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Intel and Microsoft are apparently suffering from the symptoms of years of insufficient management.

A Slashdot comment of mine from 11 1/2 years ago: More Intel employees should say in public what they have told me in private: Intel CEO Paul Otellini is not a competent leader. He lacks social ability.

We no longer have a Windows OS we can trust: Windows 10 is possibly the worst spyware ever made. And: 7 ways Windows 10 pushes ads at you...

We no longer have Intel CPUs we can trust: We translated Intel's crap attempt to spin its way out of CPU security bug PR nightmare.

The instructions are here read tru the otions yo migt consider allowing p2p for computers on yoyr lan as this redces the ammubt you have to get across your rathe limited adsl

Microsoft Is Filled With Abusive Managers And Overworked Employees, Says Tell-All Book

Embrace, extend, and extinguish "... a phrase that the U.S. Department of Justice found was used internally by Microsoft to describe its strategy for entering product categories involving widely used standards, extending those standards with proprietary capabilities, and then using those differences to disadvantage its competitors."

Microsoft no longer sells a usable operating system. Windows 10 is possibly the worst spyware ever made.

Windows 10 shows you ads while you are trying to work. But, at least at present, you may be able to stop at least some of the advertising: 7 ways Windows 10 pushes ads at you, and how to stop them.

"... and affects pretty much any Intel chip still functioning."

Not true. If you have an i3, i5, i7 processor made in the last few years, and it was manufactured using a smaller process than 32nm, it is not vulnerable.

A list of the processors that are vulnerable can be found here.

For example: I have an i7 4790k made in 2014. It was manufactured using a 22nm process. It is not on the list of processors vulnerable to Meltdown.

Japan had 8k broadcasts for the Olympics two years ago https://www.pcworld.com/articl...

Windows 10 is possibly the worst spyware ever made.

Windows 10 shows you ads while you are trying to work. But, at least at present, you may be able to stop at lease some of the advertising: 7 ways Windows 10 pushes ads at you, and how to stop them.

What you want is a netbook. They were $3-400 machines with an Intel Atom. E.g. I had one of these with 2GB ram for a couple of years. The problem is that Chrome bloated to the point that it run like crap on an Atom and Windows slows down too for reasons that are a bit unclear.

Of course people like Asus decided to stop promoting netbooks. That's not the same as stopping making them. E.g.

https://www.newegg.com/Product...

$229 machine with an Intel Celeron N3350, 4GB Ram and 64GB of eMMC. The only difference between that the original netbooks is that you've got a slightly less bad screen. 11.6" 1366*768 instead of 10" 1024*600. It's Windows 10 S but you can upgrade to normal Windows. I bet it'd run Linux too.

From the parent comment: "Windows 10 is a true nightmare OS, ..."

Windows 10 is possibly the worst spyware ever made.

Windows 10 shows you ads while you are trying to work. But, at least at present, you may be able to stop the advertising: 7 ways Windows 10 pushes ads at you, and how to stop them.

Those who arrange Linux have apparently never heard of cooperation. (What did you say? Co-what??? Is that an English word?)

This story about Linux makes me laugh: The number of Linux distributions is declining. AMAZING QUOTE from that story of 2 years ago: "In 2011, the Distrowatch database of active Linux distributions peaked at 323. Currently, however, it lists only 285."

285 different ways to do one thing!!! "Only" 285? Quote from the parent comment: "You know Linux Desktop is a junk OS from the fact an app may require version 2.5 of a library and another one might require no more than 2.4, and Desktop Linux offers no way around the problem."

Linux has VERY poor documentation. A friend of mine said this perhaps 20 years ago: "It's free but you will spend at least a week getting it to work." So, Linux is NOT free. It is VERY expensive!!! VERY! If you are a teenager and like tinkering, and have nothing else to do besides play video games, the cost may be acceptable. Or maybe you are installing Linux on 50 computers. Otherwise probably not.

Windows is "spyware" and the documentation is often poor. But at least there is only 1 current version. Windows 10 is possibly the worst spyware ever made. It's an OS that shows you ads while you are trying to work. But, at least at present, you can stop the advertising: 7 ways Windows 10 pushes ads at you, and how to stop them.

Could you go to prison for recommending Windows, a "spyware" OS? Oh well, there's that. You need a signed contract that the customer understands that Microsoft has control at all times. Or, you can deliver the "Enterprise" version, which Microsoft doesn't allow most customers to have; maybe that isn't spyware. Or, maybe it is: For real Windows 10 privacy, you need the China Government Edition.

But at least, with Windows, you won't be involved with the ENORMOUS complexity of Linux. One example: The Debian Family Tree. That's just one of the "family trees"! If you have a son, tell him not to make 200 women pregnant.

