Tag Archives: Microsoft

April 13, 2026 · 16:16

With the coming of Linux

That is not entirely the truth, Linux has been here for some time but now France is going the way of Germany and Denmark, pushing Microsoft out of the door. I reckon that Microsoft played their cards too early and against the wishes of their audience. We cannot blame the Trump administration for everything, so as France goes. I reckon that Monaco will also dial down the Microsoft beast and not to forget Lichtenstein. It has deep roots with both France and Germany, as such there is every chance that they, labeled one of the world’s wealthiest countries, boasting a GDP per capita exceeding $200,000. Which is uncannily high. It has a specialized financial services industry and also has deep roots with Switzerland. So, there is a chance that this might also end the power of Microsoft in the land of cheeses (banks also). I don’t think that Microsoft will yield the field, Excel for its origins in Lotus 1-2-3 has become the power system to call home for many in the financial industry snd there is no way that others can dethrone Excel, but that is pretty much the only application that is sitting safely and pretty. 

TechCrunch gave us (at https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/10/france-to-ditch-windows-for-linux-to-reduce-reliance-on-us-tech/) the setting “The country said it plans to move some of its government computers currently running Windows to the open source operating system Linux to further reduce its reliance on U.S. technology.” It is high time that this happened, but it still might be done in time before all these data centers would be holding onto EU data, they’ll still hold a lot, but not everything and that is when the dollar value of Microsoft goes into decline. Brian Sozzi (Executive editor Yahoo Finance) gave us “Goldman Sachs analyst Gabriela Borges pinned the company’s 23% plunge this year to two factors in a new note on Monday. First, upward revisions to capital expenditures without commensurate upward revisions to Azure cloud sales. This resurfaced concerns about returns on investment and Azure’s competitive positioning against peers such as Amazon’s (AMZN) AWS.” I reckon that the hundreds of millions of users that Microsoft will lose in 2025 will add to that pain, but to what extent, I personally have no idea.

With the American Administration the way it is, that pain is only getting worse, because the bulk of the world does not like that this American administration can get access to any data server that is founded on American soil, even if these data centers are in Denmark (or France, or the EU), these people want out as fast as they can. And that is happening right now. I don’t think that all EU nations will leave, still the idea that Satya Nadella lost roughly 450,402,641 users will have to hurt his ego a tiny bit. And I reckon that the stock price of 370.87 will equally take a hit, as such the valuation of 2.75 trillion (aka 2,751 billion, or 2,751,000 million) will decrease. I have no idea how much it will decrease, but as I see it, the gaming section was hit harder then they expected and now we see other venues take the proverbial dive. That is before people realize that the 27% stake in OpenAI is also seeing some ‘hindrance’ and as they quite recently invested $13 billion in that field. All whilst OpenAI also had a deal with AWS for $50 billion, rumors are there that the Microsoft legal divisions are ready to get their shares back, but I have no idea how deep this is and how far along this is. But when we see this on top of the setting with Fractal Vision (aka DeepSeek with AI for a fraction of the cost OpenAI is heralding), it seems that when the dust settles, the chance of Microsoft seeing 2 trillion vanish like snow in a volcano is not entirely unrealistic. 

How deep this losses go is unknown to me, but you could optionally ask Jamie Dimon (phone: +1 212-270-6265) at JPMorgan Chase & Co. He would know better than me. Still, France is a new cog in this delayed revenue fading machine. And it has the option of dragging several nations with them and from there the losses merely increase. The old expression goes ‘It never rains when it pours’ and I reckon that Satya Nadella has never seen a version of Compound Troubles seen explode on his table and here I was thinking that Microsoft CT was about community training. Ah well, you learn something new every day.

Well, I have to stop now, because I am giggling slightly too intense to enjoy coffee at present. So you all have a great day and consider downloading LibreOffice, it is 245 MB, free and installs easily. Time for me to consider another setting in gaming later today.

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April 13, 2026 · 00:42

Redo from start

Yup, I went there, an old CBM64 error message. And it comes to us through the BBC who (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce84rvx0e6do) gives us ‘Great at gaming? US air traffic control wants you to apply’ So, why the error? Well, I had the inkling to go that route. I loved Kennedy Approach on the CBM64 and whilst in communications with the UNSC (posted in El Gorah, 1982) I was briefly ‘involved’ with flight following and in this case involved meant that I was sitting next to Flight Lt Wruck who was doing the job. It seemed simple and he was exceedingly good at it. So, I saw this getting done for weeks and it looked appealing, but then at 19 nearly everything looked appealing. These thoughts overwhelmed me when I saw the message in the BBC with the added “In a new ad campaign, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is explicitly calling for gamers to apply for jobs in air traffic control when its hiring window opens next week.

