On 2025-08-05 05:06, RonB wrote:
On 2025-08-05, CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:
On 2025-08-04 09:35, RonB wrote:
On 2025-08-04, CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:
<https://lunduke.substack.com/p/libreoffice-developers-hotmail-account> >>>>
Mike Kaginski, a LibreOffice developer (who works for Collabora), has
had his Microsoft-hosted email account, which he uses for open source
development, locked for “activity that violates our Microsoft Services >>>> Agreement”.
Kaginski discovered this when attempting to send an email to the
LibreOffice development mailing list (hosted by FreeDesktop). It remains >>>> unclear if that specific email (which he sent via another address and
was rather bland and technical) was the reason for the ban… or if
attempting to send the email was simply the first time the ban was
noticed by him.
This happened just days after LibreOffice officially accused Microsoft >>>> of engaging in a “Lock-in” strategy by creating “artificially complex”,
XML-based office documents.
Are the two events related? Hard to say with any certainty.
To make matters worse, Kaginski has had no success in getting Microsoft >>>> to lift his locked email account — with the company making him jump
through numerous, impossible hoops (such as requiring him to sign in to >>>> submit an appeal for his account being locked… but not allowing him to >>>> sign in… because his account is locked).
You got that? Sign in to fix the account you can’t sign in with.
Gotta love a good Catch-22.
Good job, Microsoft.
This is not the first I've heard of this specific Catch-22 idiocy from
Microsoft and I'm very happy I don't deal with these dipshits. At one time I
had a HotMail account and HotMail was bought out by Microsoft. I haven't had
that account for years now (never used it after Microsoft took over
HotMail). I'm also phasing out most of what I do on Gmail and Yahoo. Yahoo >>> is just mostly SPAM anyhow these days.
People are mostly shocked if you tell them that you have a Yahoo e-mail
account nowadays. Absolutely no one takes that site seriously anymore.
I'm kind of "grandfathered" in. It's my oldest surviving email address.
I had one for a while, but I only used it for spam. Unless Yahoo
automatically deletes e-mail address that haven't been used for a while,
it might still be functional.
It's a different situation, but my brother is so disgusted with Outlook
(apparently they've done something new and crappy with it recently) that >>> he's developed his own email client for personal use.
The original Outlook, which I assume is the one he liked, was a bloated,
clunky mess. The new Outlook is simpler, but I imagine that it's lacking
a lot of functionality. Either way, I've always been most comfortable
with Thunderbird and Netscape e-mail before that. I don't think I ever
liked any other client other than Betterbird which is just Thunderbird
anyway. Unfortunately, Betterbird has some CalDAV bug now which forced
me back to the original.
I think the Outlook he liked was pretty old. He doesn't like any of the new Windows development applications now. He's moving to Linux (slowly but surely). He's still at the stage where, if Linux doesn't do it like Windows, then there's some flaw in Linux. But his hatred for modern Microsoft means he's moving away from Windows anyhow.
He might as well. I'm not even mad that Microsoft killed Films & TV
anymore. Sure, if I ran Windows, I'd still have access to the movies I
bought and could play them, but it just so happens that DVD and Blu-Ray
are dead too now and people are offloading their movies for like $1 on
eBay. I'm taking advantage to buy some titles and recreate my library
without DRM. Anything but go back to Windows.
As for me, I'm just getting rid of any remaining Windows partitions. I had >>> three or four small Windows 10 (and 11) partitions because the Windows
licenses were built into the Dell BIOS of these computers and I didn't want >>> to waste the license. I finally figured out I was just wasting my time
because the only thing I was doing on those partitions is upgrading Windows >>> (which I hate doing) so I just said the hell with it.
I keep a potable Windows 11 installation on an external SSD because of
all the movies I bought in Microsoft Movies. However, I don't have any
interest in installing the operating system anymore either. On the
Zephyrus laptop, installing Windows means that I have to suffer through
fTPM stuttering with no hope for a fix. On this Thinkpad E595, Windows
11 works fine but it's much slower than a typical Endeavour OS install.
Considering this laptop's purpose is to use in the classroom, Linux is
better. It's especially the case with KDE where, if students are too
blind to see what I'm doing on the screen, I can move the mouse really
fast and the cursor automatically grows to a massive size. It's such a
stupid function yet incredibly useful to me.
The only reason I was holding on to Windows was for downloading my B&N Nook eBooks. They're all downloaded now (and liberated from DRM) so I won't be buying from Barnes & Noble anymore. (I don't like it when they try to lock you in, reminds me too much of Microsoft.) I also experimented with Trelby
on Windows thinking I could figure out how to make it easier to install for Windows' users. I found out I don't have the brain capacity for figuring
that out. So those were two of the three things I did on Windows. The third was updating it. That's where I spent most of my time when "using" Windows.
I didn't mind the DRM on book purchases because I figured that I
wouldn't read a book a second time anyway, and I like the concept of
readers because I can read a book in public without anyone knowing what
it is that I am interested in. However, I'm more disgusted with DRM than
I've ever been before. I already told my wife that I'll be buying
paperbacks from now on, especially if I can get an autographed copy. I
still cherish my autographed Gilbert Gottfried biography (it's hilarious).
On my main computer (since I have two SSDs) it was just a matter of logging >>> into the SSD that didn't have Windows, running Gparted, deleting the Windows
partition(s) — (there was also a "recover partition), then moving the Linux
partition (so the former Windows unallocated spaces could be joined), then >>> expanding the Linux partition to use the whole drive. (Moving and expanding >>> done in one step.) It took about two hours on my fairly slow machine, but >>> well worth it. I think I may have one (or two?) remaining windows
partitions, which I'll soon be removing. Zero need for Windows.
We've both lived through the sketchy business practices of Microsoft and
neither of us is shocked that they're pulling shit like closing the
LibreOffice developer's account. There's a certain satisfaction to
uninstalling Windows, installing Linux and converting all .docx and
.xlsx files into the OpenDocument format. Removing their influence just
feels right.
Almost everything I write now is just in text format. Rarely do I use a word processor for anything now.
I might be moving in that direction, especially since it looks like the Document Foundation is no better than Mozilla. I've moved to Calligra in
the mean time (which takes a shocking 40MB of space compared to the
gigabyte for LibreOffice) because they haven't bowed to the United
Nations, as far as I know. It does everything I need it to do anyway.
I'd go to my beloved AbiWord, but I think it's too basic for my needs now.
< snip >
--
God be with you,
CrudeSausage
EndeavourOS backer
Islam aims to conquer
John 14:6
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