• 0 Posts
  • 45 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
Cake day: September 12th, 2023
  • thanksforallthefish@literature.cafetoTechnology@lemmy.world•Right to Repair Gains Traction as John Deere Faces TrialEnglish
    8·
    28 days ago

    But help me understand how it’s possible that our “free market” is enabling this, unless it’s just a controlled market charading as free?

    • There are very few markets in the US that actually achieve Adam Smith’s “perfect market” (perfect competition)

    • The more expensive the individual item, the harder it is for there to be competition (costs of standing up factories, distribution and support, low volumes of sales etc), it’s extremely expensive to set up in opposition to John Deere

    • There are other market statuses other than “controlled” and “free” - the vast majority of US markets are Oligopolies (few sellers many buyers). Processed / packaged foods for example - 99% of market volume is done by a couple of players.

    • A century ago there were many farm machinery manufacturers - the individual machines were less expensive in real terms, and the complexity much lower. A virtual monopoly (one very large and a few smaller players) has formed through insufficient regulation to protect competition - the big ones gobble up the small and competition gradually dwindles

  • thanksforallthefish@literature.cafetoTechnology@lemmy.world•Microsoft’s Recall feature is still threat to privacy despite recent tweaksEnglish
    4·
    1 month ago

    Setting aside the fact that legally a corporation actually is a person, there is such a thing as a corporate culture, and a corporate ethos.

    Let’s start with an old microsoft ethos: embrace extend extinguish

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish

    Now don’t try to tell me I made it up, there’s enough evidence for it to have its own wiki page.

    Similarly there’s FUD an approach they most certainly didnt invent but did an excellent job of weaponising to a fine art.

    And so on and so forth. Those of us who have been around a while know the true shape of it, and that leopard has never changed its spots.

    I got my MCSE on NT4 back when CNE was much more respected. I still work in IT so yes I too use both windows & linux, that doesn’t stop me having a clear eyed view of them.

    They’re also not the worst by a long chalk, google, meta, palantir are all far less principled and far more detrimental to society.

    M$ still arent good though, and its woven into their culture

  • thanksforallthefish@literature.cafetoTechnology@lemmy.world•Microsoft Gives European Union Users More Control: Uninstall Edge, Store, and Say Goodbye to Bing PromptsEnglish
    16·
    1 month ago

    <sigh> I used to be one of those sysadmins, and the short answer is appropriate risk management, better network controls a locked down OS and immediate action to push out the patches for serious issues.

    I quite frankly detest M$ but keeping your pc patched isn’t propaganda.

    If you know enough to manage the risk (including proper network firewalls and good internet hygiene) then sure, keep going for a while. Zero days aren’t daily, they’re a handful per year.

    On the other hand if you have no clue about ITSec then you genuinely need to upgrade asap because you’re metaphorically running around with your genitals exposed.

    Your comment leads me to suggest you probably dont have the skills to do an appropriate risk assessment.

    But you do you. I’m not your Dad

  • thanksforallthefish@literature.cafetoTechnology@lemmy.world•Washington’s Right to Repair Bill Heads to the GovernorEnglish
    30·
    3 months ago

    That’s not only quite defeatist it’s not really true. Everything can be reverse engineered, obviously in some cases it’s not economical, but John Deere tractors and their obnoxious lockdowns are a classic case of where this leads to genuine value for people. JD robbing the farmers of the ability to perform simple repairs and charging huge bucks to do them ends up with costs on your grocery bill. This bill doesn’t directly impact that I don’t believe but it’s the simplest clearest example of why this is important.

    This is brilliant news - we’re all better off for it.

  • thanksforallthefish@literature.cafetoTechnology@lemmy.world•Tesla Board Opened Search for a CEO to Succeed Elon MuskEnglish
    2·
    3 months ago

    it requires near-90% approval of all non-musk held voting shares to make ‘major’ changes like ousting a board member or ceo.

    No, you’re thinking of News Corp and Murdoch’s shenanigans.

    Tesla has a standard structure. He doesn’t own a majority of shares, but he does own a significatn percentage and investors aligned with him combined have enough for him not to be at any significant risk.

    The directors however have a fiduciary duty to act in the interests of all shareholders, so going through the motions of considering a replacement ticks that box.