●● IRC: #techbytes @ Techrights IRC Network: Wednesday, December 28, 2022 ●● ● Dec 28 [00:26] *u-amarsh04 has quit (Quit: Konversation terminated!) [00:28] *u-amarsh04 (~amarsh04@auubhxtweg528.irc) has joined #techbytes ● Dec 28 [01:45] *u-amarsh04 has quit (Quit: Konversation terminated!) ● Dec 28 [04:35] schestowitz draft, out of date, but preserved (some text culled out): [04:35] schestowitz In my summing up of inappropriate technologies that blight higher education, I previously claimed that the primary cause is lack of joined-up understanding. I said that we should re-examine the power to shape academic life accidentally handed to non-academic faculties such as ICT, security and compliance teams. [04:35] schestowitz I was being polite, and writing in a moderate style appropriate for The Times. The truth is much harder. Many of these trajectories are beyond reform. They have become societal issues that even governments are struggling to address. [04:35] schestowitz As to the question of what can be done, I will go much further here; In academia, the conceits of centralised network governance and common policies have failed. Spectacularly. They are a race to the bottom of cheaply outsourced crap that bleeds control from those who should hold it. Most of all there is a profound competence problem, which companies like Microsoft and Google are exploiting to the hilt. [04:35] schestowitz Once upon a time being a university sysadmin was a high accolade. Few jobs were as challenging and diverse. The ability to install, configure and run a mail server, multiple web servers and a network with thousands of nodes and thousands of password logins was a badge of professional pride. It meant running a hetrogeneous network of Sun, Silicon Graphics, Apple, Windows, and specialised hardware while supporting academics in their selection, [04:35] schestowitz installation and self-directed usage of diverse softwares. Professors in the maths, physics, economics and computing departments would regularly write and deploy their own software! [04:35] schestowitz Today that role is unrecognisable. Not because technology "got better", but because we all got a lot dumber and more dependent on click-box cloud technology. We don't own or really understand it now. [04:36] schestowitz The disconnect bewteen the official theoretical syllabus and daily practice is immense. Today my university could not afford to hire my own graduates for roles currently occupied by people I would fail if they were my students. [04:36] schestowitz Much of what we teach is in fact obsolete because, if the standards of our own instititions are anything to go by, nobody actually needs to know how anything really works. The reality is they'd be better off doing a Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS or Google Cloud certificate for a tenth of the price and spend the rest of their careers clicking on drop-down menus with meaningless brand names. The skill-set of educational ICT has been evicerated. [04:36] schestowitz Most egregiously, the highest levels have been staffed not by experienced administrators with an understanding of the demands and complexities of a university network, but by "industry dropouts" who bring toxic corporate buzzwords and hostile values into an institition that requires curious, tactful consultation, openness, trust and cooperation. [04:36] schestowitz So I say, with great sadness but great urgency, the people responsible for this mess should all be fired. Their services should be disbanded. Networks should be pared back to the barest transparent physical infrastructure possible on which fully open zero-trust overlays can operate. Most of the students are already at a higher level of technical understanding and so obtaining ICT resources should be treated like buying textbooks from the university [04:36] schestowitz bookstore. Digital literacy and self-sufficiency for academics and students should become a priority objective again. Budgets can be devolved accordingly, and foundational courses brought in for students who need a top-up on digital self-care. [04:36] schestowitz Only then will we be able to see what is ready to be repatriated, brought back