Why not just have TWO long term support versions plus the current version. One for every 3 years. So, currently have a 2020 LTS version and a 2017 LTS version and by then end of this year, decide on the new LTS 2023 version. When the 2023 version gets set, support the 2017 version only until they post the next Kernel build either at the end of 2023 or the first build in 2024. At that point, 2017 is dropped. And just move forward with two 3 year LTS versions going forward in a similar manner.

Places like the federal government as well as many businesses like to have longer LTS support. 6 years makes sense to keep. Otherwise, think of the DOZENS of major software systems that would have to be tested repeatedly with a narrow timeframe.

Big organizations have multi year timelines for testing just one or two major software systems (I'm thinking of one system at the moment with over 10 million lines of code in an archaic language, MUMPS), imagine testing even dozens of smaller but complex systems and add to that human churn as people come and go and you lose your knowledge base. Add to that, in government you have the major leadership and even sub-agency level churn factor every 4 years as top dogs get replaced, and then they appoint new folks under them who often appoint new folks under them who ALL have new agenda's and priorities but need to close out the previous administrations projects, which takes a year or more on one hand, but at the same time, government doesn't want to spend money to hire extra folks just to be always testing kernels vs their apps all the time.

The comment above sounds like it's trying to be funny; but actually these would be the ultimate WMD. At 23,000 miles arrays of space based solar panels that beam back to earth with microwaves or lasers would be far worse that nuclear weapons. At least with ballistic missiles, you get a 5-20 minute warning and might be able to shoot it down. With these things, you could redirect the beam in maybe seconds or less depending on the technology and satelites beaming to Japan could strike much of Asia or the western pacific with Gigawatt or Terawatt beams. Death rays with no counter measures to defend against.

On top of this, if they were hacked, then they make the ultimate terrorist weapons too!! Instead of the Wannacry virus, you would have the WannaFry virus now only pay the Chinese or Russian or whoever cybergang a mere 100 billion dollars and we won't fry Tokyo.......

A REDICULOUSLY BAD idea for an energy source.

Gateway FX laptop. Bought in 2010, still using it. Slow starting up MS Office 10. Not upgradable to Win 11, but otherwise fine. Pre Intel-I series CPU. Will only ditch because MS will cease to support security updates for Windows 10 in 2024 last I heard. Likely will re-image as a Chrome book or a Linux machine with easy launching of Chrome and see if it will last until 2030.

Excellent comment! To often people look to Hollywood for science when they forget they are writers that are just pulling ideas from their butts most of the time for something that sounds cool or mysterious or "scientific". Quantum mechanics, instead, is deep and even things like photons and light waves are deep, mind explodingly deep. I once saw a VERY interesting YouTube on a double slit experiment that shows that people shouldn't think that a photon is only one wave length in size for all purposes, but that a single photon extends for a much larger region of space as far as it being able to be absorbed in a discrete unit - literally meters. The experiment presented a very different way to think about photons, space, waves, and interactions. I always thought that photons were indivisible units of energy, but this experiment demonstrated that the wave function of a single photon could be absorbed simultaneously in multiple places at once separated by meters. Made me rethink the standard line given to neophytes getting into physics.

This is chilling! We are now seeing a majority of people now viewing human beings as a commodity to be bought or sold^H^H^H^H killed. Welcome to the new incarnation of slavery. You might not consider a unique homosapien that is developing in the womb - and later outside the womb (some so called ethicists have stated they don't believe a child under 3 years post birth to be a "person" - aka unable to reason - and many would argue a 1 year old baby is not a person (unable to reason and have independent thought and physically sustain themselves), but they are still a genetically unique human being at a very early stage of their life. Sadly, we are saying that now a majority in the survey have no problem killing these just developing humans if they don't meet their definition of likely to be highly successful in later life.... and hence (behind it all) a minimal burden upon the parents.

The love of mankind HAS grown cold after all and is more pervasive that I could have imagined. Human beings (children in this case) are being viewed as a commodity (for our personal happiness or satisfaction) as long as "they aren't ME". Tears for mankind.

Update. 1.4 Billion computers run Win10 or 11. 75% of that run Win 10. 43% of that are deamed un-upgradable to Win11 - based on Google search and even some of Microsoft's own numbers (1.4 billion).
Hence 1.4B*0.75*0.43 = 451.5 MILLION computers will be forced to upgrade or be at higher risk of getting hacked!

Definite surge to Microsoft's and Intel's bottom lines! BTW, abbreviations 1K+ monitor = 1920x1200. 1+TB=a 1 TB drive + a 300GB secondary drive (both old, but usable 5400rpm, not SSDs) - Yeah it takes over a minute to boot, but otherwise fine after all started up.

This stinks. What about all the perfectly good laptops running that will cease to have any security updates in Nov 2025. My perfectly good 17inch 1K+ 1+TB laptop is rejected by Windows 11. I wonder if Microsoft is trying to boost Intel's bottom line with all the recent years of PC sales declines..... How many perfectly fine business computers will be forced to the dumpsters in 2025. What are the current estimates of computers in this class?

