Funny, that's my boilerplate response to GNOME these days.

You say that like it's a bad thing. Have you replaced your car because it doesn't chop carrots, yet? The init system didn't NEED to deal with the network settings, because it's a fucking init system, not a network manager.

Where the hell did this whole kitchen sinking mess come from?

Emphasis mine. No one else stopped them. There's a world of difference.

Saying that "monolithic" means "single binary" or any of the other paraphrasings pretty much disqualifies anyone using that (incorrect) handwave from taking part in any real discussion of technical merits/flaws of the system. It's a double whammy of "don't know what the hell you're talking about", and "don't care to learn better, because you have brand loyalty to uphold."

Unfortunately, there's too many of them on both sides to let the grownups talk.

They knew that Haselton's horrible grasp of statistics would prompt the nerds to click frantically to point out what a tool he is.

You read it again.

And everyone with a clue is saying that the conclusion doesn't hold, because the sample size is ridiculously, uselessly small.

IIRC, the greens are the "energy efficient" drives, and I think they power themselves down when idle, and up when they come back into use, so the numbers can grow even if the machine hasn't been rebooted since the drive was first installed.

That depends on what those rules turn out to be. Thus the "watch and see" part of my approach.

If you count ALL devices, you're just as clueless as those nitwits who thought tablets were going to make PCs a niche market again.

Hell, if nothing else, it means I can start writing .NET stuff for Linux, without dicking around with Mono, only to find out two weeks in that the piece I need isn't actually in Mono...

So hey, I'll keep watching for the poison pill, but between that and free VS? I'll give 'em a cookie this time.

If internet service was a free market, it wouldn't exist. All it would take is one douchebag with the right lot to say "fuck no, you can't put that [junction point/wiring box/exchange] on my property" and that's an entire neighborhood possibly off the grid. And most neighborhood have no shortage of those types.

Ya think, DiNozzo?

I'm just surprised we haven't given the bastards jus primae noctis yet.

I wasn't being hypothetical: The FCC has already put forward their "hybrid" approach. I've not read anything that says anyone called bullshit and they backed off it, though.

(Link is a secondary source, references paywalled WSJ article, but the quotes are what I linked it for. I didn't read what the techdirt guy had to add to it)

Were you actually alive back then? "Better service" is not generally a characteristic often associated with Ma Bell.