So, no mention of testing the idea, no mention of new software, no mention of what exactly this AI will do, no mention of what human functions this AI will replace, no mention of results from a trial --- just a blind leap of faith. The company is clearly being run by snake-oil salesmen.

Let's start writing the next head line --- perhaps "Fiverr commits suicide by AI".

Of course we must apply their own Ts & Cs ...

They may have believed the sales pitch, that they own the United States ... but of course we can take it back whenever we choose, without warning or recompense.

...just like they do with stuff we have bought from them ...

... They would be discussing Organ Transplants and Immorality

TaxCalc (formerly Intuit, now Acorah) has had a Linux edition for years. My wife and I have used it for 3-4 years now.

I departed WinBloat more than 10 years ago, and persuaded her to leave for the computer-before-last (7 years?). Neither compatibility nor reliability have ever been a problem (I spend now less than 10% of the time I used to spend on support).

And our data is ours - nobody else gets to see it.

It is never OK to use the AI output directly without checking it thoroughly. There are factual errors far too often.

I asked for a paragraph about my home village. The AI told me very enthusiastically about my parish church, St Andrews.

In truth, that church has been there for 800 years and has NEVER been named St Andrews.

Writing it myself is quicker and more likely to be what I want.

We Europeans have been telling you for decades that your banks are 30 years behind the times.

And you did your usual thing ...NOTHING.

...before something big and knobbly falls on the northern hemisphere, without us seeing it in advance....

[Yes, I know we won't be able to do anything useful in such an event ... but I really would like time to kiss my ass goodbye...]

Adafruit already has a good customer base in Europe, and a good reputation. And y'all would be welcome to the sane part of the world.

Microsoft have been trying to move their revenue stream to a subscription model for decades. I myself have witnessed at least three previous attempts over the last 30 years.

That's some impressive customer resistance there.

And some equally impressive "bashing their heads against a brick wall" from Microsoft.

Sorry. You are too late.

The USA has given up on punishing lies, liars, perjurers, tax cheats, bribers, bribe recipients, and foreign agents.

I don't want to run OS/2 just for fun (shudder, I remember what it was like trying to use it).

So why are user applications not mentioned anywhere in TFA nor in this discussion?

More: I went via the Wiki to the Store, where there are only three "Office & Productivity" apps, none of which anyone has ever heard of before.

And you want me to pay for this?

What Lloyd's are doing is functionally equivalent to ....

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) got rid of 1500 experienced people, and replaced with 750 hired guns from the subcontinent... who turned out to be not as gifted as those who were shown to RBS before the contract was signed (surprise surprise).

These guys fucked up an update to the batch scheduler software, and fucked up restarting the batch schedule, which left RBS without any functioning banking apps nor any valid databases.

Over the weeks of disruption, the FCA said customers could not:
- Use online banking facilities to access their accounts
- Obtain accurate account balances from ATMs
- Make timely mortgage payments
- Access cash in foreign countries
In addition, the banks applied incorrect credit and debit interest to customers' accounts, and produced inaccurate bank statements.

It took more than four months to completely restore all the function for all customers.

AI is not just regurgitating garbage, it is creating new garbage.

Microsoft Copilot just told me with total confidence all about the wonderful parish church St Andrews in my village. But ...

That parish church has been here for 800 years and has NEVER been dedicated to St Andrew. We have no idea where this notion came from.

There is a special place in Hell for the people who trained Copilot.

We can easily replace ChromeOS with Mint, and let the updates continue...

I mentor at a Code Club. All our machines are donated, including 5 or 6 Chromebooks. We have installed Mint on all the machines to save ourselves the grief of the machines not being identical. Mint works fine on the Chromebooks.

Footnote: I am fairly certain that all our Chromebooks are older than 2021

Manufacturers will be motivated to not weasel out on battery guarantees. There's money in the battery. Because lithium batteries are 95% recyclable. And recycled lithium is cheaper than mined lithium.

[The 5% is plastic parts, such as spacers].