Mark Shuttleworth of Ubuntu Linux said: "many members of the free software community are just deeply anti-social types".

That comment by Shuttleworth on Google Plus is an example of Google being insufficiently managed. It apparently isn't possible to link directly to Mark Shuttleworth's comment. It's necessary to click on "View 173 previous comments" and search for "muppets". (Wow! Google Plus is an example of people liking to use a huge amount of Javascript. Why so much Javascript? Are they teaching themselves about Javascript?)

A long time ago, at a convention, I got into a long discussion with Mark Shuttleworth. I gave him a manual I had written about dealing with the social issues of technology. The only result? Shuttleworth criticized me for giving him a paper copy. He was flying home after the convention; I

And what was the Size(I mean physical)/prize/ power requirement for computers at that time? But yes with the benefit of hindsight, IBM should have qualified that a bit, Maybe something like "We estimate a world-wide demand of approximately five computers, within the next 10 years". I The context in which thís was said may also be important "After all, when IBM's Thomas Watson said "computer," he meant "vacuum-tube-powered adding machine that's as big as a house." It's fair to say that few people ever wanted one of those, regardless of the size of their desk." Source. In that context I would personally agree with mr Watson, at least he seems a lot less off the mark

2007: It won't be the case in a few years, when 3G is deployed broadly enough. 2011: It won't be the case in a few years, when LTE is deployed broadly enough. 2017: It won't be the case in a few years, when 5G rolls out.

You are clearly uneducated about 5G. It's not like the old protocols and some incremental improvement. Most people do everything in their residence with wireless (Wi-Fi) anyway, including streaming video and stuff.

here is a quick primer on the services going into trial, and Verizon is planning something similar.

You can look at some more detail to whet your appetite right here. 5G might be a mobile broadband service in the distant future, but the real promise is for fixed wireless, providing lots more competition and options for last-mile Internet access. You have to license the spectrum from the FCC, and this may be where the FCC can really enable a lot more competitiveness in the market.

Could it fizzle? Sure. But your out-of-hand dismissal is pure ignorance.

Windows runs on top of UEFI so it's possible that you could install a generic 'ARM Linux' image on them.

However in the past Microsoft have forced hardware vendors to lock down their ARM devices but not lock down their x86/x64 ones

https://www.pcworld.com/articl...

"Disabling Secure [Boot] MUST NOT be possible on ARM systems," reads page 116 of the company's Windows Hardware Certification Requirements document, as noted recently by Computerworld UK blogger Glyn Moody.

"Microsoft confirms UEFI fears, locks down ARM devices" was the title of the ensuing blog post from the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC).

'Custom Mode Allows for More Flexibility'

So that's one bit of bad news for Linux users. On the PC side, however, things are more complicated.

For non-ARM devices, Microsoft's Certification Requirements define a "custom" Secure Boot mode that seems to allow for the installation of Linux. "On non-ARM systems, the platform MUST implement the ability for a physically present user to select between two Secure Boot modes in firmware setup: 'Custom' and 'Standard'," the Microsoft document specifies. "Custom Mode allows for more flexibility."

Specifically, Custom Mode will let users modify the contents of the Secure Boot signature databases and the platform key (PK) that verifies kernels during system start-up, thus potentially opening the door to alternative operating systems such as Linux.

I.e. Microsoft's view is that there are two different types of devices

1) 'PCs', i.e. x86/x64 devices where Microsoft was legally judged to be a monopoly. On those they force IHVs to allow the user to install new signatures. So you could install a certificate containing the Ubuntu public key and then the UEFI firmware would then verify and load kernels signed by Ubuntu's private key.

2) 'Appliances' - phones, tablets etc running on ARM. Microsoft can make a case that they're not a monopoly in this market and thus they can force IHVs to not allow you to install new signatures.

That's what happened with the Windows RT devices back with Windows 8. Those devices were locked down in other ways too - they'd only run Win32 ARM binaries if they were signed by Microsoft. Third party software had to be Metro. They also flopped pretty badly because in practice that meant they were pretty useless.

Windows 10 ARM devices will allow third party Win32 ARM binaries. They'll also have a emulator which can run Win32 x86 binaries. So maybe they'll change their policy and allow the user to install signatures and run an alternate OS. Or maybe they won't.

As far as I know they haven't made any definitive statement on this.

