Well we'll have to postpone this fascinating discussion as it seems Microsoft is planning to revert some of the design decisions in Windows 8, making the thread irrelevant.
Silver lining: If they bring back the Start button but still require Metro apps to be deployed from the Windows Store only we'll know the idiots have won.
When companies talk about multi-million dollar costs, it's because they've got a number of systems tied together with data feeds, batch processing, and other interactions between their systems. You can't typically upgrade one piece of the pie without upgrading the whole pie.
The two big evils that prevents simple and effective systems integration are: 1) Using point-to-point integration (instead of something more flexible like SOA) to "save time" 2) Using custom shared libraries and/or a in-house framework to "save time"
The second one is counter-intuitive for a lot of developers who worship libraries. But the reality is that the economics of building internal frameworks are usually weak because most languages and platforms evolve before the alleged productivity gains for developers have paid off, kickstarting a round of upgrade (or rewrite) on the library. I've seen a lot of integration projects where the bulk of the cost was linked to internal libraries requiring systemic upgrades.
searching the web to find techniques that should be intuitive is not a good solution. I think you're going out of your way to apologize for poor usability design.
Now proven wrong, you adjust your complaint from "non-existing predictive text" to "non-intuitive default options". Basically you don't have an actual issue, you are simply going out of your way to bash Windows 8. Very brave to do so on Slashdot.
For the sake of discussion: default options in Windows 8 are a mixed blessing. As an example, in previous versions of Windows one could pick the timezone during the setup; now like a lot of options it's set by default (silently), which can be annoying. It looks like Microsoft decided to make the setup a lot more straightforward, and this design decision is also reflected in the very basic and user-friendly "PC Settings" page. It has the same feeling as on other OS where a lot of stuff is hidden under the hood. Computers for dummies.
However there is a minor benefit to that approach: since user settings are stored in the cloud, when an option is changed on one device it is changed on all devices where the user logs on. This is no innovation as this was already available on other devices (like Google Nexus) but it makes the issue of default options a bit less annoying; it can actually be very convenient not to have to answer to the same questions every time a new machine is configured.
The tablet experience on Windows 8 is just not particularly great, and it only gets worse when you want to use desktop apps (such as Office, which is what Gates was bragging about).
Windows 8 has two modes: Metro and Desktop. On a tablet, the Metro (RT) mode offers more or less the same experience as other tablets like the iPad or Nexus (all swipes and gestures), but with less apps in the Store. It's not unpleasant to read news, watch movies or keep an eye on the stock market on Metro apps; it is very smooth, it's visually interesting and the context-aware Charms bar is convenient once you get the hang of it. The biggest issue on Metro is that there is not a lot of high-quality apps in the Store; even those from big names like Amazon are often incomplete and require a visit to the website to do anything serious. But it's getting there, and since it's possible to write a Metro app entirely in HTML5 and Javascript I guess the Store offering will grow over time. I disagree with the way Microsoft is handling the Store (it's very similar to Apple, very restrictive and flaky) but I guess they were afraid of all those VB people taking the Metro wave.
As for the Desktop mode, I agree that it is not well-suited for a tablet (unless is comes with a physical keyboard, but then it's a netbook not a tablet). The keyboard is not the same and won't activate automatically; using the touch interface for right-clicks is awkward and having to mess around with thin scrollbars is unpleasant. In my opinion it's a poor way to slowly migrate people towards Metro.
But the worse of it all is that Office is not available in Metro, only on Desktop. Same goes for all the big Microsoft applications (Visual Studio, etc). It feels like Microsoft is trying to have it both ways with Desktop and Metro but it's not working, it's confusing.
At the end of the day Windows 8 is not a bad OS and does not deserve all the misinformed bashing it gets. It is pretty stable, has a decent firewall and antivirus built-in, has very effective file versioning features and does a good job of storing settings (and files if desired) in the cloud. But the bashing is typical; every single release of Windows has endless floods of people who don't know what they talk about come out and complaint endlessly. These people are like those commies who keep predicting the fall of capitalism or Baghdad Bob claiming victory on tv with american tanks driving by in the background. It's almost cute.
