Well it's in France where France has consumer protection laws and truth in advertising laws so they can't just pull the "it's a license not a purchase Nyer Nyer" in a French court and expect to walk out like King Dick. Even though you're purchasing a license it's still a purchase and you still have the expectation that it's not time limited, especially if a time limitation was not specified and clearly advertised before purchase.

I think a better question would be how long ago was it withdrawn from sale? If they were still selling it up until the moment of the shutdown that is a serious problem.

I honestly don't think most people give a crap about patches and support, especially home users. Microsoft is only doing it because they've been pretty much forced by the EU.

I'm also looking at a switch to Linux and I've found that the big problem is still Windows. If you're setting up a fresh install on a new machine you'll have a pretty easy time even if you're dual booting however trying to use your existing steam install in Windows is a right PITA. Hence I'm wating until I get a new gaming boxen to try going over full time.

It's because in both of those worlds, the US was effectively destroyed. In Nineteen Eighty-Four it was part of the same nation as the UK (Oceana) and in V for Vendetta, it was destroyed by infighting. The UK is presumed stable enough to survive cataclysmic events. The US is presently demonstrating it really isn't and is far more Orwellian than the UK's worst nightmare. I can still criticise the UK leader, Kier Starmer (yes I can, Joe Rogan was talking complete bollocks as per usual), hows that working with you being able to critisise Trump or Charlie Kirk (even daring to repeat what Kirk actually said).

In fact the only UK politico who is likely to come after you for criticising him is the Far-right fascist frog-faced fucktard Nigel Farage... Odd that but as he's never going to get anywhere near power I can still tell Frog Face to Fuck Right Off.

Windows has been pretty damned stable since Windows 7 was released, that's 2009 for anyone not paying attention. Microsoft changed it so that one bad driver can't crash the entire OS.

Seems Apple is going all out with the paid propaganda of late... Because there's no way they're cheaper. If anything keeping hardware for longer makes it more expensive as you have to deal with more hardware failures, extended warranties, outages, et al. I suspect Apple is using very, very funny maths.

Aside from airports, the only place I get asked to show ID is occasionally when I buy alcohol and at my age that is a complement.

The previous conservative government introduced the requirement for voter ID in the UK not because there was any voter fraud, repeated investigations found almost none, rather it was a half-arsed attempt at US style voter disenfranchisement and all it did was give the opposition a huge majority. Also this is how the British do non-compliance. People vote with any kind of ID, bank cards, work IDs, anything to comply with the letter of the law but giving a two fingered salute to the spirit of it.

Elnor and his companies were always like this, it's just that they aren't even pretending like they're hiding it any more.

That would depend on which anglophone culture you're from. To Brits and Australians the word "bullshit" is not that vulgar, we've far, far more vulgar language.

Russians do not mind a boot on their neck, so long as it's a Russian boot.

I've recently started to read a translation of Tsushima by Alexsey Novikov-Priboy. He was a sailor in the Imperial Russian Navy at the battle of Tsushima (1905 for those playing along at home) and it does a really good job of explaining why people supported Communism, it wasn't that Communism was good, even back then people knew it wasn't but the system in place was even worse. Unaccountable leaders, the wealthy being untouchable, no benefit and lots of burdens for the common man... Sound familiar?

To put that into perspective, an 8 hour shift at 60 MPH (maximum speed limit for a HGV in the UK) is 480 miles, that would be for an owner operator who, as you pointed out, often does more than 8 hours. Company owned artics and lorries are often run 24 hours a day as different drivers operate the same lorry in shifts. Especially for local delivery vehicles (which are the ones likely to be doing fewer miles in town), when the first driver finishes his shift and gets back to the depot, the next driver climbs into his farts.

Brexit has already shrunk our economy by at least 60%.

Both major parties are in the pockets of big business and they'll put a stop to this nonsense before it gets that far. Yay corruption.

The thing is, the UK safety laws don't apply in China where you can sell unsafe toys to children.

That's the crux of the matter, UK law applies in the UK only. #Chan is right to tell OfCom to go pound sand (with a 21" retractable baton).

By and large the UK gets laws right, safety without giving up liberty (despite what the far right propaganda says) however this is one of the cases where they've got it horribly wrong simply because they didn't understand the technology involved. The people who created these laws (previous conservative government, for those who didn't know) genuinely think that the internet is like broadcast TV and that people will regularly be accidentally exposed to "the porn".

The problem isn't that there is not a way to deal with this, the problem is America, specifically the overriding belief that "government bad, company good" despite all evidence to the contrary.

They fail to understand why the EU regulating tech giants is so important and why Europeans agree with it... and that it's pretty much the only thing protecting them and still they'll rally against any attempt to reign in the unchecked power of large corporations.

We're talking about politicians here, they don't want to understand what they're doing, they just want to make it look like they're doing something.

The problems are not being caused by the existance of quarterly reports, rather with what certain people demand of them. Ever increasing growth and profit at the expense of everything else.

Getting rid of the reporting won't make change this one iota... It just makes it easier to hide the poor state of the economy and potential wrong doings of rich people.