The Xbox one logo appears at the start of the video before dissolving into a montage that cuts between images of men playing various online computer games and people, including women, in air traffic control towers looking at their own computers.” And I have two reasons for not doing this. First of all it is in the United States and in this political climate and with the current administration it is the last place I want to be, although that job in Canada might still be appealing. 

The second reason is the setting that it is tainted by Microsoft. And with ““You’ve been training for this,” the ad says.” My thoughts go to “Really? How?” You see, in 1985 the message was clear, anyone stating that Kennedy Approach was reason to become an air traffic controller was given a red flag. I have no idea why, because as I saw it, ATC is something you either like or do not. And what games give you the ATC vibe? Fortnite? I can play that game, but I was used to real weapons and real ammunition. It takes the air out of the opponents (as they stopped breathing), but seriously? What makes a gamer a good ATC person? As we are given “The new strategy tapped into “a growing demographic of young adults who have many of the hard skills it takes to be a successful controller”, he said.” I am not debating against it, I merely want to know what makes the gamer a good ATC person. I personally would think that an updated Kennedy approach that gives people the skills to do that job, either with additional coaching or with added explanation, or with added settings and more scenarios. Kennedy Approach was initially a Microprose product and I loved playing this game. Then considering that Kennedy approach was insufficient to cater to this (it was merely 58Kb in size) as such an upgrade would be required. But that field could be catered to for Canada and many other countries. You merely need to adjust the settings of a 40 year old video game.

And if gaming is no longer a red flag, my mind starts cruising to mach 8 to get the adjusted settings to work. Still the idea is decently novel and could be applied to several fields. If I remember this correctly, the US Navy had a similar approach as they used Times Warner interactive to produce AEGIS: Guardian of the Fleet, or at least that was what I was made to believe. It was a tactical game and has almost no high res gaming screens, but the tactical screens were most excellent.

And the additional catch was “The ad also highlights the salary on offer to controllers, saying it is $155,000 (£115,000) after three years of work.” I reckon that this will attract plenty of gamers, especially as you see the the graphic card requirements that these systems require now. 

But this is not a novel idea, it has been voiced before, but the powers that be see gaming as a non-go setting, but in this day and age, gaming is different and it is real life that now starts emulating games, not the other way around. So as we are given new stations to jobs that are showing a lack of people, gaming is a way to get around to that and the funny part is that these people could get the gist of that job whilst finding out if this is something they might want to entertain. There are settings that work and settings that are less than stellar for a gaming solution. On that note, I failed the doctor test in 1985 (The Surgeon decided I was never going to be a doctor) And we can consider more pressing approaches but it is all between your two ears (the brain). And whilst we think that Kennedy Approach is a good way to see if you could make it as an ATC’er. There are plenty of other sides. Silent Service is not the way to find a sub commander. 

Yet, seriously, did it take 40 years to go from red flag to gamers are welcome? Or is the need for more ATC’ers now too pressing that they will consider all options? This is a serious question, because the underlying setting is that if there are no ATC’ers, flights will have to be cancelled. That is the real question that is part of that. I am fine with the idea that those who scored great in Kennedy Approach (or whatever is now the closest to an ATC screen) are set for a career in ATC at the FAA. But there are questions, because as this approach comes from 2021 under President Biden and we are given “The FAA said last year that it would be considered fully staffed with 14,663 active controllers. It was at least 3,000 controllers short at the time and said twice that many controllers were expected to leave their roles by 2028.” The setting that airports would be short of ATC’ers and the station that hundreds of flights would be cancelled if this is not resolved is not without its own set of cascade failures of flights required. It would be the next massive joke if ground crews are stopping flight crew from getting the job done. And there are additional questions that people will have to ask, because there is no way that this is a setting anyone would like to be on their front door as they are flying to their vacation spot, only to be stopped because there are no Air Traffic Controllers available. 

Yes, sarcasms slaps you it becomes irony and I am not being the doom speaker, merely a person who wants a clear understanding and personally it is too late for me (about 25 years too late) but I kinda like that gaming could invigorate a class of people to take up a new career. 

So have a great day, my Monday started 40 minutes ago.

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April 10, 2026 · 01:49

Creation and creativity

That is the setting I see. Someone ‘alerted’ readers that Israel will be preparing for a ‘forever war’ and that might apply to some extent. They reacted poorly to Iran, but not all in all unexpected. Israel was under attack for the longest time of my life either direct, or indirect by Iran. So their setting makes sense to me. But in that same setting a new door is opening up for the UAE. They get the option to open the door of creation and creativity is where the bucks come. You see, if my setting of the United States make sense, America is about to become hindered by its own arrogance and their new reality of ‘we can no longer play that game’, but in that same sense of one, the other setting also becomes clear. 