Bill Gates IMO does not get, but hey he is a PC guy!
Of course he gets it. This approach is typical Microsoft: embrace, extend, extinguish.
Apple has been growing too fast and keeps trying to wow the market to maintain their overinflated stock price so they started pushing products that are broken or at the very least not fully ready, and they even endanger their existing high-quality ecosystem (Adobe, etc) to make 99 cents games like Angry Birds available on their laptops without requiring a different build. Meanwhile Microsoft is working hard to repeat their success recipe: sell something that mostly works for 90% of the needs of 90% of the customers, and strong-arm OEMs in pushing their stuff. What is very likely to happen in the coming years is that people will end up thinking that a tablet is something like Surface, a convertible laptop, running the same Windows that they have on their laptops and PCs and possibly phones.
To anyone who thinks Bill Gates "does not get it", I strongly advise to watch the excellent movie Pirates of Silicon Valley (not the documentary). Especially that scene where Steve Jobs tells Bill Gates that Apple products are better, and Bill Gates replies this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgSYF0QIcCw
This is the same kind of flawed logic that is used by people who say that allowing same-sex marriage opens the door to adult-minor or human-animal marriage. Technically they are right (changing the definition of marriage is a requirement for those alternate scenarios) but it's stupid all the same.
Unfortunately I dropped out of school early to go earn moneys but I'm sure in college they teach about this typical logical flaw and even have a name for it. Otherwise college is worthless and I'm happy I did not go.
One thing I've noticed since switching to a Windows tablet is how lousy the onscreen keyboard is. On most platforms, touchscreen keyboards try to incorporate things like predictive text, auto-capitalization, etc to help you type, because they realize that a touchscreen with no tactile feedback is a less-than-idea way to type. The Windows onscreen keyboards have none of that. What's more, they seem wildly inaccurate... the visual feedback seems to be telling me that I'm hitting the right keys, but when I look up at what I entered, half of the letters are keys right next to the ones I thought I was hitting (and although I can touch type on a physical keyboard, I do have to look at the keys on a tablet).
When you say "Windows tablet" do you mean Surface? Because there are a lot of other products out there that run Windows 8. In any event, predictive text IS available in the vanilla Windows 8, you just have to enable it in the "Ease of access options" app. Here is a video that shows how: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60zFkIOzvTo
Screw all of that. Before you can do any of that, you have to enter your password to login to the system first. Try that when you have a strong password and you can't be totally sure what keys you're pressing.
In Windows 8 there is a small eye icon in password fields when they get the focus, if you click on it you can see the field content in clear text.
Seriously, WIndows 8 has plenty of issues but people who can't STFW for basic tutorial information are just adding noise to the discussion.
I really don't get these. I can understand the motivation behind stupid racist shit (think giggling 17 year old boys/men in their mom's basements), but I really don't get these. They're not funny or offensive to anyone, and they don't advertise anything.
What's the point, other than extreme OCD and insanity?
A few explanations: 1) Those posts are not from people. They are from buggy bots. 2) Those posts are cleverly encrypted messages sent to/from secret agents (or terrorist or pedophiles or bronies), hiding secrets in plain sights. 3) Those posts are ASCII-encoded mp3s and Slashdot is used as the backend storage for muzofon.com 4) Those posts don't exist, you are hallucinating.
There are cheap cameras today that do full HD, low artifacts, and run 30 frames a second. These images were from old equipment and software. The smudged faces is that. They should be replaced.
No need for that. The police just has to call the crime lab at CSI Miami or Chloe down at the CTU. If all the moles have been properly smoked out from those organizations it should be possible to get 3D pictures of both suspects.
