Toshio

Supposing Datomic was open-source. Can you give a short summary of what you find so appealing about its design?

Honest question, I'm curious.

Interesting. It looks like if you want to use enum in 2.7 you have to use a package called flufl[1].

[1] http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~barry/flufl.enum/trunk/view/hea...

TL;DR No software industry for seasoned computer scientists.

Ya, the only thing I'm asking is that staid old tired microsoft use their enterprise customers as Guinea pigs for their SecureBoot and UI/UX experimentation, and leave us consumers with access to a clean marketplace for devices (read: no infecting motherboards with monopoly-extending signing keys and other DRM schemes).

That is all We The People ask.

One thing I like to thank microsoft for is that they keep their overpriced productivity suite off the devices we actually use - iPads and Android tablets. They do that for their own selfish reasons (they are delusional enough to think it'll make surface fly off the shelves). But at the end of the day this will convince a growing segment of the device buying population that office is no longer needed - something us tech-savvy people knew for a long time.

So yeah, thanks microsoft. /s

> "Interesting how no one seems to talk about benefits of secure boot to real users in this discussion."

Look, microsoft should be working to fix their software instead of leaving it as it is and instead making life miserable for those who want digital freedom.

> "If you're a business and want laptops without an OS"

No, I'm a consumer who wants the same variety of laptops/specs/price points that are sold with windows eight preinstalled, to be available without microsoft's contraptions, be they operating systems or encryption keys.

microsoft doesn't want me to have that choice, and this is the topic at hand, and by the way, you should consider sticking to the topic at hand.

It's different. Apple and microsoft can do what they want with hardware/software bundles that they build themselves. That's why noone complains that those surface products are locked down, it's because microsoft manufactures them. Consumer harm comes into play when microsoft leverages their existing desktop OS monopoly to twist OEMs' arms into including an encryption key that OEMs gain no direct benefit from.

> "So Microsoft demands(!) that all x86 PCs and laptops which are sold in its certification program have to have Secure Boot easily disable-able in the BIOS/uEFI by the end user..."

You say "easily disable-able" but that's not the case. The process of disabling SecureBoot is anything but easy, and it's undocumented.

> "You forget to mention that secure boot can be disabled."

Correct. But the steps to do so vary wildly from motherboard to motherboard and are not documented anywhere.

In fact, one of the things HispaLinux requested is that OEMs provide clear documentation of the technical steps required to disable SecureBoot.

The thing is, high-end laptops used to be one expensive option among many before the whole SecureBoot thing.

You had a choice.

That choice has been killed. High-end laptops are now the only option if you want freedom, and that's not an accidental thing, it's by microsoft's design.

If you haven't been following this story as it developed over the past year and a half, microsoft corporation has leveraged their existing dominant position in the desktop OS market and mandated that OEMs include microsoft's encryption key in their motherboards, to the exclusion of all other encryption keys, as a prerequisite to their logo certification program.

What is sad though is that antitrust regulators worldwide have looked at this practice and saw nothing wrong with it.

I'm with you. HispaLinux did send a memo to their local EC office, but the official position in Brussels seems to be that there's been no breach of law.

Speaking for myself, I sent a private e-mail to Neelie Kroes saying that I support the position of HispaLinux and that I regard it as an anticompetitive, exclusionary practice for there to be only microsoft's encryption key by default on all new motherboards, to the exclusion of say the GNU/Linux community's key.

But there's only so much one private e-mail can do.

Thanks. Any tips if I want to stick with SQLite despite the strong recommendation not to?

When everything starts to fall apart for your business model of milking your customers for all they're worth and outsourcing all you can to cheap countries, have Carrie Underwood sing and make geeky movies about boys playing with atoms.

That's nice.

Can we have the source code for Google Reader too, while we're at it?

I searched for Silicon Valley, just for kicks. It said I should learn Java.

What gives?

I can't quite put my finger on it, but I think it may be your overall half-sarcastic, half-arrogant tone that makes me think of that old adage "Pride comes before the fall".

I think the gist of your comment is "We who write software for microsoft windows can never be disrupted".

I also like to think that Silicon Valley based startups are well on their way to disrupting you. You're just not realizing it yet.

Apple developers, Apple developers, Apple developers, Apple developers!

Steve Ballmer must be jumping for joy right now /s

I wish number two was available on Amazon without the preinstalled crapware called windows eight. Having that POS on also means that the motherboard is infected with microsoft's encryption key, making it hard to put a real OS on it - Linux.

> "No way the admins will release that. It would be a goldmine for spammers."

Or microsoft sycophants - a growing problem on HN (just ask @cooldeal, @recoiledsnake and @fekberg).

"Has the Senate authorized the creation of a clone army?"

- Obi Wan Kenobi broadcasting from planet Kamino

/s

Love the initiative, don't have a FB account though. Is it reasonable to ask to be able to log in with my GitHub account?

Since I don't have access to the game, could someone explain the part of the game design that goes beyond the concepts of the classic Battleship game?

The defendant microsoft still has enough market clout left to scorch the metaphorical earth and poison the well for the rest of the industry. I'm talking about SecureBoot of course.

So the answer to your question is a resounding no.

I tried looking for "22" by Taylor Swift, song not found.

The title should be:

"Rick-rolling, reimagined for the HN crowd."

> "I don't even really feel like discussing things with you. You've obviously made up your mind."

This is ad-hominem of the covert kind, in my opinion. Would you mind making an effort to stick to discussing the topic at hand?

So yeah, 79 million PCs were indeed sold, but I have a strong feeling that many of those were sold to businesses who take a hard line against SecureBoot. But if I, Joe Average Consumer, express a preference against SecureBoot, retailers and OEMs will just sneer and say "F-you, you'll take what we give you". Just like that cable company [1].

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ilMx7k7mso

On behalf of everyone who is old enough to have lived through this hell, congratulations on the accuracy of depiction.

Well, I for one don't think windows eight was designed to succeed in the marketplace, it was really designed - via UEFI SecureBoot - to throw a monkey wrench into the widespread adoption of GNU/Linux by the average consumer. That's why you won't really see ballmer weep at the poor sales numbers. The fact that microsoft was able to pull that off without a massive anti-trust probe by either US or EU regulators is, I think, being regarded as a quiet success of windows eight during water cooler conversations in Redmond.