"No Linux DE or GUI even approaches OSX's visual polish and core design"
This is true, but it doesn't matter. Linux is incredibly efficient from the command line.
"Linux will never be adopted by the masses."
This is probably true, but again it doesn't matter. Those of us who are productive with it every single day are quite happy. On the other hand, many casual users who have a Linux system set up for them use it and barely know that they're not using Windows. How many of us have set up Linux systems for grandparents, spouses, etc.? Many. They browse the web in relative safety and don't care what the operating system is called.
"No profit because of "information wants to be free" thievery."
This argument has been debunked many times in the past.
"This build includes "read out loud" functionality for PDFs"
Which has already been in 3rd party software for --- how long now?
"support for emoji 5.0"
Now there's a real killer feature that will increase productivity a thousandfold!
"and now when you relaunch Edge after it crashes, your tabs will be restored automatically"
That's awesome! But... um... how about fixing Edge so it, you know, doesn't crash? By way of comparison, I can't even remember when Chrome has ever crashed on me.
Sorry, but just like Joan Lee, your grandparents are also burning in hell. Had they repented and been born again, they would have been saved. Jesus can forgive any sin, but you must first accept Him as your personal savior. Hope that helps.
If you're going to be in heaven, I'd much rather be in the other place.
You are quite right. The point is that pre-engineered "fixes" take away choice. Let the end-listener make any desired adjustments on their own equipment in their own environment. Don't make everyone listen to some engineer's idea of a questionably "good" compromise(d) mix.
Yes, "Hi-Fi" was really only a thing marketed to baby boomers.
Well, as a baby boomer myself...
Hi-Fi was a big thing back in the day because AM radio sounded terrible, and most record players (we played those old 45 RPM discs with the big hole in the center) sounded almost as bad. Hi-Fi, with a good amp, good speakers, a decent preamp, and a turntable that didn't feature 50dB of rumble, provided a listening experience orders of magnitude above the ordinary.
The advent of digital technology of course brought big changes.
Now, today, vinyl is back for whatever reason. Maybe it's a hipster thing. Perhaps they like the limited dynamic range, limited high and low frequency reproduction, surface hiss, scratches, and all the other "advantages" of old technology.
No, cost is not a problem. The circuit is trivial and the trick can likely already be pulled off with the DSP electronics already present for tone control/equalization. This was even available in the analog days as a "loudness" knob.
Your point is valid but just a minor point of correction: the "loudness" control didn't exactly do dynamic range compression. What it did was boost the bass at lower volumes.
I doubt anyone here can truly differentiate between a lossless audio file and a reasonable MP3/AAC
As someone who did professional audio engineering for quite a few years, I have to disagree --- sort of.
First, you say a "reasonable" MP3. A "reasonable" MP3 is indeed hard to tell from a lossless file, but most MP3s aren't all that "reasonable" and can be pretty easily distinguished.
My second caveat has to do with the listening environment. If you're listening on the Apple earbuds that came with your phone, you surely can't tell good from bad. If you listen on the JBL professional setup I had in my studio control room, you sure as heck can hear small differences.
I do agree that many modern (and many somewhat older) mixes are way over-engineered. The engineers try to get them to sound acceptable in loud environments, in stereo and in mono, on crappy car systems and crappier earbuds, and so on... and what loses out is listening in a good environment on good equipment. Note that I say "many" mixes, not "all" mixes. In particular, New Age seems to be mixed with more of a view to quality listening.
Of course, taste is subjective. I'm sure some people like the sound of their Apple earbuds.
People have to vote with their dollars (or Euros or whatever). Nothing else makes the slightest impact.
If Microsoft users have demonstrated they are willing to pay more and more for abuse, poor service, being spied upon, etc., they get what they pay for.
Microsoft is a business with the express purpose of making money, and they'll do that to the maximum extent possible. While I don't like them, I don't blame them. They are beholden to shareholders and no one else.
Yes, that's right; women don't need men to protect them. I've heard this before from some feminists who throw this at men as if to say "mind your own business." The problem is that justice is everyone's business. Are men supposed to sit by while injustice takes place and say "not my problem"? Or should we all work TOGETHER to make things right?
I was making a hyperbolic statement (in line with the hyperbole of the OP). Yes, old hardware will run many things other than Linux, starting, I suppose, with MS-DOS and going up from there.
My point, of course, was that Linux is "old hardware friendly" in a way that recent Windows systems decidedly are not.
