2019 Tech Glossary

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2019-08-14 04:53:56 UTC
Modified: 2019-08-14 04:53:56 UTC

A de facto fallacy.

A dictionary

Summary: This clavis refers to what the de facto definition may be, based on how (and when) media uses the words nowadays

Cloud: server you don't control or own Serverless: server you cannot even access Smart: surveillance Big Data: surveillance using "cloud" (see above) Assistant: surveillance using a small device Speaker: microphone, sometimes "smart" (see above) because it sends audio streams to a "cloud" Open Source: may contain freely-accessible source code for some portions of the product Free: temporarily accessible free of charge (also known as bait) API: access point for surveillance AI: algorithm that collects data 4IR: something new or needing to sound novel App: proprietary, contained software that limits what users can do DevOp: overworked software developer you can wake up at any time of the day (and night) or sysadmin you can ask to code Security: national security, i.e. back doors, but not too many (or not too obvious) Standards: means for passing surveillance data (or "big data") around Community Edition: see "Free" above Enterprise Edition/Enterprise Software: proprietary software Foundation: a corporate front group for PR/lobbying purposes (e.g. Mozilla Foundation, Linux Foundation) Privacy: GUI controls to give people a perception of control over data Inclusiveness: corporate posturing for the appearance of tolerance or disregard for technical merit/quality in pursuit thereof Openness: friendliness towards business, profit Values: personification of corporations, ascribing feelings and ideologies to a collective of shareholders Agile: more managers and bureaucrats, less of the rest Self-driving: driven by corporations instead of people Innovation: patent monopolies that give market exclusivity IoT: devices with security holes in them (see security above) Engagement: puff piece or AstroTurfing Review: shipping of a product to someone with a site (or access to one) in exchange for an advertisement that looks like an article Sponsorship: bribe Keynote: exchanged for sponsorship (see above) Manager: non-technical person who can leverage ignorance to overrule technical people who voice concerns about ethics

And now it's readers' turn to come up with more.

