Stardate 55288.859

Yoho - I have this issue ... which ... once talking of Windows and which windows is better - its - ... weird.

What I mean primarily and specifically at first is that there is this weird misconception, this ... supersticion ... that Microsoft actually knows what they are doing. Its like a fairy tale where nice men, the cool scientists, those that built Direct X, are the Masterchiefs of our society or something alike. Be that as it may - the only thing I truly want to credit Microsoft for is that they have managed to build something like a standard for personal computers. But - that turned into a Monopoly somehow, which isn't bad for same reason, but - sometimes - it is bad for other reasons.

First reason is - 'we don't support Linux' - that's what I have to believe is one primary slogan within Microsoft HQ; And this is where I expect shitstorm about how much I do or do not know - which does in deed come around with tales about that Microsoft knows best.

First thing: I boot into Linux, start KDE4, and my Computer - well - works like a charm. Second thing: I boot into Windows, log-in, and my Computer - well - is already hot like I could fry an egg on it. Well, first answer: My fault. OK, well and no! No, I didn't boot into Windows after using Linux extensively. Matter of fact I boot into Windows - so in that specific case - because I need to restart it because otherwise I can't log into Linux because ... well ... of ... design choices; And that I did after I had slept for 2 hours.
If you take a look at the options Windows provides to shut-down the computer - you should see three options. Sleep, Shutdown and Restart. Well, while it might seem like un-necessary nonsense to argue that KDE4 has 5 options, here's the thing: Once shutting Windows down normally I can't boot into Linux because Linux won't access the hard-drives/partitions that have been flagged 'used' by Windows. Windows does that to ensure that data it stored there isn't over-written. Good? Well - yea, kindof. It does that so that it can boot quicker. But now, I have a logical intellectual problem because when I select 'shutdown' I want it to 'shutdown' - but - I have to 'restart' if I want Windows to let go of the Hard-drive partitions so I can boot into Linux. That also means that once the system crashed I have to boot into windows just to restart it just to boot into Linux where eventually Windows did a poor job at restarting itself so that I have to repeat the entire process a couple of times and it does not really work well in my head.

The whole experience is topped every now and again after having been in the internet ... where ... I may be one of the few that aren't online 24/7 ... where it doesn't read 'restart' anymore, but, 'restart and install updates'. "Fun Fact", the Login Screen of Windows 8 reads itself like the perfect advertising slogan for the product in general: "Log in and install important upgrades" (*yay*). To be imagined like every other bad game PR, like, you do want to log in just and only to install important upgrades ... since ... so it would seem ... windows nowadays is factually only the log-in screen, the entire rest a bonus. Weirdly enough - that is closer to the Truth than to the joke! The thing though is that once logging in you are continously asked to 'activate' the System by either visiting the Microsoft homepage or making a phone call - until you did so. That is funny, but, also where the joke ends!

... now I can literally hear and feel some midget screaming and yelling like: "What do you expect? Do you want me to even wipe your ass with golden silk?" ... well ... dear Mr. ... uhm ... the weak-minded might thank you for your great innovations on the front of user-friendliness, but your reactions would in my oppinion only be legitimate if I were asking too much ... I'm not asking too much ... I just say that your idea of 'good' sucks!

I mean - Windows is so great it even provides tool-tips to the individual shutdown options - great! So between casual user and more profficient IT nerd there is a gap that can be bridged. We can think that the casual user doesn't read tool-tips so how about tool-tips for the more profficient one to decypher the weird decisions made there; Or better - make it logical and provide tool-tips for the casual user who so ventures into the world of IT and as that should be expected to catch up a little bit on the Information Technological basics of what goes around.
Then yea - boasting with innovation, that is one thing, but being as innovative as inventing a word to have a shut-down option for casual users - well - psychologically, that would require the intention to be so nice - I guess.

I got to say ... this whole new standard ... that ... that is quite a thing. So, the casual user won't have 'a clue' - but - some time ago ... how to best put it ... well. With more modern Computers and a larger availability of data-storage-capacity on hard-drives a more modern way of managing partitions of hard-drives came along. So also a more advanced integration of the 'BIOS' into the booting and managing of Operating Systems. So, the BIOS nowadays is already built specifically to allow multiple Operating Systems to be installed. But now Microsoft comes along and guess what ... the good old 'design my own system by hand' method of building a 'Personal Computer' software wise ... works in theory but installing Windows to such a system is ... a mystery. I admit, the designers of some of the Linux tools weren't really up to snuff either - where the issue is that Windows requires a very specific partition that has an ID code that isn't listed amongst the possible options there. So, scrap it, install Windows, and yay - Microsoft is good again because Windows 8 finally has a partitioning tool.
And so the weak-minded will be willing to forget and forgive - like its all good - where I would resort to a manner of linguistic poetry of a YouTuber called 'AlphaOmegaSin', but, you have to know - real artists can only be admired, barely copied!

