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1. Embed this notice
   Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿 (lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Nov-2023 09:34:07 JST Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿

   Microsoft creates byzantine systems that are pointlessly complex. The purpose of that complexity - against all engineering best-practice - is not technical, it's entirely human: to keep legions of IT techs employed & insisting on their employers persisting with Microsoft (because most of those legions are sharp enough to know that without MS, they'd be unemployed). Most* of the rest of the world carries the cost and daily pain.

   * a few of us rejected Microsoft decades ago & have no regrets.

   • Embed this notice
     gnutelephony (gnutelephony@floss.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Nov-2023 09:33:55 JST gnutelephony

     in reply to

     • zkarj
     • Joshua Leung

     @lightweight @zkarj @aligorith it's like groundhog day, or 1990, again and again...

   • Embed this notice
     Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿 (lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Nov-2023 09:33:57 JST Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿

     in reply to

     • zkarj
     • Joshua Leung

     @zkarj nice - I might use that 😀 - it's amazing how rubbish so much MS software is, despite having had 100-1000 (or more) times the resources thrown at its development compared to #libre options. If I was MS, I'd be quite embarrassed. @aligorith

   • Embed this notice
     zkarj (zkarj@mastodon.nz)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Nov-2023 09:34:03 JST zkarj

     in reply to

     • Joshua Leung

     @lightweight @aligorith it is for this reason that I coined the term “biggest of breed” which is often the more accurate term when people say “best of breed” in relation to software.

   • Embed this notice
     Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿 (lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Nov-2023 09:34:05 JST Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿

     in reply to

     All engineers should be appalled and offended by Microsoft's (financial) success due to their blatant defiance (for non-technical reasons) of the KISS principle (core of engineering) in all of their proprietary software. Turns out you can make more money by being shit... *if* you have monopolies to exploit and are willing to be extraordinarily unethical.

   • Embed this notice
     翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Nov-2023 20:43:51 JST 翠星石

     in reply to
     @lightweight >it's possible that they only use a few necessary cookies and aren't doing any unethical tracking...
     Any and all cookies on a site without interaction functionality is certainly being used for unethical tracking.
     
     The only legitimate use of cookies is to store session state (i.e. logins or shopping cart state).
   • Embed this notice
     Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿 (lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Nov-2023 20:43:54 JST Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿

     in reply to

     • Richard Hector

     @richardh I haven't noticed that... but it's possible that they only use a few necessary cookies and aren't doing any unethical tracking...

   • Embed this notice
     Richard Hector (richardh@mastodon.nz)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Nov-2023 20:43:58 JST Richard Hector

     in reply to

     @lightweight
     Gah. Followed your link to the BBB site. Looks like the cookies popup won't scroll to let me choose anything other than "Accept All" ...

   • Embed this notice
     Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿 (lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Nov-2023 20:44:00 JST Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿

     in reply to

     • Richard Hector

     @richardh no, that's true. Given its global dominance, sometimes I have to say awkward things to people who don't know any better. That's why my company established its Terms of Reference: https://davelane.nz/terms-reference
     That way I can just say "sorry, I'm just adhering company policy" (those same people, somewhat surprisingly, seldom realise that I *set* company policy)...

   • Embed this notice
     Richard Hector (richardh@mastodon.nz)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Nov-2023 20:44:01 JST Richard Hector

     in reply to

     @lightweight
     Rejecting Microsoft doesn't mean you can always avoid the pain