It would be news to most Republicans to learn that McCain and Romney were conservatives. They were both about as Left as one could get. McCain was pretty much in Susan Collins/Lisa Murkowski territory, while Romney, as governor, ran Massachusetts' version of Obamacare

Trump only looks Leftist now b'cos of the deal he signed w/ the IRGC in Iran, which is as bad as the JCPOA. Otherwise, he was a unique blend of a Ross Perot/Lee Iacocca style of protectionism (usually championed by the Libs of the 90s - Gephards, Boniors...) w/ a strong military, in the tradition of most other GOP presidents. Although he's gone from the US having a global footprint to the Donroe Doctrine, which pulls out of the rest of the world, but merrily interferes in Latin American countries at will. Venezuela may well be the model under which we remote-control Cuba, Nicaragua and Mexico

Microsoft could segment their market into two and solve this

- 32-bit version - reintroduce Windows 7, 32-bit, make its top requirements that of legacy PCs and make that available forever. Obvious limits - 4GB RAM, 128GB storage, legacy hardware. No AI capabilities

- 64-bit version - guaranteed not to be compatible. But port it to the existing platforms that want it - be it Snapdragon, RISC-V, et al and provide an option of either WIndows 10 or 7, depending on whether it has touch interface,...

That way, keep supporting the people w/ legacy needs, but for the newer stuff, use the alternatives - RISC-V, Snapdragon, et al

P.S. I too have stopped using Windows. The only thing I used it for was in my coursework, where I needed Cisco Packet Tracer, which was only available really on Windows. On macOS, one had to run it under PARALLELS, and I don't recall the Debian installation. So I used a Windows laptop for that one

It's not about security: it's about ending piracy. There's no way bootlegged versions of Windows can be installed on this

On the plus side - yeah, there is one - I had one laptop of mine completely wiped a few years ago, and then Windows was reinstalled. Getting my data was no issue, since it was all backed up, but there was the question of reinstalling MS Office - Home & Student, of which I had a copy. The shop where I turned in the computer to repair had no issues reinstalling it, since the TPM told the Office server that I was a legit owner of Home & Student, and so the feature got reinstalled

Yeah, one could say that it should not be an issue and once one buys a title, one should be able to install it on all of one's computers. That's not the point: the point is that whereas previously reinstallation could be a bitch if Microsoft thought that you were still using the software on a particular computer, now they recognize it right away and install w/o any fuss.

Generally, if a company has decided to go w/ Exchange, then they would likely have gone for Wintel laptops in their fleet. Why go the Mac route, when those are more expensive?

Macs make sense in a workplace where Apple had been the default platform. But if they went w/ that, they'd have picked a different email server platform than Exchange

I did mail checks to pay utilities, like my electric & phone bills. Automatic withdrawals didn't work due to irregularities on when I might get the money, so that's what I did

But for taxes, I'd never mail a check. I'd do an electronic money transfer, supervised by the tax preparer (I used H&R Block until my tax consultant retired some years ago). Essentially, if the amount is too big, I wouldn't use a check

Why, just why, would any mac users use Outlook? They could just configure their Outlook mail address to Apple's mail app, be it in macOS, iPadOS or iOS

If they're that enamored w/ Outlook, why not just go all the way and get a Wintel laptop?

Soon enough, robots fed by AI from other datacenters will start building newer ones, bypassing Unions once again

That's a pity. I'm looking at upgrading this laptop running Debian 4.19, so was considering SteamOS. Either that, or revisit FreeBSD and try getting it to work again (it did fine w/ PC-BSD back in the day, except for lack of WiFi

Outlook, along w/ Windows, is a poster child to demonstrate "Enshittification" of software. Classic/Legacy Outlook was fine, and so was Outlook Express back in the day. Microsoft obviously doesn't believe in "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", so like so much of other software of theirs, they kept updating it so that one has to re-familiarize oneself w/ the software, and keep disrupting their workflows

This week, since my old Android tablet croaked, I migrated the accounts on it to a Chromebook of mine, and it works seamlessly, even better since now I have a keyboard. I realized that I don't miss Windows at all: the "function" key replacements are all useful browser navigation or screen adjustment buttons (maximize, brightness, volume) - something I miss when I revert to my Wintel laptop for other work. Not to mention the individual ChromeOS apps, such as YouTube, Meet, Chat, Docs, Spread,.... I just hope that when Aluminium OS replaces it on Googlebooks, that the experience isn't disrupted but that compatibility w/ Android tablet apps are improved

In fact, increasingly, the best use cases for Windows that I can think of now are offline software, including legacy ones, or proprietary Microsoft ones like Office. Why else would one need Windows when either Android or macOS would be an improvement?

In Gaza, those "civilians" participated in the October 7th massacres, which drinkypoo endorses. If one recalls, when Hamas agreed to return the first batch of hostages, those hostages had to be protected by Hamas from the Gazan public, most of whom are goons. So Israel has the right to expel them anywhere, given that they've proven incapable of living peacefully in what was practically a "Palestinian" state

Judea & Samaria too, Jewish settlers have the right to be there. The demand that these territories be Judenrein is ridiculous, given that 20% of Israel's population is Arab

Nothing weird. Israel was founded as a home for Jews, who it was proven couldn't live in Europe bcos Nazis, Commies and other haters. It then became a battlefield b'cos muslims, who themselves never had compunctions about stealing other people's lands - from the East Indies to West Africa - decided that they'd be in a perennial war w/ them

Fast forward to today, and antisemtism - not mere opposition to Israel/Netanyahu - has made a comeback! You see that in the US - the demonstrations at Columbia U were not against Israel: Jewish students were targeted for bullying and harassment, and antisemitism has made its debut here on a largescale basis for the first time in history. Same thing is happening in Europe. All this started on October 8th, long before the Israeli operations against Gaza began

Given all that, Jews worldwide have a right to seek refuge in the single country that was founded explicitly for them. They have nothing to apologize for: there are some 20 Christian and muslim countries each where Christianity and islam are the official religions of the state. While Israel may describe itself as a Jewish state, every Gentile there has religious freedom. Far more than in any islamic country, such as an Afghanistan or a Bangladesh - and I'm not even touching a Saudi Arabia

As for trying to expand into Judea and Samaria, the Palis have proven that they are incapable of living alongside them in peace. No sympathy for them if they get expelled. I'll take those jihadists seriously when they start a jihad against Beijing, who has been doing a genocide of the Uyghurs and Hui there

No, what Israel did was in response to the terrorist attack in question. Hamas could have lived pretty well had they simply ended their jihad.

But then, they wouldn't be Hamas, would they?

No need for excuses. Those who want to buy that phone can - it's that simple!

You forgot Edge, which may have its own ad-blocker-blockers, but certainly won't take cues from Chrome

Also, does Brave depend on Chromium for its updates? The same way, say Debian derivatives depend on Debian, or Redhat derivatives on RedHat?

I was under the impression that Brave was a complete fork of Chromium, just like OpenBSD was of NetBSD