On Thursday, I left my desktop PC idle to have supper. I went back to the room 2-3 hours later to find my system updated to Windows 10. Bunch of cunts. I'm glad this didn't happen at a time I needed the machine badly.

I tried declining the EULA, but the idea of restoring to an unobserved, unknown state seemed even riskier. I left Windows 10 on, but if updates are always going to be a nasty surprise for now on, I cant trust my system to be reliable when I need it. My system could have easily been hosed fresh for my on-line test this week - I'm glad my deadline wasn't on Thursday.

After declining, It confirms if you want to use the last restore point (presumably the point when Windows 10 hijacked your Windows 10 install).

Probably user voice samples are being uploaded to Microsoft servers for linguistic analysis (ie for "improving" Cortana's comprehension), and those tasked with analyzing the voice samples are getting offended with the choice of language.

At the time Slashdot created this jest thread, Donald Trump attacking the internet wasn't an option so I opted for Facebook instead.

You need to think the option from a different perspective.

Many have zero interest having Facebook harvest their activities, so they'll likely have zero interest visiting a site with a Facebook login. Speaking for myself, the moment a "Login with Facebook" pop up appears, I immediately lose interest visiting - One less site, more closed (but inversely more peace and satisfaction for me).

The move is likely to make analog duplication of available streaming services more difficult, to impossible depending on your skill set.

I agree. Also, while many people have family and friends with the technical resources to handle any combination of the issues you mention, another cost point to include is software install and data transfer.

Not everyone has the skill, money, or connections to transfer all of this older data to a new system. Many posts suggest handling these upgrades on behalf of those not prepared to handle the upgrade, but say this in a condescending tone like Grandma merely has recipes, pictures of children and doilies and nothing of value on their system. I'm sure many know their system is old, but cannot fathom trusting others to handling their personal information. Having it professionally managed comes at great cost. It can take hours, and if they're not prepared to upgrade in the first place, what are the chances they'll spend money on transferring data? Also, many out there do not have trusting family or neighbours they would want handling their personal data either.

Probably those allegedly watching you from within the walls. /conspiracy theory

OP is installling Start8 on Win 8 to get the "look" of XP for his users - He is not installing XP

How is this a troll comment? If you're going to change the OS, there's a cost to training staff and to install the OS. Also, those PC's likely have a Windows license already, so the estimated costs are likely all IT services to restore all the machines.

Yes, at the time I read a couple of articles and blogs suggesting to run the Netbook at 1024x768 at the expense of text clairity... I was not prepared to sacrifice text.

As for the drivers on the HP... The ATI Mobility 200M (on a v5015ca). Up until the time I walked away from Windows 8, the video card only had Vista drivers on AMD's site. HP only offered the old drivers, and Windows 8 and its assortment of drivers would not allow the video to exceed 1024 x768. I tried using other AMD drivers, other resolutions, like 1152 x864, and 1280 x960 but text was too blurry. I tried installing the vista drivers, but they did not take too well displaying several error messages at login every time.

I'm sure other options are now available NOW if you want to argue about it. I probably can find a better solution to get it running NOW, but not last fall. I'm not paying full OEM price or more for Windows 8 on these particular machines.

Too bad Microsoft didn't support the lower resolutions in the first place. An older HP laptop I had tested with a native 1280x800 screen never left 1024x768 when I first installed Win 8. It ran stable, but without proper video drivers it wasn't worth even the discount. I would have even tolerated Metro, replacing Win 7 starter on my netbook but its resolution of 1024x600 was also not supported.

The HP did well with Gnome/Ubuntu instead.

In my circle of friends, no one had purchased Windows 8 during the discount offer. Either the older equipment or the screen resolutions were not supported. It's a little late now.

At higher bit rates I'm not bothered by lossy compression. I can be bothered by the results at lower bit rates and if I am aware how the track is supposed to sound.

Back in early 2000, I ripped much of my earlier collection using 224 kbps ABR. I was a big Maximum PC reader, and one of their multimedia issues recommended using VBR for MP3 encoding. Not understanding too much about encoding, I used ABR for compatibility, and "stereo" as I found "joint stereo" butchered cassette rips. I played these tracks mostly through my PC & laptop so I didn't notice any issues. I used CD's on my main system anyways and never used headphones.

When I purchased a Grado headset for a new (and first) iPod, I found differences in many of my CD rips. This bothered me to no end. For example, Thievery Corporation albums had distorted flaws in echo decay, and highs were harsh. Strings in some classical music seemed butchered while piano had detectable warbliness. High hats seemed wrong in my rock recordings. Choral music vocals sounded harsh. Similar experience when iTunes finally came to Canada, I bought a couple of Iggy Pop tracks. They were aac's encoded at 128kbps. The tracks were clean but the guitars and cymbals were so harsh, I had to stop listening after only a short while. Once I bought the "New Values" album on CD, I didn't experience the fatigue with the same tracks.

Most of the issues mentioned above dropped with properly set command line in Lame with significantly higher bit rates. I do notice a difference. Once I set up a media server all the old rips had to go. I re-ripped my collection. I notice very minor differences with Lame V0 tracks, and 320 kbps CBR, compared to CD's but they don't prevent me from enjoying the music. If I buy tracks from eMusic, ignorance to the original recording is bliss. At their low prices and with tracks ripped mostly with Lame V0 to V2, I can also accept the cost/quality trade off.

I have a couple of DVD-A and SACD discs. Aside from a slightly better sound stage, I would probably fail an A/B comparison test. Either my 40 year old hearing or my equipment would fail me. If I'm being charged iTunes prices, I would still opt for the CD or FLAC equivalent for my music, and hope sound engineers trend back to recording quality.

- - All ramps are legally required to be of a sufficient length for any properly maintained car to reach merging speed.

- That is the most vague, made up shit I have every heard on /.

No kidding! The dynamic it misses is the behavior of the traffic.

In my area it is pretty common to find merging circles with a 30 km/h (~19mph) to 50 km/h (~31mph) speed limit with short merge lanes. I agree, one can accelerate through the merge circles...but you're not going to achieve much acceleration until you hit the straightaways. An earlier poster stated he held back until space developed - that works until you have a slow timid driver in front of you. You may be accelerating from 60 to 85 km/h or more with 1/3 or less of your merge lane left, and traffic backed up from the slow driver.

I don't have issue using 4-cyl. or even underpowered cars, but given the option I would opt for the extra power and the larger engine every time.

Lithium is better at treating the "manic" side of bipolar disorder (manic depression) as it is a mood stabilizer.

When treating depression (unipolar disorder) Lithium is also prescribed to enhance other antidepressants, so he is more than half right.