What's really funny is that installing Bossware doesn't necessarily reveal anything. Ever since I started coding back in 1979 (I was 17) (the languages in order of classes: Lisp, Fortran, and Cobol, then I taught myself assembler and Basic, which wasn't too bad back then for a high school graduate), I've had one peculiarity about my coding: I write it out, long-hand on unlined paper and in ink (Sharpies are tempting but they bleed through paper so I use Staedtler triplus fineliner art pens). Some people might sketch some things out on paper with a pencil, but as soon as they erase any part of it and overwrite, whatever they were doing is gone. I write it out, mark it up, etc. then copy it to fresh paper, lather, rinse, repeat. When you think iterating becomes tiring, your brain starts learning to look ahead such that you become more effective & efficient. I've been a touch typist longer than I've done tech, so I prop the coded pages up and have them entered in a rather short period of time and introduce few errors. The funniest question I routinely hear is, "Can't you just...?" yet they can't complain about the performance. (The other thing unlined paper & ink is good for is college math classes. I remember when profs initially thought I was doing the work in pencil, then copying with ink, but they also noticed I was using unlined paper and many of them thought the sign of a true mathematician was someone who refused to use lined paper so they weren't "confined" or "bound".)

End it? They're looking at going to it - year 'round!

Now that Microsoft is in the Open Source realm, I think they should remember what their purpose is (aside from making money): to solve problems and make tools so other people can solve problems. OS might not be everyone's cup o' tea (such as those who see it as being part of The Dark Side of the Force), but for those who do make use of it, why *not* provide a complete/full source outlet?

I would, however, fully expect/anticipate them to put lots of legalese ala "eight-by-ten color glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one" which a lot of people wouldn't understand. They should have two flavors - one for the landsharks who don't know a bit from a byte, and the other for IANAL. Create a cookie which indicates you've read it and move on from there.

I got my start when I was 17. Those who can't see the silver & grey hair will say, "that's a late bloomer!" and my response is "in 1979?" My first two languages were Lisp and Fortran (on punch cards, because the professor said, "you'll probably never get the chance again") during the '79 summer. Spring of '80, I took a Cobol class. The cool part was the college had a curfew of 9pm for on-campus resident students and I was still in high school. I got the professor to write me a pass and I'd wait until 9pm for everyone else to be kicked out of the lab, would do my Cobol homework, then have the rest of the night to do what I wanted to - and taught myself assembler and Basic.

With all of the time & experience since those days I've discovered one thing which really scares me about code: inheriting someone else's code. Modifying code which would be an understatement to call it a nightmare. Modifying it and putting it back into production is like putting my seal of approval on it.

40+ years ago, it was usually modifying Cobol code and it wasn't unusual to find blocks of code which were dozens & dozens of lines long. Today? It's the equivalent but in any number of languages. I can handle the languages, which I can handle, but I really dread the trial & error style of coding so many people rely upon when they get stuck.

My question to people is this:

"If code runs, does that make it good?"

Most people I've encountered over the previous 42 years, especially supervisors & managers, will say, "yes".

And that's when the question, "If you drive a car and there's no accident, does that mean you're a safe driver?" is appropriate.

The sad part is when there's a code review and people don't see a problem with 40-50+ lines in a code block if it handles tests appropriately...or...you have to modify someone else's code and after a few days, it crashes, so everyone presumes it's because of recent changes which wouldn't have been a problem if the code were either written correctly to begin with or if it could be modified & fixed because you're already changing it.

Fortunately, there's a way to deal with this: code metrics -- and people bitch because all of their work is for naught because they don't see a reason for their coding style to change.

Perhaps they aren't smart/skilled enough to do it the right way so they're going to foist a kludge on everyone?

I'm too busy trying to find a job (resume gap problems)

"Monitoring KB events" makes me think they had bossware installed on the machines and took advantage of the opportunity to see if/when people were actually doing work.

As far as what time of day to work, I prefer nocturnal schedules. I got my professional start when I was 17 (1979) and from then through college (when I was home) I gave preferential treatment to those clients who let me work during their off-business hours. Friends' parents tried to compete by claiming they'd work during the daytime when everyone could see them [actually] working. Their insinuations meant nothing to my clients. I was making more coding in COBOL or FORTRAN than they were relying upon RPG but trying to break into my market (and frequently relying upon trial & error programming). I wrote my code longhand (and still do, regardless of the language) and make sure I never left my code or notes in the trash.

