The Journey Continues

ManjaroKDE

ManjaroKDE

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Having been a supporter of Linux since the early 2000's. Tried pushing it on anyone who would listen. Seems that I now have a powerful force in my corner.

Microsoft has finally admitted that it was wrong about open source, with president Brad Smith saying that “Microsoft was on the wrong side of history when open source exploded at the beginning of the century.”

Microsoft’s opposition to open source software, and Linux in particular, was at times rather extreme and unpleasant, with former CEO Steve Ballmer famously stating that Linux was “a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches” in 2001.

Considering the company’s antipathy, which was mainly borne out of its concern that the free and open-source Linux operating system would eat away at Windows’ market share, it’s even more remarkable how recently Microsoft has embraced open source, and is now actually the world’s largest contributor to open-source projects.

The company has now made a number of its tools open source, such as Visual Studio Code, and many of us were on the lookout for flying pigs when it was revealed that Microsoft would actually ship the full Linux kernel in Windows 10 as part of the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) feature. Meanwhile, Linux distros like Ubuntu are available to download from the Microsoft Store within Windows 10.

Microsoft’s change of heart regarding open source and Linux has certainly been pleasing to see, and we always appreciate seeing a company own up to its mistakes and learn from them.

As Smith said in an interview hosted by MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL), “The good news is that, if life is long enough, you can learn... that you need to change.”

It seems Microsoft has indeed changed, helped somewhat by Ballmer’s departure in 2014, and while the company’s embrace of open source was viewed with a degree of scepticism in some quarters, it seems Microsoft has put its money where its mouth is and been a positive force in the open source community. Long may it continue.
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I just purchased a 17. 3 inch HP laptop, should be arriving via Fedex this Monday (13th/Jul/2020). As i've done with all my previous units I will be wiping the HD and installing my latest favorite Linux. Manjaro based upon Arch. Manjaro is hopefully German engineering at it's finest, I have a Manjaro distro that I've been working with for a few months now and find it meets all my needs nicely. Only problem was a smaller HD and 15.6 inch monitor were a little limiting for my other hobby - MOVIES, have an inventory of over 500 installed on my current unit but am running out of space. It's more of an obsession rather than a hobby but hobby sounds nicer than trying to acquire as many as I can before I die.
 

17.3" HP configured as high end Linuxbook. 2TB HD, 16GB memory, Linux Manjaro KDE installed, Firefox (strict browsing), Ad blockers installed, DuckDuckGo set for searches, Bleachbit configured and installed, Handbrake for movies, a few games, Display configured to my taste. All in all I think it should meet any needs for the immediate future. Video app configured, can now enjoy my other hobby. Total cost was $440 ($439.99). Not one Google app to get in the way.
 
Not now I did for many years during my working years, but not so much anymore. I'm following the trends towards 'Open Source' with interest. It was my administrator duties with the company I retired from. Became very obnoxious pushing it.
 
Four years ago I finally had enough of the BS being posted on a famous social site. I closed my account and never looked back. I find myself basically reading the same type BS on the unbiased (LOL) news sites. Realizing once again I have no opinion that will change the outcome of the events.

I had thought about giving up my smart phone for a flip phone, one that you can call out or answer, I'm not a great texter. I find when the back n forth reaches 3 messages it's easier to call and get the conversation over with. I never take my phone along unless I don't want to be stranded somewhere.

I was looking over my apps then the idea struck me I could keep the basic: phone, text and internet access for information searches for the same price per month I now have. Cancelled all my unnecessary (to me) apps.

I'm not sure that if I get lost I could use the GPS feature anyway. Kept a weather app, decided I wanted to know what the temp is in case I need to take my umbrella.
 
ManjaroKDE said:
Having been a supporter of Linux since the early 2000's. Tried pushing it on anyone who would listen. Seems that I now have a powerful force in my corner.



I just purchased a 17. 3 inch HP laptop, should be arriving via Fedex this Monday (13th/Jul/2020). As i've done with all my previous units I will be wiping the HD and installing my latest favorite Linux. Manjaro based upon Arch. Manjaro is hopefully German engineering at it's finest, I have a Manjaro distro that I've been working with for a few months now and find it meets all my needs nicely. Only problem was a smaller HD and 15.6 inch monitor were a little limiting for my other hobby - MOVIES, have an inventory of over 500 installed on my current unit but am running out of space. It's more of an obsession rather than a hobby but hobby sounds nicer than trying to acquire as many as I can before I die.
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I use Linux too. Ubuntu.
 
How much would you sell your private data to a company for? Many major companies spend millions collecting a variety data on individuals such as; what charities you donate to, your political beliefs, your shopping habits, your educational data and your contact information. Unfortunately, you never get to decide how much your privacy is worth to you, because these companies aren't asking your permission. Listed are the worst ten corporate offenders when it comes to invading privacy:

1. Google

It seems the only thing growing faster than Google's control of online searches is their database which they hope will eventually hold information on every internet user in the world. Google boasts databases big enough to permanently save the countless number of searches internet users make each and every day. The information Google stores on its users is great enough to create a virtual identity equipped with information ranging from favorite flavors of ice cream to sexual fantasies. And who can forget Google's infamous eye in the sky, also known as Google maps. How scary of a thought is this: a group of people monitoring servers in California know everything you did yesterday, your major plans for the rest of the week, and where you live. To top it off, Google offers services such as GMail that can store even more information about your personal life. Unfortunately, however, that isn't the worst of Googles privacy offenses.

