his morning I wrote about “voluntary” (NOT!) layoffs at Microsoft.

I said: “They can’t catch a break, can they?”

I was using wordplay because it is summer’s break.

A friend asked, “why should shoddy, subpar, proprietary software be given any preferential treatment by groups which don’t have access to the backdoors / bugdoors built into the product(s)?”

He said that “can’t catch a break” looks too much like sympathising with Microsoft.

“It’s good news that the world is giving Microsoft,” the friend said, as well as “its products, and services the
heave ho. What remains, especially in Europe, is how to deal with the leftover microsofters which have displaced as good as all IT departments.”

“Even the idea of a team to support workers to use ICT to their advantage has become foreign due to the persistent pervasiveness of microsoftianism over the IT departments it has displaced.”

Another friend said “it will take a lot of time and effort to get rid of them and to properly train IT people on real technologies again you could talk about a lost generation or two. I’m just glad I started using GNU/Linux in 1997 and abandoned Microsoft in 2002, long before the current move towards GNU/Linux and free software…”

Castlefield, 2013:

think we’ve had a healthy amount of rain today, if not to fill the reservoirs, then at least to replenish and water some local plants, including lawns.

Today a lot was getting done and I even had a one-hour afternoon nap, which is rare.

Today we test some new software and new changes made to the sites.

Crossposted from Techrights

10 hours ago:

Last week: Clownflare Sees a Lot of GNU/Linux in China, Unlike statCounter

n the US, the home of Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft (GAFAM), GNU/Linux is said to have exceeded 10% “market share” on “the desktop” (desktops/laptops). Even Clownflare (US) sees that.

What about the world’s second-largest economy (by GDP)?

China said it would reduce its reliance on GAFAM several times over the years, but now there is a timeline and perhaps also a directive/order like in France.

It is hardly surprising that Windows is shedding off userbase all around the world and Microsoft has mass layoffs even during the summer break.

They can’t catch a break, can they?

In India, whose population is estimated to be bigger than China’s (based on the official figures at least; some authorities dispute these because of undocumented residents and distant/detached settlements, nonconfomist societies that reject any census), things are even worse for Microsoft and much better for GNU/Linux.

T is turning out to be a hyper-productive day with lots of stuff done (offline stuff) and some good news online. Tomorrow we plan to go out, seeing that the ‘hired guns’ have not (yet) decided to bother us during this vacation.

This coming weekend I plan to mend many old shoes using superglue. It’s a long tedious task, but it does in fact repair or extend the life of shoes we’ve long had and still like.

Shoemaking is a lost art because of sweatshops and the local shoe repair shops seem to have (almost entirely) gone out of business. The equipment they have is irreplaceable and one common worry is that today’s shoes are made of shoddy material that is difficult to repair properly.

Stats pertaining to excess deaths spoke for themselves; wellness is harmed by economic hardships (worse diets), stress, and competition for medical attention among other factors.

think it is fair to say that after 2019 an already-embattled NHS became less available than before. To book an appointment with a GP became hard. It had already been hard for years, but not this hard.

To be clear, I don’t need a GP or specialist or anything, I merely speak for a friend here.

It increasingly seems like people need “connections” or an emergency (or faking an emergency) to secure appointments due to burden on the system and financial stress (privatisation contributes to waste of NHS budget, I covered this before).

As if stands at the moment, the best way to keep healthy is to avoid getting ill (or becoming unwell), in other words prevention, not cures.

For senior people this advice is largely meaningless, even somewhat offensive and potentially a case a of victim-blaming.

‘m just glad we’re having rain again.

The Cyber Show has just mentioned climate change.

Assuming we can somehow make up for those long dry spells (or droughts) – though it doesn’t work that way, you cannot “catch up” – we need to learn our lessons and reject waste of energy, pollution etc.

T finally rains. Quite a bit, too.

When will we have as much climate change news coverage as we used to?

Rather than the news demanding that we accept the cause of climate change, things like useless data centres (for slop), or otherwise be “cranks”?

“The News used to be Crime,” The Cyber Show writes today. “Pollution. Death. War. Disaster. Crime. Pollution. Death. War. Disaster… And now here’s Kate with the weather… and we’d all stop worrying and smile. Now it’s the other way round.”