It'd still be nice if some MacBook had an SODIMM or CAMM slot to act as a RAM disk for a swap file, so that swap doesn't have to sit on the SSD's SLC intake buffer and wear it out.

In 2005, Mac computers used Intel Core Duo x86 processors. From 2006 through 2020, Mac computers used Intel x86-64 processors. starting with Core 2 Duo. macOS on x86-64 could still run x86 applications until macOS 10.15 "Catalina Wine Killer", released in June 2019.

What CPU architecture were you using on the desktop from 2008 through 2020, if not x86 or x86-64?

Having only 8 GB of RAM means you can't have a bunch of big Electron-based clients for chat platforms, such as Slack and Discord, running at once. You have to pick one and make yourself uncontactable through others.

A MacBook Neo can run Xcode, as Sam Henri Gold reminds us in "This Is Not the Computer for You". What can a Chromebook run that's remotely similar?

The author of an article about ditching Discord claims that XMPP has "lots of very mediocre clients out there." What would be high-quality XMPP clients for Windows, GNU/Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android?

The FAQ does not address why scope was limited to video games within the broader market for downloadable software. If I had to guess: Limiting the petition's scope to video games takes advantage of existing consumer protection laws and norms that address the power imbalance between large corporate merchants and individuals. Because home users have far less power to negotiate terms of sale than businesses have, some countries' legal systems apply more restrictions on the sale of products and services for home use.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought buying a license to download and use a proprietary computer program was a service, not a good. This differs from buying a physical copy of the same program, such as a CD or DVD. What does the "Sale of Goods Act" have to say about services?

True, for workloads that don't involve a lot of web browsing. For web browsing, I've seen a single article on Ars Technica open 40 or more Firefox content processes: one for each origin that is running its scripts in the document.

How is one supposed to build and test a program for macOS on Apple silicon and a program for Windows or Linux on x86-64 without owning a Mac with Apple silicon and a Windows or Linux PC?

Most well-known GNU/Linux distributions aren't charging for the next version, nor increasing the system requirements quite as sharply as Microsoft did from Windows 10 to Windows 11. The system requirements of Windows 10 differed little from Windows Vista's recommended specs. Windows 11 began to require much newer features in the CPU, particularly mode-based execution control (to limit the damage that an old vulnerable driver can cause) and an ongoing commitment from the CPU manufacturer to update microcode with new Spectre mitigations. (See williamyf's post on Ars OpenForum.)

Some GNU/Linux distributions are indeed ending i686 kernels. But by 2010, practically all desktop and laptop CPUs were supporting x86-64, even netbook CPUs such as the Atom N450 in the Dell Inspiron mini 1012 that I used to have. So that's at least 16 years' worth of used PC hardware that you can repurpose. Anything older than that probably has 2 GB or less of DRAM sockets, and Wirth's law has corrupted the websites that people are required to use for work or for life administration for so long that 2 GB is inadequate.

I suspect that in the long term, after the memory crunch, this sort of design is the way to go. Instead of swapping to the soldered SSD's SLC intake buffer, as Macs appear to do, they could swap to a RAM disk in a CAMM socket, the sequel to SODIMM.

That's not the impression that I got from doomers griping about Windows 10 end of support coinciding with the memory shortage.

If anything, a K/V/M switch has become more useful for programmers who maintain software for both macOS and other platforms ever since the Mac mini switched to Apple silicon.

Even if your device supports IPv6, if it's associated to a WLAN whose uplink is IPv4-only, it'll still have to operate on IPv4. The uplink of Frontier fiber Internet subscribers is IPv4-only.

The government compels a Surgeon General's warning on packages of cigarettes and nutrition facts on packaged food.

This claim deserves greater scrutiny in light of the possibility that Microsoft could use its Windows monopoly to promote hosting a website on Azure over hosting it on Neocities.