I deal with this a lot since I do most of my browsing through a VPN.

As great as VPNs are, there probably are a lot of bad actors using them and sometimes I’m the next person using that IP.

I’m a white Christian man, and that sounds awful.

I don’t understand how people can want to live in that world.

From courts legitimately interpreting the law? Not at all.

But that’s not a guarantee anymore, and the administration also doesn’t care what the courts say. He also just got gigafunding for his Gestapo.

Don’t forget the rolling view counter and the guestbook!

Windows was wildly popular prior to Doom. Doom for Windows 95 was a showcase for DirectX, not Windows.

Doom was on more systems than Windows 95, yes, but that’s a little misleading. First off, it was released several years before Window’s 95. Secondly, people upgraded computers less often back then, and Windows 95 wasn’t packaged with most systems and wasn’t distributed online. You had to actively decide to go to a store and buy it.

Third, the vast majority of Doom copies were the shareware version of the first campaign. It was tiny and free. People would bring their floppy to a friend’s house, or they’d post it on a bbs for download.

The port to Windows 95 was a technical showcase of the advantages of using DirectX. It showed that Windows had integrated features that could be used to enhance games with minimal development cost, and that games could be run without having to exit Windows to DOS, which was a huge hassle required for most games at the time.

Yeah, but they were also still making new standalone gaming boxes with a dedicated OS, and they didn’t have the Xbox division take the lead on game mode.

Linux and Mac gaming also weren’t a threat, and the solution to a bloated Windows installation was more horsepower, which was relatively cheap.

Now the market is completely changed. The Xbox Series S and X have had their lunch eaten by Playstion and Switch. Linux gaming is exploding because of the Steam Deck, while more-powerful Windows handhelds are performing worse with worse batteries than the Deck because of Windows bloat.

Mid-range GPUs cost more than an entire high-end gaming rig from 5 years ago, so high-end gaming PCs are rarer than ever.

Microsoft has to do something. And what they’ve chosen, for now, is to partner with Asus to launch a true Xbox-branded competitor to the Deck. To do that, they have to actually be competitive. There’s 2 keys to that. One is Gamepass, and the other is moving Windows out of the way of the game experience.

I think this time actually does have the potential to be different. They’re co-launching an Xbox-branded handheld PC designed to go head-to-head with the Steam Deck while downplaying the future of dedicated consoles.

Microsoft’s gaming division is going all-in on PC, so it matters more than ever.

I’m really curious to see what kind of performance gains the Xbox-mode or whatever they’re calling it is going to provide. I don’t know if it’ll reach SteamOS levels, but it does legitimately look like they’re taking the bloat’s hit on gaming seriously with the Xbox-branded ROG Ally.

The reality is that mostly people aren’t going to leave Windows, so if Valve and Linux force Windows to improve it’s still a win.

Most of them in my area have disabled that. There is no non-destructive way to mute them.

I don’t love the field, but a competent marketing department has no interest in creating confusing product names. Being easily found in a Google search is like the number 1 thing they care about.

They’d be more likely to rename it something like “Remote Desktop: By Microsoft” or “CoPilot Remote”. Something stupid, but recognizable.

They’re the ones who chose the name “Microsoft.”

Because the restrictions is technically on the city, not the organizations we aren’t allowed to hire.

It’s bullshit.

In Texas, government organizations not only can’t divest from Israel, but also can’t award contracts to anyone who divest from Israel or speaks ill of it.

It’s insane. When analyzing bids for janitorial services for City Hall a few weeks back, I was required to vett them for their stance on Israel.

I dread calls at work more than anything in life.

Just send a fucking email.

Colby was a made-up story. The victim of this incident is a real, human person.

Yeah. At least Colby and the Jolly Ranchers didn’t involve harassment of an innocent person.

It’s not supposed to be an identifier, but since it’s the only nationally-assigned designation all citizens get it’s treated like one.

Which is stupid. It’s incredibly insecure, vitally important, leaked to every bad actor on the planet already, and unchangeable when it gets compromised (which it has been).

Looten Plunder is President of the United States.

Difficult for Android users.

Our implosion isn’t so slow these days.