Friday, February 16
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Daily News Stuff 16 February 2024
Rrat Edition
Rrat Edition
Top Story
- Apple has publicly confirmed that it has broken support for persistent web apps (PWAs) on purpose. (Tech Crunch)
The company went on to explain that it broke support because its operating system is buggy and insecure, and because it hates its own developers and users.
They didn't mean to explain that, but they did.
Tech News
- Walking around with $3500 AR goggles strapped to your face is a bad idea. (Ars Technica)
Thanks, Ars Technica. We would never have guessed.
- Sitting inside with the blinds closed reading comics, the $3500 Vision Pro is perfectly fine, until you throw up. (Tech Crunch)
Which is nothing specific to the Vision Pro, but a common problem with other AR and VR goggles.
- How to unsubscribe from Nextdoor. (taylor.town)
Spoiler:Yes, there are 16 pages of notification settings.
There are no "disable all” buttons. In order to unsubscribe from everything, nextdoor demands hundreds of clicks.
- Fuck you, they explained: Broadcom takes a leaf out of Nijisanji's management handbook with its acquisition of VMWare. (Ars Technica)
Perpetual licenses are out, as now is the free version of VMWare ESXi, intended for developers and sysadmins to run at home instead of some other company's software.
Gone too is the VMWare Partner Program, which had 28,000 resellers a year ago.
VMWare's explanation of the changes amounted to everyone else is doing it, which is largely true, but the reason VMWare held on to its customer base was precisely because everyone else was doing that, and VMWare was not.
Was not. Past tense.
- You wouldn't leave $90,000 in cash sitting out on your desk with the window open. (The Register)
Or maybe you would. Maybe you own a pack of honey badgers. Still seems unwise.
- The Nextbox is coming. (WCCFTech)
I guess Microsoft is big enough - and Xbox itself is big enough - that it doesn't have to worry about the Osborne Effect. And the company probably does own a pack of honey badgers, come to think of it.
- Google suggests that owners of older Windows laptops should migrate to ChromeOS. (Tom's Hardware)
This would be a great idea - ChromeOS will run fine on hardware that Windows 11 would leave dead in a ditch - if it were not for the fact that Google is no more trustworthy than Microsoft and would have far more control over your data.
- Rat. (Ars Technica)
Don't click.
Tags: rat, reproduction, ai, china, omgwtfbbq
Eggs Video of the Day
Disclaimer: I told you not to click.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
06:08 PM
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1
VR goggles - reminds me of the Dilbert cartoon talking about future developments giving us contact lenses that work as monitors, and finger rings that work as keyboard input devices...and...they will do nothing to improve the image of programmers.
Posted by: Frank at Friday, February 16 2024 06:55 PM (cARBX)
2
"The last 10-days-or-so have been quite the roller coaster for Xbox fans."
Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown.
Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown.
Posted by: normal at Saturday, February 17 2024 01:08 AM (LADmw)
3
VMWare: Moral of the story - never pay for software? Because for some reason willingness to pay developers in exchange for software signifies that you're some kind of chump who needs to be screwed with?
(How do those developers get paid so they can do things like buy groceries then?
1a. Free Software Answer: It just kind of percolates out of the air, man. Just trust the system.
1b. Silicon Valley Answer: Software is subsidized by giant corporations that themselves never seem to need to make money, because it just kind of appears via stock-flavored financial magic. They don't actually need customers either. Money doesn't come from *customers*. )
Qemu it is, I guess.
(How do those developers get paid so they can do things like buy groceries then?
1a. Free Software Answer: It just kind of percolates out of the air, man. Just trust the system.
1b. Silicon Valley Answer: Software is subsidized by giant corporations that themselves never seem to need to make money, because it just kind of appears via stock-flavored financial magic. They don't actually need customers either. Money doesn't come from *customers*. )
Qemu it is, I guess.
Posted by: madrocketsci at Saturday, February 17 2024 12:59 PM (hRoyQ)
4
The Free Software Answer is mainly "pay for support/maintenance"--which is something lots of commercial businesses do. My last company would sell you the software, but charge an annual maintenance fee which entitled you to updates and actual support.
Since it is a payroll company, you needed the updates because governments are constantly changing tax rates, adding new taxes, and (rarely) retiring some. Plus, there's a slow but steady stream of "oh, the report needs to look a little different this year."
Support is for when stuff happens like "we got halfway through a payroll and realized we forgot to turn on quarterly bonuses, what do we do now?" or "we got our first 1099 employee, how do we set that up?" and the like.
Since it is a payroll company, you needed the updates because governments are constantly changing tax rates, adding new taxes, and (rarely) retiring some. Plus, there's a slow but steady stream of "oh, the report needs to look a little different this year."
Support is for when stuff happens like "we got halfway through a payroll and realized we forgot to turn on quarterly bonuses, what do we do now?" or "we got our first 1099 employee, how do we set that up?" and the like.
Posted by: Rick C at Sunday, February 18 2024 01:06 AM (BMUHC)
5
I used to work developing accounting software for mid-sized business.
Constantly changing laws were guaranteed income for us, because nobody could afford to fall behind on updates.
Constantly changing laws were guaranteed income for us, because nobody could afford to fall behind on updates.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sunday, February 18 2024 06:54 PM (PiXy!)
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