I would even opt out of the tornado sirens in my neighborhood if it were possible. It isn't like I can call the tornado department and have them come douse the thing. So, I go back to sleep, and trust that things will be okay.
Instead of hauling your lazy ass off to the shelter.
If at home, get to a safe area. Preferably, in the basement, away from windows. Get under a sturdy table or staircase, and cover up with blankets, sleeping bags, a mattress or anything that offers protection from flying debris. If you can't get to the basement (or don't have one), go to a small room - a closet, bathroom or hallway - near the center of the lowest floor and stay there. Crouch down and cover up.Tornadoes: Survival Tips and Myths
This is a company that was convicted of predatory criminal monopolistic practices. They were nearly torn in two.
United States v. Microsoft was a set of consolidated - civil - actions filed against Microsoft Corporation pursuant to the Sherman Antitrust Act on May 18, 1998 by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and 20 U.S. states.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Judge Jackson's rulings against Microsoft. This was partly because the Appellate court had adopted a "drastically altered scope of liability" under which the Remedies could be taken, and also partly due to the interviews Judge Jackson had given to the news media while he was still hearing the case. Judge Jackson did not attend the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing, in which the appeals court judges accused him of unethical conduct and determined he should have recused himself from the case.
However, the appeals court did not overturn the findings of fact. The D.C. Circuit remanded the case for consideration of a proper remedy under a more limited scope of liability.
The DOJ announced on September 6, 2001 that it was no longer seeking to break up Microsoft and would instead seek a lesser antitrust penalty.
Yeah, because what Joe Sixpack needs is Antivirus, endless straem of updates, burning backups of mail and documents and restoring it later, and rest of that shit.
Joe can read his mail and continue on with his work - or play - even when his Internet connection or Google's servers are down for the count.
Joe needs an anti-virus solution because he can download programs and data from many independent sources. The Google OS is lock-in on a scale that Apple and Microsoft have never even contemplated.
It interests me that the geek is comfortable with the Monolith so long as it is his own creation.
The Cyber Crimes Center (C3) Child Exploitation Section (CES) investigates the trans-border dimension of large-scale producers and distributors of images of child abuse, as well as individuals who travel in foreign commerce for the purpose of engaging in sex with minors. The CES employs the latest technology to collect evidence and track the activities of individuals and organized groups who sexually exploit children through the use of websites, chat rooms, newsgroups, and peer-to-peer trading. These investigative activities are organized under Operation Predator, a program managed by the CES. The CES also conducts clandestine operations throughout the world to identify and apprehend violators.
C3 brings the full range of ICE computer and forensic assets together in a single location to combat such Internet-related crimes as:
* Possession, manufacture and distribution of images of child abuse. * International money laundering and illegal cyber-banking. * Illegal arms trafficking and illegal export of strategic/controlled commodities. * Drug trafficking (including prohibited pharmaceuticals). * General Smuggling (including the trafficking in stolen art and antiquities; violations of the Endangered Species Act etc.) * Intellectual property rights violations (including music and software). * Immigration violations; identity and benefit fraud
The phrase "images of child abuse" is telling. This is how the professional in law enforcement defines child pornography.
Operation Mango -- An extensive investigation that closed down an American-owned beachside resort in Acapulco, Mexico, which offered children to sexual predators. The resort was a haven for pedophiles that traveled to the facility for the sole purpose of engaging in sex with minors. The proprietor of the business was convicted. As a result of this investigation and others, the government of Mexico recently created a Federal task force to address crimes against children in its country.Cyber Crimes Center
The VGTF is an international alliance of law enforcement agencies from the U.S., UK, Australia and Canada, working together to make the Internet a safer place; to identify, locate and help children at risk; and to hold those who commit on-line child abuse appropriately accountable. On-line child abuse includes activities such as searching for, sharing and downloading images of children being physically and sexually abused and engaging children in chat rooms with the intention of committing sexual abuse both on and off-line. The VGTF delivers innovative crime prevention and crime reduction initiatives to prevent and deter individuals from committing on-line child abuse.
ICE also partners with several Non-Governmental Organizations, including the National center for Missing & Exploited Children, Netsmartz, World Vision and Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, to fight crimes against children. Operation Predator
Does it come with a free software driver, or at least include specs so you can write your own? If not, why does it deserve a Slashdot front page headline? There are plenty of Windows gaming sites for those who want that kind of thing.