Mass hysteria requires something like gun fire in a crowd. No one knows what is happening exactly but people see others panicking and panic themselves and misinterpret fuzzy or sudden events wrongly. This, however, was a series of stretched out events across independent observers, many who likely were just curious and had time to observe, obviously from the descriptions, for prolonged periods of time.

Nope. Sounds like something WAS up just not from a known or suspected illegal entity. Either the reporters/police were told to try out the mass hysteria line or there was something happening that they feel would just sound too crazy, so rather than lose their jobs for people thinking they were loony, they just gave the cop out response and hoped it would fly. Pun intended - fly - drone... Sorry, couldn't resist.

Patrick

I vote for Techno-meat. Everyone these days likes hi tech this and that these days. So Technomeat sounds sell-able to me. Simmeat might work but that sounds to much like Sin-meat. Like you are going to be in trouble if you eat this meat.

Most surprising is that there are batteries out there lasting for 10 years. Way more surprising than holding onto a phone for that long. I've held onto my laptop for 9 years and it still is fine. Heck, I haven't thrown away my old Toshiba laptop - still sitting in a closet - but it boots (with a squeaky drive) and is close to 20 years old - though it's battery probably last for all of 5 seconds.

MAYBE 2025's COBOL, not 2020. More likely 2030's or 2035's COBOL (relative to the position COBOL enjoyed in 2000). COBOL now is aggressively dying, So many COBOL software systems have been ported to Java as a replacement. I fully agree though that on the desktop or browser, it has dwindled drastically. And, from what I have heard about CERNER, Java EJB is a challenge when trying to scale up from 4 hospitals to, say, 150 integrated hospitals.

Calling the NUMBER TWO LANGUAGE IN THE WORLD, dead? That's just Click-Bait. By that logic, there is only one living language, JavaScript, and All other languages are on their way to extinction. Now, if Java were to drop to #5, one might be a little concerned and if it dropped below #10, then you could say it is a dying language. But seriously, the biggest problem it has it its license and Oracles past behavior concerning it. Those definitely have muddied the water for a long time. I expect to see Java as one of the 10 primary languages for business for between the next 10 and 20 years. Maybe longer since most internal business programs last for at least 10 years, and the bigger the user base for the program, the longer. Maybe in 30 years Java will become like Cobol, still supported, but actively being migrated away from. Perhaps Julia or something similar might be the reigning language then.

The current Eclipse is 4.7.2 or so.

I used a much older version with the nickname of "Helios" or something like that and 7 years ago I was able to set it up to debug a Fortran app that called C++ libraries that call Fortran libraries. I also debugged Java apps that called C++ libraries which, I think, called Fortran libraries. I was able to step from a call in one language to the library in another language, track, and even modify the variables at different levels and see the results in the other language levels.

VERY useful. Eclipse works with a gazillion languages and environments (Linux, Windows, Android, IOS, along with various CPU's like ARM, MIPS, Intel, you name it). BUT, if you have to debug something like SQL Server SSRS packages, that I doubt would work, but hey, maybe nowadays, someone has extended Eclipse to even work with SSRS/SSIS/SSAS packages.

Eclipse is the grand daddy. Most environments are more speciallized to things like just Java or just Android.

Wow! You are seriously OUT THERE dude!

Most creationist seriously DO believe what they say they believe. They believe it even when they are all by themselves with NO church or pastor and with the threat of being killed for saying they believe it. You must live in America - where it is still MOSTLY safe to be a Christian. Try saying you believe in the Bible and salvation through trust in Jesus in Iran or Saudi Arabia. That can get you thrown in prison pretty darn fast or sometimes killed.

A few, most often Catholics it seems - at least from conversations with a few Catholics and ex-Catholics I have had, have a fear of their church hierarchy. I should note that I like Catholics and have even attended two Catholic churches but I am not a Catholic. Also, some people from very small rural towns perhaps may fear their community some.

But hey, you would also be in trouble with Muslims too. The Koran is fairly emphatic on Creationism too. I wouldn't want to be saying the Koran is irrational and false in several middle east countries or Indonesia for that matter. That WILL likely get you killed. They DO believe it.

Interesting. You just increased my respect for Carl Sagan up from where it had been. I would make a small qualification though. It seems that the most haughty are the arm-chair "scientists" who like to post on SlashDot. Most honest scientist without a bone to pick and who aren't too caught up with where they went to school (Harvard graduates are the worst on this one and least when it comes to epidemiology) are more than willing to admit flaws in their and others research. Some flaws are barn-door sized but only found out years or decades later. Sadly, when it comes to anything concerning evolution, too many are intolerant and insist on lock-step compliance or else you are an outcast and will not receive any grant money.

As far as Creationism/Evolution it is Biblically consistent to believe in some hybrid of both if you actually go back to the Hebrew. From what I have read, the Bible and genetic mutation seem to indicate an initial creation billions of years ago, then a reforming of a trashed/chaotic earth/moon system and the creation of man in 6 days followed by evolution of life forms after then where you see SNP variations like you do now.