This is code for straight-up Socialism or Chinese Style "Capitalism". Picking winners and losers by the Government.

I would instantly agree that we need to stop picking winners like we do now under Crony Capitalism, but putting that power more in the hands of Bureaucrats and Politicians is not the solution.

Along those same lines, Windows 11 is dropping support for older Intel Processors lacking certain features. Supposedly, it's to improve virtualization, but how much would it cost to just not support that virtualization as well on older processors?

It's a boon to PC manufacturers that push Windows 11. The big PC makers say "Works best with Windows!" on their websites and don't highlight or give you any price break on units with Linux installed. Didn't I read that MS requires that they get a payment for every PC sold, whether it runs Windows or not as part of their licensing agreement with the manufacturers? I know the manufacturers get a big break on Windows copies from retail.

I thought Apple should have bought Dell when Dell went private a few years ago, made PCs with no Windows advantage, pushed Linux and maybe even Darwin on these new PCs. I'm not saying don't sell Windows too. They could keep the Dell and marketing separate to not dilute the Apple brand. They would have enjoyed massive buying power for PC parts, screens, batteries, SDs. They could have gotten Dell for a tiny fraction of their massive war chest a few years ago. Could have had most of it financed, too, just like the deal to go private did. This idea might have faced anti-trust scrutiny.

Apple should have recognized that MS wasn't going away and as long as they are there, they are a potential huge competitor in many of their markets.

It would have also been revenge for the obnoxious remarks Michael Dell made back in the 90s when Apple was experiencing hard times.

Disclosure: I am a contractor at the Ethereum Foundation. We have no marketing department and almost everyone there are researchers and developers.

Ethereum is simply growing. Who cares if it is outpacing Bitcoin? Bitcoin might be as big as it needs to be, and if not, more people will adopt it. Forget all of the hype, price discussions, its position vs. bitcoin or other technology. Just check out what it can do for you, either as a technologist or just someone using technology.

Basically, Ethereum offers a vast, shared memory and computation space, secured by cryptography and economics, and this enables smart contracts to run without interference or modification. There are clients enabling users to interact with Ethereum smart contracts, either on their phone or on their desktop. That is all functioning now, and busily powering and even funding dozens of startups.

Under active development by Foundation devs and the community are some new pieces: sharding, faster and cheaper transactions with state channels, off-blockchain file/data storage, real-time signaling, and a decentralized name service.

Most lower cost providers still charge by the minute.

ref: B.A ... R.B.A. (obscure references, it was the mid/late 90's)

It does seem a little silly though, that it's fine we eat it. Hell, some people brush their teeth with it. But "Oh no, don't use the substitute in an emergency!".

Makes *me* feel like a youngster.

You can kind of game them on data, SMS and voice to keep your costs near zero.

Granted, certainly not for everyone but there is nothing less expensive and coverage in the States is fine.

As a long time SQA/HQA eng, this is an awesome question. I've been around a lot of blocks. New build. Broken. Here's another one. Broken. My Golden Rule? Stay until it works. I'd so much rather have a good build than something slapped together. It wastes everyone's time.

I had the (shall I say it) honor of working directly with Vint Cerf at MCI back in the early 90's, part of the triad or more that formed the earliest foundations. We had some interesting conversations.

Yet.

When I looked at Magento it was a sieve peppered with .50 caliber holes. I passed.

Imagine a Beowulf Cluster of these.