There are gamers and home video enthusiasts more than willing to download and install the fully functional proprietary driver. The binary blob. Particularly between now and December 25th. Not so many equipted to write the open source driver, even if they had the time and the specs.
Multi-touch in Windows 7
on
Fedora 12 Released
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· Score: 2, Informative
The law needs to operate on very black and white terms, and things like the Pirate Bay are operating in very new, and very gray, legal territory
The law doesn't need to see everything in bold outline, black and white, It is really quite good at pattern recognition.
Detecting half-truths and evasions.
The geek's convoluted schemes and half-baked lies have never served him well in court. The geek is drawn to Pirate Bay for convenient access to an infringing file. That is its only reason for existence.
In the end, however, the game would remain on store shelves because of the First Amendment.
The first amendment doesn't keep the retail box on the shelves at Walmart. It doesn't guarantee you access to the console market.
Amazon can cut you loose. Steam can freeze you out.
The developer's only protection is against government censorship.
He can't stop the VFW from circling the Congress with a picket line. This time he probably won't be able to stave off adoption of a mandatory ratings system with teeth.
The Supreme Court has ended the execution of juveniles in the U.S. It may put an end to life without parole for the juvenile offender.
When the intellectual and moral immaturity of the child becomes so important and embedded a principle in the law - it becomes possible to argue with a very real chance of success that some games should be accessible to adults only.
This is going to shock you but written English is quite common in Russia and most Russians are multilingual
In the primary grades?
In outland cities and towns or just in Moscow?
Localization is trivial. I believe Russian interface is supported in every Linux variant I've ever used
Only a geek could think that localization of software is trivial because he has solved - or thinks he has solved - the problem in the UI.
Some of these teachers built their own schools from raw logs, and they had to do manual labor to get the tools to work the logs. I'm not kidding. After that experience figuring out Linux should be a cinch.
Linux as the Siberian Boot Camp of operating systems.
Last year, we discussed here a Russian plan to install free software in all its schools. Seems things aren't going so well. Funds for the project have been cut back, some of the free software discs already sent out were faulty
There is more to FOSS than Linux.
One of the great strengths of the Windows platform is that it has always been licence-agnostic.
The system never frets or complains when you try to install an app that doesn't meet Microsoft's standards of political correctness.
The Linux distro can make you jump through a hoop or two or three before you get to that closed source app or binary driver.
Windows does like to see a signature.
Which makes perfect sense when you realize that there are thousands of independent Windows "repositories" with names like Download.com.
OLPC ran into trouble because of its "all or nothing" attidude.
The education minister was expected to buy into its bundle of hardware, software, and constructivist philosophy of education without any inconvenient doubts or questions.
When the minister took his business elsewhere there was suddenly room in OLPC for XP and MS Office.
The moral of the story being that it isn't always wise to try to take all the apple in one bite.
You can successfully introduce FOSS into the Russian classroom without trying to replace the whole of the existing Windows infrastructure at the same time.
The competition might even force you to look more closely at the quality of your open source product.
The entire point of republican democracy, as opposed to direct democracy, is that making representation a full-time job allows our representatives to put the time and effort into being informed about the issues. It scares and angers me that they try to accomplish that by listening to lobbyists.
Why?
If you belong to a professional or trade association of any sort, you are paying for your own lobbyists.
The same for any charity or affinity group you support. The hospice. Your alumni association. The EFF. The NRA.
There is stength in numbers.
The lobby can collect information. It can underwrite research.
It can recruit speakers whose credentials are impeccable and who are able and effective advocates in any public forum.
It can help build the alliances - the coalitions - that a politician needs to forge to get his legislation passed.
The geek in New Hampshire can't do much more about the Congress than post his rants to a blog.
The lobbyist can deliver votes in Florida, New York and California.
It always amazes me at how advanced the Germans and Japanese were in some things, and just how arrogant and stupid the Americans were
You might want to read Arthur Clarke's old story "Superiority."
The wonder weapon often has significant hidden flaws or doesn't make it to the battlefield in time be decisive.
A downed Zero was recovered from the Aleutians in July 42, rebuilt and flown for testing:
"The Zero had superior maneuverability only at the lower speeds used in dogfighting, with short turning radius and excellent aileron control at very low speeds. However, immediately apparent was the fact that the ailerons froze up at speeds above two hundred knots, so that rolling maneuvers at those speeds were slow and required much force on the control stick. It rolled to the left much easier than to the right. Also, its engine cut out under negative acceleration [as when nosing into a dive] due to its float-type carburetor.
