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[Tosim]

First, welcome Tosim, to Linux. You're going to love it. Made the switch myself almost 7 years ago(!) and have blissfully side-stepped all the weeping and gnashing of teeth that a life lived among Microsoft products brings. Every once in a while I'll visit that dinosaur site called ZDNet and see all the thunder and fury guys like Ed Bott scream while trying to [still] accept what Microsoft gives them before the next VP who was in charge of the update dashes for the exit door (Sinofsky).

My advice follows that of 40hz. And for those still on the fence, I suggest you simply load distros onto your old machine and use it for your daily tasks. Immerse yourself. And no, don't expect it to be a gaming machine for your Windows games or run Photoshop. But now that Photoshop is a cloud subscription, you no longer can use that excuse.

I use openSUSE because it's very liberal when it comes to software choice and it's uber-stable. Try Mint if your machine can handle it and you'll see all the endless things a Linux distro can really do. Good luck.

[Richard Stallman]

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Hate to tell you so, but Richard Stallman said that all your computer data belongs to them:
"One reason you should not use web applications to do your computing is that you lose control," he said. "It's just as bad as using a proprietary program. Do your own computing on your own computer with your copy of a freedom-respecting program. If you use a proprietary program or somebody else's web server, you're defenceless. You're putty in the hands of whoever developed that software."

And then there is Paul Craig Roberts:
The presstitute media handled these stories in ways that protected the government’s lawlessness from scrutiny and public outrage. The usual spin was that the public needs to be safe from terrorists, and safety is what the government is providing....

There is no longer any doubt whatsoever that the US government is lawless, that it regards the US Constitution as a scrap of paper, that it does not believe Americans have any rights other than those that the government tolerates at any point in time, and that the government has no fear of being held accountable by the weak and castrated US Congress, the sycophantic federal courts, a controlled media, and an insouciant public....

Demonization is the US government’s technique for discrediting Bradley Manning for complying with the US Military Code and reporting war crimes and for persecuting Julian Assange of Wikileaks for reporting leaked information about the US government’s crimes. Demonization and false charges will be the government’s weapon against Snowden.

If Washington and its presstitutes can convince Americans that courageous people, who are trying to inform Americans that their historic rights are disappearing into a police state, are espionage agents of foreign powers, America can continue to be subverted by its own government.

[Cloud Atlas]

Cloud Atlas (2012)
The message is great, but the method is not, bouncing back and forth among six stories. Most of the movie the cast is in horrible rubber masks and heavy makeup to make them look old or weird and that alone is distracting for three hours. But sometimes they will stick with a story line for only a few seconds before bouncing to the next one taking place 150 years earlier. More aggravating than entertaining.

Jack Reacher (2012)
Tom Cruise plays yet another unbelievable super man/hero where he beats up five guys with his pinkie and spits bullets. It was okay because I like Cruise, but man, the dude is getting long in the tooth to play these roles. This is the only movie Cruise has ever played where he didn't have an extended running scene!

Out of the Past (1947)
Very fine film that the 1984 Against All Odds was a remake, but not entirely true to the original. Had several of the same cast members between both, though. Kirk Douglas in his second film and he was good. Mitchum smoked a lot and got his deaf and dumb employee to kill the bad guys. Mitchum got the girl in the end, but the wrong one! Jane Greer never looked better here.

Macao (1952)
Robert Mitchum at his best, lighting a cigarette every 16 seconds. And then there's Jane Russell in that white dress. Your jaw will hit the floor when you see it. The movie ended quickly, but Jane Russell was too hot even for Hollywood. Even her fellow actors couldn't help but turn their heads and go, "OH. MY. GAWD!"

[licensing]

But in the case of software, I'm rarely ever buying it, only licensing its use in a specifically limited way.

Republicans have been fighting since the first Clinton administration to get an internet sales tax. I guess Walmart.com is hurting Walmart sales, is that the argument?

My problem with LibreOffice is how resource intensive it is (and OpenOffice before it).

Open with a 3-sheet spreadsheet open, LibreOffice is using 128k of memory on my openSUSE Linux machine. I don't know what it would do on a Windows machine, which I assume you're using?

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Tall in the Saddle
Surprisingly good story about a man who's framed for murder, but the good guys prevail in the end. Ella Raines takes charge and is hot from the start! Lots of famous people here, but this was Wayne at his best, even though I wasn't that fond of the actor.

also:
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Drive Angry
Nicolas Cage is so bad an actor that I actually look forward to seeing what he'll do next, especially since he makes about ten movies a year. Cage escapes from Hell and comes across the smoking hot Amber Heard, and the two of them tear up the roads and the screen from there on. Lots of ass-whuppin, insults, broken bones, and even the cops get smashed and shot up.