Reboots Should Never be Necessary: "BUT WHAT ABOUT SECURITY!!"
Microsoft's Halloween Documents and systemd, Wayland, Etc.: Maybe one day Wayland will be widespread. Or maybe not.
Changing One's Name Won't Change One's Past: People who have earned a bad reputation are not magically "entitled" to reset
People Who Assault Women Are Not Victims of "Distress": It seems like an American tradition. In a country with almost 50 presidents, not even one was a female.
Adoption of Gemini Protocol Still Growing: Gemini Protocol is being obscured by the media - it doesn't help that Google 'hijacked' the word "Gemini" - but people still manage to find out about it, download a client, and use it
Brett Wilson LLP "Takes it Personal" (Character Assassination, Not Professionalism). Everybody Can See That.: On behalf of violent men
One of the Most Hilarious Things About the Microsoft SLAPPs: It's so ridiculous
Financial Support for the Free Software Foundation or the GNU Project: The FSF has extended until Friday its fund-raising campaign
Illegally Hiding (or Demanding Secrecy Around) Illegal Requests or Attempts at Extortion: unlawful communications like threats
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: BOFH Archive, Updating Old Palm PDAS, and Nginx vs Slop Bots: Links for the day
Ubuntu is Becoming GAFAM-Like: What does that say about Canonical and Ubuntu?
Slopfarms Which Take Real Articles About GNU/Linux and Turn Them Into Copycats Which Are False: Even before the LLM hype those were quite common
The Firm That Picks on Techrights is Accustomed to Working With Criminals: Techrights never did anything illegal. So why is it being picked on by people who work with criminals?
Microsoft Said the Mass Layoffs Were for "Investment" in "AI", But It's Also Laying Off the "AI" and "Copilot" Staff: Months ago we showed many so-called "AI" people were getting the boot and this time it's the same
DryDeadFish is Dead, Long Live DryDeadFish: We kept checking, hoping it can recover from some temporary technical issue
For Quite Some Time Already Microsoft Attracts Crackpots, Scams, and More: Occasionally we talk about the situation at IBM as there are many parallels
Links 14/07/2025: Chatbots Broken Again, McHire LLM Shows Limits of the Hype: Links for the day
Slashdot Media Turned Linux Journal Into a Slopfarm and Now Slashdot Actively Promotes Anti-Linux Slopfarms: Yes, "no-nonsense" apparently means actual nonsense
Links 14/07/2025: Arresting Photographers, Threats to Revoke US Citizenship Over Criticism: Links for the day
More EPO Leaks on the Way: We hope that Mr. Rowan will actually try to refute what we say and show, not merely point the finger at the messengers
Decommodification is a Corporate Strategy Against Communities: systemd is led by Microsoft and hosted by Microsoft
copyleft.org 'Hijacked' by the People Who Attack the Person Who Created Copyleft: So far there's nothing "tasteless" in copyleft.org, but that can change at any time in the future
Asking People to Take Down Articles and Videos Only Makes These More Popular and "Viral": If you do something bad, one of the worst things you can possibly do it try to silence those who speak about it
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 13, 2025: IRC logs for Sunday, July 13, 2025
Two-Thirds Towards FSF Goal, Richard Stallman to Give Talks in Europe: There are 67 left before reaching the target
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: Politicised Tech and "Leaving GitHub": Links for the day
Pissing Contests and Pissing Off Everyone: people who came from Microsoft are trying to vex and divide the community
Microsoft Repeats the Mistakes Made by the EPO After We Exposed a Major Microsoft/EPO Scandal 10 Years Ago: That scandal was all over the media, not just in English
The Demise of LLMs: We've just checked BetaNews again. They've dropped all the slop and went back to human authors.
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Sonpo Museum of Art and FCEUX: Links for the day
Links 13/07/2025: UnitedHealth's Censorship Campaign, Australia Wary of China: Links for the day
Firing Away With Nonsense: Or fighting fire with fire
Links 13/07/2025: Climate Crisis, GAFAM Poisoning the Water: Links for the day
Turns Out LLMs for Code Don't Save Time and Don't Improve Quality: Neither legal nor useful
The Microsofters Will Have an Obligation to Compensate Us: This story isn't just about Microsoft. It's also about corruption, there are many women victims, there is abject "abuse of process", and many more scandals to be illuminated in years to come.
Reproducing at the EPO Instead of Producing Monopolies for Foreign Monopolies With Their Price-Fixing Cartels: Does the EPO recognise the need of well-educated Europeans to bear kids?
Valnet Inc. Dominates Real (Not LLM Slop) GNU/Linux Coverage in 2025: And likely in prior years, too
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Fund Raiser Goes on: Later this month we'll expose another OSI scandal
EPO Staff Representatives Issue a Warning About Staff's Health and Inadequate Care: Even the EPO's own stakeholders (money sources) are openly protesting against what the EPO became
Links 13/07/2025: Partly Assorted News From Deutsche Welle and CBC: Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Board Games and Battle Styles: Gemini Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 12, 2025: IRC logs for Saturday, July 12, 2025
Plunder at the Second-Largest Institution in Europe: cuts, neglect, health problems, even early deaths
Links 12/07/2025: Political Developments, Attack on Opposition, Climate Actions: Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: Melodic Musings and Small Web July: Links for the day
Links 12/07/2025: Jail in China for Homoerotica, South Korea Discriminates Against Old Workers: Links for the day
If Only Everything Was Rewritten in Rust, We'd Have No More Security Issues?: Nope.
Links 12/07/2025: Birdwatching and Fake/Misleading Wall Street 'Valuation' Figures: Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: How to Avoid Writing, Apps for Android: Links for the day
Using SLAPPs to Cover Up Sexual Abuse and Strangulation: The exact same legal team of the Serial Strangler from Microsoft and Garrett already has a history fighting against "metoo"
EPO Staff Committee on Harassment in the Workplace: slides
Adding the Voice of Writers to UK SLAPP Reform: The journey to repair antiquated (monarchy era) laws will likely be long
EPO Takes More Money From Staff for Speculation (Pensions), Actuarial Study Explains the Impact: "The key change in this year’s Actuarial Study, due to cascading the new “risk appetite” from the financial study, is a significant increase of the total pension contribution rate of 5.7 percentage points, up to a total of 37.8%. This is driven by an unprecedented decrease in the discount rate of 105 bps down to 2.2%."
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 11, 2025: IRC logs for Friday, July 11, 2025

2019 Tech Glossary

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