"We now had an answer for our pilots who were unable to escape a pursuing Zero. We told them to go into a vertical power dive, using negative acceleration, if possible, to open the range quickly and gain advantageous speed while the Zero's engine was stopped. At about two hundred knots, we instructed them to roll hard right before the Zero pilot could get his sights lined up."
Advanced U.S. fighters produced toward the war's end still couldn't turn with the Zero, but they were faster and could outclimb and outdive it.
Without self-sealing fuel tanks, the Zero was easily flamed when hit in any of its three wing and fuselage tanks or its droppable belly tank. And without protective armor, its pilot was vulnerable.
The Office and other Workplace fiction are written by people who have never worked in a real world workplace, or if they have it was merely as a stopping point for them.
The studio is real world.
The Pixar feature will have a budget of $180 million. It will be four years in production and employ 400 people. That is as real as it gets.
Writers often work in teams.
Ideally every story problem - every legal and technical and budgetary problem - will be solved before you go into production.
It doesn't always work out that way.
Production credits are important in this business. They define the market value of your work. Your right to residuals.
If you are as touchy and driven as Harlan Ellison you will be spending much of your professional life in court.
I installed Ubuntu to head off a lot of these problem but he refused to use it.
It doesn't matter if it's friend, family or client.
It doesn't matter if your are working for a cold beer and a plate of pretzels or charging twice the going rate for your "professional services."
You never make fundamental changes without asking.
Without informed consent.
If I ask you to secure and return my Windows system - I expect you to secure and return my Windows system - not to replace it with whatever Linux distro and Open Source apps that suit your fancy.
"What part of "No" didn't you understand?" That is as sound a way for a judge to approach a suit for breach of contract as it is when he considers a charge of rape.
Slashdot Mirror
We're talking about (usually) so obvious applications that a 5 year old wouldn't only get the idea but actually say "duh" when you present it to him.
The 5 year may "get" the idea.
That doesn't mean he can produce the machine or device or program that puts the idea to work in new and interesting ways.
To the patent examiner, "obvious" has to mean more than "twenty-twenty hindsight."
If the "sparkline" is so obvious and useful an idea and so easily implemented in your spreadsheet program why isn't it there now?
I would even opt out of the tornado sirens in my neighborhood if it were possible. It isn't like I can call the tornado department and have them come douse the thing. So, I go back to sleep, and trust that things will be okay.
Instead of hauling your lazy ass off to the shelter.
If at home, get to a safe area. Preferably, in the basement, away from windows. Get under a sturdy table or staircase, and cover up with blankets, sleeping bags, a mattress or anything that offers protection from flying debris. If you can't get to the basement (or don't have one), go to a small room - a closet, bathroom or hallway - near the center of the lowest floor and stay there. Crouch down and cover up. Tornadoes: Survival Tips and Myths
This is a company that was convicted of predatory criminal monopolistic practices. They were nearly torn in two.
United States v. Microsoft was a set of consolidated - civil - actions filed against Microsoft Corporation pursuant to the Sherman Antitrust Act on May 18, 1998 by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and 20 U.S. states.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Judge Jackson's rulings against Microsoft. This was partly because the Appellate court had adopted a "drastically altered scope of liability" under which the Remedies could be taken, and also partly due to the interviews Judge Jackson had given to the news media while he was still hearing the case. Judge Jackson did not attend the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing, in which the appeals court judges accused him of unethical conduct and determined he should have recused himself from the case.
However, the appeals court did not overturn the findings of fact. The D.C. Circuit remanded the case for consideration of a proper remedy under a more limited scope of liability.
The DOJ announced on September 6, 2001 that it was no longer seeking to break up Microsoft and would instead seek a lesser antitrust penalty.
United States vs Microsoft
Antitrust in the states is populist and evangelical. Nothing much happens unless the folks back home want it to happen.
The break up of Microsoft was never a winner politically. Gallup Poll Public Opinion 2000, Volume 1999
Yeah, because what Joe Sixpack needs is Antivirus, endless straem of updates, burning backups of mail and documents and restoring it later, and rest of that shit.
