Another few things about the shittiness of Windows 8.

When I or anyone else complains about the Start menu being removed and replaced with a screen-spanning monstrosity, the Microsoft apologist response is, "It works just the same as the Start menu, it’s just larger!"

And then when I point out that, no, the Windows 7 Start menu does not in fact take up my entire screen, does not have tiles that look like AOL from 1996, and does have ways to customize it extensively, the apologist’s contention is then that, "But you can just search for what you want!"

And of course then when I say, as has been true since the 90s, that I often have so much installed on my computer that I don’t actually recall the name of it until I see it in the list, and thus cannot search for it, there is no sensible response, just that I "hate change."

And then when I say that I don’t want a Start menu that covers up my entire screen, including what I am currently working on, the apologists come up with some poorly-understood pseudoscience about, "But no one can multi-task, it’s been shown scientifically, so you don’t need to see more than one thing at a time."

Of course I point out then that when I am working on an app, and need something from the Start menu, often I don’t know quite what I want, so I need to see the thing I am looking at it and the Start menu at the same time. And then they come back with, "But no one can multi-task, no matter what." Not even addressing the actual point.

When I say that I don’t think a single app should take over my entire 30" monitor with no way to make it smaller, the "But no one can multitask" argument resurfaces, ignoring of course that many people like to compare spreadsheets, folders and many other apps side by side which would be completely impossible with a Metro-like interface.

And then when I discuss the absurdity of Microsoft attempting to remove the ability of the actual computer to multi-task, something that was long-fought and hard-won (I used computers long before multi-tasking was possible, and it sucked.), the response is that, “Well, can only use one app at a time, what does it matter?”

Use only one app at a time? Dumbass, I’ve often had Photoshop batch-processing in the background, while I am ripping CDs or converting a movie, with my IM client running, and while I am listening to music and reading a PDF.

Just because you use your computer like you bought it a Toys ‘R Us does not mean that I do.

I think I hate anyone who likes Windows 8, as there is no way I have anything in common with the people with minds who work so poorly that they like it.

The one great thing, though, is that I will stick with OSes that work, and thus will be vastly more productive over time than those flailing around with their toy OS.

I like that kind of self-inflicted justice.

Looks like Mozilla is about to ruin bookmarks, too.

It’s weird to me how when you say that you don’t like the Windows 8 interface, or hate Unity, or hate features being taken away that you use every few minutes, that it’s just because you “hate change.”

Look, motherfuckers, I’ve used more UIs (graphical and command line) in my long, long life of computing than nearly anyone alive who isn’t some old, crusty CompSci prof. I’ve been doing this since I was five years old or so. I could touch-type before I learned how to write. And if you’ve ever seen my penmanship, you might dispute the fact that I ever quite learned to write.

I’ve used TRS-80s. I’ve used Commodores. I’ve used Amigas. I’ve used Ataris. I’ve used Apples, since 1982 or so. I’ve used Tandy machines. I’ve used Solaris (CDE wasn’t too bad back in the day). I’ve used BeOS. I’ve used off-brand clones with custom GUIs that no one now even remembers and you can’t even find reference to on the Internet. I’ve used nearly every major Linux distro every released and many, many minor ones, since the 1990s. I’ve used NetBSD. I’ve used FreeBSD. I’ve used AIX. And I am sure I am forgetting many more.

So saying that I have a problem with change because I don’t like some busted-ass UI travesty that is turning my PC into a fucking phone is just a bit daft, don’t you think?

And really, who cares what you think? Experience isn’t everything, but I’ve been doing this whole “changing UIs” thing for a reaaaaaaally long time now. I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. I’ve been through more UI changes than most people have changed their underwear.

Part of it is that the computing world is turning away from power users and to consumers, which in general ruins anything good. The world is being turned into cable television. There is an ulterior motive, of course, and it’s not just about money. It’s about power. A free and open computing platform and free and open internet is a great boon for liberty and gives much power to regular people.

That was doomed to a short life. Lasted longer than I thought it would, and now it’s going away. About 1996 or so I remember talking with a friend about how general purpose computers were dangerous and wouldn’t last long, and that they were a complete historical aberration. I thought they maybe had 15 years left at the time.

My timeline was a little off, but I was perfectly correct in the way things would go, and are going now.

So no, I don’t hate change. What I do hate using my 30” monitor as if it were a phone. I hate being told I should love my oppression as the computing world is rapidly turning into cable television, with locked app stores rife with censorship. I hate my computer becoming less useful, less free and less powerful with every “upgrade.”

Most of all, I guess, I hate the ahistorical idiots who wallow in their own oppression and profess to love it.

I was excited about the Google/Samsung Nexus 10 tablet that was released today, as it was alleged to have a 2560×1600 screen.

Rumor is, though, that the screen uses PenTile technology, which is a way of faking resolution.

To state it eloquently, fuck that shit.

I know that would hurt my eyes, so I am sticking with the iPad.

Too bad. Way to screw up something that could’ve been great, Google.

And there’s no global climate change, right?

I’m a native Floridian. We live and breathe hurricanes. As the most hurricane-vulnerable state in the nation, and one of the most hurricane-vulnerable land masses in the world, it’s a yearly ritual to watch hurricanes develop and hopefully to pass us by.

One of my very first memories is prepping for a hurricane.

That is to say, I’ve been paying attention to hurricanes for a really long time. Nearly thirty years now.

And I’ve never seen a late-season (ends November 1) hurricane be so organized, so large, and actually strengthen as it goes north.

But I’m sure climate change had absolutely nothing to do with that, right?

Reading this article, this line struck me:

“It seems our profound fascination with serial killers is matched by an equally profound lack of interest in their victims.”

