They're doing more than advertising it.

In Windows 8.1 they pushed out an update which put an icon in the task tray which said "upgrade to Windows 10, now or later?"

They're not pushing it as optional. They're installing stuff which is going to do it to you, and isn't giving you a way to decline. You end up needing to uninstall an update (KB 3035538).

I'm sure they'll do it again.

Microsoft seems to have decided they own the computers, and the networks they're attached to. Which is completely bullshit.

And, don't forget, once they have all those juicy passwords they can pass 'em off to law enforcement.

Microsoft have always been assholes, but this takes the cake.

Basically Windows Phone and Windows 10 are gaping security holes, and Outlook.com is now acting as malware.

No, someone needs to be shot.

This is the most idiotic thing I've heard of in a long time.

Microsoft has said "fuck security", and once again have decided to "innovate" something which stupidly becomes a gaping security/privacy hole.

What shithead thought of this?

These passwords aren't Microsoft's to share, and decreeing that anybody who hasn't changed their SSID to opt out has consented.

Fuck that.

How bout we charge Microsoft with hacking and enabling unauthorized access to computer networks?

Fucking idiots.

So Microsoft has taken it upon themselves to share the network credentials with anybody it sees fit?

Fuck you, Microsoft. How about you help us make networks more secure and not less?

Not only will I stick with my Windows 8.1 install, but no Windows 10 device will ever get my network credentials.

This has to be one of the stupidest things I've heard of. And, of course, since Microsoft will centrally store your passwords, law enforcement can subpoena them.

Microsoft are too fucking incompetent at security to be trusted with this. And then to have the nerve to suggest we have to change our network names to opt out of their shit?

Fuck you, Microsoft. Fuck you very much.

Probably so, a lot of the 90's are kind of a blur now for reasons. Also, the company I was working for at the time was notoriously cheap with IT costs. They were also the only company I ever worked for that allowed smoking in the office. Around computers. That's smart. The two old guys who ran the joint both died of lung cancer a couple years after I stopped working there. So... yeah.

I had to punch an AWFUL lot of deer to progress, back in the day. That was before Trammel or any of EA's WoW-Style gear grind nonsense. I did manage to get a mage to GM mage/GM Scribe and was at different times exalted and notorious. I probably still have a couple of shots around somewhere of the ol' guy. Made bank selling filled spellbooks, recall scrolls and rune bags to people. I had runes to damn near everywhere. That was another thing that was pretty unique to UO -- you could make a rune to damn near anywhere. And despite this, the world still felt HUGE!

Unfortunately, I'm in the UK, where the selection is much more limited.

For example, Dell UK's web site lists exactly one laptop with a 17+" screen and SSD, and it is also a touchscreen and comes with Windows 8.1.

HP do at least promote the Windows 7 option (via Win8 downgrade rights) for the high-end ZBook laptops on their site. However, the pricing on those tends to make the closest equivalent Retina MBPs in specification look cheap.

Also, Microsoft UK don't seem to have any high-end devices at all within their Signature Edition range, so it's invasive crapware city all the way with a lot of the big name brands, even on their expensive, high-end models.

But the screenshots I've seen of Windows 10 still mostly look flat and/or garish, and it seems to be more a case of trying not to make the visuals too much worse than what is already available via Windows 7 than actually trying to be better. Another example is the icons, which have gone from being widely ridiculed to being... well, slightly less widely ridiculed... in all of the reviews I've come across, and with considerable justification if the examples I've seen myself were representative.

It's not just the visuals that put me off, though. It's also the fact that I use a traditional desktop PC with multiple large monitors, and I want an OS and software that work well in that kind of environment. I saw a review the other day of the new preview release where literally every screenshot that had substantial content in it also included the word "tap" somewhere, with obvious concessions to touchscreens that just don't make sense for a desktop workstation. This was one of the big problems with Windows 8, and it seems like with the Surface tablet hardware and Windows 10, Microsoft are doubling down on touchscreens. #donotwant #haverealworktodo

I'll wait to see what people say when Windows 10 actually ships and we're not just talking about preview releases and educated guesswork, but so far the signs don't seem promising. Windows 7, on the other hand, is tried and tested and works just fine on the numerous computers I use it with today, so as I said, if I could buy an approximate equivalent with newer and more powerful hardware right now, I'd be right in there. Sadly, I'm in the UK, and what you can pick up over here is quite limited compared to what you can get in say the US.

Notably, s2n does not provide all the additional cryptographic functions that OpenSSL provides in libcrypto, it only provides the SSL/TLS functions. Further more, it implements a relatively small subset of SSL/TLS features compared to OpenSSL.

