For people who like Windows for whatever reason, it makes some sense. It's gotten expensive to upgrade PCs, if you put in much more GPU then you probably need a new power supply for example, and most people will never upgrade their CPU. But it makes sense for people to want their game console to be able to do PC stuff, so they don't need a separate PC. In particular it could be a reasonable option for students, who will often be required to run a bunch of Windows software anyway.

For me it makes none, because the machine will be surely locked down hard, and I don't want anything I can't run Linux on when I get tired of using it for its intended purpose.

Getting your children to do things around the house and garden or taking them to a firing range has nothing to do with home schooling and can be done by any parent anyway. The fact that you mentioned "likeminded parents" sounds more like indoctrination.

I've been hearing rumors about the next Xbox functioning more like a PC. I don't know if that's wishful thinking bullshit or what but it could be a clever way to shoehorn Windows back into some people's lives that would otherwise switch to Linux at least for non-gaming purposes. There's lots of people out there who use a cheap PC to do PC stuff, and game mostly on console.

It's not difficult to back up all the pieces and parts of a game installed in Steam on Linux. If it's a Linux game then everything will be contained within some Steam data directory, except probably your save files. If it's a Windows game, everything is absolutely in a small number of well-understood directories, including the runtime. Better yet, most of those are happy to run without Steam, except of course for notable examples which use it for something.

None of this is meant to crap on offline installers, which are great. If I can get the same game for around the same price on GOG or Steam, I choose GOG.

Recent US Census map data is fairly decent. OSM is generally quite good here now also. But I do think there are certain classes of road which are generally only updated occasionally at the federal level if municipalities do not self-report changes.

If their IT security was this halfassed, then their physical security probably was too. They could have solved the IT security problem by hiring someone competent to do an audit, and then follow their recommendations. They obviously skipped at least one of those steps. That kind of sloppiness doesn't occur in just one area, it has to be systematic.

Google used to tell me to drive up someone's driveway and take a bridge that didn't exist in Kelseyville CA. What's frustrating about this is that one of their street view cars had passed by that driveway, so they had enough information to know that it wasn't a valid route, but they didn't bother to process it in that way and kept recommending a route that didn't exist and which would have saved maybe one minute if it had.

Google spent a lot of money gathering the data it needs to dramatically improve their routing information, but doesn't bother to do so.

Lithium batteries are extremely recyclable.

Of what?

What about your missing words?

???

You need an editor even more than Slashdot.

I only use Steam (The software, as opposed to the store, which can be used through the web) because I'm forced to do so. I'd rather not. While it's possibly the least crap of the game store apps, it's still crap. It shouldn't even have a browser in it. It should be calling out to your browser. AFAICT the Steam updates still don't resume if the download is interrupted, which is weird AF to say the least. This isn't a problem on a healthy modern connection but if your connection is flaky then you can't even get Steam installed, or updated. Game downloads resume so once you get it installed you can do game updates over even a poor connection, but not a Steam update.

I buy games on Steam and then do all this stuff to make them work better on Linux. But I also buy games on GOG. And I have games on Epic and EA too, and Lutris does all those too.

I initially got ProtonUp-Qt specifically for use with Steam, because it is the best (easiest) way to install steamtinkerlaunch.

I approve of this campaign, which I'm just now hearing about. I have complained about their intentions regarding side loading here previously. I am frankly boggling about it, as it is really the most meaningful difference between the platforms.

Steam is definitely not literally a monopoly. Most people don't seem to know either of the most important things about monopolies, which is 1) what one is and 2) that it's not necessarily relevant whether they are, because antitrust doesn't require a monopoly. It only means you're abusing a somehow dominant position in a market.

With that said, I've been using Steam for a lot of years. I've had many technical problems with it, but I'm not aware of any way in which they are abusing their position. I haven't exactly been looking for this information either, though, and I do see that the article mentions a lawsuit I seem to remember something about.

I think 30% is a lot, but I don't think Steam is really doing anything to prevent anyone from releasing anything else anywhere. They also allow a whole lot of content that is frankly surprising for a mainstream game site, they are ultra-liberal about permitting whatever and I think that's pretty amazing. I do worry about the whole thing packing up one day, but that's a whole other discussion. Are there really any complaints about Valve that have legs?

I hate to be a broken record about this lately, but Lutris is a great interface to your GOG library. So far it's successfully installed and run everything I've tried. I'm gonna have to try this Heroic thing that seems to be more popular than it is now, but last time I looked everyone was telling me to use Lutris — when at the time I was happy with PlayOnLinux, which was then being maintained. On Linux you can very reasonably use the web for GOG (and it's easy enough to get Steam reviews there) and then install the games with Lutris.

While I'm advocating for software you want for playing Windows games, you will also want ProtonUp-Qt if you don't have it already.

Glassification is viable in every way but financially. It's incompatible with capitalism.

The current eruption of export bans on "AI" hardware started in Trump's first term, in 2019, with Huawei and Huawei affiliate companies. But yes, your TDS point is valid: Biden et al. built upon Trump's piecemeal export bans with comprehensive, all-of-China, bans, in 2022. This has nothing to do with Biden vs Trump, etc. It's a continuation of ITAR thinking going back 50 years.