Judeo-Christian-related faiths also require that this omniscient, omnipotent entity likes to meddle in his creations' lives but suddenly decided to be a lot more discreet around 2000 years ago.
"The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world that he did not exist". A trick that was also used by Keyser Söze and apparently now God.
Saw the same thing once. I was setting up an intranet web server for a client (big telco in North America) and the IP address I was given was a public one. At first I figured they wanted to setup some kind of DMZ so I asked the network guy if they were planning on doing some kind of NAT but he said: no, it's internal only. Out of curiosity I ran a whois on the address and it belonged to an APNIC public block. I then noticed that my laptop was also getting an IP address in that range via DHCP. I was not there long enough to rock the boat and I never had an explanation but I came up with two theories: 1) they bought a router on eBay, it came from China and was pre-configured with those IPs and they just went along with it. 2) they had to setup a VPN between offices and they kept having subnet addressing conflicts so they just randomly picked numbers for the LAN to be done with it.
This sounds silly but this kind of thing can definitely happen in heavily ITILized environment where nobody is looking at the big picture, they just focus on the tickets they have to close and sometimes things fall between two seats and nobody cares.
People want to upload pictures on Facebook and comment on infotainment articles. The fact that there is a permanent "Share" widget in Windows 8 speaks volume.
Resistance is futile. If you are in the corporate world then jump on the cloud bandwagon and build idiot-proof SaaS solutions or perish.
Dell has been in transition for a while. They are moving toward professional services, software and stuff like data center hardware and automation; they did a lot of acquisitions in that spirit recently, such as Quest software, Equallogic and Compellent (enterprise storage), etc. Michael Dell has explained many times that they kept selling PCs so they get volume pricing on parts they use in servers too, not as a business focus.
IBM did the same kind of transition a long time ago (hence Lenovo). Apple also changed its business a while ago and sells now more iPhones than MacBooks. That is part of evolving. Yet whenever "experts" talk about Dell they only focus on their PC business, and their solid financials are not reflected in the share price as everybody these days is obsessed with growth and nothing else.
So in my opinion this whole thing has 3 possible outcomes: 1) Dell goes private, with Silver Lake or other private equity firm 2) Dell goes private and some parts of the business are sold, like the financial services to Blackstone and the PC to Lenovo/HP 3) The whole thing falls apart because some greedy shareholders (including new ones like Icahn) are making it too difficult/expensive
Dell has a very interesting culture, they have perfected the concept of mass customization, and for years with they financing services they have made it easy for small business to get good computers and servers at a bargain price. I wish them all the best.
According to that version, "Richards' termination triggered its own surge of support, from passionate tweets with the hashtag #SupportAdria to a DDoS attack on SendGrid that crippled their website for a good chunk of the workday on Thursday". That is the first version I read where it is said that the DDoS was caused to *support* Adria Richards.
Also the post of a female blogger who sheds a very interesting light on Adria Richards as a repeat offender (including a whole section called "An Established Pattern of Action") is summarized in a biased manner. https://amandablumwords.wordpress.com/2013/03/21/3/
To anyone who has a minute to spare I strongly suggest to read the Amanda Blum post. As for the masterpiece from Liebelson & Raja, well it shows that some people don't let the facts in the way of promoting an agenda (and/or a career).
I'm so fucking glad she got fired. I hope she gets fired from life. People and their fake outrage can die in a fire, or a Walmart trampling.
Too many people overreacted on this one. You did too. Congratulations.
Wait a minute. Because he said that they *can* die in a fire, not that they *should* die in a fire, maybe he is just saying that they are not superheroes, which is a valid piece of information that should be welcome in any serious discussion.
Pal you are the only one with a small bird besides your name in the whole page. Did you really post that from Twitter? What is happening, is the internet leaking?
Showing ads is fine when I am actually looking for something; no need to stalk me all the time. If I'm not looking for something I am not going to buy anything either. Oh and make it text ads only because I block everything else and I can't click on blocked ads, can I? Thanks!
