

Stuck between Imposter Syndrome and Dunning Kruger effect [https://thequickword.wordpress.com/2014/08/17/stuck- between-...](https://thequickword.wordpress.com/2014/08/17/stuck-between- imposter-syndrome-and-dunning-kruger-effect/)

journal of a Neckbeard [https://thequickword.wordpress.com/2014/08/15/journal- of-a-n...](https://thequickword.wordpress.com/2014/08/15/journal-of-a- neckbeard/)

Cloud Computing to be embraced by the Catholic Church [https://thequickword.wordpress.com/2014/06/23/cloud- computin...](https://thequickword.wordpress.com/2014/06/23/cloud-computing-to- be-embraced-by-the-catholic-church/)

The career change of 'Trusty' the crusty sock [https://thequickword.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/the-career- cha...](https://thequickword.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/the-career-change-of- trusty-the-crusty-sock/)

A new Christian Dating Service: altarboy.io [https://thequickword.wordpress.com/2014/06/23/a-new- christia...](https://thequickword.wordpress.com/2014/06/23/a-new-christian- dating-service-altarboy-io/)

my writing has been getting lazy the past few years (mostly due to my severe depression) also f-u-c-k t-h-e h-a-t-e-r-s

<comment><USER18> This is amazing. Thanks.</comment></comment>


I got banned from Upwork because I didn't want to work with a difficult client - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@AdShadlabs/why-you-should-never-use-upwork-ever-5c62848bdf46#.ah93awylf <comment><USER2> Extensive discussion: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12773282](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12773282)

<comment><USER3> Wow, Upwork comes out looking worse than the asshole who was abusing the system. Wasn't expecting that. Guess the world is just full of assholes and their enablers.</comment></comment>


Telegram and Iran's Government Seem to Have Reached a Conclusion - <AUTHOR> http://techrasa.com/2015/11/05/telegram-and-irans-government-seem-to-have-reached-a-conclusion/ <comment><USER2> It seems like the Internet is quickly turning from a "liberating force" to a "maintaining the status quo force", as more and more companies take the easy way out of "complying with local laws" (code-word for censorship).

Is there no serious tech company alliance that can fight back against this sort of stuff in many countries?</comment>


Adam Carolla won't let Personal Audio drop podcast patent infringement lawsuit - <AUTHOR> http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/08/01/adam_carolla_won_t_let_personal_audio_drop_podcast_patent_infringement_lawsuit.html <comment><USER2> Fuck "Personal Audio".

Go Adam. The world needs more people to stand up to bullshit like this. (sorry for the language in this post, this sort of stuff infuriates me).

<comment><USER3> Go, Adam. "We thought you had more money" is a despicable reason to try to back out of a law suit.

<comment><USER4> It should be grounds for classification as a vexatious litigant since it clearly indicates that they're not serious about following through with a lawsuit and are just running a shakedown operation.

<comment><USER5> I don't see why. Lawsuits are expensive, and as a plaintiff, you know you aren't guaranteed to win. So if you discover that your expected recovery (p of victory * the lesser of the expected damages or defendants' assets) is less than the cost of maintaining the suit, why wouldn't you drop it?

Think about the consequences of automatically categorizing such plaintiffs as "vexatious litigants." You would have a bunch of plaintiffs in court who didn't want to be there, wasting their own time, the defendant's time, and the court's time. It seems to me that nobody would benefit from that rule except lawyers. Though if the lawyer is charging a contingent fee, they don't win either. (Of course there is a separate question of how far into the case should a plaintiff be able to drop the suit without forfeiting his right to bring it again later, but there is already a set of pretty fair and commonsense rules about this in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and state procedural rules. [http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_41](http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_41))

Sure, in this case Personal Audio's attempts to drop the suit might (or might not) be just another symptom of their general sleaziness, but this sort of maneuver is very common in all litigation, both legitimate and sleazy.

<comment><USER6> I agree. I think the patent system is bonkers, and these trolls are awful, but in general it seems pretty reasonable to only sue a party for damages when that party can feasibly pay the damages.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Aren't the details from the discovery process private? Can one party in a lawsuit use information gleaned during discovery as part of its PR efforts?

From a press release from the patent troll:

"When Personal Audio first began its litigation, it was under the impression that Carolla, the self-proclaimed largest podcaster in the world, as well as certain other podcasters, were making significant money from infringing Personal Audio's patents. After the parties completed discovery, however, it became clear this was not the case. As a result, Personal Audio began to offer dismissals from the case to the podcasting companies involved, rather than to litigate over the smaller amounts of money at issue."

[http://personalaudio.net/wp- content/uploads/2014/07/Carolla-...](http://personalaudio.net/wp- content/uploads/2014/07/Carolla-DIsmissal_7-29-2014.pdf)

<comment><USER8> No, details from discovery are not private.