And may I add: Equality of the sexes is a given, it shouldn't even be a question. Equal and fair treatment, likewise. But the preaching of hatred and divisiveness that goes on in some gender studies curricula serves neither women nor men.
It gets a pass because it actually isn't an ad and because Ubuntu is open source meaning if you don't like something, you can change it.
Let me know when Microsoft releases the source code for Windows 10 so I can strip all of that spyware, adware and auto update crap from it.
Yes, you're spot on. The Ubuntu MOTD thing is ridiculous but easily fixed by any user with enough knowledge to have installed Ubuntu in the first place. The poster above who claimed there is no freedom in free software was completely wrong. You do have to be willing to put in a little effort (in the MOTD case, very little).
Are they gathering more data than needed for their stated intent? Probably. Is that extra data gathered with malicious intent? Probably not. Is there a manager at some level who saw the accidental data gathered and devised multiple malicious uses? Absolutely, probably over three dozen of them in a company that large.
This is, to me, a fair and honest assessment. But it strengthens the argument that users should have the ability to unconditionally turn off all telemetry, with the expectation that it will not be turned back on. Large data sweeps inevitably pick up sensitive information, even if unintentionally. Large companies inevitably have some bad actors. Not a good combination.
We need to apply the old common sense principal espoused long ago in a science fiction novel:
"Try not to bother the other person. And if you are the other person, try not to be bothered too easily."
Certainly, don't make unwanted or offensive advances. But don't take casual conversation or an informal invitation to lunch as an automatic offense, either.
This guy seemed to go well beyond that, and that's not okay.
But what ever happened to the seemingly simple concept of mutual respect?
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Your comparing make believe to real life? Uhhhh... what?!!
You're right. Make-believe is generally very much better.
"No Linux DE or GUI even approaches OSX's visual polish and core design"
This is true, but it doesn't matter. Linux is incredibly efficient from the command line.
"Linux will never be adopted by the masses."
This is probably true, but again it doesn't matter. Those of us who are productive with it every single day are quite happy. On the other hand, many casual users who have a Linux system set up for them use it and barely know that they're not using Windows. How many of us have set up Linux systems for grandparents, spouses, etc.? Many. They browse the web in relative safety and don't care what the operating system is called.
"No profit because of "information wants to be free" thievery."
This argument has been debunked many times in the past.
"This build includes "read out loud" functionality for PDFs"
Which has already been in 3rd party software for --- how long now?
"support for emoji 5.0"
Now there's a real killer feature that will increase productivity a thousandfold!
"and now when you relaunch Edge after it crashes, your tabs will be restored automatically"
That's awesome! But ... um ... how about fixing Edge so it, you know, doesn't crash? By way of comparison, I can't even remember when Chrome has ever crashed on me.
Sorry, but just like Joan Lee, your grandparents are also burning in hell. Had they repented and been born again, they would have been saved. Jesus can forgive any sin, but you must first accept Him as your personal savior. Hope that helps.
If you're going to be in heaven, I'd much rather be in the other place.
You are quite right. The point is that pre-engineered "fixes" take away choice. Let the end-listener make any desired adjustments on their own equipment in their own environment. Don't make everyone listen to some engineer's idea of a questionably "good" compromise(d) mix.
Yes, "Hi-Fi" was really only a thing marketed to baby boomers.
Well, as a baby boomer myself ...
Hi-Fi was a big thing back in the day because AM radio sounded terrible, and most record players (we played those old 45 RPM discs with the big hole in the center) sounded almost as bad. Hi-Fi, with a good amp, good speakers, a decent preamp, and a turntable that didn't feature 50dB of rumble, provided a listening experience orders of magnitude above the ordinary.
The advent of digital technology of course brought big changes.
Now, today, vinyl is back for whatever reason. Maybe it's a hipster thing. Perhaps they like the limited dynamic range, limited high and low frequency reproduction, surface hiss, scratches, and all the other "advantages" of old technology.
Heck, maybe wax cylinders are next.
No, cost is not a problem. The circuit is trivial and the trick can likely already be pulled off with the DSP electronics already present for tone control/equalization. This was even available in the analog days as a "loudness" knob.
Your point is valid but just a minor point of correction: the "loudness" control didn't exactly do dynamic range compression. What it did was boost the bass at lower volumes.
I doubt anyone here can truly differentiate between a lossless audio file and a reasonable MP3/AAC
As someone who did professional audio engineering for quite a few years, I have to disagree --- sort of.
First, you say a "reasonable" MP3. A "reasonable" MP3 is indeed hard to tell from a lossless file, but most MP3s aren't all that "reasonable" and can be pretty easily distinguished.