Bitcoin Releases Version 0.3
Posted by kdawson on Sunday July 11, 2010 @09:09PM from the nobody-to-prosecute dept.
Teppy writes
"How's this for a disruptive technology? Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer, network-based digital currency with no central bank, and no transaction fees. Using a proof-of-work concept, nodes burn CPU cycles searching for bundles of coins, broadcasting their findings to the network. Analysis of energy usage indicates that the market value of Bitcoins is already above the value of the energy needed to generate them, indicating healthy demand. The community is hopeful the currency will remain outside the reach of any government."
Here are the FAQ, a paper describing Bitcoin in more technical detail (PDF), and the Wikipedia article. Note: a commercial service called BitCoin Ltd., in pre-alpha at bitcoin.com, bears no relation to the open source digital currency.

WikiLeaks, Money, and Ron Paul
Posted by Soulskill on Sunday December 12, 2010 @01:16PM from the headlines-that-will-make-some-people-mad dept.
Another day, another dozen WikiLeaks stories, several of which revolve around money. PayPal has given in to pressure to release WikiLeaks funds, though they still won't do further transactions. Mobile payment firm Xipwire is attempting to take PayPal's place. "We do think people should be able to make their own decisions as to who they donate to." PCWorld wonders if the WikiLeaks' money woes could lead to great adoption of Bitcoin, the peer-to-peer currency system we've discussed in the past. Meanwhile, Representative Ron Paul spoke in defense of WikiLeaks on the House floor Thursday, asking a number of questions, including, "Could it be that the real reason for the near universal attacks on WikiLeaks is more about secretly maintaining a seriously flawed foreign policy of empire than it is about national security?" The current uproar over WikiLeaks has prompted Paul Vixie to call for an end to the DDoS attacks and Vladimir Putin to break out a metaphor involving cows and hockey pucks.

Online-Only Currency BitCoin Reaches Dollar Parity
Posted by timothy on Thursday February 10, 2011 @06:59PM from the computationally-intensive dept.
IamTheRealMike writes
"The BitCoin peer to peer currency briefly reached exchange parity with the US dollar today after a spike in demand for the coins pushed prices slightly above 1 USD:1 BTC. BitCoin was launched in early 2009, so in only two years this open source currency has gone from having no value at all to one with not only an open market of competing exchanges, but the ability to buy r

Last time I was in California AT&T did. Something like this

https://www.pcworld.com/articl...

If that $49 deal for an iPhone that AT&T has been running for months didn't entice you to buy one of Apple's smartphones, how does a free iPhone sound to you?

AT&T's 'Free' iPhone Will Cost at Least $1,355.76. The much-maligned carrier is offering new and old iPhone users alike an 8GB 3GS iPhone with a two-year contract for free. Even shipping is free.
AT&T's voice contracts range from $39.99 a month with 450 anytime minutes to $69.99 a month with unlimited minutes. Data plans range from $15 a month for 200MB of data to $45 a month for 4GB of data and mobile hotspot support.

If you want to text on your phone, it'll cost 20 cents per message or 30 cents per video or image, or you can get unlimited messaging plan for $20 a month.

Add all the costs together, plus a $36 activation fee, and you'll be paying AT&T $2075.76 over the life of the contract, if you stay under the talk, text and limits in your plan.

I.e a 'free' phone that costs at least $2K over a two year contract, or about $86 a month even if you stay inside your limits.

More recently

https://www.cnet.com/news/veri...

Free iPhone 6 in 2014 with a $50 contract. I'm guessing the TCO will end up being more.

Of course iPhones have got quite a bit more expensive since then.

It has been speculated that perhaps the charger connector can't handle any more power and they wanted people who bought the original Surface to be able to use their chargers.

Thing is that makes no sense - it's not like the Surface devices sold all that well and neither did the Surface Book and if you're making something like a Surface device or a Macbook you shouldn't worry about back compatibility - the device only has to work with the charger it comes with.

Apple have changed their charger port a fair few times - MagSafe 1, MagSafe 2 and now USB C and it's pretty clear that Surface is Microsoft's latest attempt at copying Apple's misfeatures in order to compete with them. Completely missing the point that people put up with Apple's misfeatures because want to run OS-X and Apple is the sole hardware vendor. It's not like anyone actually likes them.

I think they just decided to save a few bucks by not redesigning the connector so they could charge the battery in worst case power usage.

"in certain circumstances" so it might be fine 98% of the time. Remember that Microsoft is also a relatively new player in the computer hardware market. Apple, Dell, Toshiba have been at it for decades and therefore had time to learn from several power issues with their portable computers. Microsoft is essentially trying to leapfrog everyone with mitigated success.

We are doing this because javascript in browsers went so well thus far?

