Catching up? Far surpassed. BMW and Mercedes always had much better chassis and interiors than Tesla, now they have the electric motors, too. Teslas have the build quality of a GM and the price of a BMW.

That is just the status quo. Without a congress and judiciary willing to do something about it, there is nothing the president can really do. If you look at the Biden agency appointments, it is clear he has tried to some degree, but the Supreme Court is now of the opinion that federal agencies have no authority to police corporate malfeasance.

You clearly hold the EU in much higher regard than I do.

Yeah, you're right about that one. That's what I get for relying on my memory. It does weaken my point a bit, though, as Clinton and Dole were probably closer policy-wise than Bush and Gore.

I would argue that you have to tease out the message from the content. Press releases always have a strategy beyond the raw news they publish.

Regarding the regulations, I fear whatever the EU will put forward. We have no idea how to regulate AI and any hasty action will likely do nothing but allow the tech giants to gain a stranglehold on AI going forward. There is reason the ones with the deepest pockets are clamoring for regulation. Regulation is costly and will elbow out startups and smaller competitors.

Sorry, but this is just bullshit. Biden is far from my top choice, but Trump actively attempted to dismantle our government and lease it out to cronies. Biden may not be fantastic, but the most terrible things that have happened under his watch were enacted by the Supreme Court installed by Trump.

I remember this same bullshit was spouted about Gore and Bush in 2000. The Simpsons famously mocked them as clone aliens. Everyone thought they had no choice, that there was no difference between the two. Notably, Bush won because a bunch of Green Party whackos voted for Nader because they thought Gore was no better than Bush. But then Bush won and, among the many terrible things he did, he loosened environmental regulations as much as he could and started environmentally disastrous wars. Gore, meanwhile, would dedicate his life to environmentalism.

There are many issues where things will be no different, regardless of who occupies the White House in 2025. However, there are many more issues where it will be crucial.

This announcement seems to be just a PR piece for MS. Otherwise, it is just the sort of obvious speculation one would expect from an opinion piece.

Here is what it really says:

1. We are good guys protecting America! Microsoft will protect you.

2. AI is dangerous and needs to be regulated so the barriers to enter the market are high and foreign companies cannot compete. All non-Microsoft AI should be illegal.

3. Any information originating outside Microsoft should be distrusted.

I suspect you somehow believe your post is both on topic and makes sense. You live in a bubble of nonsense.

The problem here is that the companies who can afford to operate at massive losses will until they are entrenched and any upstart competition has been eliminated or purchased by a big player. Not to mention the fact that if you want to compete in this space you'll also have to rent hardware from your competitors, because they're the only ones with the infrastructure big enough to scale up quickly if you grow.

Also, Bitcoin is a weird example, and I don't think it supports your point. Bitcoin is another example of a system where those with the resources to endure massive can make out like bandits, while it's liable to ruin anyone else who gets involved.

If you are using a VPN for privacy, then it makes absolutely no sense to use Google. I do not understand how a Google VPN would provide any value to a user.

Please explain what good Putin has done for Russia. There is literally nothing to praise.

As much as I find the oversensitivity to the image amusing and absurd, I also feel the same way about your hyperbolic freakout in response.

Did you forget about Unity? Canonical has always had a not-invented-here problem.

Long term they are thinking that they want to monopolize the game market. That's why they have purchased every important studio they could get away with in the last decade. It's why they want to transform game consoles into Windows PCs that hook up to your TV. But for Microsoft, monopoly doesn't mean they do all the work. It means they can tax anyone who makes any game because they have created a Microsoft-dependent ecosystem.

What's most important to them is that everything is created on Microsoft technologies for Microsoft platforms. Microsoft opposes "walled gardens" because a garden is too small. They're more like an industrial farmer who wants to eliminate all competition. "We want to give you the choice of shopping at many super markets that all carry produce grown by us or grown by farmers who lease our land."

It's always been their shtick: "We want you to have a choice! You can choose a Dell running Windows or an HP running Windows or a Lenovo running Windows! Microsoft supports your ability to choose."

When the "Unblockable Pop-up" comes from the operating system, I suspect there is only so much they can do.