But Personal Audio is lying in their press release. They want to drop the case because Carolla is fighting back.

<comment><USER9> Depends on whether or not there is a Confidentiality/Protective Order in place, and if so, what the terms of such an Order say. Almost every case of this nature would be subject to some sort of Confidentiality/Protective Order. Generally, the parties would be able to designate documents, deposition testimony, etc., as Confidential. Sometimes there are multiple levels of confidentiality baked into one of these orders (for example, a "HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL" designation might mean that only outside counsel can review a produced document).

Generally, documents marked as such must be filed under seal, cannot be disclosed publicly, etc.

<comment><USER10> Surely Adam Carolla's representatives can release characterizations of the amount of money he's making off podcasting with his permission, regardless of whether or not the details of his podcasting income were subject to discovery or not. The plaintiff would reasonably not be able to release information it sought from the defendant, but the defendant can obviously release his own personal information at will.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> People can donate to his legal defense fund at [https://fundanything.com/patenttroll?locale=en](https://fundanything.com/patenttroll?locale=en) \- it has already raised nearly $500k!

<comment><USER12> I feel conflicted. I like Adam but I think he is rich enough to not need my help.

<comment><USER13> In his Senate video he says the case post-discovery is costing $100k/month. I'm sure Ace is rich, but 1.2MM/yr to blow on legal fees rich?

<comment><USER14> Net worth of $15-20MM. Plus, there's the possibility of these guys being assigned costs.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Previous discussion [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8113757](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8113757)

</comment><comment><USER16> Good for Adam. These patent trolls are reprehensible. It's hilarious that they want to pull out now that they stand a chance of losing.

</comment><comment><USER17> The publicity Adam Carolla gets from this case is likely worth more than the legal fees from keeping the case going.

<comment><USER18> Never paid good lawyers, huh? Or just trolling?

<comment><USER17> I was completely serious. How much do you think the media coverage he's gotten over this would cost if he'd paid for it as an advertisement?

<comment><USER19> According to another comment on this story, Adam told the Senate his legal fees are $100,000 a month. I'm not sure what else he has going on professionally but I doubt he'll see a big enough rise in podcast subscribers to offset that.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Cleaning an Arch Linux installation - <AUTHOR> http://blog.andreascarpino.it/cleaning-an-arch-linux-installation/ <comment><USER2> I've always found Arch to be among the easiest distros to keep tidy. There's people that have been running the same install for many years. On the other hand, whenever I try dist-upgrade in Debian et al. I always end up blowing up something.

<comment><USER3>
        I've always found Arch to be among the easiest
        distros to keep tidy.   There's people that have
        been running the same install for many years.

Is this uncommon for desktop Linux?

<comment><USER4> Well, if you are on a rolling distro like Gentoo or Arch you are going to run into breakage eventually because you are out on the leading edge. The tools are evolving quite steadily, so it's the price you pay to run the latest and greatest. Package dependency management is the trickiest part of package management, especially the reverse dependencies.

<comment><USER5> Just for the record: Arch does have testing and staging repositories for testing new versions of packages that may cause major breakage if they have bugs or packaging problems.

AFAIK new versions of glibc, other major libraries, systemd, Linux kernels, etc. are always kept in one of these testing repositories for a while to catch serious problems.

To help make Arch better, consider running one or more systems on [testing] (a chroot or VM will do) and reporting any problems you find.

<comment><USER4> Yes, both Arch and Gentoo are rock solid IMHO, and I enjoyed many years in both those communities. Breakage was very rare, less than one per year even, and I always ran test releases for my desktops.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Here's a handy one. It lists packages that are both explicitly installed (and therefore won't be removed unless you remove them yourself), but are also needed by other packages.

        comm -23 <(pacman -Qqe | sort -u) <(pacman -Qqet | sort -u)

And here's a more practical version that ignores the base and base-devel group (I don't know why package maintainers keep adding things in base like glibc as direct dependencies, but they do)

        comm -23 <(comm -23 <(pacman -Qqe | sort -u) <(pacman -Qqet | sort -u)) <(pacman -Qqg base-devel base | sort -u)

Unless you have a personal reason to explicitly keep these packages, they usually need to be marked as dependencies again so that, when you remove the things that depend on them with -Rs, they'll be removed as well.

        pacman -D --asdep packagename

If you want to know what depends on each of these packages run

        pactree -r packagename

Sorting this out should eliminate the need to ever resort to a -Rc (--cascade) removal, which is dangerous.

<comment><USER5> Those are some very useful oneliners, thanks! :)

Please consider adding them to the Arch Wiki (if they're not already on it).

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> In Gentoo it would be:

        emacs /var/lib/portage/world

This file contains a list of all packages you emerged manually. Just remove anything that you don't want.

Then simply:

        emerge -uNDa world && emerge -a --depclean

This will first update the system and then remove any package that isn't listed or is a dependency of [a package listed] in the world file.