From PCWorld, "The Predator 21 X features a full-height mechanical keyboard using Cherry MX brown switches. Acer isn't the first laptop maker to integrate full-height mechanical keys, of course, but it's a nice touch. The keys are individually RGB-lit, too. If you don't like the colored WASD keys, Acer includes more sedate black keys in the box." It's probably not the laptop you want, but that seems like the answer to your question in absence of additional constraints.

Unless it's using something like Android TV or an embedded Chromecast, which some recent TV offerings do, the answer is a definitive no.
If it's a Samsung TV, then it's an pretty blatant and obvious NO, all caps. Samsung, LG and Vizio were already caught red handed with active spying practices, and some of them are facing or faced lawsuits because of it.
Just unplug it. Without smart TV features, it's just a plain TV, which is the safest option as it always was.

https://www.pcworld.com/articl...
https://www.theguardian.com/te...
http://bgr.com/2014/10/31/smar...
http://abcnews.go.com/Technolo...
https://www.consumerreports.or...
https://www.cnet.com/news/sams...
http://bgr.com/2013/11/20/lg-s...

And no, it's not illogical to prevent some devices from connecting to the Internet. The reality of it is that the less stuff you have connected, the less chance you have of getting spied upon and your data being collected. This also applies to IoT devices and other Internet connected devices. If it does not make sense for a service to be connected to the Internet, it shouldn't be. You already have a proper dedicated device for all the "smart" needs, you don't need the often poorly updated with crappy hardware duplicate that came with the TV.

Basic principle of privacy and security standards, limit the stuff you have connected, always measure the convenience of devices versus the privacy risks they can bring. Something that it just seems that lots of people don't realize these days, which is why we'll soon miss the days we didn't have all details of our lives exposed to hackers, advertisers and big corporations.

A single smartphone and a computer is bad enough as is, adding security cameras, TVs, refrigerators, thermostats, smart bulbs, automated blinds, always listening assistants, and whatever more is out there is not simply wrong, it's just plain stupid. People barely have any knowledge or control of simple routers and their desktop computers, let alone all these smart home crap that most don't even really need. People and the tech industry in general are just marching towards a path of no return, we already have growing evidence on how damaging the move is, but people are usually blind to it because they still didn't face their first identity theft case, or something of the like. By the time most people realize the problem it'll already be too late. Data is out there, either publicly exposed or being sold in huge packages of information to be exploited on the dark web, and there will be nothing you can do about it.

Five years seems to a magic number....

https://www.pcworld.com/article/2010601/googles-brin-predicts-self-driving-cars-for-ordinary-people.html

OK, they're ALL out to get you. If you didn't pay for it, you're the product. I fear my local government more than a far-away one. I'm a minnow, no some plankton living in the social/financial sea. It's only metadata. If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear. Ever uploaded something to VirusTotal/Google/MS/Amazon? If it's unencrypted in the cloud, it's probably now on someone's ELSE's cloud too. If encrypted, it's still fair game. KAV have good reviews. So I'll just leave this here and get my coat,

OVERVIEW
https://www.pcworld.com/articl...
https://www.av-test.org/en/ant...
http://chart.av-comparatives.o...

Free
https://usa.kaspersky.com/free...
https://www.bitdefender.com/su...
https://www.malwarebytes.com/m...
https://www.avira.com/en/free-...
https://home.sophos.com/
https://www.pandasecurity.com/...

Just PICK one just as long as it's not the default MS Defender. They couldn't stop it from getting in to start with, what makes you think their AV is going to do better?

I don't get why anyone would want a surface book? Unless you're an MS fanboy I guess.

Why not either:
1. Pay less for a better laptop? (e.g. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834234722)
2. Pay a lot less for a 2-in-1 (e.g. Lenovo Yoga or Dell 2-in-1)
3. Pay a lot less for a tablet with a keyboard and trackpad case for ipad or for android?

See here http://marketrealist.com/2017/... which says "There are rumors that Intel may launch its HEDT (high-end desktop) processors and chipsets and its Coffee Lake microarchitecture a few months earlier than anticipated in response to AMD’s Ryzen 5 and 7 processors. "

That web page is dated April 28, 2017.
Here's another article: https://www.pcworld.com/articl... which shows Coffee Lake in 2H17. This article is dated Feb 13, 2017.

So Intel is executing according to plan since first of this calendar year.

Not recycling them doesn't prove that there are no dupes. Errors can happen, and they have.

https://www.nbcnews.com/techno...

https://www.pcworld.com/articl...

Here's a fact - you suck at fact checking.

