Bonum Certa Men Certa

Worst Year, But Hope Prevails

Solstice hopes; days will get longer, Free software will be increasingly adopted (and Tux Machines had a record year)

Tux Machines had a record year



Summary: It has been an awful year for almost everyone; we take stock of numerous issues and offer a positive message

THIS year was easy for nobody. Not even those in high demand (business-wide) could see family members and it'll get kind of crazy when even on holy days people will feel rather lonely and isolated. Today is the shortest day in this hemisphere and I got ill last night. This morning, without warning, even the shower would barely work because the water (utilities) provider had issues with water pressure. In over 20 years I've not encountered such a thing and given social isolation directives (cannot visit another household) and the gym deciding to shut down for 20 days for business reasons, suddenly something like hot water could not be taken for granted. Combine that with an illness that has had me sleeping for nearly half a day.



"Due to a tragic death of a man younger than me, we're forced to migrate to another datacentre in a hurry (by month's end)."The coming few weeks will not signal a turnaround. A President Biden cannot (even if he really wants to) save his country and a 'no-deal Brexit' seems imminent. People are forewarned not to panic-buy. Some people cannot afford to, either (barely making ends meet).

Due to a tragic death of a man younger than me, we're forced to migrate to another datacentre in a hurry (by month's end). His part of the datacentre, just like so many businesses this year, will be shut down. It's not uncommon to walk across places we used to go, only to see them boarded up; they won't be coming back, irrespective of lock-downs or not.

The current vaccines (promoted by the media, including in Russia) have barely been tested. These were also developed in a great rush, so people would be justified to feel a tad sceptical. I spoke to number of much older people who refuse to take a shot. My father took a flu vaccine months ago (we're not against getting vaccinated, we take all the well-established vaccines), but he rejects the COVID-19 ones. A proper solution would take years if not over a decade to develop (and also test for long-term effects); there's a legitimate question about efficacy and another about risk. We don't need placebo, nor should we blindly participate in clinical trials for corporate gains. Remember that vaccination is rarely effective unless many members of a population take it (collective or herd immunity sometimes refers to actual vaccination rather than rejection of it). There's also the issue of viruses mutating, limiting the effectiveness of a supposed solution tested on just one particular variant.

"Those of us still forced to go to the office in order to make a living are much worse off than home workers. They put themselves and their family at greater risk. Quitting their job can lead to starvation, which is no better."Speaking to people all around the world, hope is low. Really low. With number of fatalities (per day) increasing over time (the US is estimated to reach about a million "excess deaths" by spring) it doesn't feel like 2021 will be any better than 2020.

"I'm forced to work full days in the office because Windows is designed more to restrict people than to share, internet infrastructure is poor and damaged by hurricanes, and my management is dumber than dog shit," one person told me a few days ago. "They don't wear masks with each other, eat in a cramped break room, did not get in mask microphones for phones, and are an odd combination of hopelessness and arrogance."

Those of us still forced to go to the office in order to make a living are much worse off than home workers. They put themselves and their family at greater risk. Quitting their job can lead to starvation, which is no better.

"Here at Techrights we intend to focus on tech, not pandemic. The impact of the latest pandemic on Free software adoption, however, oughtn't be overlooked."On the Free software side of things, we seem to have made gains this year, but there are also setbacks and new threats emerging. "I hope that's something good that might come out of the Solarwind catastrophe," the above person noted. "Right now, all the "big tech" must be broken up noise has resulted in more lawsuits against Microsoft's biggest competitor, Google. Recently, I've read a few opinions saying that reliance on so few vendors is bad. No talk about free software and real anti-trust protections, but it's a good start."

Here at Techrights we intend to focus on tech, not pandemic. The impact of the latest pandemic on Free software adoption, however, oughtn't be overlooked.