They never successfully poached any of my clients until after I graduated from college; and by then, my old clients were still reliant upon accurate estimates and clean, fast, code.

I'm *still* a night owl.

Yep - I hit it head-on - resume and my cover letter as well - both at the top - I've got nothing to hide and couldn't have done anything to prevent it...I can get work if I were to relocate but that's not an option. I passed 525 days this week without any related symptoms:

Yes, I have a resume gap – recovery from a near-fatal accident (caused by another driver running a red light). I'm 100% recovered, thanks to a new drug from Lilly

You're lucky. "Tech Worker Shortage"? That's a Fake News headline. I haven't worked since 2005. I was hit by another driver in a near-fatal car accident (if you're one of those idiots who stomps on the gas pedal when the light turns red because you can't wait for an extra 30-45 seconds for the next green light, don't ever tell me face::face...it could very well be the last thing you do) and couldn't work. Today (3/9/2022) is day 513 without pain, thanks to a new drug. The head pain was debilitating; mentally, my waking hours were like trying to run a marathon and carry a cinder block in each hand. On a scale of 0-10, where 0 = "no pain" and 10 = "just cut my head off, I'll grow a new one", it was never below a "7". So now I've got a "resume gap"...meaning no one wants me. I cannot relocate from the Midwest.

I got my start professionally when I was 17 as a solo contractor. "That's a late bloomer!" you say? My response for those who cannot see the grey & silver hair is, "in 1979?" When I graduated from high school, I'd taken college classes in Lisp, Fortran, Cobol; taught myself assembler and Basic, and had competed against friends' parents for contracts, which I also did for college breaks...forget internships...work as an independent. I also spent high school & college volunteering as an EMT.

During the Cobol class, the college where I took the class had a curfew, which took the other students out of the lab at 9pm. As an off-campus student, I was exempt. So I'd do my Cobol assignment, then it was playtime until the wee hours, go home, run 5 miles, and cat nap on the bus to high school. I taught myself assembler and Basic and had Suvon (State University Voice Operated Network) which is now RIP. You take a phone, punch in the access code, wait for the {click}, dial the college/university code, wait for the {click} and then you were holding the equivalent to an extension on your selected college's network. My access to two of the universities' computer systems hadn't been deleted so I had student access to the Lisp and Fortran universities .

I've been a mainframe systems programmer, desktop applications developer in lots of languages, DBA, on the Internet for over 32 years, and instead of hiring outsiders to do a task it's always, "let's give it to him, he can do it in his [non-existent] spare time."

I can't relocate, do not want to retire - that's what this feels like right now - my grandmother is 104 - I'm the oldest grandchild and want to work until I'm 100. I started looking 2/1/2021. Whenever someone sees the resume gap, they drop me into the bit bucket - a few have explicitly told me that "as a favor". I've been diagnosed as suffering from clinical depression and one of my doctors wants me to see a shrink. Why? So I can feel good about being an outcast? I just want to solve problems and do something with my brain I haven't done since 2005. I don't like busywork to learn something - I like solving real-world problems - and I don't want to volunteer my time for OS - I'd like to get *some* decent money for my services. (I'd like to return us to 2 cars again and pay down some expenses.) I've had people say, "I know people -- I should have no problems helping you", then they get busy like someone trying to hold a 50 lb bowling ball when they find out what a resume gap really means to people who don't know what I can do.

I *still* write my code by hand -- even after forty-two years (I started classes and a job when I was 17). I write things out in ink (usually Ultra Fine Point Sharpies), mark them up, then copy everything to new paper, lather, rinse, repeat. When it's done, I key it in. I'm a touch-typist so I don't introduce many errors. It might seem a waste to others, but the discipline wins out over time.

...that this is yet another Bezos ploy to delay a space shot until he can catch up? ;)

So what would people do if the news folks were to say that eating fresh dog shit would prevent or cure Covid?

If, instead of the news reporting, "There were three more ransomware attacks with a total ransom of $50M", they were to say, "There were three more Windows ransomware attacks..." aside from Microsoft's PR department reaching out to try to stifle it behind the scenes, would it make a difference? How about if a couple of class action lawsuits were filed against Microsoft? Or, if a Congressional inquiry were held? Okay, this last one is a stretch, because while Congress has no qualms with lawyers writing their questions or conducting the actual questioning, they seem to think that because they know how to play Windows Solitaire, they can hold their own against nerds & geeks.

And of course there are those of us who have inoperable brain tumors (it's wrapped around a blood vessel) for whom this is worth taking a shot at...