The XPS15 runs for 11 hours

Between 5 and 7 hours are the longest I found, during comparison tests. I actually looked this up, because I did the same comparison lookup 2 years ago when I was laptop shopping. MBPs run up to 9 hours in those same comparison tests. Nothing, and I mean nothing, touches MBP battery life on equivalent weight and performance laptops in real side by side tests. Heck, one of those XPS15's actually weighs in at more than a pound more than the MBP competitor, including power brick. A more than half-pound difference if you exclude it.

are you claiming the MBP runs for 22 hours? And if Apple didn't use LPDDR couldn't they do 16 GB per stick? So it's Apple - not Intel - who is to blame here.

LPDDR is part of the reason the runtime is so much better on MBPs than, for instance, the Dells. And, as mentioned elsewhere, the real thing that will get you is that 16GB is actually an acceptable runtime environment for all but a tiny handful of tasks. With at least the last 4 iterations of OSX, I have ceased to swap on existing hardware, and my 16GB laptop has never had memory issues. And I am anything but a typical user. Web browsing and document handling are the smallest least resource impacting parts of what I do daily with my systems.

Uh, no...

Per this: https://www.pcworld.com/articl...

In a video playback test at calibrated brightness, the XPS15 4K managed ~5.5 hours to the rMBP's 9, and that's with a 97Wh battery (vs 87Wh).

They offer that beast with a battery in the 56Wh range, if memory serves (so to speak)...

Apple and Dell made different design decisions. There are trade-offs for LPDDR, but it likely wouldn't be a problem if Intel supported more channels of memory. Apple wouldn't be forced into a capacity/performance trade-off. They would just be left with a capacity/cost trade-off.

Would I like 32GiB of RAM next time around? Yeah, but I'll take a few hours of battery life instead.

The Right Thing!(tm) differs from person to person, and may even change for a single person as circumstances change.

Agree, most complex tools have lots of paths and it's entirely unclear where to begin but then again the application has no clue what you're trying to accomplish. I'm thinking of applications like Photoshop, Visual Studio, Excel, Notepad++, Resolve and a whole lot of others. Many, many layers of menus, toolbars, dialogs, tabs, window areas, settings, options and so on. I think that past a certain complexity there's no such thing as a particularly great one-fits-all design. So my pet wishes:

1. Let me easily move things around. Like if I want to re-dock the windows, resize them etc. I can do that.
2. Let me easily collapse/remove things I don't need. Or better yet, hide the less used options with an expander/under an advanced button.
3. Give me a usable way to search for functionality instead of digging through menus and reading tooltips
4. Offer some kind of preview/sample functionality where relevant. I'm not always sure exactly what to do.
5. Proper undo/redo history or at least be explicitly clear on what can't be undone.
6. Auto-complete/suggestions from past entry where possible/relevant, but please no assistants.
7. Control over what changes/defaults are saved, like do I want the file dialog to start in the most recently used directory or the one configured.
8. Try being consistent about how things work, avoid unexpected side effects, be clear in naming.
9. If it's in the nature to be scripted, I love GUIs that build a command line I can copy and save.
10. Don't make change for change's sake. At the very least offer a "classic" interface, don't force people.

That would be a good start.

This is not quite correct. For a start, the Apple 3TB fusion drive comes paired with a 128GB SSD. This is much larger than the 8GB cache of typical SSHD, which takes care of your slow read performance. Second according to Apple, their system is not just a cache, it "intelligently" stores most used as well as most recent data and applications. As such it is closer to a tiered access solution than a cache.

Yes you can do something similar with a HD + a SSD, but AFAIK not trivially. The Intel SSD SRT caching solution is only that, a cache, and I believe it is limited to 64GB of SSD.

Note that using a SSH as a straight read/write cache can wear it out quickly.

I see a lot of folks on here complaining with the general tone of "The author should be as well-adjusted and capable as I am". Well they're not. Big whoop. Let's not whine and actually do something productive here.

1) I think the problem is getting worse. It used to just be email. Now it's email, phone, OS, websites and even my freakin' web browser itself that want to push notifications.
2) Yes, I'm well adjusted and adapted to this environment. I've spent the majority of my life interested in tech. It's no big surprise that other folks who merely use devices (instead of being passionate about devices) might get swamped by this.

Here are some helpful links:
A great guide for turning off different types of iPhone notifications:
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/t...

Another guide for both Android and iOS:
http://www.pcworld.com/article...

A guide for Windows 10:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/...

And for Chrome (Including turning off sites asking permission, which I hate almost as much as actual notifications)
https://support.google.com/chr...

In tandem with all of this, I also recommend ad-blockers and paying for media services which eliminate advertisements (Pandora, Netflix, etc.). This helps provide a more distraction-free environment and helps maintain a low-distraction life.

BGP routing has no authority mechanism. Anyone can publish any route. This is not the first time this has happened, nor will it be the last.