Is this a letter for Santa Claus?
It's wonderful that you agree to see ads when you are looking for something; this is how Google makes money. But who pays for all the other websites that you visit for free? They are hosted somewhere on a server that has been purchased by someone, that has its power and cooling paid by someone, and is online because someone is paying the ISP. If you don't want paywalls everywhere, then so far the ads are the only viable solution to help those people pay for this infrastructure.
Or maybe you are one of those people who think that because you pay $35 a month for your internet access you should get all content for free. That reminds me of a girl I knew in college who was making and selling pirate copies of movies but according to her it was legal because she was paying for the blank DVDs and for her internet connection.
There is a serious flaw in the internet business model, everyone knows it. Ads are awful and even targeted ads have a very low conversion rate. Yet for most people there is so far no other way to make money. So why don't you stop whining like an entitled brat and instead start thinking about realistic solutions to this problem? If you find a good one you could make millions.
I don't see what is actually the problem. Isn't that better to have somehow targeted ads?
As for breaching my privacy: I'm just a record in billions of records for those companies. I'm pretty sure they don't give a shit about me as an individual, they care about categories and segments and groups. So what if they know which website I look at and how frequently. We are not talking about companies using my facebook pictures or my wishlist on Amazon, it's just ads.
I do something even better than using Tor for browsing internet: I use a stolen MacBook, and I make sure to get a new one every week. On the plus side I get to listen to different music all the time, without this approach I would have never guessed Justin Bieber has so many different songs.
Slashdot Mirror
[yada yada yada]
Well we'll have to postpone this fascinating discussion as it seems Microsoft is planning to revert some of the design decisions in Windows 8, making the thread irrelevant.
Silver lining: If they bring back the Start button but still require Metro apps to be deployed from the Windows Store only we'll know the idiots have won.
When companies talk about multi-million dollar costs, it's because they've got a number of systems tied together with data feeds, batch processing, and other interactions between their systems. You can't typically upgrade one piece of the pie without upgrading the whole pie.
The two big evils that prevents simple and effective systems integration are:
1) Using point-to-point integration (instead of something more flexible like SOA) to "save time"
2) Using custom shared libraries and/or a in-house framework to "save time"
The second one is counter-intuitive for a lot of developers who worship libraries. But the reality is that the economics of building internal frameworks are usually weak because most languages and platforms evolve before the alleged productivity gains for developers have paid off, kickstarting a round of upgrade (or rewrite) on the library. I've seen a lot of integration projects where the bulk of the cost was linked to internal libraries requiring systemic upgrades.
Those are very good points. I boycott the mods system because fanbois use it to bury relevant comments otherwise I'd mod you up.
searching the web to find techniques that should be intuitive is not a good solution. I think you're going out of your way to apologize for poor usability design.
Now proven wrong, you adjust your complaint from "non-existing predictive text" to "non-intuitive default options". Basically you don't have an actual issue, you are simply going out of your way to bash Windows 8. Very brave to do so on Slashdot.
For the sake of discussion: default options in Windows 8 are a mixed blessing. As an example, in previous versions of Windows one could pick the timezone during the setup; now like a lot of options it's set by default (silently), which can be annoying. It looks like Microsoft decided to make the setup a lot more straightforward, and this design decision is also reflected in the very basic and user-friendly "PC Settings" page. It has the same feeling as on other OS where a lot of stuff is hidden under the hood. Computers for dummies.
However there is a minor benefit to that approach: since user settings are stored in the cloud, when an option is changed on one device it is changed on all devices where the user logs on. This is no innovation as this was already available on other devices (like Google Nexus) but it makes the issue of default options a bit less annoying; it can actually be very convenient not to have to answer to the same questions every time a new machine is configured.
The tablet experience on Windows 8 is just not particularly great, and it only gets worse when you want to use desktop apps (such as Office, which is what Gates was bragging about).
