Quoting: ZeloxIf you look at where the market is going

I see this kind of phrasing a lot, and I don't really like it. "The market" is not some magical independent entity which naturally moves in certain directions. A market is about people buying stuff and other people (maybe people with a lot of money and power) selling stuff. The sellers want to arrange the process in such a way that they can maximize profits. The buyers want the best stuff for the cheapest, with "best" having a lot of features that can include stuff like "openness" and "control over what you bought".

Software sellers are always trying to move to subscription models, because it will let them make more money more reliably. But "the market" isn't necessarily moving any particular direction. Occasionally moves to subscription models have succeeded, where they don't charge much and the convenience factor is strong. But more often consumers have deep-sixed them because people don't like monthly payments if they can avoid 'em, and quite a few like actually owning stuff they buy. So where "the market" is going is a contested thing. Very often when people say the market is going in X direction, they mean certain corporate suits have a vision that involves taking it there, and they assume that means that's what's going to happen. But it ain't necessarily so, and I think it's a bad idea to abstract away just whose interests are being served by these presumed market directions, so that what a few top dogs want becomes apparently just some kind of natural force.

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So are there any actual parades?
I mean, it's such a great name, you should be able to literally do it.

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Wow, some amazing hardware out there. And here I was stoked because my new cordless keyboard has little solar panels so you don't need to keep putting in batteries.

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Sound like good improvements, except . . . I like snowballing. Get those key tech advantages, press them to the limit and smite those techno-peasants!

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Well, that's doing a lot more than last time I saw an article about xoreos around here! Good show Dr. McCoy!

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Seems rather true to life, in the sense that apparently nobody thinks of asking the refugees what they want.

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Quoting: WorMzyDon't forget there's likely to be a change in regime

Yes

Quoting: WorMzy(and therefore policy)

Don't hold your breath. Sure, the details will shift, but a Democrat-run US administration is still going to have "contain China" as its number-one-by-far foreign policy objective. And since China's economy by some measures is already bigger than the US economy and likely to continue pulling away, US attempts to suppress them are going to start looking increasingly desperate.

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Couldn't we ask the NSA what the real figures are?

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Quoting: Liam Dawe

Quoting: Purple Library GuyIn current actuality, that's true. However, Wine and even Proton itself are open source. Valve couldn't stop some other portal if they wanted to offer Proton for their Linux users. Maybe if we had a bigger market share, they even would. So it's not a theoretical barrier, it's just that nobody else feels like stepping up.

If we got enough market share where that would make sense, you would hope that developers would support Linux proper by then though and not rely on a compatibility layer. That's the ideal scenario anyway but we're a long way off of course.

Proton'd still be handy for those Good Old Games though. Not that there's any game sellers that emphasize those . . . :wink:

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Quoting: The_Aquabatthis

Quoting: Purple Library Guyimport substitution

you sound you would agree with our politicians current stuff, they mention "import substitution" like in every sentence. Meanwhile electronics and pc parts are the most expensive in the world. (according to the Ipad Index [External Link]

I'm generally a fan of import substitution. But it's a lot easier to say than to do. Putting up a few trade barriers (like, say, Trump is doing) ain't enough. You need a whole set of industrial policies effectively put into practice, from education and training to targeted subsidies to R&D, co-ordination of industry, in some cases you even need to have the government directly start firms, you have to cope with the importers getting upset, and in today's context you also have to deal with the inevitable sanctions, currency attacks and so on when the US and allies get upset. So I can well believe your government may be doing the rhetoric of import substitution without managing the substance.
Mind you, even at best, it will make some things expensive for a while. You don't start off with your fledgling electronics biz or whatever being as good as the Japanese. Neither did the Japanese, though.

Quoting: The_Aquabatman I agree with your overall idea....workers rights are important, but you don't understand the situation here, Union leaders are so corrupt that they make Jimmy Hoffa look as an amateur.

I don't doubt you. There are so many ways in this world for things to get fucked up.

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