Joe can read his mail and continue on with his work - or play - even when his Internet connection or Google's servers are down for the count.
Joe needs an anti-virus solution because he can download programs and data from many independent sources. The Google OS is lock-in on a scale that Apple and Microsoft have never even contemplated.
It interests me that the geek is comfortable with the Monolith so long as it is his own creation.
Not everyone needs a full blown OS and the hardware costs associated with it.
Not everyone wants the costs associated with broadband service and services.
In each generation of hardware the geek re-invents the net appliance.
Walmart doesn't know what to make of the damn thing. There is a brief burst of sales before disappointment sets in.
The appliance is quickly overtaken by a brand name mass-market general purpose Windows PC with better specs and a cheaper price.
why do the developers of gimp refuse to change the name?
It's a small blessing that no user environment in Linux begins with the letter "F."
Because we all know what the geek would make of that.
Instead of delivering a plausible - marketable - competitor for Illustrator he would - almost certainly - unleash a FART.
Names matter. First impressions always matter.
They shape how your projects are perceived. They shape how you are perceived.
... suuuuuure.
Purely as a novelty, the geek might ask himself what ICE is and what it does.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has quite a lot on its plate, as this list of Programs would suggest.
The Cyber Crimes Center (C3) Child Exploitation Section (CES) investigates the trans-border dimension of large-scale producers and distributors of images of child abuse, as well as individuals who travel in foreign commerce for the purpose of engaging in sex with minors. The CES employs the latest technology to collect evidence and track the activities of individuals and organized groups who sexually exploit children through the use of websites, chat rooms, newsgroups, and peer-to-peer trading. These investigative activities are organized under Operation Predator, a program managed by the CES. The CES also conducts clandestine operations throughout the world to identify and apprehend violators.
C3 brings the full range of ICE computer and forensic assets together in a single location to combat such Internet-related crimes as:
* Possession, manufacture and distribution of images of child abuse.
* International money laundering and illegal cyber-banking.
* Illegal arms trafficking and illegal export of strategic/controlled commodities.
* Drug trafficking (including prohibited pharmaceuticals).
* General Smuggling (including the trafficking in stolen art and antiquities; violations of the Endangered Species Act etc.)
* Intellectual property rights violations (including music and software).
* Immigration violations; identity and benefit fraud
The phrase "images of child abuse" is telling. This is how the professional in law enforcement defines child pornography.
Operation Mango -- An extensive investigation that closed down an American-owned beachside resort in Acapulco, Mexico, which offered children to sexual predators. The resort was a haven for pedophiles that traveled to the facility for the sole purpose of engaging in sex with minors. The proprietor of the business was convicted. As a result of this investigation and others, the government of Mexico recently created a Federal task force to address crimes against children in its country. Cyber Crimes Center
The VGTF is an international alliance of law enforcement agencies from the U.S., UK, Australia and Canada, working together to make the Internet a safer place; to identify, locate and help children at risk; and to hold those who commit on-line child abuse appropriately accountable. On-line child abuse includes activities such as searching for, sharing and downloading images of children being physically and sexually abused and engaging children in chat rooms with the intention of committing sexual abuse both on and off-line. The VGTF delivers innovative crime prevention and crime reduction initiatives to prevent and deter individuals from committing on-line child abuse.
ICE also partners with several Non-Governmental Organizations, including the National center for Missing & Exploited Children, Netsmartz, World Vision and Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, to fight crimes against children. Operation Predator
Does it come with a free software driver, or at least include specs so you can write your own? If not, why does it deserve a Slashdot front page headline? There are plenty of Windows gaming sites for those who want that kind of thing.
There are gamers and home video enthusiasts more than willing to download and install the fully functional proprietary driver. The binary blob. Particularly between now and December 25th. Not so many equipted to write the open source driver, even if they had the time and the specs.
Multi-touch is not supported by windows yet.
Kindle goes multitouch on Windows 7
Dell SX2210T - multi-touch, Windows 7 ready, full HD monitor
Windows 7 could hasten touch-screen computers
The law needs to operate on very black and white terms, and things like the Pirate Bay are operating in very new, and very gray, legal territory
The law doesn't need to see everything in bold outline, black and white, It is really quite good at pattern recognition.
Detecting half-truths and evasions.
