Well, it looks like Microsoft is going to try to force these updates on us no matter if we want them or not.

Apparently KB3035583 is a recommended Windows update to 8.1 which suddenly starts nagging you to install Windows 10.

Fuck you, Microsoft. I'm not in your beta program, and I'll stick with the version I bought.

Tonight I'm going to have to uninstall and block this update, because it's not something I want.

Annoyingly, the actual MS aticle on this just says "enable more features in Windows Update". Basically Microsoft is slipping crap into our operating systems which will try to herd us into upgrading.

Sorry, Microsoft, it's my fucking computer, not yours. I'll upgrade it to a new version of the OS if and when I choose.

Bloody assholes.

Personally, I don't understand why people have browser history turned on at all. I build a lot of computers for people (by happenstance it's a hobby) I build a dozen or so per year. The FIRST thing I do after the first boot is install Firefox (my preference), permanently turn off browsing history, install AdBlock+, install HTTPS Anywhere, then launch Windows update and go watch a movie.

I've never seen history help anyone. But I've seen it cause all sorts of embarrassing accidents, fights with spouses, legal trouble, etc... Is there actually a use for it?

How is this going to work, though? Won't Windows 10 require a footprint of something like a million gigabytes of RAM, a couple petabytes of disk space, and a 32-core processor just in order to boot up and open Notepad?[1]

[1] All stated figures are approximate.

systemd uses binary logs. So no-one will be able to read anything anyway.

Because registration has very little to do with crimes. It's about printing out a list, going down the street and telling people to please hand them in.

Don't you have to be actually under investigation for that to be true?

It isn't our job to provide every piece of evidence which makes us seem guilty -- especially if we're not under investigation.

So, say I decide one day to smoke crack, and then throw out the evidence of that ... am guilty of a crime because I should have retained that evidence in case some asshole decides to retroactively charge me with a crime?

Maybe in a fascist police state it is your job to retain anything which could be incriminating. But unless you're actively under investigation, claiming that getting rid of something like that constitutes a criminal act is complete bullshit.

Hell, I bet half the fucking people in Washington routinely cover up evidence of a crime, including the fucking FBI. You know, the people who don't want us to know when they use that Stingray thing without a court order.

This is the beginning of "failure to facilitate being charged under trumped up charges in order to further the interests of the state and guarantee compliance of the citizenry".

Fuck that.

Was he being investigated at the time he cleared his browser?

If not, this is retroactively constructing a legal charge out of thin air.

It's basically saying "you should have known you were guilty of thought crime and preserved the evidence in case we ever decided to come looking for you". Fuck that.

My god but law enforcement have become writers of fiction, and have completely given up on the law. They'll just make up any old shit these days.

Hey, FBI, I'm clearing my browser history right now. I'm doing it again. I'm even blocking cookies and ads, AND listening to music without paying additional royalties. I'm even going to fast forward through commercials.

Assholes.

They forgot to me too any cool cachet.

LOL, I fear Microsoft will forever be best summarized with the "Hi, I'm a PC/I'm a Mac" commercials where Microsoft is in a shirt and tie and wants to run a spreadsheet. Always with the fscking spreadsheet. Hell, on my Windows machine I don't even have software for spreadsheets. Because I don't ever use spreadsheets. Or PowerPoint. At least no on my personal desktop.

I'm not sure Microsoft would know what the hell to do with "cool cachet".

Starting with the non-spreadsheet tools Apple introduced, Microsoft has never successfully implemented other things, and many of their "cool" things they bought.

So while Apple was creating things like iMovie and Facetime, and Google was giving us tablets with cool interfaces and a tight integration with all of their services ... Microsoft offers us appified versions of Office, and Bing.

Microsoft seems doomed to be constantly trying to get us access to Exchange and Office, even if many of us have no need for it.

In fact, I'm not sure there's a single thing in Windows 8.1 which I've said "wow, that's kind of neat". I've had to spend more time getting rid of the stuff they think is cool and innovative than admiring it.

I'll go one further ... I honestly don't think I can name a single innovation in either desktop computing or mobile computing in the last decade which I can either attribute to Microsoft or that I use.

For home use, Windows has become a platform to run other people's cool software.

But cool cachet? Don't make me laugh.

So is this the "Change we can believe in"?

And no, I'm not making fun on democrats. I'm making fun of anyone that thinks their party cares about them or their country at all.

Basically the definition of every word in your statement is ambiguous so I find that hard to answer.
What is a "Friend"
What do you mean by "Point"
and "Social media"?!?! Does anyone know what that means?

It's on the internet, there's text, he clicks buttons, it makes him smile. More power to him.

Most users are lazy, indifferent, or unaware that they can change their search engine.

So, by the time most consumers get this in their hands, unless they know someone who is crusading against Bing, that's probably what it will always be.

The point is when the users get it, Bing will be the default, and through simple inertia/indifference, will likely stay that way.

Or, more likely, something that Americans pass off as English. They get away with it because America has no legislation requiring truth in Advertising. Or Slashvertising.

Sure ... but Google got their place in the market by putting out something people wanted.

Microsoft is coming to the party late, as usual, with their "me too" product.

I think for Microsoft to be saying they "expect" 1 billion devices by 2017 is going to prove to be way too damned optimistic.

Sure, this is the exact same thing as Google does with Android. But will anybody give a damn is the question.

A billion devices in two years is a LOT of devices.

America has long counted on just being America, but those days are ending. Not only are sales of American cars slipping in China, for example, but we're about to get our first Chinese car here in the USA. The American automobile has already long since gone full-metric (except those things which have somehow remained stubbornly SAE, like spark plugs and most drain plugs, which still have square SAE holes in them) and it was only in part because the foreign parts are in metric; it's also because the foreign markets stopped buying stuff just because it had an American marque on it. They had to step up their game in many ways.

More and more metric fasteners, hose, and the like are available now because it's become more important. But what you'll see is that less and less SAE stuff will be available in the next couple decades because it will be less and less important. American products are now expected to change to suit a global market, and the global market is metric.

I predict that even building materials will eventually go metric; it will coincide with another reduction in material size. After all, a 2x4 already isn't 2x4, nor a 2x6 actually 2x6. I've lived in a house which was made out of real (rough-hewn) 2x6s, it was amazingly stout. Now houses are made out of sorry excuses for 2x4s...