So I will take a step back and lead you through that setting. Arabic is spoken in most of the Islamic nations and in that setting we get: 

Egypt – population of 90,000,000
India – population of 200,000,000
Indonesia – population of 250,000,000
Pakistan – population of 233,000,000
Bangladesh – population of 150,000,000
Turkey – population of 80,000,000

Which gets us a population of more than a billion and we still have all of the gulf states to get through. These are merely the top 6 and as I see it, it will be soon that the population of the United States will no longer be able to service them. A billion in Business Intelligence and all the dollars that combine them (as well as the Gulf States) and it is business right there for the picking up. So whilst we get IBM and their statistics, Oracle and their databases, Oracle Database provides extensive support for the Arabic language through its National Language Support (NLS) architecture, which handles character sets, sorting, and cultural conventions. But that setting might lose ground support from the United States, now combine that with Business Intelligence, the training of these people and the support from other regions is now getting close to a freewill and adjusting regional support (like Tourism) gets a new lease on life. Combine this with the settings that NICE (an Israeli customer care solution) gives the world, we see settings that might (might is still the operational preferred word) to a population of well over a billion and for the UAE and its near unique position would be able to service this setting to these nations and other too. And as things go from services, the education there might also be in a near free-fall as we see that the United States will lose more and more handle as their services fall short. The UAE could be one of the first to pick up the shortfall and takeover of these elements. As such the UAE comes out stronger and now we see an acquired setting where others might not be ready to take over the elements that were in hands of the United States for the longest of times. But as its settings fall short, they will make knee-jerk reaction to hold on to so many things and more and more service will fall free into the air. A perfect opportunity for the business sense of the Emirati people. 

When you get to think of this, you might think that the United States would hold on to this, but when the first services started to fumble, a lot more comes clear for a free-fall. The AFR gave us (on Tuesday) ‘Jamie Dimon is counting the straws that will break the market’s back’, Forbes is giving us “Every April, Jamie Dimon publishes his annual letter to JPMorganChase shareholders, and every April, the financial press spends a week dissecting his views on the economy, geopolitics, and regulatory reform. Meanwhile the technology section and references—arguably the most consequential parts of the letter for anyone working in banking or fintech—get the least attention. But not from me. Here’s what Dimon said about technology, and why every community banker and fintech executive should be paying close attention:

In a section on new products, Dimon wrote that the risks around customer data misuse are “likely to get far worse with AI and agentic commerce.” He framed this as an opportunity for JPMorgan to position itself as a trusted intermediary—essentially a consumer data guardian—and flagged plans to roll out products around “control of personal data, safe commerce and customer-friendly algorithms.” Community banks should be asking themselves who their answer to that question is. Buried in the macroeconomic risk section, Dimon mentions that five hyperscalers (Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Meta, Apple) will spend $725 billion on AI-driven capital spending and construction in 2026, up from $450 billion in 2025. The scale creates two problems for smaller banks: 1) the infrastructure gap between large banks and community institutions is widening at a pace that periodic tech upgrades cannot close, and 2) the talent required to actually deploy AI—not buy it, but configure it, govern it, and integrate it—is getting absorbed by the hyperscalers.”

But personally I believe that the story is incomplete (and partially inaccurate) AI is not here, no matter what people say. There is a doom setting towards people not implementing AI, but AI is not here yet, it won’t be ready for decades and people are in this tailspin of doom and all the headless checks squawking ‘Get AI, get AI’ are delusional (some call these squawking chickens Influencers)  and if you pick through that balloon you get a lot of air, but that is all it is. Still the setting of DML and LLM could give some kind of relief when properly applied. I never denied that, but DML/llm is not AI, no matter what the chickens say. And in all this one name on the list is missing. IBM and their Business Intelligence and that is a powerful setting and take their BI and apply it to the top 6 you get one hell of a business venture. And normally there is no getting in-between that. But President Trump and his Big Beautiful Baloney gave life to this opportunity. Too bad for them that the internet is fueled by a WWW setting, not a BBB setting. And now this becomes the option for the UAE (optionally Saudi Arabia as well), but the UAE has a more powerful BI and business setting (this is a speculative setting I see, but I could be wrong), so as we see how the United States is faltering, the failing services for the top 6 named here gives rise to the business opportunity that is falling almost directly in the lap of the UAE. And whilst I might fail to see the how it falls, I believe that Abu Dhabi and Shariah might have the strongest settings. I am not short selling Dubai, merely seeing that these new ventures might be served better in a lower costing setting.