Recent Techrights' Posts

New XBox Leaks Probably Serve to Confirm XBox's Collapse (Many More Layoffs)
It's very much consistent with what many other sites have reported lately
 
Noteworthy Claim That IBM is Firing a Lot of Lawyers This Week (RAs in the Legal Department)
A lot of what they do is patent 'trolling' or lawyering up against their own staff (e.g. HR disputes)
Links 10/10/2025: US Judge Bars Attacks by ICE On Journalists and Protesters; “We Took The Freedom of Speech Away” Says the President
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Serial Sloppers, Google News Gifting Slopfarms, and Fake News/Plagiarism About "Linux"
Google itself is a slop pusher these days
Qualcomm, the New Owner of Arduino, Blasted for Its Software Patents Tax on 'Smartphones'
A lot of Qualcomm's patents are on software. We wrote about this in prior years.
XBox Layoffs Rumours, Downtime, and Criticism From XBox Co-Founder
"everyone is ditching the xbox."
Links 10/10/2025: Honoring The Legacy Of Robert Murray-Smith, Many Articles on the Hey Hi (AI) Bubble
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: October Gothic and Reading Middle Earth Role Playing; C and Ada
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 09, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 09, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Farewell to Jane Goodall, California Bans Algorithmic Price-Fixing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Lost Wages and a Saga Of Continuing To Use Palm PDAs
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's Talk in Helsinki is Done. Tomorrow Göteborg.
There are scarce details in Finnish about Dr. Stallman's talk
The Slop Song
The train wreck marches on
LLM Slop/Advanced Plagiarism Flooding the Zone With Capital That Does Not Exist
Many publishers out there still participate in this bubble instead of calling it what it is
Links 09/10/2025: Sacked Microsoft Workers Make "Sackbird", IBM Taps CockroachDB for PostgreSQL
Links for the day
"Happy Hacking Day" Richard Stallman Talk This Afternoon (From 14:00 to 16:00) at Haaga-Helia University in Pasila
Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Finland
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 08, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 08, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Impact of Microsoft Layoffs, More Data Breaches
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Autumn Blues and C IRC Bot
Links for the day
Slopwatch Appreciated by Real Authors of GNU/Linux Articles
We do try to keep on top of those things
Upgraded R.R.R.R.R.R. Today
The Web of 2025 is full of garbage, not limited to slopfarms
Freedom From Proprietary Prisons
Forking always an option
IBM's Watson Died in 1956, Now Watson Dies Again
IBM is becoming just a reseller of GAFAM and other stuff
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, and Google News
We've also just noticed more slop from UbuntuPIT
Microsoft Says That Constant Mass Layoffs Are Success, the Media Isn't Buying This Microsoft Narrative Anymore
If people in the media feel an obligation to repeat whatever lies Microsoft tells, what point will there be to the media?
Links 08/10/2025: "Mali Puts Free Speech on Trial" And Apple Enforces Dictatorship
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: ‘Death to Spotify’ and Law to Ban Loud Commercials on Streaming (Dis)Services
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Real Innovation and Nina.chat is Dead
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Y2K38 Bug is a Vulnerability, Chat Control in Europe a Threat
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows is No Longer an Operating System, It's Surveillance Project
Why is this even legal to preload on PCs outside the US?
How and Why Once-Legitimate Sites Turn Into Slopfarms
Many sites will go offline and many social control networks will shut down once they realise or even openly admit they spend money and time gardening a bunch of bots and slop
UbuntuPIT Became a Slopfarm and Gnoppix Tarnishes Its Own Brand With Slop
It fits all the characteristics of mildly-edited (if at all) slop
Slopwatch: Linux Journal and Other Slopfarms
GAFAM needs to go the way of the dodo
Gemini Links 08/10/2025: "Seek Seek Revolution" and Gradient Backgrounds
Links for the day
Qualcomm Arduino Takes Aim at Raspberry Pi
Qualcomm is a Microsoft partner
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 07, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 07, 2025
Stagnation of the Economy and What Free Software Can (or Could) Do For It
If your economic model is based on a pyramid of lies, it won't last very long
Social Control Media is Sinking
it would rightly seem like the era of centralised "social" sites (they're not social, they're about controlling the users) is ending, not overnight but gradually