It is though like in the Matrix where the Agents try to hack into Morpheus' mind and Tank explains the process in sight on the wave-patterns. Its like 'individualistic thought' and 'streamlined', or easier: "Brain On" and "Brain Off".

Its harsh to put it that way, maybe, but ... thats how it is!

There are other issues - like that Windows is genuinely inferior to Linux and Linux is matter of fact not a Mac clone - but those are things I can live with. I mean, I get the point that a casual Operating System like Windows is nice to have and anyone who really wants all the gadgets and gimmicks a Linux System has to offer, well, would naturally want Linux - where however System design has it that some partitions should be shared by both Operating Systems or otherwise I'd have to decide which stuff to store where and woe unto me if I'm booted into the wrong one at a given point in time. Restart, reboot just to ... well, it makes no sense!

The conclusion is that I should not use Windows at all, where thanks to Valve I can have my games now also on Linux - but then - also Linux sucks sometimes like my Western Digital External Hard-drive seems to not like Linux or reverse - who knows?

I have that feeling that somewhere there is some guy who has a list of bad ideas - and he checks deligently how many arguments there are against it and compares that to the amount of arguments he can find in defense of these bad ideas and once the numbers align the bad idea is being realized. Like the whole XBox One drama round about the Always Online DRM. There can't possibly have been anyone anywhere on this planet who thought that it was a good idea, but the acceptance of Steam and the spread of Online Distribution plattforms so removed the "valid" arguments against it and thus it was decided. [shakes head]

I don't want to say though that Microsoft is the only place infected. Once you ever think of migrating or semi-migrating to Linux - my advise: Avoid Ubuntu, rather try Kubuntu. Anything KDE is fine - because, well, Unity/"the new Gnome" sucks! And at this point I have to dive even deeper into the matter - namely into the Hype.
The point is that I basically got hyped to play games that shred my Computer. Whatever it may be, if it is likely to cause a system meltdown, I'd want to play it if I were to decide by that Hype. In the same manner I'd really 'want' to have Gnome2 on my Computer, but actually, I don't know why I would want that! Its a weird glitch in the System that apparently the 'wanting something just to find out that I don't' is a thing - where again I think of that person and its dark schemes, this time around as salesman who wants to sell the deepest and baddest shit literally available because we 'might' enjoy it. While it so works ... well ... there is the illusion I'd say where - well - in deed - I know how the silliest of things can actually be fun! Who didn't ever just play around with the drag-box feature, uhm, drawing a box with the mouse around icons, just ... for 'fun'? Silly me - I like playing Minecraft and how much more 'meaningful' is that (punching trees)? Well yea - logically difficult or not?

It gets into the absurd to really argue why Minecraft is a legitimate source of entertainment and drawing boxes rather not, to avoid misconceptions we may call it 'common sense', common sense that some people in this world do however apparently lack severly.

The moment where I was intimately done with Windows however was the point where I had bought my Netbook. It came with Windows 7 starter - which is that where you can't even change the Desktop background. What ... what? Why? How?
I mean, Angry Joe invented this Character, Captain Corporate or something, but yea, it seems crazy, but ... at some point ... who can legitimately tell that he does not really exist? Maybe it is like with God, one can believe but it isn't required - arguably or so - but still more than Santa Clause or the easter bunny. Anti-conspiration-theorists also claim that conspiracy theories are all fundamentally flawed in that they require that some mastermind is in charge on top of it all ... hmm ... so ... [scratch-ma-head] ... just saying.

I guess if you're alright with Windows, you're alright with Windows - there's no real shame in that. But there's a limit! I'd say that there is a world beyond the casual reality - and shitstorm troopers would argue that there is no need for Linux at all. It is though not about Linux - correct to the Letter it is so that I pay money for Hardware. If I buy Windows extra I pay for a product. If I get Windows together with the hardware, that is service. But that doesn't change the fact that Windows effectively is a shit product, where Linux is just the one alternative at the moment. See, if I have a computer and I need it to work, I'll need an Operating System. So, Linux is freeware, Windows is not - but please - let me ask my wallet whether I can effort Windows or not and not the public oppinion! Then, when I can have Linux, I wonder if I really have to pay 60 bucks for whatever misery I'd get myself into by doing so! The way I see it, throwing more and more money at them for unloading more and more shit upon us in process is however not the best course of action!