The reason Intel was eating AMD's lunch for over half a decade was that Intel was two generations ahead on processor fab technology, and as a result Intel had an absolutely huge advantage in power efficiency.

AMD made the difficult decision to skip one generation completely and they are now fabbing 14 nm chips; they have caught up to Intel. (Someday Intel will move to 10 nm and the race will continue.)

According to a table released by Intel the top i9 chips will be rated for 165 Watts TDP. AMD's chips are rated for 180 Watts TDP. A 15 Watt difference is not a big deal, and AMD chips are so much less expensive that you will save money even if electricity is expensive where you live.

The most wasteful AMD chips would be the 220 Watt Vishera-core chips... fabbed on 32 nm, ouch. Newegg still sells them but I'd sooner buy a Threadripper.

From what I read and what AMD presents, their 1700 series has a tdp of 65 watts. Intel's is twice that amount of wattage, and with less performance.

The reason Intel was eating AMD's lunch for over half a decade was that Intel was two generations ahead on processor fab technology, and as a result Intel had an absolutely huge advantage in power efficiency.

AMD made the difficult decision to skip one generation completely and they are now fabbing 14 nm chips; they have caught up to Intel. (Someday Intel will move to 10 nm and the race will continue.)

According to a table released by Intel the top i9 chips will be rated for 165 Watts TDP. AMD's chips are rated for 180 Watts TDP. A 15 Watt difference is not a big deal, and AMD chips are so much less expensive that you will save money even if electricity is expensive where you live.

The most wasteful AMD chips would be the 220 Watt Vishera-core chips... fabbed on 32 nm, ouch. Newegg still sells them but I'd sooner buy a Threadripper.

Yet it isn't, and it isn't.

Because you are wrong, and you are extremely wrong.

http://www.pcworld.com/article...

Apple has used up almost al the Steve Jobs karma it had. They are being more and more just another Dell,IBM,Sony, etc.

The Vision is gone. Look for the product lines to dry up and turn into just another dreary corporate marketing exercise.

Chicklet Keyboard mentality.

Here's how to disable the keylogger you claim doesn't exist: http://www.pcworld.com/article... [pcworld.com]

That takes handwriting samples, not a full transcripted record. There's a difference. It's still an information leak, but it's not a keylogger in that it's not, you know, logging a transcript of everything you type, or selectively logging sensitive information (passwords), or whatnot.

Here's the file sniffer that probably exists, or at least, you give them permission for one at any time: https://privacy.microsoft.com/... [microsoft.com]

When we started down the road of "Windows 10 Is Spyware", there was a claim that it copied gigabytes and gigabytes of everything up to Microsoft because it copied all of the files on your hard drive to Microsoft's servers. Even Fedora and Ubuntu send memory contents and copies of configuration files up in automated bug reports (you should be freaked out by memory contents, which contain your private ssh keys and such).

When you provide payment data to make a purchase, we will share payment data with banks and other entities that process payment transactions or provide other financial services, and for fraud prevention and credit risk reduction.

Every entity who takes payments does this. The payment processor does this. It's done repeatedly up the entire chain.

Finally, we will access, transfer, disclose, and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails in Outlook.com, or files in private folders on OneDrive)

This is stuff in The Cloud, not stuff on your PC. I can use these services from Ubuntu, and I can use Windows without using these services.

when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to: ...protect the rights or property of Microsoft, including enforcing the terms governing the use of the services

Informing you that they have their hands on stuff they can rummage through for legal discovery if you're using their cloud services to store thats tuff on your servers, yes. Shocking revalation: Gmail also can dig through your e-mail for evidence if they file suit against you; Yahoo has access to your e-mail.

however, if we receive information indicating that someone is using our services to traffic in stolen intellectual or physical property of Microsoft, we will not inspect a customer's private content ourselves, but we may refer the matter to law enforcement.

That's actually an odd voluntary limitation.

None of this stuff is particularly-shocking. Siri, Google, and Alexa have voice samples and typing pattern vectors collected from cell phone and tablet users. Automated bug reporting systems collect files, memory dumps, and so forth. Payment processors run your credit data through all kinds of fraud checks (I used to use people's information to find their home address and the names of the people who lived with them when I was doing fraud checks at a Web host--we didn't like paying $25 for chargebacks, so we essentially investigated people before charging their card). Cloud services have your data and may rummage through it during investigations and legal discovery .

Where is the spyware? Where is the constant, continuous keylogging, the transcripting of everything you do? Where's the secret of every document you ever generate, the e-mails sucked from your Thunderbird desktop client that's linked to your Gmail account via IMAP? Where is it?

