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Comment Re:Flutter/Dart? (Score 1) 44

I used to rock a Nokia N900. The idea of a phone with a full Linux setup with X11 and stuff (including a Firefox-derived browser) seems great at first but the software stack was full of binary blobs (including but not limited to GPU driver blobs, PulseAudio blobs, power management blobs, cellular blobs and hardware related blobs) that made actually updating the software to anything modern nearly impossible.

At the time my N900 bit the dust, it was impossible to even visit a large chunk of the web because the ancient Mozzilla-derived web browser didn't support TLS 1.2 (and not through lack of trying, I actually managed to BUILD various Mozilla source trees hoping to get something that I could run in the N900 with no success)

Comment Re:Why I stopped going to movies (Score 2) 183

I got to the movies a fair bit.
It's not that expensive at the cinema I go to (for either the tickets or the candy bar) and the quality (especially the sound) is a lot better than what I get watching over-the-air TV on my 32" Samsung (with its inbuilt speakers) or watching Disney+ etc on my 1080p PC monitor and 2.1 channel speakers.

Never really had problems with people being annoying in theaters (phones, talking etc)

And there are absolutely still movies that I consider worth spending money to go and see.

Maybe if I had a home theater setup with a top-of-the-line TV or projector and surround sound the decision might be different but I have neither the room nor the funds to make that happen.

Comment So much stuff is just unobtainable... (Score 1) 54

There is a lot of content where the only way to obtain it is to pirate.
Good luck finding someone who has original media for the exact obsolete version of Visual Studio you need for a project and even if you do find someone selling a copy that isn't charging insane prices for it, its probably still illegal to resell it under the EULA.

And if you need something more obscure (say, software for a Bendix G-15 or an IBM 1401) you can forget about it.

Or if you want to watch the old obscure animated TV show "Twins of Destiny", piracy is the only way (the show was never released on any physical media and not available on any streaming service).

Comment Re:Executive Order (Score 1, Insightful) 84

As an Aussie I would actually be in favor of this. We can (and should) find other buyers for our exports and we would be better off if the yanks got stuffed and stopped being military partners with Australia (there is no reason for China to attack us if we don't attack them and don't help the yanks attack them)

Comment Re:User space ...? (Score 1) 85

Its well known that Safari and Webkit use (or have used) private undocumented OS APIs to do things that other apps don't get to do (there is a library in the Webkit source code called WebKitSystemInterface that exists solely as a wrapper around these private OS APIs, not sure if its still being used today or if they changed things)

Back in the day Microsoft software such as Internet Explorer, Outlook, Office etc were alleged to be using private APIs that weren't documented in the SDK and Microsoft got in trouble for it (Microsoft did eventually document a bunch of functions with "don't use this API" notices on them).

Should Safari/WebKit (either on MacOS or iOS) get to make secret API calls that competitors don't get to make?

Comment ISPs should NOT be liable... (Score 3, Insightful) 24

ISPs should NOT be liable for the actions of their users if they are merely acting as a dumb pipe and not modifying or messing with the traffic flowing over that pipe and should only be required to disconnect customers if ordered to by a court of law or by a warrant or directive from police or some other agency.

They shouldn't be required to disconnect customers just because some record label says "hey, your customer is violating copyright" without actually proving it in court.

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