And don’t worry, the mega-corp that has constantly lied about things in the past promises that all the data from the integrated app that gets sent back to company HQ only gets used for training better chatbots (probably) (maybe) (possibly) (unless it’s, like really good blackmail material). And every single thing you’ve ever typed into Notepad surely isn’t just sitting there on a company server, waiting for a subpoena from an increasingly authoritarian government to gain access to…

(And, of course, that program you coded in Notepad? The fact that it was used to train Microsoft’s next chatbot, which then went on to magically write code strikingly similar to yours to be integrated into the next Microslop project without notifying or compensating you in any way … purely coincidental, of course. It’s not stealing – it’s training. Running it through a chatbot first magically removes all copyright protection from your code.)

Be the change you want to see in the world and go post some better content, then.

I’ve never understood the blind rage you and others have for this artist.

Eh, OP’s post seems more ‘mild annoyance’ than ‘blind rage’, but okay.

In the grand scheme of things, they don’t really care about piracy.

Yes, they could greatly reduce piracy by making their service affordable, available, and convenient … but they would lose more profits from doing that than they currently do from piracy. They know enshittifying their service will result in increased piracy … but they also know that it will result in extracting increased money from the people who do pay. And, overall, their profits are still higher despite the higher piracy levels.

(Heck, in some ways piracy has been shown to be overall beneficial. To some degree, it’s free advertising, helping media spread through word of mouth. And maybe while they missed out on a media sale or subscription, they still end up making money from that pirate with a merchandise sale or something.)

I was about to say… Maybe I’ve just been lucky, but I haven’t had the slightest issue with Linux audio. Ever.

does your half-assed linux install come with the incredibly useful NoPilot?

Nope. If for some incredibly bonkers reason I actually wanted to use it, I’d have to actually – gasp! – go to a website and talk to it through a website interface, rather than an interface directly integrated into every goddamn app on my own computer. That’s like … two, maybe even three extra clicks!

(Seriously, though. If for some reason I wanted to talk to a chatbot, I could do that on the chatbot’s website. Why do I need it to be integrated into fucking Notepad?)

You must learn from your enemy to defeat them.

If OP gets audited, this will not hold up.

The IRS actually already did look it over. They decided (rather arbitrarily) that the script I donated was worth ~50,000 instead of ~70,000 as I was trying to claim. Definitely not a full audit, but they already reviewed it at some level and it passed muster.

Other than my tax returns from that year? Not really.

I don’t mind if your accuracy goes down when you go full auto, or your aim point drifts in some random direction, but having to scroll down as you shot just sucked.

It’s not even that realistic. In real life, you need to apply constant pressure downward to keep a machine gun firing level, but not constant movement.

IMO, a realistic way to do it would be that when you fire the game machine gun in full auto, your point of aim gets shifted upward. To return it to where you attempted to aim, you’d then have to move the mouse downward slightly and then hold it there for the duration of the burst. (And the viewpoint/point of aim should suddenly dip back downward when you stop firing.)

Server options tend to be significantly more expensive, with fewer places to buy parts.

You know what? I eagerly await the rise of a new religion where ChatGPT is worshiped as a god.

(Who am I kidding? Most corporate execs are already praying at that altar.)

Need to file to open a corporation in your own name.

I wrote a free spec script for a charity organization, enabling me to write off ~$50k in charitable donations for putting in a few hours of work.

Everyone should be looking for loopholes and ways to prevent the US government from getting their money.

We keep being told that we’re not voting in the primaries.

I don’t quite believe it. I’m starting to think the primaries are rigged. And this is their excuse – they get to smugly tell us we’re just not showing up to primaries in enough numbers to make a difference. Conveniently puts the blame on us, trying to make us blame ourselves.

Desktops are just hardware.

Sure. But more important than what they look like or whether or not they’re sideways are the other properties of that hardware:

• Upgradeable and repairable with widely available replacement parts

• General purpose and capable of running any software you put on them

What I’m worried about is the desktop being replaced by something that meets neither of those points, resulting in a far worse experience for any person who wants to customize, maintain, and fully control their own computer, especially if they’d like to do so without interference from a huge corporation.

Microsoft devs aren’t allowed to use Microsoft Teams?

That’s what I’ve heard. Completely hearsay, though.

as I can see hints of things going wrong.

Yes!

Even if you don’t understand every line, if the system hangs or just takes an unusually long time to boot, you’ll be able to see what it’s getting stuck on. And even if you don’t understand that, you can google DDG the message and find out what it’s doing, maybe figure out what’s taking so long, what’s wrong, and how to fix it.

…mostly because they have never had to reboot their system 64 times before getting a new machine.

You really didn’t have to call me out like that.

I’ve had my system for ~4 years now, and I think I’ve rebooted it a grand total of maybe 10 times. Pretty much never voluntarily. Usually due to a power outage or needing to shut down for a hardware upgrade.

Who would join a microsoft-centric discord?

Microsoft devs, maybe? I hear they’re not allowed to use Teams to communicate at work, for unspecified reasons.