My second caveat has to do with the listening environment. If you're listening on the Apple earbuds that came with your phone, you surely can't tell good from bad. If you listen on the JBL professional setup I had in my studio control room, you sure as heck can hear small differences.
I do agree that many modern (and many somewhat older) mixes are way over-engineered. The engineers try to get them to sound acceptable in loud environments, in stereo and in mono, on crappy car systems and crappier earbuds, and so on ... and what loses out is listening in a good environment on good equipment. Note that I say "many" mixes, not "all" mixes. In particular, New Age seems to be mixed with more of a view to quality listening.
Of course, taste is subjective. I'm sure some people like the sound of their Apple earbuds.
People have to vote with their dollars (or Euros or whatever). Nothing else makes the slightest impact.
If Microsoft users have demonstrated they are willing to pay more and more for abuse, poor service, being spied upon, etc., they get what they pay for.
Microsoft is a business with the express purpose of making money, and they'll do that to the maximum extent possible. While I don't like them, I don't blame them. They are beholden to shareholders and no one else.
Hint: women don't need you to protect them.
Yes, that's right; women don't need men to protect them. I've heard this before from some feminists who throw this at men as if to say "mind your own business." The problem is that justice is everyone's business. Are men supposed to sit by while injustice takes place and say "not my problem"? Or should we all work TOGETHER to make things right?
Elsevier makes even Microsoft look like good guys.
I was making a hyperbolic statement (in line with the hyperbole of the OP). Yes, old hardware will run many things other than Linux, starting, I suppose, with MS-DOS and going up from there.
My point, of course, was that Linux is "old hardware friendly" in a way that recent Windows systems decidedly are not.
I get your point. "Equality" is not "interchangeability." But everyone should get a fair shot.
Well and beautifully said.
And may I add: Equality of the sexes is a given, it shouldn't even be a question. Equal and fair treatment, likewise. But the preaching of hatred and divisiveness that goes on in some gender studies curricula serves neither women nor men.
Old hardware is the only thing Linux runs on without problems.
Linux is the only thing that runs on old hardware without problems.
FTFY.
Are you posting this same screed, word for word, in multiple discussions? Is M$ paying you?
"The group that drink the acetaminophen thought that people they read about experiencing pain was not as severe as the placebo group thought."
If you can unscramble this, you're good. Slashdot "editors"--- great work!
It gets a pass because it actually isn't an ad and because Ubuntu is open source meaning if you don't like something, you can change it.
Let me know when Microsoft releases the source code for Windows 10 so I can strip all of that spyware, adware and auto update crap from it.
Yes, you're spot on. The Ubuntu MOTD thing is ridiculous but easily fixed by any user with enough knowledge to have installed Ubuntu in the first place. The poster above who claimed there is no freedom in free software was completely wrong. You do have to be willing to put in a little effort (in the MOTD case, very little).
Are they gathering more data than needed for their stated intent? Probably. Is that extra data gathered with malicious intent? Probably not. Is there a manager at some level who saw the accidental data gathered and devised multiple malicious uses? Absolutely, probably over three dozen of them in a company that large.
This is, to me, a fair and honest assessment. But it strengthens the argument that users should have the ability to unconditionally turn off all telemetry, with the expectation that it will not be turned back on. Large data sweeps inevitably pick up sensitive information, even if unintentionally. Large companies inevitably have some bad actors. Not a good combination.
Thank you for this enormously important contribution to the discussion.
Oops, yes, need to type more slowly!
I think the important thing is that effectively as soon as it was reported, it was fixed and a patch rolled out.
Linux certainly has flaws and vulnerabilities, just like any major OS.
But by and large, they don't get "solved" by hoping no one exploits them. They actually get fixed, more often than not in a timely manner.
And that's why I will never work for a company that has a woman at a C level. They blame everyone else besides themselves.
Although I can hardly agree with this, if it were true, they would have Hillary as a role model.
We need to apply the old common sense principal espoused long ago in a science fiction novel:
"Try not to bother the other person. And if you are the other person, try not to be bothered too easily."
Certainly, don't make unwanted or offensive advances. But don't take casual conversation or an informal invitation to lunch as an automatic offense, either.
This guy seemed to go well beyond that, and that's not okay.
But what ever happened to the seemingly simple concept of mutual respect?
Full disclosure: I work at Microsoft (but of course these views are my own). I'd love to take my surface laptop into work running some BSD or Linux.
You, sir, are 100% awesome.