So whilst we see the BS the media feeds the population in the US and optionally EU too, a gap of options will open up in the UAE. Snowflake is already in the UAE (in Saudi Arabia as well), but I lack the knowledge to see where they are at present and I believe that the opportune mind will see a larger field of opportunity. So whilst the world is all screaming (like headless chickens) “Apply IA, apply AI” we tend to forget that only 5 years ago that setting was nil and BI was for almost three decades and out is that soon as the services from the United States are faltering, the UAE now has a option to capture this market and make it Arabic, because the language is part of the new stream, these 6 nations will be the first to capture that opportunity. That has always been the case. As such I say, look where you would go and the United States turned it always into: “Come to us” and when that falls flat, the new players will see what is there for them and I see great options for the UAE (I also want them to enjoy the shortfall others have) which gives rise to the statement “The UAE comes out stronger” and I believe that this believe in self is what is required to had a larger win of an economy handed to the USA for far too long.

So have a great day, my run to the weekend started 90 minutes ago and consider, what else did I miss? I cannot tell where your shortfall is, but I do know that I cannot have seen all the settings of opportunity in a mere three hours. I am clever, but I am not THAT clever, I don’t mind.

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April 7, 2026 · 18:48

Skins

That was the thought that was invading my mind and for the biggest part it came from an app known as WinAmp. The current generation might not know what I am referring to, but their mommies and daddies know exactly what I mean.

You see, the world has forgotten the medium of long term marketing. And it saddens the brain. Creativity starts by shedding this to all the brains it can entice. And we seemingly have forgotten that. Consider that the TV goes on and the same settings are given to everyone. But there Is nothing stopping you from adding that to your TV or digital medium player. Have library that could be added to your TV or even PS5, a skin where we see the addition to your Netflix, Disney+ or Hulu app that gives it a little spice. A setting where the creative person turns the Netflix logo into a Cauldron and we see the books appear, where the books are movies and soundtracks. The Disney+ logo where the image of the Mandalorian comes alive and we see items that are movies, but refer to items seen in that series (never saw the Mandalorian) and the idea is not even merely  being scratched. You name it and it is likely to have a fanbase of millions. 

We can go into any venture from that and the brands themselves might shed ways into that setting. Whether it is Sony, Coca Cola, Steam Deck, Disney, Harry Potter or any other brand that speaks to the mind of others. 

Now consider that you are a brand bitch (like me) and you see your Sony environment, but when you also have your PS5, you might wonder why everything is so clearly cut and whilst the PS5 invites creativity, so does the Nintendo and I see a flaw here. They might have their own boundaries, but there is nothing stopping from a Switch (or PlayStation) to invade the borders of the TV and make over what people do there. As I see it, I would my Switch to take over the TV and set its boundaries there, so whilst we see Pikmins all over the screen of my TV, others might realise that some PikMins have familiar titles and as such, we might see games on that screen, games that we currently and almost forever have been playing. It might be the icon of a game box, the con of a hero (like Luigi) or the dreaded Bowser on his kart. All images we and others relate to the game we love to play. And on top we see the icons that relate to our needed setting like a D+ logo that gives us the Disney look and from there the iconic series that they have invade the screen. The better part is that the kids will relate to this instantly and it gives them an edge in creativity. The same could be said for the PS4/PS5, Netflix, or Hulu groups. Something got lost over the last 15 years and it saddens me, because for amount I thought it made sense and that I the sad part. We are so drawn to making achievements in games that we are forgetting the image to play. Someone once said that the more complex the end becomes the more enticing the image of play gets to be. And they were seemingly right. 

A setting is getting lost in the wiring and it should sadden us all. And the Australian Financial Review is giving us ‘Jamie Dimon is counting the straws that will break the market’s back’ which comes with “JPMorgan’s chief executive can see a long string of growing risks, from geopolitics to private credit. Will that be enough to burst the market’s optimism?” And he came to me last night in a dream handing me 4 billion for my IP (it was a lovely dream) but here he is right on his turf but it is also the setting of a larger play. He sees a “a long string of growing risks”, yet I see a string of losing strings of creativity that will hold us down, because those who turn away from creativity are lost forever to a sea of demands and the turmoil of loss and that deeply saddens me. Simply because if we become pawns of the populist voices, we are actually doomed to make mistake after mistake and we need to see now that there are more ways. This all adds up to President Trump saying (according to the Guardian) “Donald Trump said he was “not at all” concerned about committing possible war crimes as he again threatened to destroy Iran’s bridges and power plants”, but in this setting he defies his real fears, the first time is the use of ‘possible’ and the second setting was that he said it at all. He is really scared that he will be put in the Hague in the accusers box facing the consequence of his illegal war. I reckon he is counting on the world being to broke when America folds its finances and he would be wrong. There are dozens of people who are actually innocent and used the Black letter law to the extent they could and President Trump is the one who stopped the game from continuing. I reckon that the one place where President Trump might be save is as a new inmate of Lefortovo Prison or Lubyanka Prison. Anywhere else he is likely to be toast. So there is no easy escape to the Bahama’s or Monaco for him. Too many people there will blame him for their easy escape and they will hold him to account. And there isn’t enough ammunition to keep him safe in the United States. 

