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Comment Re:less of a barrier than their terrible UI (Score 1) 51

I've been using LO pretty much constantly for the last two years (even wrote a novel on it). Like any interface, it just takes time to become familiar. In fact, I like the way Writer organizes styles and style configuration far better than Word, and often, even for DOCX files, do initial style set up and layout in Writer and then move to Word if I have to (which is seldom enough).

LO is a damned good office system. Its default UI is older, but since I used MS-Edit and Word pretty extensively back in the 1990s, it feels familiar to me. There is a ribbon interface, but I've only tried it a few times before remembering why it is I actually don't like the Word ribbon.

Comment Re:Birds, schmirds (Score 1) 96

Broadish reply, so an entry point for my question about uneven winds: How big before different turbine blades are in zones with different wind speeds or directions and how would that affect power production?

[I often pose questions with the intention of clarifying what to search for, but not so much this time...]

Comment Re:My personal boycott of Amazon (Score 1) 45

Sorry, I can't remember the details after so many years, and I'm not sure how much they matter. I suspect it was mostly the recommendation engine on the website, but that's a book-specific black hole. Most product categories can't be abused that much. I vaguely remember negative reactions to the kinds of reviews that were being brought to my attention, but that's actually the opposite of a black hole problem. On that side Amazon has (for most products) collected far more reviews than you want to read and the trick (as Amazon sees it) is how to show you the reviews that will most quickly induce you to buy the product--again subject to the hidden constraint of favoring sales that help Amazon more.

However even if I could remember every detail, I shouldn't be blind to changes. It is possible that Amazon could have undergone "moral improvements" since way back then. And I should be keeping my eyes open to see signs of such changes. I think I have and have not seen them.

Comment My personal boycott of Amazon (Score 0) 45

My second and final Amazon purchase was decades ago. Both purchases were books, but the website smelled of evil. To high heaven, and I decided I wanted no part of it.

Nothing I've learned since then has improved my sentiments towards Amazon and all things Amazon.

Solutions? Can't get there from here. Sad to report that's how it looks to me.

And yet I wonder how bad it has gotten. For example, how good is Amazon at pulling the suckers' triggers? I think the biggest mind trick would be knowing when to show a negative review that will trigger a sale. Much sneakier and more sophisticated that merely putting the most profitable (for Amazon) products higher in the search results.

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