Though if you are serious about system maintenance, whenever you emerge a package you don't want in your world file (e.g you may want to re-compile a dependency) you should use the '-1' flag of emerge:

        emerge -1a dependency

I also have my Gentoo 64bit installation since 2007 and have changed 4 or 5 machines since then. There are the occasional problems (as is the case with any distro) but if you are a bit interested in how things work instead of how things get fixed, you can solve them.

</comment><comment><USER8> A little on the side: Is it possible nowadays to install an Archlinux that out of the box can do about as much as a fresh installed Ubuntu (Gnome, Firefox, a Terminal, Git, mostly)?

I've always wanted to try it. But since I'm working full time I don't get around to start an installation with manual FS setup and networking, both topics which I mostly know a few little basics about. Altogether Arch looks much nicer, and I agree that you should have as much control of your system as possible. But I think the approach should be that you can choose to learn only little chunks here and there until you have most of the ideas in your head and fingers, then setup everything as you desire. That's why I'm still stuck on Ubuntu.

<comment><USER2> I think it took me less than 2 hours to do a full install reading the wiki 5 years ago. Now, with systemd doing mostly everything it's a lot simpler. I think it can be scripted in 10 lines of code. I use Arch because I'm quite lazy and I find it straightforward.

It doesn't hide anything and there's little magic. It's all about getting your components well chosen.

Arch might work well with Gnome, but I think it really shines using a minimal setup with no desktop environment.

<comment><USER8> I bet you can script it. But for that first you need to know enough about it. That's where the trouble comes in getting started. E.g., a colleague suggested me to put "noatime" into my fstab. Now you might say that's about 5 seconds. But if you don't know what it is and you take responsibility for your system, then what you first do is read about it. So I spent about 10 hours reading and discussing about noatime and then decided not to put it into my fstab because I learned that the default is already "relatime" which is a little slower but much more compatible with some tools. Instead of 10 seconds I've spent 10 hours and in the end didn't change my config at all.

That's what I would expect when I get started scripting the setup myself. If I don't do it then using a sensible, community decided default would be better than doing something without investigating. Would you agree?

<comment><USER9> I know what you mean - I installed arch a month or two ago, and the hardest thing for me was setting up the boot partition (I wanted to dual-boot the laptop with windows).

My familiarity with grub and the UEFI boot-process was really limited. The beginner's guide and the rest of the Arch wiki are extremely useful, and I was able to get everything set up, but it did take several hours.

Then, a couple of weeks later, my system broke with a kernel update. I hadn't properly set up my fstab to point /boot to the correct partition, so I had a separate /boot directory in the same partition as my root system... stupid on my part.

It was a bit of a pain to fix, because I couldn't boot into the system. I ended up using the USB installer that I had setup Arch with. Now things seem to be running fine again (except that recently "suspend" and "hibernate" randomly disappeared from the shutdown options in my Cinnamon DE... weird).

But yeah, Arch forces you to learn the things that you can just overlook on something like Ubuntu. I takes time, but at least you learn how to fix them when they break. I've shot myself in the foot a few times, but it's been with a BB gun instead of a shotgun.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> My Archlinux based LiveUSB setup comes around to 1GB and has Libreoffice, Wine, Firefox/Chromium. That said, there are some questionable dependencies in Archlinux lately. For example, mpv now requires smbclient, which then pulls python2.7.

<comment><USER11> There's always been little things like that. For example, installing Feh pulls in libid3tag (which for whatever reason is a dependency of imlib2).

<comment><USER12> Maybe for opening album art? Feh complains if I want to open an mp3 with embedded album art though:

       feh WARNING: 01.mp3 - No Imlib2 loader for that file format

And imlib2 does depend on libid3tag.

<comment><USER11> I know but it's a weird dependency to me. One would think that an ID3 editor would need that, not the image processing utililty itself.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Nice read! Unfortunately, on mobile it's difficult to figure out what the options do individually. Too bad they're not easily predictable. It would be nice if they were written in long form and short form for people like me. I'll have to read through the man page later.

</comment><comment><USER14> I was really thrown by the ligatures in some of the command snippets (diff and lostfiles).

Why do things manually have to be marked as dependencies? Is that because they were manually installed at one point, or does Arch's package manager not properly track dependencies?

<comment><USER15> If a package really is installed as a dependency, it will be marked as such. If for some reason you manually install a package that is needed by another one, then it's a good thing to mark it as dependency.

In the case of cleaning your system, it is interesting to mark an unused package as a dependency; the resolver (see [https://www.archlinux.org/pacman/pacman.8.html#_remove_optio...](https://www.archlinux.org/pacman/pacman.8.html#_remove_options_a_id_ro_a)) will see that it's installed as a dependency, but no package depends on it. It's a quick way to "tag" them as unused so they can be "garbage collected" at a later time.</comment></comment>