In America, where serial killer fascination seems most prevalent, we worship power above all else. And serial killers hold the power of life and death –  perhaps the greatest power of all for us mortal beings who have foreknowledge of the eventuality of our own demise.

It’s another – and perhaps the main – reason bankers and other rich fraudsters have never been prosecuted. I don’t think it’s just the influence they wield with their money over the political process, though that has something to do with it too of course.

Rather, I think it’s the worshipful nature of many Americans, including politicians, to the power itself they hold via their money, absent of any implied present or future quid pro quo.

A subtle distinction, I know, but to most people power itself is an enormous aphrodisiac.

Don’t believe me? Do something I’ve actually done and go in a department store on different days dressed in a really nice suit with short hair, an arrogant and confident air and see what you can get away with. Trust me, you can get away with damn near anything at all.

Try that with a ratty trenchcoat and long hair and see how long it is before security is trailing you even though you’ve done nothing wrong.

Power worship is another of those odd human things I can’t make much sense of.

This was my response to a woman at work asking me via email if I planned on coming to my company’s trivia night:

“At first I looked at the invitation quizzically as I usually don’t concern myself with trivial pursuits, but so as not to put my reputation in Jeopardy, I then asked myself the $64,000 question and decided that if I did well then my renown as a font of all irrelevant knowledge might daily double and so phrasing my answer in the form of a question, I was forced to ask myself, what would Alex Trebek do?

My brain bowled over and my head rang like a buzzer as if a family feud were going on in my skull, or perhaps that was just Regis Philbin being attacked by an enraged badger, but I did not need to ask the audience or phone a friend to know that though I do want to be a millionaire, it’s not likely to happen at company trivia night.

Though I will be there, and plan to press my luck.”

Every time I feel the temptation to break my new eating habits, even a little, I remember how unpleasant it was to be fat.

Pretty easy then to say no to that eggnog in the fridge.

Most things we’d see now as advances won’t be needed when it becomes easier to transport reality around.

There are two paths to shaping the universe. One is to go out and seize it, and bend it to the will of intelligence.

The other is to create a universe and then live there. We’ll do the latter, as I suspect most intelligent species do if they don’t destroy themselves — which is the other possibility of our species.

That wraps up the Drake Equation nicely.

There is after all no meaningful distinction between simulation and reality if the simulation is robust enough.

I don’t really give a shit about two women kissing either way, but the expression on the faces of the anti-gay protesters in the background is great and makes the photo.

Perhaps it’s just projection, but many of them look disgusted and envious at the same time.

Also, the two kissing have enormous bags.

Why didn’t someone tell me before that there were electric harps? Very cool, but I’d rather see them when they are actually playing the piece, not just miming playing something they’ve already recorded. (I mean, they are really playing it even in the video, obviously, but we are only hearing the audio they’ve already recorded in studio.)

Why you should pirate absolutely everything.

Contrary to this story, it’s not clear that Amazon actually wiped her Kindle (it might have been broken) – however, they did delete her account and left her with no recourse, and no books.

You know what? Pirates don’t have to put up with this shit. Ever.

The only sane, rational choice until companies stop being so asinine is to pirate everything, all the time.

Why would you ever do anything else?

I guess writing about it indicates that I care a little, but Lance Armstrong losing his Tour de France titles? Who gives a crap.

Everyone who has won that race in the last 35 years has probably been on some form of drug or another. At that level of competition, when everyone else is already doping, it is the only way to win.

That does not justify or excuse it. It’s just reality.

If you are interested in using Windows 8 but want to unfuck it, there are many methods.

I will stick with Windows 7 until Windows 9 or 10, and then see where Microsoft stands.

I would use Linux, but the fonts are too terrible. If high-res large LCDs come out in the meantime, this will become a non-issue.

But for now, Windows 7 for me.

What a load of mendacious bullshit from Microsoft.

Not only is the Surface tablet cursed with Windows 8, its display has the resolution of a broken Etch-a-Sketch.

Microsoft claims that users can’t tell the difference. And I think of some people – perhaps even the majority – that is actually true. I am constantly amazed by how unaware of brain-shatteringly low resolution and eye-terrorizing fonts most people can be.

I remember walking into an acquisition only a few years ago where people were still using CRT monitors from the mid-90s that had aged so poorly that I literally could not read their screens, and they barely noticed. We’re not talking here about the fonts just being unpleasant but readable. From normal viewing distance, the screens were so blurry that I had absolutely no idea what more than 50% of the words on the screen were – but they were so used to the bespoke system, they didn’t really need to read much.

These people are the Surface tablet’s ideal market, I guess.

For me, I could no more use the Surface tablet than I’d go back to a mid-90s Packard Bell cheapo CRT.

1366*768? You have got to be fucking kidding me.

When the Nexus 10 with 2560*1600 comes out, I’ll have to think about that. That should be gorgeous.

This will be completely useless, and as one of the commenters points out, instead of preventing piracy it will just make Jane Consumer smarter about proxies, VPNs and the like.

Funny it’s easier in the minds of the entertainment industry to waste so much money on something so useless that is so easily circumventable and which will make piracy effectively worse and more difficult to stop, rather than just giving people the content they want when they want it.

Best thing they could do is buy The Pirate Bay, improve it a bit (parts of it are quite clunky) and charge people $30 a month for it. Which is the same thing the music industry should’ve done with the original Napster.

I would sign up for that so fast, even at $50 a month. Millions more would, too. And the entertainment execs would be rolling around in piles of $100 bills.

But no. And it amazes me that people like Matt Maroon can argue that what the entertainment industry does is rational. This only make sense if you believe that there are no other possible business models they could pursue that are less risky than what they are doing now.

But that’s really dead wrong. The most risky business model is their current one, as it is doomed to failure.

Most people can only conceive of the world as it is, though, and not as it could be, and soon will be.