on-prem, and hire worthy specialists to provide those services internally. For example, a university data store that looks essentially like Dropbox and using micropayments to manage quotas. Or a university email provider, properly separated from other concerns and carrying a minimal burden of "policies". These could be run by recent graduates or, as I did at UCL in the [04:36] schestowitz 1980's by good students needing a part-rime job. [04:36] schestowitz Building carefully subsidised internal markets is a possible way to extricate from the jaws of Big-Tech and to build local competence again. [04:36] schestowitz There are very few places that this could work, but the university is one. Because even if universities are now corporate entities on the financial level they cannot possibly function as corporate entities on the technical operational level and preserve their objectives. The almost total failure of supportive digital technologies within academia now stands as ample proof of that. ● Dec 28 [05:44] *u-amarsh04 (~amarsh04@auubhxtweg528.irc) has joined #techbytes ● Dec 28 [06:04] *u-amarsh04 has quit (Quit: Konversation terminated!) [06:05] *u-amarsh04 (~amarsh04@auubhxtweg528.irc) has joined #techbytes ● Dec 28 [07:36] *Noisytoot has quit (Ping timeout: 2m30s) [07:39] *Noisytoot (~noisytoot@tkbibjhmbkvb8.irc) has joined #techbytes ● Dec 28 [09:33] *u-amarsh04 has quit (Quit: Konversation terminated!) [09:36] *u-amarsh04 (~amarsh04@auubhxtweg528.irc) has joined #techbytes ● Dec 28 [11:02] schestowitz "" https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2022/12/xbox-game-studios-talk-more-of-their-titles-on-steam-deck/ | Source: GamingOnLinux [11:02] -TechBytesBot/#techbytes-Xbox Game Studios talk more of their titles on Steam Deck | GamingOnLinux [11:02] schestowitz
  • [11:02] schestowitz
    Xbox Game Studios talk more of their titles on Steam Deck
    [11:02] schestowitz
    [11:02] schestowitz

    For the third time, Xbox Game Studios have talked up about their games on the Steam Deck and what compatibility to expect for it.

    [11:02] schestowitz
    [11:02] schestowitz
    • ● Dec 28 [12:34] *Mio14 has quit (Ping timeout: 120 seconds) ● Dec 28 [15:27] schestowitz https://diaspora.psyco.fr/posts/9354092#7ede40c05f66013b629d28a1592b385a [15:27] -TechBytesBot/#techbytes-diaspora.psyco.fr | (NEW): 15 Best Free and Open Source Linux Applicat... [15:27] schestowitz "xfce4-appfinder" [15:27] schestowitz https://diaspora.psyco.fr/posts/9354092#7ede40c05f66013b629d28a1592b385a [15:27] schestowitz " [15:27] schestowitz [15:27] schestowitz B..$hit compilation.. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.. "6. Microsoft Edge" on Linux... what a joke [15:27] schestowitz " ● Dec 28 [17:09] schestowitz https://diaspora.psyco.fr/posts/9359558#1c97ad606045013b654628a1592b385a [17:09] -TechBytesBot/#techbytes-diaspora.psyco.fr | Reshare by gunnar@diasp.org [17:09] schestowitz |Looks cool.| [17:09] schestowitz "THIS is a good video! He's right." [17:09] schestowitz https://diaspora.psyco.fr/posts/9377504#f5128f706442013b69b728a1592b385a [17:09] -TechBytesBot/#techbytes-diaspora.psyco.fr | Exploiting and Attacking the Messengers https://schestowitz.com/Web... [17:09] schestowitz ""privately received commission payments from a third-party supplier and, with that have disadvantaged Fairphone." - don't understand. What was going on? Disadvantaged? In which way?" [17:09] schestowitz "this is supposed to be under the Fairphone post" [17:10] schestowitz this is supposed to be under the Fairphone post [17:10] schestowitz https://diaspora.psyco.fr/posts/9387012#13db1420669b013b6d4928a1592b385a [17:10] -TechBytesBot/#techbytes-diaspora.psyco.fr | Reshare by gunnar@diasp.org [17:10] schestowitz "no surprise there... not a good browser anymore...mozilla is a mess anyway" ● Dec 28 [20:50] *u-amarsh04 has quit (Ping timeout: 2m30s) [20:51] *u-amarsh04 (~amarsh04@auubhxtweg528.irc) has joined #techbytes ● Dec 28 [21:04] *u-amarsh04 has quit (Ping timeout: 2m30s) [21:06] *u-amarsh04 (~amarsh04@auubhxtweg528.irc) has joined #techbytes [21:29] *u-amarsh04 has quit (Ping timeout: 2m30s) [21:30] *u-amarsh04 (~amarsh04@auubhxtweg528.irc) has joined #techbytes