The geek's convoluted schemes and half-baked lies have never served him well in court. The geek is drawn to Pirate Bay for convenient access to an infringing file. That is its only reason for existence.
In the end, however, the game would remain on store shelves because of the First Amendment.
The first amendment doesn't keep the retail box on the shelves at Walmart. It doesn't guarantee you access to the console market.
Amazon can cut you loose. Steam can freeze you out.
The developer's only protection is against government censorship.
He can't stop the VFW from circling the Congress with a picket line. This time he probably won't be able to stave off adoption of a mandatory ratings system with teeth.
The Supreme Court has ended the execution of juveniles in the U.S. It may put an end to life without parole for the juvenile offender.
When the intellectual and moral immaturity of the child becomes so important and embedded a principle in the law - it becomes possible to argue with a very real chance of success that some games should be accessible to adults only.
No excuses and no exceptions.
This is going to shock you but written English is quite common in Russia and most Russians are multilingual
In the primary grades?
In outland cities and towns or just in Moscow?
Localization is trivial. I believe Russian interface is supported in every Linux variant I've ever used
Only a geek could think that localization of software is trivial because he has solved - or thinks he has solved - the problem in the UI.
Some of these teachers built their own schools from raw logs, and they had to do manual labor to get the tools to work the logs. I'm not kidding. After that experience figuring out Linux should be a cinch.
Linux as the Siberian Boot Camp of operating systems.
Last year, we discussed here a Russian plan to install free software in all its schools. Seems things aren't going so well. Funds for the project have been cut back, some of the free software discs already sent out were faulty
There is more to FOSS than Linux.
One of the great strengths of the Windows platform is that it has always been licence-agnostic.
The system never frets or complains when you try to install an app that doesn't meet Microsoft's standards of political correctness.
The Linux distro can make you jump through a hoop or two or three before you get to that closed source app or binary driver.
Windows does like to see a signature.
Which makes perfect sense when you realize that there are thousands of independent Windows "repositories" with names like Download.com.
OLPC ran into trouble because of its "all or nothing" attidude.
The education minister was expected to buy into its bundle of hardware, software, and constructivist philosophy of education without any inconvenient doubts or questions.
When the minister took his business elsewhere there was suddenly room in OLPC for XP and MS Office.
The moral of the story being that it isn't always wise to try to take all the apple in one bite.
You can successfully introduce FOSS into the Russian classroom without trying to replace the whole of the existing Windows infrastructure at the same time.
The competition might even force you to look more closely at the quality of your open source product.
The entire point of republican democracy, as opposed to direct democracy, is that making representation a full-time job allows our representatives to put the time and effort into being informed about the issues. It scares and angers me that they try to accomplish that by listening to lobbyists.
Why?
If you belong to a professional or trade association of any sort, you are paying for your own lobbyists.
The same for any charity or affinity group you support. The hospice. Your alumni association. The EFF. The NRA.
There is stength in numbers.
The lobby can collect information. It can underwrite research.
It can recruit speakers whose credentials are impeccable and who are able and effective advocates in any public forum.
It can help build the alliances - the coalitions - that a politician needs to forge to get his legislation passed.
The geek in New Hampshire can't do much more about the Congress than post his rants to a blog.
The lobbyist can deliver votes in Florida, New York and California.
Apple is stealing a lot of Microsoft's mindshare and they're percieved as "cool and hip" whereas as Microsoft are thought of as an evil MegaCorp.
The geek is a hothouse product with little contact with the outside world.
The geek will rant on forever about "the convicted monopolist."
But, with Apple content with a very profitable and easily serviced upscale niche market, anti-trust is a bust.
The truth is that you can't pin the label on either one of them and make it stick.
Microsoft gets Boot Camp and the Mac as a strong secondary platform for Windows apps.
Apple gets iTunes for Windows and placement on the desktop with 93% of the market.
Psystar makes an early exit.
Our hero and heroine live happily ever after.
Make a system any idiot can use and only idiots will use it.
It's this attitude that guarantees OSX and Windows a 99% share of the desktop.
The ordinary user expects sensible defaults that allow routine tasks to be completed routinely.
He'll tolerate less-than-optimum solutions to more complex tasks if the solution is easy to find and easy to implement.
The hypothesis that no deity of any kind exists solves the problem in an unbeatably elegant fashion.
Only until contact is made.
It would be - inconvenient - for the atheist to encounter an alien believer. A believer with own intellectual and historical traditions and methods.