Windows 8 has two modes: Metro and Desktop. On a tablet, the Metro (RT) mode offers more or less the same experience as other tablets like the iPad or Nexus (all swipes and gestures), but with less apps in the Store. It's not unpleasant to read news, watch movies or keep an eye on the stock market on Metro apps; it is very smooth, it's visually interesting and the context-aware Charms bar is convenient once you get the hang of it. The biggest issue on Metro is that there is not a lot of high-quality apps in the Store; even those from big names like Amazon are often incomplete and require a visit to the website to do anything serious. But it's getting there, and since it's possible to write a Metro app entirely in HTML5 and Javascript I guess the Store offering will grow over time. I disagree with the way Microsoft is handling the Store (it's very similar to Apple, very restrictive and flaky) but I guess they were afraid of all those VB people taking the Metro wave.
As for the Desktop mode, I agree that it is not well-suited for a tablet (unless is comes with a physical keyboard, but then it's a netbook not a tablet). The keyboard is not the same and won't activate automatically; using the touch interface for right-clicks is awkward and having to mess around with thin scrollbars is unpleasant. In my opinion it's a poor way to slowly migrate people towards Metro.
But the worse of it all is that Office is not available in Metro, only on Desktop. Same goes for all the big Microsoft applications (Visual Studio, etc). It feels like Microsoft is trying to have it both ways with Desktop and Metro but it's not working, it's confusing.
At the end of the day Windows 8 is not a bad OS and does not deserve all the misinformed bashing it gets. It is pretty stable, has a decent firewall and antivirus built-in, has very effective file versioning features and does a good job of storing settings (and files if desired) in the cloud. But the bashing is typical; every single release of Windows has endless floods of people who don't know what they talk about come out and complaint endlessly. These people are like those commies who keep predicting the fall of capitalism or Baghdad Bob claiming victory on tv with american tanks driving by in the background. It's almost cute.
Bill Gates IMO does not get, but hey he is a PC guy!
Of course he gets it. This approach is typical Microsoft: embrace, extend, extinguish.
Apple has been growing too fast and keeps trying to wow the market to maintain their overinflated stock price so they started pushing products that are broken or at the very least not fully ready, and they even endanger their existing high-quality ecosystem (Adobe, etc) to make 99 cents games like Angry Birds available on their laptops without requiring a different build. Meanwhile Microsoft is working hard to repeat their success recipe: sell something that mostly works for 90% of the needs of 90% of the customers, and strong-arm OEMs in pushing their stuff. What is very likely to happen in the coming years is that people will end up thinking that a tablet is something like Surface, a convertible laptop, running the same Windows that they have on their laptops and PCs and possibly phones.
To anyone who thinks Bill Gates "does not get it", I strongly advise to watch the excellent movie Pirates of Silicon Valley (not the documentary). Especially that scene where Steve Jobs tells Bill Gates that Apple products are better, and Bill Gates replies this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgSYF0QIcCw
This is the same kind of flawed logic that is used by people who say that allowing same-sex marriage opens the door to adult-minor or human-animal marriage. Technically they are right (changing the definition of marriage is a requirement for those alternate scenarios) but it's stupid all the same.
Unfortunately I dropped out of school early to go earn moneys but I'm sure in college they teach about this typical logical flaw and even have a name for it. Otherwise college is worthless and I'm happy I did not go.
One thing I've noticed since switching to a Windows tablet is how lousy the onscreen keyboard is. On most platforms, touchscreen keyboards try to incorporate things like predictive text, auto-capitalization, etc to help you type, because they realize that a touchscreen with no tactile feedback is a less-than-idea way to type. The Windows onscreen keyboards have none of that. What's more, they seem wildly inaccurate ... the visual feedback seems to be telling me that I'm hitting the right keys, but when I look up at what I entered, half of the letters are keys right next to the ones I thought I was hitting (and although I can touch type on a physical keyboard, I do have to look at the keys on a tablet).
