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The Dangers of Microsoft Pluton

(gabrielsieben.tech)
733 points gjsman-1000 | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.199s | source
1. phendrenad2 ◴[] No.32242654[source]
These paranoid delusions never get old. If Microsoft accidentally changes their license agreement to lorem ipsum, bloggers like this will surely be trying to decipher exactly how it steals their freedom. The fatal flaw in these posts is, as it always is, the blind assumption that Microsoft can just do whatever they want, unimpeded. If Microsoft declared, as an april 1st joke, that app PCs henceforth must be painted sky blue, these bloggers would take it seriously. They act as though Microsoft is the high priesthood of computers, and they can declare literally anything with the stroke of a pen. They act like Mac doesn't exist, cheap Linux computers don't exist, RISC-V (which doesn't even run Windows) doesn't exist. Non-Windows-compatible ARM devices don't exist. PC vendors are mindless drones that do whatever Microsoft tells them (even if it means losing billions of dollars to Apple) and they certainly aren't selling (Dell: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4847720) linux (HP: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31617198) laptops (Lenovo: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28186204) right now (and don't even think about installing Linux on your Google Chromebook, it won't work! https://support.google.com/pixelbook/answer/9031351?hl=en ).

The usual rebuttal is "Well, yeah, things are fine NOW, but they're moving the chess pieces into place to do these things LATER". Yawn. I have heard this for 20+ years. See you in another 20...