Dumb cloud terminals yo.

Windows has had online DRM for quite a long time, and how much a rumored "management" system would differ from Windows 10 with certain settings turned off is anyone's guess. Way too early to get paranoid and freaked out, IMO. Since Windows XP at least the OS always had silly stuff that people who wanted more control turned off, it's nothing new if they default to more of that as long as the options are still there to turn it off.

The subscription payment thing is more my fear, but again we're talking rumors and who knows if that would be for consumers or just businesses (where Microsoft makes most of its money). I haven't even paid for Windows since XP thanks to the free Win7 upgrade for students when I was getting my masters and Win10 being a free upgrade, so paying SOMETHING again isn't the end of the world, as long as it's reasonable.

All this aside, yes PC games and game history being tied to a DRM'd OS controlled by a corporation is a bad thing, which is why glorious GabeN tried to end it SteamOS which god knows what's happening with. That's been the situation for many years though, and to be blunt it's not like Windows isn't... out there, in DRM free form, if preservation ever calls for it.

Busted - you can type normally!

You'd kill the kid too if he put his junk under your house under my house looks like a miniature rubbish dump

A mini version of this:

http://sydneyrubbishservices.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/o-GARBAGE-DUMP-facebook.jpg

Anymore, it's just a real pain in the bottom to find everything that needs to be turned off, and that's ignoring OEM software. PCs getting locked down in the same way as smartphones and tablets is a legit fear: it was a major concern with UEFI's introduction. That should be enough to spook everyone: the choice between x86 and ARM is the only thing that separates OS lockdown rules, and ARM's planning on competing with x86, and intel doesn't necessarily have a problem with that, since they too can make ARMs, it then becomes less competition and more "upgrade," which will be mandatory for new hardware that just won't support x86 when intel stops support.

It's absolutely a legit fear, I just don't think we're anywhere near panic mode yet. There's a long, long way to go between Windows 10 and a version of Windows that won't let you run a fan mod or whatever. Also I don't think it's anywhere near in Microsoft's best interest to push for that, since their core business base needs to run unique software and whatnot. Also I don't think they're ignorant of gaming's influence over their success anymore, like they were before Steam and WoW and other such public successes.

In other words there's a lot of reasons for them to keep things relatively the same, streamlining the experience for those who want it while keeping it open for those who don't. The shortsighted and likely self-defeating greed required to override all that is certainly possible, but I don't agree with those who always act like it's inevitable.

So I rifled though both articles a few days ago, but was only now given enough effort to allocate into a post to say…

I don't really see a correlation here.

You'd think, but the no-ip fiasco paints a completely different picture, and as a victim of Microsoft's irresponsible maneuver I can tell you it really did happen. "Locking down the OS" is a hugely successful method of getting rid of viruses, for the most part, which is the biggest thing to plague microsoft (since everyone and their brother of a company is trying to cut down on tech support requests, including microsoft). Moreover, locked down OS means no alternatives, in the long run. It wouldn't count as a trust violation, because microsoft windows simply becomes the default and preferred product, even without their direct influence on the situation (so they can't be held liable for it).

The kicker is: most customers have internet, don't believe in wire-gapping, and those who do will just be treated like those of us who play old games: "That's archaic" "That's deprecated" "everyone makes payments on their computer hardware, which includes the OS anyway, then they upgrade as soon as it's paid off so what's the difference?" and other such arguments.

But you're right: it's not quite fear mongering level, yet. Instead, people who see it coming should be preparing for it. Coincidentally, right now, there's a growing market for open hardware and hobby processors and such. Ultimately, if enough is enough, the right people can be put into a position of making a "slower but more free equivalent." Tablets, phones, and computers that are open and aren't obligated to follow UEFI standards, but they might just not have the same power (at first). This also would allow for alot more competition in the market, which is better for everyone. I'm kinda hoping microsoft does this, and intel ends up doing what i predict: the end result will be as dethroning of silicon valley elites as Trump's election was to the US political elite (regardless of what you think of Trump himself and his politics, he totally dethroned politicians on both sides of the isle by being a nobody, and this is the real reason people voted for him, because america loves knocking people down a peg).

Windows launches Edge if you disable auto-updating, so you have to disable Edge as well, and I'm not sure that can be done without screwing things up.

"Life finds a way" I think. There's too much value and history for people to just shrug and give it all up. We'll see what happens though, and if I have to spend a ton of money to build a "plays everything pre-2020" machine and download a lot of "backup" versions then I'll do so.

Legally standing, i'm not really sure how x86 ripoffs will work (as in legally, in terms of implementing the instructions). I'm thinking that basically you'll get alot of pre-2010 emulators in software and eventually the pre-2020 software emulators come slowly (kind of like how PS2 emulators are coming along really slowly). The big picture at the end of the day is that people will largely focus on breaking free from that level of control of tech. People are already uncomfortable with iPhone's spying, and it's only a matter of time until people wakeup to what's hidden in most android boxes as well.

Don't get me wrong, I love ARM, but this locking of devices needs to change. We can't expect governments to help, either, because they benefit from the lockdowns (spying and censorship opportunities). ARM itself likely won't force you to stick to a particular OS, just the OEMs' use of UEFI, so we might not have to jump as far as newer processors themselves (ARM definitely does not benefit from this), but ARM's manufacturing is a bit more complicated than I'd like. If something a little better than openmoko takes hold, I think we can ultimately prevent alot of this. Right now, I can make apps on android, but only terminal apps. If I can figure out how to do raw x-server stuff without xlib, i can make GUI apps on android with a bluetooth keyboard. Now, imagine a more open OS than android in terms of what a user can and cannot do security wise: basically, tablets and phones are just laptops with small screens, but not quite "gaming computer" level processing. My tablet has a quadcore processor clocked at 1.2GHz, and is capable of easily overtaking my x86 dual-core clocked at 1.3GHz. Basically, the only thing holding us back from a technological revolution in terms of portability is that it simply hasn't happened yet. All the pieces are in place, but no one's trying to invest in it. Cross-platform development, right now, is still a joke as well, and there's no excuse for that except bullshit red-tape: I can program an arduino onsite with my tablet, in ATMega assembly, or C++ if i wish.

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1.) I'm not mad hyper loco-angry I'm in chronic pain!

2.) I can get very excitable that's all.

3.) Who the hell is Bobby Mueller?

4.) Stop the stupid act and just type NORMALLY PLEASE!!!!

5.) It's people similar to you that annoy me here!

6.) You were looking at a landfill, you know where they dump trash...

7.) When I say kid I mean 20 to 25 years old do I have to explain everything?

Gee... No wonder I hate the human race, Wouldn't be the way MOST of the human race acts would it?

So tired and in pain Good Night it is 3:15 AM here I'm going to sleep!

This is killing me. I usually don't take the time to read fairfox's gibberish, but you're not american, so I understand: Robert Mueller, the guy currently in charge of an expensive US government investigation trying to magically prove #pissgate wasn't 4chan's biggest prank.

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