When you say "Windows tablet" do you mean Surface? Because there are a lot of other products out there that run Windows 8. In any event, predictive text IS available in the vanilla Windows 8, you just have to enable it in the "Ease of access options" app. Here is a video that shows how: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60zFkIOzvTo
Screw all of that. Before you can do any of that, you have to enter your password to login to the system first. Try that when you have a strong password and you can't be totally sure what keys you're pressing.
In Windows 8 there is a small eye icon in password fields when they get the focus, if you click on it you can see the field content in clear text.
Seriously, WIndows 8 has plenty of issues but people who can't STFW for basic tutorial information are just adding noise to the discussion.
I really don't get these. I can understand the motivation behind stupid racist shit (think giggling 17 year old boys/men in their mom's basements), but I really don't get these. They're not funny or offensive to anyone, and they don't advertise anything.
What's the point, other than extreme OCD and insanity?
A few explanations:
1) Those posts are not from people. They are from buggy bots.
2) Those posts are cleverly encrypted messages sent to/from secret agents (or terrorist or pedophiles or bronies), hiding secrets in plain sights.
3) Those posts are ASCII-encoded mp3s and Slashdot is used as the backend storage for muzofon.com
4) Those posts don't exist, you are hallucinating.
There are cheap cameras today that do full HD, low artifacts, and run 30 frames a second. These images were from old equipment and software. The smudged faces is that. They should be replaced.
No need for that. The police just has to call the crime lab at CSI Miami or Chloe down at the CTU. If all the moles have been properly smoked out from those organizations it should be possible to get 3D pictures of both suspects.
Judeo-Christian-related faiths also require that this omniscient, omnipotent entity likes to meddle in his creations' lives but suddenly decided to be a lot more discreet around 2000 years ago.
"The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world that he did not exist". A trick that was also used by Keyser Söze and apparently now God.
Saw the same thing once. I was setting up an intranet web server for a client (big telco in North America) and the IP address I was given was a public one. At first I figured they wanted to setup some kind of DMZ so I asked the network guy if they were planning on doing some kind of NAT but he said: no, it's internal only. Out of curiosity I ran a whois on the address and it belonged to an APNIC public block. I then noticed that my laptop was also getting an IP address in that range via DHCP.
I was not there long enough to rock the boat and I never had an explanation but I came up with two theories:
1) they bought a router on eBay, it came from China and was pre-configured with those IPs and they just went along with it.
2) they had to setup a VPN between offices and they kept having subnet addressing conflicts so they just randomly picked numbers for the LAN to be done with it.
This sounds silly but this kind of thing can definitely happen in heavily ITILized environment where nobody is looking at the big picture, they just focus on the tickets they have to close and sometimes things fall between two seats and nobody cares.
Java applets? Are you from the past?
People want to upload pictures on Facebook and comment on infotainment articles. The fact that there is a permanent "Share" widget in Windows 8 speaks volume.
Resistance is futile. If you are in the corporate world then jump on the cloud bandwagon and build idiot-proof SaaS solutions or perish.
Dell has been in transition for a while. They are moving toward professional services, software and stuff like data center hardware and automation; they did a lot of acquisitions in that spirit recently, such as Quest software, Equallogic and Compellent (enterprise storage), etc. Michael Dell has explained many times that they kept selling PCs so they get volume pricing on parts they use in servers too, not as a business focus.
IBM did the same kind of transition a long time ago (hence Lenovo). Apple also changed its business a while ago and sells now more iPhones than MacBooks. That is part of evolving. Yet whenever "experts" talk about Dell they only focus on their PC business, and their solid financials are not reflected in the share price as everybody these days is obsessed with growth and nothing else.