Google's most prominent form of data assimilation lies in their cookies. Where most websites set cookies to expire in a few days (or in rare cases a few months) Google configures their cookies to expire in 30 years. Google claims this gestation period is to gather information to provide users with more accurate search results and protect Google from denial of service attacks and other cyber-crimes, but the simple truth is Google is gathering your information and has the storage space to create a very detailed picture of your online activity.

The rest,

2. Facebook
3. America online
4. Yahoo
5. Microsoft
6. Choicepoint
7. Response unlimited
8. LexisNexis
9. Accenture
10. Bonus axiom

I have been canceling my various subscriptions and accounts. I gave up on Facebook back in 2015, I quit Gmail at the first of this year, never had much to do with Yahoo. I use Linux so Microsoft is somewhat blocked. I use Firefox set to strict browsing, I installed 'Ghostery' and duckduckgo as addons or search engines a few years back. Clean my web browsing daily with Bleachbit. Use 'Thunderbird' as my email portal. My smart phone is limited to phone and text only no data.

My small attempt at minimizing my footprint is minor but I get very little delivered to my post office box or junk output in my email. I never open a suspicious email or answer calls I don't recognize. No phone surveys, don't answer reviews of products I've purchased. But still know I'm on the grid somewhat. It's not that I'm paranoid, just don't like the intrusion into my privacy.
 
THE POWER OF COMPOUNDING INTEREST

401K's started in 1978, my (17,000 strong employee) company's fund offered 5 possible perches. Money Market, Balanced, Equity, International and Company stock. They matched the first 6% at 50%. I went with 6% for a few years generating a modest yield. After a few years it became apparent that something needed to change with my investing. I started looking at the charts closely. After awhile I figured out a way to make better returns than the fund was making. This method went on for a while. Since I couldn't keep quiet about anything I convinced others to join in with me at the helm. At one time I was moving over $750.000 daily. I was making myself and a few others great returns. Most companies have stopped 401's (maybe too costly to their bottom line).

Then came the hammer, my niece who was a manager in 'Human Resources' called me. Her question, 'What are you doing with your 401?'. I said I was taking advantage of the ups and downs of the market. Moving the funds around not unlike a 'Day Trader'. Mutual funds are not stocks and the trades were only made at market closing for the day. Day Trading is a misnomer but for lack of a better moniker we'll call it that. Then without warning the managers decided to restrict our trading to once a month rather than daily. The gravy train stopped. I then looked for other venues and decided to focus on sportsbook betting. The idea I had was also being done in Vegas by 8 women baccarat dealers. They didn't cheat but applied the power of compounding (see Quote) and had run their winnings up to $140,000, before going bust (damn Dan Marino and that last minute 63 yard 'Hale Mary' pass that beat Chicago in a blinding snow storm, whom was favored by 3).

It was risky but you stood to make a bundle each year if luck held. The odds were estimated at 30,000 to 1 if they succeeded. High but nothing like the odds that you buck playing the lotto. Sportsbook was my pursuit for the next few years, no, I wasn't very successful but did have fun if you didn't count the miles back and forth between home and Nevada. I gave that up because of the money management involved. Next was my foray into table games, craps and blackjack I still never play anything else the odds are too horrendous. I taught myself how to count up to an 8-deck shoe, Won some but the boredom was insurmountable and the casino bosses started watching my play too closely. Craps was one of the few games I became quite adept at, but raising a family with all the responsibilities were roadblocks. I lost interest and went cold turkey from the tables.

At work one day we were sitting around talking about inane things and the subject of my investing plan came up. One of the discussion participants whom had worked in management asked me, 'Do you know why they changed from daily to monthly for trades?' It was because you (meaning me) were embarrassing the fund managers with your returns and they didn't like it, so they come up with monthly rather than daily trading. Yep that stopped me. I've just never got back to trading until a few weeks ago. I was doing research on my pension provider's web site and starting applying the concept I used before but with a few wrinkles. I gave it a try with my funds and realized I had possibly discovered a modified solution to the original plan that worked. I made a few trades and watched my totals mount upwards for a possible 50% annual gain. We'll see if it holds water over next few months.

$1,400.00 $39.20 $1,439.20
$1,439.20 $40.30 $1,479.50
$1,479.50 $41.43 $1,520.92 Gain Yield
$1,520.92 $42.59 $1,563.51 $163.51 11.68%

I took my last stimulus check and opened a trading account with my pension provider, above you can see the results after one month.
The gain is way better than any rewards card and I still have all the money with no extra stuff to trip over.

"Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world.
He who understands it, earns it ... he who doesn't ... pays it.
Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe.
Compound interest is the greatest mathematical discovery of all time."

Albert Einstein - Topics: Investing. Or so he got the credit for the quote.
 
Back when first starting out feeding my reluctance to use anything MicroSoft, I became a PITA with my obsession and experimentation with alternate desktop Operating Systems (OS). I was at first limited to CD's, then moved onto DVD's and then/now to the world of USB flash drives. I looked at Apple (Mac) but the cost was too prohibitive personally. Then in the late 90's I finally drifted to UNIX and Digital. UNIX/Vax(VMS) were huge and learning the command structure was daunting to say the least. They had their GUIs granted but their learning curve was harder than I had time for. Linux was interesting and the back story was something I could relate too. I must admit the cost structure and approach was in my ballpark. (FREE & Open Source).
 

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