Indeed. Add that the first AI agents have already been used for attacks on those running them and that hallucinations are unsolvable (!) in LLMs and this is a nice recipe for disaster.

HFT will not use LLM-type AI any time soon. Far, far too slow. And far too risky.

Nope. Don't be an idiot.

We had this discussion in 2023. And in 2021. 2020, 2019, 2017, 2015, 2013, 2011, 2009, 2008, 2007 and I think 2005. Or so.

Oh dear, poor users don't know where to start. I'm sure that is the one and only thing that stops the entire world from switching to Linux. Certainly not the lack of games, business applications or compelling reasons to switch from the shit that they currently run and know is shit but at least they know that shit.

Linux has won the server OS wars. When's the last time anyone had a serious discussion of using whatever the last windows server OS version is for anything critical? When's the last time you logged into a Solaris machine?

The desktop is a different game, always has been, always will be. It's a game run not by technical excellent. I mean, exhibit A: DOS and Windows, who were never, ever, the best OS - just the most popular one. But on the desktop, what matters is if the users can use it (it's right there in the word) and that hinges on two things: a) familiarity and b) availability of applications.

a) is a lot more serious than most of us nerds realize. Think about any random corporation. Let's say 5000 office employees currently using Windows. Re-training them to use Linux instead might take just a few hours for the tech-savvy ones, and let's say a day for the less so. Add twice that as a period where productivity is at least somewhat hampered by them having to look up again or ask a colleague how to do X. Suddenly you're looking at something like 30-50 thousand hours of lost productivity. And these are not minimum-wage people. So your bill is what, half a million?

b) this is the applications the business actually uses, not some Open Source alternative. If the graphics designers use Photoshop, they need that, not Gimp. Tons and tons of enterprise software is windows-only. And there we are with the chicken-and-egg problem.

Seriously, "the Linux desktop is too fragmented" is bullshit. All things considered, that's the least worry of anyone. And one of the greatest strengths. I know that I would've given up completely on Linux a lot sooner than I actually did if there had only been KDE and Gnome, and not Enlightenment and other interesting options pushing the boundary of the possible. Heck, E would still run circles around almost all UIs today.

Indeed. Capitalism is a self-destroying system unless eternal growth is possible or you have careful limits in place that are decidedly non-capitalist. Like limits on personal wealth and the like.

That little problem is also where nonsense like "Colonies on Mars!" comes from.

Yes. It is a commodity market, i.e. you just compete on merit and have to deliver a solid product. Greedy assholes do not want that, so they seek to "fancify" things in order to mislead consumers and increase their margins.

Samsung generally makes pretty good appliances. Just be careful what you buy.

That sounds pretty illegal. At least in Europe. Forcing a registration for full functionality is prohibited by the GDPR unless clearly needed for the function itself. One of the reasons Windows still has ways to use it without an MS account.

Engineers need to eat too. And in the absence of regulation, they have not leverage against a greedy employer.

With regulation, that looks a bit different. See, for example, the HIPPA Act. "What, you want me to make this medical data handling device shoddily? No problem, I just need a written order and you may go to jail if it gets hacked." Something like that tends to impress managers.

Another example is gas stations. In some parts of Europe, they have legal availability requirements. Guess what OT systems and payment terminals have redundant Internet connections, hardened installations and 24/7 monitoring ...

Indeed. But too many people mistake "uses the Internet" and "fancy" for "good". Still, the rational part of the market is large enough that you find vendors there as well. You just have to look for a bit and you may have to do some research.

There are still makers of appliances with good quality and you can get those from some mainstream vendors as well. You need to look out for longer warranties and whether they give you guarantees as to how long replacement parts will be available. Also check whether the manual has an explosion-drawing and part numbers.

No such assurances or information? Stay away, they are out to screw you over. Also, equipment aimed at restaurants will often (but not always) be "industrial" quality.

If Samsung does not want me to buy from them, that is entirely fine.

No way in hell. My money stays under my control, not under some questionable unreliable tool made by somebody that has entirely different motivations which likely are not to my benefit.

Why do engineers know this but if the boss tells them to do it anyway they meekly comply? What if engineers refused to cooperate with bad engineering orders?

There's definitely a scam somewhere in the gift card's history; the guy writing about his situation is upset because Apple glassed his account over it, not over the gift card value. The process of not being credited for the gift card's code and then talking to the retailer to get one that hadn't been tampered with apparently went smoothly; but then the account and everything associated with it got terminated without comment or recourse.

Someone is presumably going to eat the value of the gift card, apparently the retailer either directly or through merchant fees and the payment card processor doing it; but the moral of the story is that you can, without recourse unless you are enough of a VIP to raise a fuss that reaches 'Apple Executive Relations', lose everything connected to your account if you inadvertently interact with a gift card that has been used for some sort of scam activity; even if you have proof that you purchased it from a normal retailer that sells gift cards; rather than some dodgy flea market arrangement that screams 'bagman'/'too good to be true'.