I lost a vintage computing item in the mail last month. Bizarrely, USPS delivered the flimsy empty box that it was shipped in to me. Clearly at some point the box had gotten ripped open and the contents had fallen out. The shipping box had the shipping label, but the contents did not.

When I talked to the people at the post office, they didn't say anything about any way to try and retrieve the item. They just pointed me to the USPS site where I could request reimbursement.

That really ticks me off now, because it was an obscure early 1980s PC database product, and the chances of another ever showing up are slim to none.

So there may be a software box with 5.25" floppy disks in one of those bins.

A 16-bit ISA riser board I ordered on eBeh in November never made it to me at all too. At least those come up once and a while.

Also, one other item wound up mis-delivered in one of my neighbor's mail boxes. I was lucky to get that one.

I'm beginning to think that going forwards, December will simply be a month when one should refrain from ordering uncommon collectables - December belongs to the big retailers and replaceable items from now on.

Also - eBay sellers... THE POINT OF PACKAGING IS NOT TO MAKE IT LOOK "BROWN!" Use sturdy, well sealed packaging!

Yea, because teenage girls have so many emergencies.

Hey, Microshlock, if you want to be all greeny and good for the environment, then let everyone install Windows 11 on older hardware!

I'm looking at a couple of machines, and as far as I can tell, the only thing they are missing to run Windows eleventy is that secretive nazi-ific TPM shit. Why do we allegedly even need that?

I don't own a smart phone. I just simply have no need for one.

Does this mean I won't be able to use my Gmail account any more? I remember I got that account back when they were doing "invites". I already got locked out of my old Youtube account (created before it used the google login), when they started requiring "texting" some code at login after any length of disuse.

2FA=SmartPhone? That seems to be what Google is trying to make people think. Is there no other way to do this?

Of course, Google's primary product is smart phones these days. So, of course they are going to try and shove one down my throat.

So, in other words these requirements are now proven to be 100% artificial.

The only reason Windows 11 even exists is to force idiots to throw away perfectly good hardware and buy all new stuff.

This is ridiculous. Where will it end? In 100,000 years, all stars will be drained of their energy, bringing on an early heat-death of the universe. All because some assholes wanted to "mine bitcoins".

Of course, you know, Office 2019 was previously available and people who weren't idiots used that instead the subscription version.

So it sounds like Microsoft is backing away from the idea of making everything subscription based for everyone.

A lot of people just want to install MS Office for that occasional MS Office document that they have to deal with once every few months. Paying for a subscription for that use is just silly. Lately I've even had complete idiots talk to me about OpenOffice/LibreOffice. Since Microsoft has been hiding Office 2019 under a rock, more people have been discovering LibreOffice.

"Define perfectly capable. Being fast does not make something perfectly capable."
That is exactly what Microsoft is failing to do here. What glorious use is it that we NEED this newer hardware for? Microsoft appears to be keeping this secret, or they are just making up artificial requirements.

A long time ago it used to be some software required a CD-ROM drive. What did we need a CD-ROM for? One glance at a stack of a few hundred floppies, and you knew you needed it.

Today? "We say you need uh, mmfmfmfmfm technology. Because new."

If there is some feature of "newer" hardware that we actually need, then spell it out. Precisely what the fuck is it? Precisely why do I need it? If this is a real need, put it at the top of every new site what this new stuff we need is and why it makes our lives better somehow.

Otherwise Microsoft should take their secret artificial requirements and shove it.

Someone shared a document containing that title, and now your phone is begging you to look at it.

Glances over at my lovely POTS telephone.

Nope, my phone is squarely telling it to fuck off.

I don't believe for one second that this "leak" was any way unintentional. Microsoft has used pre-releases as free advertising for quite a long time.

Of course, now that it has been out for a while, they are sending out some takedown notices. They have to, or the beta-kids that downloaded it would not feel naughty and special.

If it were too easy to get it, they might accidentally realize that beta testing is actually WORK.

And yet no one is creeped out by all these gadgets recording and tracking everything you do? Right, you all love it. It is for your protection.

I don't want to live on this planet any more.

Quite frankly, ANY Windows box should be treated as if it were running Windows 98. (zero security, and software that loves to suck untrusted crap from everywhere).

Updates are part of the security equation, but they should NEVER be relied upon blindly. Too often, updates can actually introduce security issues or wreck system stability. Modern software is so insanely complicated and bloated, it should ALWAYS be assumed to have bugs and vulnerabilities.

If the bad guy can't get (directly or indirectly) to your Windows 98 box in the fist place, then they can't do anything with it. Windows "security" should only be considered a nicety that can assist a bit should the bad guy happen to get to it.

A CEO's job is to appoint the right people to do the work,

In my opinion, the absolute number 1 step in security is having the "right people" and giving them the resources they need to do their job and to do it right.

All of the technical implementation details should then sort of trickle down from there. This often means having people onsite in-house that knows the systems inside and out.

Unfortunately, is is still too often the trend that CEOs or other higher-ups don't see IT as "profitable" so they give it minimal funding and outsource everything to some Elbonian hovel dwellers.

"I'm never apart from my phone," Mr. Sheu said... "It feels to me like a pretty undebatable way to track where I am...."

Spoken as if everyone should happily agree with owning a smart phone and allowing tracking. Obviously the point of this story is to convince people they should.

It seems quite debatable to me. How would one normally adequately prove their location without a smart phone? Exactly why should cell-phone collected data be considered so much more authoritative? Just because smart phones have what plants crave?

Well then, at least I'm not a trolling asshole like you. If you have such a big fucking brain, you could have used it to be HELPFUL. I was actually hoping that by making my original post that someone might chime in with some CONSTRUCTIVE suggestions to try.

Oh, well, back to ignoring trashdot.