So in my opinion this whole thing has 3 possible outcomes:
1) Dell goes private, with Silver Lake or other private equity firm
2) Dell goes private and some parts of the business are sold, like the financial services to Blackstone and the PC to Lenovo/HP
3) The whole thing falls apart because some greedy shareholders (including new ones like Icahn) are making it too difficult/expensive
Dell has a very interesting culture, they have perfected the concept of mass customization, and for years with they financing services they have made it easy for small business to get good computers and servers at a bargain price. I wish them all the best.
I wonder if they hired retarded kids to put together those quilts. Maybe the runner-ups get a macaroni necklace or a paper people chain.
Hopefully they get free beer (as in "free beer") during the ceremony.
If you think Adria Richards does not understand that community, you should read how the story is told by two female reporters, Dana Liebelson and Tasneem Raja, on Motherjones.com:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/pycon-2013-sexism-dongle-richards
According to that version, "Richards' termination triggered its own surge of support, from passionate tweets with the hashtag #SupportAdria to a DDoS attack on SendGrid that crippled their website for a good chunk of the workday on Thursday". That is the first version I read where it is said that the DDoS was caused to *support* Adria Richards.
Also the post of a female blogger who sheds a very interesting light on Adria Richards as a repeat offender (including a whole section called "An Established Pattern of Action") is summarized in a biased manner.
https://amandablumwords.wordpress.com/2013/03/21/3/
To anyone who has a minute to spare I strongly suggest to read the Amanda Blum post. As for the masterpiece from Liebelson & Raja, well it shows that some people don't let the facts in the way of promoting an agenda (and/or a career).
Simle typo. They meant to say "Weirdest day"
When I started reading the sentence "Let's hope they keep plenty of fuel around..." I was not thinking it would end up being a reference to storms.
Facebook and Pinterest are not really part of internet, fool
Too many people overreacted on this one. You did too. Congratulations.
Wait a minute. Because he said that they *can* die in a fire, not that they *should* die in a fire, maybe he is just saying that they are not superheroes, which is a valid piece of information that should be welcome in any serious discussion.
Pal you are the only one with a small bird besides your name in the whole page. Did you really post that from Twitter? What is happening, is the internet leaking?
Why bother to read about things we don't know when instead one can rely on the mods system to promote the bliss of ignorance?
Showing ads is fine when I am actually looking for something; no need to stalk me all the time. If I'm not looking for something I am not going to buy anything either. Oh and make it text ads only because I block everything else and I can't click on blocked ads, can I? Thanks!
Is this a letter for Santa Claus?
It's wonderful that you agree to see ads when you are looking for something; this is how Google makes money. But who pays for all the other websites that you visit for free? They are hosted somewhere on a server that has been purchased by someone, that has its power and cooling paid by someone, and is online because someone is paying the ISP. If you don't want paywalls everywhere, then so far the ads are the only viable solution to help those people pay for this infrastructure.
Or maybe you are one of those people who think that because you pay $35 a month for your internet access you should get all content for free. That reminds me of a girl I knew in college who was making and selling pirate copies of movies but according to her it was legal because she was paying for the blank DVDs and for her internet connection.
There is a serious flaw in the internet business model, everyone knows it. Ads are awful and even targeted ads have a very low conversion rate. Yet for most people there is so far no other way to make money. So why don't you stop whining like an entitled brat and instead start thinking about realistic solutions to this problem? If you find a good one you could make millions.
I don't see what is actually the problem. Isn't that better to have somehow targeted ads?
As for breaching my privacy: I'm just a record in billions of records for those companies. I'm pretty sure they don't give a shit about me as an individual, they care about categories and segments and groups. So what if they know which website I look at and how frequently. We are not talking about companies using my facebook pictures or my wishlist on Amazon, it's just ads.
I do something even better than using Tor for browsing internet: I use a stolen MacBook, and I make sure to get a new one every week. On the plus side I get to listen to different music all the time, without this approach I would have never guessed Justin Bieber has so many different songs.