Is that ... just popular oppinion? Opportunistic? Band-wagoning? Well - it is a fact that Windows is making it difficult for people to migrate to Linux now - which is certainly increased by bad Linux distributions (www.distrowatch.org for the good and bad of it all), half-assed 'help' on forums and that the 'noob' has little to no idea of dual-booting plus that at the long end of the days that Windows pulls this dick-move initially described. It seems weird that this co-incides with Valve supporting Linux and hence it may very well be even legitimate - which turns it so that Linux is made out to look like only made for and by pirates. I wonder ... because as I started to work on Linux each Distribution had gParted on the Live CD/DVD, but then, after some point, it went missing. Like ... responsible coders have to help people avoid hacking their own computers ... please! If I wanted a Live CD/DVD/USB with the tools to hack a computer I'd make my own and not use Ubuntu! There even are Distributions specifically there to hack into Windows and that is good, because, after I once changed my password I forgot it ... and so I'd have to flash the machine otherwise.
In the end, if someone wants to pirate stuff he won't need Linux to do so! Heck, who has never seen a pirated Windows XP CD? I'd anyway say that there is no reason to pirate anything for Linux at all because there isn't all that much to pirate to begin with, except for World of Goo - well - there's nothing - kindof.
What this all comes down to is my freedom - or - the freedom of anyone; So, this becomes a discussion regarding the fundamentals of freedom.

There is this slim line between freedom and criminality - keyword: SOPA. A recent 'cousin' of SOPA passed and basically the one part caused a lot of upsetness amonst american citicens not living in the US, while the other part ... basically only hurts tax-sinners that we hear of every now and again that withhold millions from the governments. So, why should we be against a global standard system for taxing so that 'tax paradises' no longer exist? I mean, we look at those stories and wonder how "that" can be anyway. In the same mind we can look at SOPA where we would have to believe that everyone who gets upset is a pirate. But well - I have some of my Videos flagged for instance but they are Remixes. Remix tracks. Music. Slim Line? Well - it are things like that! Are those mixes an artistic achievement of me? Well, who can tell if nobody can take a look at it?

We also do live in a democracy we are told - so - when it comes to 'economic damage' we talk of what the customer supports and what not. Removing our ability to unsupport certain things does take our ability to have a voice in that regard - if we speak up we are called criminal. But that midget looking at his list of arguments knows to say that he does not take our freedom, yet - which is however beyond borderline!

I would gladly buy another Windows Computer in the future if I could know that I won't curse myself for doing so! I mean, technically its a win-win! I have a computer and a Windows - technically for free. It still is a win-win, somehow - but seeing just what I so supported thereby adds a bad after-taste to the whole thing while on top of that I'm part of a statistic that I don't want to be a part of! Not anymore! But would I not at least try it - how could I say that I don't want it? ;)

What I supported is this way of Microsoft that simply rapes all and everything I like about my Computer. I could start by how moronic so called "High Level" programming languages are basically the bane of sophisticated I.T.. I started off with a free Borland compiler and it was sweet. It has macros to directly use CPU registers within C code, so, int x = __EAX; for instance. This allows me to write code that is partially entirely independent of using any stack-parameters. But any modern Programming Language doesn't support that Level of access anymore. Instead the trend seems to go towards more and more abstract solutions that have less and lesser to do with how the system actually works because it is arguably easier or whatever - but that isn't Microsoft specific. Its just the trend and while nobody misses it, well, nobody thinks that it might be a great idea. But I hate, I despise, this casualization of software. It wouldn't be so bad if it wouldn't come along with being sucked deeper and deeper into this total dependency of what these corporations offer us in their utmost generosity, which is ... yea. Imagine you bought a car but you couldn't open the hatch yourself because ooh, you aren't supposed to fiddle around in the engine anyway. If it weren't existential to the identity of a car-nerd I'm sure - you know what I'm sure of! But yea, why not! More revnue for repair shops! Class-A maneuver! But in that case - why is Marijuana illegal in so many places? It would mean Taxes, it would mean quality control, it would mean less criminal breeding ground ... but more flower power - so ... Windows sucks because it is one more step into 'that' direction.