This is the kind of really important detail that is often left out of summaries and winds up making my eye twitch. Thanks OP and/or editors for rising above the common dross.

If I could find a good high-end laptop that came with vanilla Windows 7 instead of 8 and all the pre-installed extra junk, I would be throwing money at the supplier and begging them to sell me one. That has far more to do with avoiding more recent versions of Windows and their kindergarten, touch-obsessed UIs than it does with wanting a cheap upgrade when 10 ships.

If they'd been a little less bitches, they could be like Dubai right now and dipping their balls in gold, regularly. Them and Iraq both. And yes, everyone in the world pretty much has been fucking with them for... well... ever, really. But there's a way to win against everyone in the world, and being stinky little bitches isn't it. But, you know, whatever makes them happy, I suppose.

The first computer I bought for myself was a Vector II graphics machine. It was an odd beast -- integrated computer/video, MFM 10 MB hard drive, some number of kilobytes of RAM, I forget exactly, and most oddly a dual processor machine. It had both an 8086 and a Z80 chip in it and could use either one or the other to run DOS (I want to say 2.0) or CP/M. Mine came installed with CP/M. This was in the early 90's, just before the 286 really started to catch on.

For my hardware class, I brought it in, took it apart and handed the chips around the class. At the end, I reassembled the whole thing and booted it back up. Fun little presentation. That old hardware could really stand up to a lot of abuse.

In theory, it can do the job of the A-10, F-16, F/A-18, and Harrier Jump Jet (to name a few)

That's crazy.

So, tank-buster/ground attack, fighter jet, carrier launched fighter jet, and close air support.

There is simply no way in hell to replace the A-10, in terms of armament of hardening. Because the A-10 is ridiculous in terms of those things (and I mean that in the most awesome sense of the word, because it's legendary for survivability and that huge canon).

It can't replace the F-16, because it's not nearly as good at the same role, and can't beat it in the air.

If the F/A-18 is also a fighter I'd be curious to see if the F-35 can even touch that.

And a VTOL close air support aircraft, which is armed to the teeth and can do many tasks ... well, at this point I'm skeptical.

I'd be curious if there is a single aircraft this F-35 is supposed to replace, which it can actually best in that category.

If it is inferior in the specific features of the stuff it's replacing, it's pretty much a terrible aircraft.

WTF?! When was the last time you've ever heard of a dogfight?
The days of air-to-air combat are long gone. And where air-to-air combat is still needed, long range missiles take care of it.

Well, the reality is, like shock and awe, you can't just pretend you don't have to cover certain parts of warfare.

So, bombing the shit out of stuff and thinking people will become demoralized and welcome you with open arms ... utterly useless if you can't put boots on the ground. For the same reason that bombing ISIS only goes so far.

And, likewise, if you can't maintain air superiority in an up close and personal manner, you can't do the roles like close air ground support. So if you do have boots on the ground, you can't keep them safe if you get your ass kicked.

People can pretend this will never be needed again. That doesn't mean if you ever found yourself in an actual war you wouldn't.

So, if the people you're up against have things which can beat you down in a dogfight, you could quickly find yourself realizing you're ill equipped for a given situation.

Somewhere along the line they decided to make the Swiss-Army knife of aircraft, which it turns out is terribly suited to most of its applications.

Which is moot, because the plane is so late and over budget it should never go into production .. in which case it's years of wasted money and effort to come up with a solution which doesn't work.

Which, sadly, was what people said from the beginning.

This damned plane has been a big scam from the beginning.

It was going to be all things to all people, but in reality it was a way to get other countries to pay for the R&D of a huge wishlist of things which was never going to come true.

As someone who lives in one of the countries who got suckered into the F-35, this program has been nothing but lies and bullshit since it was announced.

This was the military listing a huge wishlist of things, including a pony, they were going to do.

Instead, it's underperforming, not up to the claims, over budget, years behind schedule, and still a crappy replacement for the things it was supposed to be doing.

Everything about the F-35 has been a pile of lies of bullshit since it was announced. And it seems like everybody (except the people selling it and the people who got conned into signing up for it) has know this for that entire time.

I hope everybody says "piss off" and walks away from the contract.

This plane is proving what people have been saying for the last decade -- that it was never going to live up to the promises made.

As a supposed air-superiority platform, this is an utter failure. I bet they don't even have the VTOL version working yet.

Well, for many things, I'm sure outsmarting me probably isn't rocket surgery.

The problem is we're a low-volume printing household -- so when the time comes to start looking for a new toner cartridge, we go online and determine we can buy a whole new printer for considerably less than the replacement cartridge.

Even accounting for the partially filled cartridge, it's still cheaper. I think we've literally seen printer+cartridge for 1/2 the price of the cartridge if you get the right sale.