[Dave Winer]

Sorry guys, but I've got to agree with Dave Winer on this one. By Google killing its own RSS, suddenly there's new competition for that software space again, and one less space that Google won't control or censor: "People will be well-served by a newly revitalized market for RSS products, now that the dominant product, the 800-pound gorilla, is withdrawing."
http://www.zdnet.com/rss-...google-reader-7000012687/

Thanks for the Reddit clarification, 40hz, that did help. I did see the part where "anyone with a credit card can bypass UEFI."

Shuttleworth has long written checks his company couldn't cash on his Ubuntu claims. Forget his desktop products, which I think are mostly silly. Did get a chance to play with Ubuntu Touch (mobile) and while it's no Android killer, it's very nice. It needs work with bars disappearing too quickly and learning which type of swipe -- or tap -- opens what. But at least it's the first promising thing Canonical has offered IMO since 2006.

In most of the examples given, we're still doing the same tasks, but with digital versions of it. Technology gets its revenge (see Revenge Theory) when what was designed to save you time/money actually costs you dearly.

Apple is considering this "feature" with their upcoming watch -- you can only look up the time 99 times before it requires you insert your credit card again.

[the problem with car ownership]

Because interest rates are at a record low, we bought a 2013 Ford Taurus in November. It's the most enjoyable car to drive I've ever owned, though I've mainly had sports cars for the past 20 years.

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As others note, the problem with car ownership is the cost -- of taxes, licensing, INSURANCE! (ripoff!), high cost of gas, tires, and yes, maintenance. Unless you have cash to burn, get the most reliable car you can afford, viz., a Honda, Toyota, or something else that's nice and boring. You'll thank yourself every month once it's paid off. Just make sure to take it in once a year and have it diagnosed and serviced.

Now that MS has both feet in the manufacturing business, it should limit its boot schemes to its own hardware, not the entire PC industry's. I had no problem loading openSUSE last Fall, but I shouldn't even be allowed to buy a UEFI-enabled motherboard when building my own system.
http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/gummiboot

G+'s "social search" results only appear among your ordinary search page results if you check that option in your account settings. It's not turned on by default, and even though I follow thousands of people, it's still rare to see anyone appear there.

[Automotive Diagnostic Computer]

The Automotive Diagnostic Computer, which when hooked to your car, tells you almost everything that is currently wrong with it and needs to be fixed.

It was one of my favorite Windows programs of all time. But that seems a lifetime and another OS ago! 

How about building a better OS instead of locking down hardware? Unless, Win8 ain't what MS claims it is.

I can't believe the industry linked its future to this MS-exclusive approach. Is the only way around it to build your own rigs? (Helped a relative build one over the holidays and we just turned the UEFI option off before installing Linux on a new HD.

Eileen Brown posted a host of retro ads. Hey Jack, computers were fun back before everyone spied on you!
http://www.zdnet.com/nost...-pc-ads-7000009131/#photo

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Welcome to the cloud everybody! It's only a matter of time before you get screwed. facebook/instagram make AOL look like the good ol' days.

My wife has Win8 on her computer/s and she actually likes it, even brags about it. Of course, my old pissy self just doesn't get it. I was confounded and just gave up. I only hope Microsoft is furiously working on Win9 to get users back. But no business is going to gamble on this. It's insanely painful (for me) to use.

Apple is just another tech company at this point, having done nothing new since the iPad. Stunts like taking away Google maps (now restored) just piss off the rich kids. Microsoft seems to have a copycat strategy of Apple from 2008, but so far their only idea is to go high end and charge top prices for their tablets. But the worst trend is that software subscriptions -- for everyone -- seems to have arrived in 2013. Good thing I'm a text editor guy!

You have good tastes, my man. I plan on spending Festivus watching several classics I revisit once a year. Should be fun.

[Are there any good corporations?]

Are there any good corporations? Surely there are, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. Even iKea was found using forced labor. What next, the catholic church and the BBC and sex scandals?

But...but....but, we have freedom in the U.S.!!!  Don't ya know we're #1?  We're #1 in freedom of speech, #1 in crooked politicians, #1 in crooked cops, #1 in greedy corporations, etc etc etc.  Of course I'm probably labeled as a dissenter by the FBI now and have a dossier on file....

I'm sure I'm on the list. Name me one "freedom" that I've gained from all the wars, banksters, politicians, etc., in my lifetime. However, I have seen all but the 2nd Amendment (guns) be whittled down to the TSA-like "We have the right to feel your privates in public at the airport."
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Oh wait, I have the "freedom" to wear pink for a month twice a year when Susan Komen's corrupt organization comes around wanting to stuff 90% of their donations into their own pockets before a dime ever goes to "research." Oy.