For that matter, where's the stuff that separates Windows from iOS, Android, Ubuntu, and Fedora? Where's the differentiation between Microsoft and the likes of Apple, Google, and Yahoo?

Well, you could. Except MS disabled updates all of a sudden if it detects you're trying to avoid Windows 10 http://www.pcworld.com/article/3189990/windows/microsoft-blocks-kaby-lake-and-ryzen-pcs-from-windows-7-81-updates.html

Nevermind that drivers exist and were created by the hardware manufacturers (as is always the case with newer hardware). Microsoft didn't want that so its time to start abusing the update channel again.

> there was also chatter about it being a file sniffer and keylogger, but that was debunked pretty hard

Here's how to disable the keylogger you claim doesn't exist:
http://www.pcworld.com/article...

Here's the file sniffer that probably exists, or at least, you give them permission for one at any time:
https://privacy.microsoft.com/...

"When you provide payment data to make a purchase, we will share payment data with banks and other entities that process payment transactions or provide other financial services, and for fraud prevention and credit risk reduction. ...In addition, we share personal data among Microsoft-controlled affiliates and subsidiaries...

Finally, we will access, transfer, disclose, and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails in Outlook.com, or files in private folders on OneDrive), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to: ...protect the rights or property of Microsoft, including enforcing the terms governing the use of the services - however, if we receive information indicating that someone is using our services to traffic in stolen intellectual or physical property of Microsoft, we will not inspect a customer's private content ourselves, but we may refer the matter to law enforcement. "

So maybe they can't sniff your hard drive, but if they do, you have suspiciously granted them permission. Hrm...

I hope the protest doesn't mess up Internet service too badly. According to this article,

Sites that support net neutrality will call attention to their cause by simulating what users would experience if telecom companies were allowed to control web access. Examples will include a simulated “spinning wheel of death” (when a webpage or app won’t load), blocked notifications, and requests to upgrade to paid plans.

no modding / no sli / no CrossFire / no Fraps / no turning off V-Sync with games on windows store do you want to know more?

http://www.pcworld.com/article...

I didn't fully believe you, so I had to Google it. And omfg, duck that noise.

That really turns me off of future Intel products.

http://www.pcworld.com/article...

I suppose 20 years ago "noreply@" wasn't really standardized as an email bit bucket for domains, so I'll give him a pass on that, but yes, in general it really doesn't seem a suitable email address today.

I worked at Fujitsu's WorldsAway virtual world division that had five Davids in 1997. If you ever read "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson, David #5's username was "da5id" and that pissed off all the other Davids. Especially since David #5 was a graphic artist and not a programmer.

Conclusion On paper, the Zenbook Pro is an incredible deal. It features some extremely high-end parts, yet is amazingly affordable compared to its competitors. After spending time with it, however, it becomes clear why it's less expensive, particularly when compared to the Dell XPS 15 with the exact same specs. The Zenbook Pro'ss performance is slightly weaker, and it has subpar speakers and little oddities like uneven keyboard backlighting and that slap-dash Thunderbolt sticker.

If all you care about is GPU, RAM, CPU and HDD then do not buy a Mac. If you're willing to put up with awful keyboards and trackpads and substandard displays to save some money, there are better options. Honestly, I'm not being sarcastic.

AMD took forever to get Ryzen out, but they really did do a good job with the chips. No games, no tricks, and 50% more instructions per clock. And to specifically answer your question: yes, each core has its own FPU.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3176907/components-processors/ryzen-cpus-explained-everything-you-need-to-know-about-amds-disruptive-multicore-chips.html

The most interesting thing about the new Ryzen PRO chips: much more PCI-E lanes. From an article a month ago: "...AMD committed offering all 64 PCI-E lanes and 4 DDR4 memory channels on every ThreadRipper SKU regardless of price, clockspeed, or core count. These [Intel] Core X-series chips haven't even been publicly announced for a full 24 hours and already it's clear that AMD's offering the better chip."

http://semiaccurate.com/2017/05/31/amds-ryzen-threadripper-brings-socket-tr4-x399-chipset/

Considering the fact that Obama was trying to ram TPP through, trying to blame this on the Republicans and Trump is ridiculous.

First of all, realize that the TPP is NOT about free trade. It's about intellectual property control and a variety of other topics. "Free trade" is a generic cover for the whole thing. The real motivators are things that would be balked at if they were negotiated separately.

For details as to what TPP really IS about, well, here's a very short summary:

The TPP and Intellectual Property

And the EFF's position on it:

EFF on TPP
EFF and the Copyright Trap

I'm not going to go into a lot of research for that particular question since this has already been hashed out a million times before.

