You also forgot, spycraft tools for data collections above everything else. I want segregation b/t my modem & the rest of the SoC or I'll just go retro w/ the flip-phone when my last n900 finally dies...

Yup, as I said in my last post two years ago when DICE began screwing with /. & SF. I recently re-added /. to my RSS feeds as they didn't go full advert articles as I expected, like other 'Daily' Tech sites. Regardless, work requires a simple rs232 enabled xp machine and that is all the 'digital' I need in my life anymore. I'll soon bid adieu to the 'Home Shopping Internet', it's been sad to see what it has become. Viva unbridled consumption!

I haven't posted much since the takeover but I wanted to log in one last time to say:
 
1) Thanks for ruining SF, that was remarkably fast.
 
and

2) FUCK OFF!
 
All /. feeds will be deleted now, no more clicks to read comments for you parasites.

I have been silently protesting for 13 years. I made a conscious decision to earn far less than previous and make only enough to survive... but not enough to pay taxes. ~$12k/ year and I never cashed either of the guv's "rebates, any of the Earned Income Credits nor taken any other guv handouts.
 
  I am single(surprise!), no kids by intent rather than circumstance, live in a cheap rent shack in the desert w/ swamp cooling, maintain/repair my few assets myself. and live a very uneventful existence. I read lots of library books and observe/track local fauna for fun. I am not happy nor sad but contented and ultimately feel more fulfilled than I had when I was stressed making money contracting, Best of all, I am 30lbs lighter and in better health than previous 10 years, I feed my brain everyday and I sleep like a baby at night.
Perhaps best of all, with all my free time, I can be generous without a profit motive and most people find me useful to have around. Like the old adage says, "If the ladies don't find you irresistible you better hope they find you handy".

This works for me.
Of course....YMMV.

No, OP is not. OP is voicing a widespread concern amongst users. Obfuscating controls is trendy right now as the web is continuing to morph. Creating reliance on 'cloud' services, 'app stores' and 'search' serves only the providers and removes options from the masses. Call this 'walled garden' mentality paranoia, evolution or behavior modification... the fact is usability is being eroded in lieu of monetization.
 
This is a concern for me, the customer. Not me, the 'product'.

"My god, it's full of pies!"

Batshit crazy he most certainly is(affordability is everything), however, he did a fantastic job on NASA's Space Shuttle documentary.

Back in '03 I was blackballed for being too old. My loss...yeah...that's it... a loss.

Like employing/encouraging/allowing douchebags to game 9/10 of all submissions with a snowball's chance in hell of gaining any significant rank? Too late. According to recent revelations, the fix was in before even Conde Naste bought them up.

Oh yeah...Fuck Babyman! And now, fuck DavidReiss666 (et al)

Work? Angry Birds is more profitable than usefulness. More to the point, what is more important than profit margins? These slightly useful "toys" are enormously profitable and that is the only reason they are being pushed like crack in the alley behind a pawn shop.
 
Not posted from my tiny keyboard on my slow, tiny 'smart' toy that doesn't play well with /.

What about the drug-seekers, the hypochondriacs and the lonely who pack the ERs every day of the year? Are we going to pay for their premiums through more welfare so that they can be in compliance? This is a band-aid to fix the symptoms, not a cure for the problems. As long as the able taxpayers are paying more and the corps make more in the immediate future, long-term effects are unworthy of consideration, apparently. We can always pay more.