Methods perhaps more rigorous and defensible than his own. Someone whose brain and senses might be very different than his own.
The atheist has no need to fear an encounter with a living witness to the miracles of the Bible or solid documentary evidence.
With the alien, you just don't know what the possibilities really are.
One, I can transcode it to eliminate the commercials.
I watch Netflix downloads almost daily and I haven't been plagued by commercials.
Who has the time to do a clean - professional-looking - edit of every episode of Law & Order?
I never have to worry about my service provider (at the behest of the Content Cabal) revoking my ability to watch something I've saved.
Like revoking the online key that unlocks the encryption? Or embedding a time stamp in the file?
You might want to read Arthur Clarke's old story "Superiority."
The wonder weapon often has significant hidden flaws or doesn't make it to the battlefield in time be decisive.
A downed Zero was recovered from the Aleutians in July 42, rebuilt and flown for testing:
"The Zero had superior maneuverability only at the lower speeds used in dogfighting, with short turning radius and excellent aileron control at very low speeds. However, immediately apparent was the fact that the ailerons froze up at speeds above two hundred knots, so that rolling maneuvers at those speeds were slow and required much force on the control stick. It rolled to the left much easier than to the right. Also, its engine cut out under negative acceleration [as when nosing into a dive] due to its float-type carburetor.
"We now had an answer for our pilots who were unable to escape a pursuing Zero. We told them to go into a vertical power dive, using negative acceleration, if possible, to open the range quickly and gain advantageous speed while the Zero's engine was stopped. At about two hundred knots, we instructed them to roll hard right before the Zero pilot could get his sights lined up."
Advanced U.S. fighters produced toward the war's end still couldn't turn with the Zero, but they were faster and could outclimb and outdive it.
Without self-sealing fuel tanks, the Zero was easily flamed when hit in any of its three wing and fuselage tanks or its droppable belly tank. And without protective armor, its pilot was vulnerable.
Koga's Zero
The Office and other Workplace fiction are written by people who have never worked in a real world workplace, or if they have it was merely as a stopping point for them.
The studio is real world.
The Pixar feature will have a budget of $180 million. It will be four years in production and employ 400 people. That is as real as it gets.
Writers often work in teams.
Ideally every story problem - every legal and technical and budgetary problem - will be solved before you go into production.
It doesn't always work out that way.
Production credits are important in this business. They define the market value of your work. Your right to residuals.
If you are as touchy and driven as Harlan Ellison you will be spending much of your professional life in court.
Why does a city's laws and codes have to be two fat binders?
Schenectady has a population of 61,000 people.
Density a little under 6,000 per square mile.
That's rather more people and property to manage and protect than your average small business.
When you are planning a new house, you need to be thinking about zoning laws and building codes.
Most encounters with the law are like that. They evolve out of a very specific set of circumstances.
I wonder how the 'ignorance of the law is no excuse' standpoint would be upheld given that you may not be economically able to know the laws...
You could of course go to city hall or the public library.
Sit down and read a book.
There was a world of text before the computer, after all.
Lemme guess: Home, Ultimate, Pro, Pro-er, and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
There are - let us say - 200 or so Linux distributions.
"You can't tell the players without a program." List of Linux distributions
True, but 9 times out of ten, it is easier and faster to change the OS than the human's behavior.
Then you can safely assume that the changes won't stick.
The user's choice of an OS - his choice of apps - his behavior on-line - can easily be ten to fifteen years in the making.
Twenty-five years for a user now in his sixties.
OSX has its good years and bad. But fundamentally it holds the same upscale market niche Apple targeted in 1984.
The Atom netbook running XP wipes the floor with Linux. Win 7 leaves the gate with four times the market share of Linux.
This ought to tell a geek something.
I installed Ubuntu to head off a lot of these problem but he refused to use it.
It doesn't matter if it's friend, family or client.
It doesn't matter if your are working for a cold beer and a plate of pretzels or charging twice the going rate for your "professional services."
You never make fundamental changes without asking.
Without informed consent.
If I ask you to secure and return my Windows system -
I expect you to secure and return my Windows system - not to replace it with whatever Linux distro and Open Source apps that suit your fancy.
"What part of "No" didn't you understand?" That is as sound a way for a judge to approach a suit for breach of contract as it is when he considers a charge of rape.