However, as for the Democrat portion... well, first off, Obama spearheaded TPP and intended to try to get it rammed through towards the end of his term.

Obama and the TPP

Hillary in fact praised it as the "gold standard" while it was in development (in secret, I might add, to the point where Congressmen had to go to a secure room to look at the drafts and could not keep their notes on it with them):

Hillary on the Gold Standard

TPP Secrecy (note the caption on the picture)

Now she did try to back off on this and flip-flopped, although this might well have been a pose for the campaign:

Hillary and TPP

But the fact is that the Democrats did not officially oppose it.

Rejecting formal TPP opposition

Some would say that the fact that Hillary is particularly likely to lie about this to get elected, even among politicians. But people specifically close to her indicated that, if she was elected, she'd flip-flop on it pretty rapidly.

Terry McAuliffe's view on TPP flipping

Additionally, while people seem to very much enjoy shitting on the Republicans for draconian copyright laws, fact is that the Democrats are just as bad, and in some cases, worse:

Congressional support for SOPA and PIPA

This raises doubts as to what parts of TPP would be "renegotiated," if that had happened, which was one option that seemed to be spoken of for a Hillary presidency. Suffice it to say that it is likely that the IP law portions would not receive renegotiation that would be considered consumer-friendly.

Stereotypical "Republicans are evil 'cuz Republicans" and "Trump is evil 'cuz Trump" is not going to fly here, unless you're also willing to jump on board the "Democrats are evil 'cuz Democrats" train. Fact of the matter is, both sides are bought and paid for by the technology and content generation industries. This was the sentiment when SOPA was defeated by massive Internet backlash:

Backlash after massive SOPA protests

And Democrats were certainly benefiting from Hollywood donations which "encouraged" them to support SOPA:

So in short, both sides are filthy here. You can blame one side or the other for the majority of the problem a

This submarine is 6000km long and cost $300m, so a submarine costs $2m per 10km.

Microsoft gives OEMs free, as in beer, or low-cost 32-bit Windows OS licenses for equipment that falls within certain hardware limits (screen size, RAM,etc.), that is why you can find $89 Win10 Tablets, for example.

I thought "Golden Keys" were designed into the Win 10 OS as backdoors

And roundly denounced as a serious security flaw: http://www.pcworld.com/article...

Use a registry hack to tell your XP that it's an embedded computer, much like an ATM or POS:

Windows XP registry hack keeps security updates rolling for the dead operating system

The CIA and NSA can ensure that the code the US uses can hide its origins around the world.
The code litter later found by experts, the staging server ip range, time zone, language will point to a list of nations.
"Latest WikiLeaks dump exposes CIA methods to mask malware" (Mar 31, 2017)
http://www.pcworld.com/article...
Marble Framework, "... anti-forensic tools support other languages such as Chinese, Russian, Korean, Arabic and Farsi. “This would permit a forensic attribution double game,”"
So a lot of code exists on file that is full of code litter that must be from different nations.

Uh,,,

1. Most games I've tried seems to work with tweaks. PlayOnLinux helps a lot. 2. Actually, a fair amount has been going on. A couple AAA RPG and adventure game making groups started doing release on Linux. Kickstarter had something to with that. And it's been continuing since there. 3. Guessing privacy isn't a real concern, especially with Win 10, but if you you look at the big pictures...you should. 4. There are over 3k games on Steam alone available for Linux. gog.com has 1960 linux running games. Guess that isn't enough for people.

I'm more of an RPG/Adventure gamer myself. but some references:

http://www.pcworld.com/article...

Are all the latest games going to be available no. Are EA games going to be available for Linux on release? (Do you REALLY want EA's DRM that scans your text/word files?) No. After EA lied about no DRM in DragonAge Volume 1 (discovered a monitoring SERVICE that ran even after the game was off which I disabled manaully...WTH(eck) EA, you said no DRM/controls), I swore off EA's games and read about more intrusive DRM from them since. Big name game developers like Inxile, Obsidian Entertianment, DoubleFine, Red Thread for example, have all done Linux release of their games.

I don't keep track of all the happenings, but I know there were sparse choosings when I first started using Linux. Plus don't forget, tablets are a BIG thing now on Android. That will make porting to Linux quite easy indeed. Unity has made MUCH easier since their platform now works for Linux. Ubisoft and EA won't because their invasive DRM wouldn't work, and would probably be far easier to break on Linux. Anyway, watch the trends, and tablets and phones. Developers are actually making their game streamlined to run on tables as well as consoles in one code base. (sometimes to the games detriment) . Moving 2 ton stones is work but once that momentum gets going, it will be near impossible to stop. I'm pretty sure it's begun.