It's more about whether you want to sit next to somebody covered in his own puke, or maybe somebody who pisses himself and just sits in it. Or maybe you want to be crammed against Mr. Tuberculosis hacking his lungs out, right in your face.

Always fun to stand out in the freezing rain while the bus is an hour late.

And for women especially, there are issues of being physically attacked while waiting in the dark.

I could go on.

MATE is what I use. Does what I need, not hugely bloated.

I was very happy with Ubuntu before Gnome 3.

I stopped using Ubuntu when Gnome 3 came out. I could never understand why they insisted on a far less functional DE.

I have hated Gnome 3 ever since, and refuse to use it.

It is just a matter of vendor lock-in, and network effect.

Office desktops are like office copying machines. Nobody is really passionate about them.

Windows is just a standard issue office tool. It would be more trouble than it's worth to try to move away from Windows, so we stay with it.

If they ever get a completed distro.

https://devuan.org/

That is my understanding.

You will be assimilated - just like with Microsoft.

> Because being an anti-social prick is so very superior.

No because enough already. PC mush heads are making BFDs out of nothing. They are straining as hard as they can to find something victimizing in every innocent thing people do. And it really is insanely annoying, and people get along less, not more.

> The problem with certifications is that brain dumps are a big business.

That was a real issue, about 15 years ago.

There was a huge scandal, I think the company was Troy Tech. They had actual questions, and actual answers.

The industry went ballistic. Law suits were filed. And steps were taken to prevent that happening again.

Yes, there are companies out there that promise to sell you the real Q&A, but they don't. The are probably selling you the Q&A from 15 years ago.

College doesn't prove you know shit. You can put almost anything on resume to "prove" you have experience.

Interview tech questions are even worse than certifications.

> A drivers license, or even the drivers test, doesn't prove that you are a good driver. But it does prove that you know the rules of the road, something that most wouldn't study unless they were forced to. I'd rather have people driving knowing the rules of the road even if they aren't the best of drivers.

Exactly, it is a minimal amount of assurance that somebody has some idea of what they doing.

Same is true of tech certifications, if you have a Network+, chances are you have some idea of what an IP address is.

Same is true of every formal credential. They do not absolutely prove that you are an expert. They usually just provide some minimal evidence that you understand the terminology and so on.

Maybe we should get rid of *all* formal credentials? Get rid of all licenses, and degrees, along with certs.

A drivers license does not prove you know how to drive. A teaching credential does not prove you are a competent teacher. Does a college degree prove you even know how to read?

And so on, right down the line.

Or, maybe a more intelligent way to look at is: a credential is what it is. It prove you know enough about something to pass the test. No test is ever perfect.

Tech credentials leave a lot to be desired. But, from my experience they are far superior to interview test questions. I have had interview tests from interviewers who were dead wrong. I have had interviewers ask questions that were insane. Besides, what if the interviewing does not like you? Maybe the interviewer does not like your race, gender, nationality, or age - in that case you would be sure to fail. At least certs have a certain objectivity.

The 7800 that MS is laying off now is in addition to the 18,000 MS decided to lay off last year.

Yet MS continues to lobby congress for more visa worker because of desperate shortages of workers.

Microsoft's hypocrisy could not be more brazen, but congress will look the other way.

Microsoft is just trying to get everybody locked in to their proprietary format.

I'm not buying it.

Our patent system is broken, and msft is exploiting it, simple as that.

If somebody stole a real invention that would be one thing. But we both know that msft patents have almost nothing to do with real inventions.

What did Microsoft really invent? What did Apple really invent? Yet they have patents by the thousands.