So that is where I am and the people who needs distractions are being withheld a simple setting where their creativity is fed, not their frustrations and rage. And my mind is grabbing back to the simple setting of Winamp controls or the theme settings that Microsoft opened in 1995. Who did not have a whole range of themes to brighten up their Windows experience? That is seemingly lost now in a sea of patches and Knowledge Base (KB) numbers. So who gave the world the outlets of creativity? Adobe?

So have a great day and consider where we might be when our need for creativity is fed in all sorts of ways. Time for dinner now.

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April 5, 2026 · 22:39

Who sets the stage?

That is at times and particularly now the question. Metro UK gives us ‘Sony has not choice but to release the PS6 in 2027 but it’s huge risk’, first of all, who decides this? Metro? The audience? I think it is up to Sony to decide this and I am open to a release of the PS6 at some time. But at present, my PS5 (the non-pro edition) is doing ints bit right and proper and as I see it, there is only the Nintendo that is a possible ‘threat’ and I see no reason why the Sony people cannot have a Nintendo Switch (1 or 2) next to it. I still have my PS4pro as well. Both are behaving particularly nice. So what gives? Games? The ones that are coming in 2026 are well adjusted to the PS5 and so is are the ones also facilitating to the PS4. So why would we need a PS6?

Don’t get me wrong I would be happy to have one if there are games that go way beyond the need of the PS5pro, but the only games that might (might being a stretch) get to the edge of the PS5 pro are allegedly Wolverine and optionally Horizons 3.

I imagine a setting where the PS6 could be the Horizon start tile, but I would love to see this release with the trilogy release with Zero Dawn, Frozen Wastes, Forbidden West and Burning Shores as part of this trilogy release. These would be a must for all PS6 gamers. But is that the case? Is Horizons 3 running at the edge of what is possible on the PS5pro? I doubt it, because the makers made it to run on the PS4 pro like a Swiss watch. Wolverine is still not in a golden status, as such it is possible and we see what is possible and we love it, but is it demanding a PS6?

So where does metro come with ‘Sony has no choice’? As is see it, Sony has plenty of options, especially as Microsoft dropped the bal and their balls on the gaming industry, Sony has plenty of choice so whilst wee are given “Namely, if there’s the demand businesses will produce the commodity to satisfy it and if not, they won’t (or else go under). But things are rarely that simple and Sony are its proof.” So this is called an idiots premise. The business doesn’t demand, teenagers without money desire it, that is not a demand, it is folly. And whilst we see that there are teenagers making demand, it is seemingly merely the people who trusted Microsoft for all the wrong reasons. They are not even steam deck masters. So whilst Metro needs to give a real reason (best with supporting data) there is the setting that we filter out the wannabe’s without cash, which takes care of allegedly several millions of wannabe’s.

Oh, and there is another side, whilst many are awaiting Hogwarts Legacy 2, there is every chance that this will require a non pro PS5 to run smoothly. So whilst many gamers are now looking in getting the additional Nintendo Switch 2, we see that the gaming era is changing. Now that Microsoft is likely leaving the scene, the actual gamers will focus on enlarging their focal points. Some will get a steam deck, see will add Nintendo to their domain, but the Sony domain is clear, it is set and it is in that gamers life. I have my PS5 and I am happy beyond believe. At some point I will consider the PS5pro, but at present, my PS5 is doing what it needs to do and it does it well. 

I am merely wondering if WW3 comes to town if I can still play my console if I am glowing in the dark. There is a lesson here, but I cannot see it. No matter what happens, I got Aloy to come out of the forbidden west victoriously even with the plus game requirements largely filled. So will we get a new Hogwarts? Likely but not before 2027, as such the need for a PS6 before 2028 is likely ludicrous and that makes sense. 

Consider the following timelines:
PS3 – November 2006
PS4 – November 2015
PS5 – November 2020

As such there will not be a PS6 before 2028, but there is another level and we are forgetting that. The games, we can see that the games pushed the hardware, only when we saw The last of us on PS3 did we realise that the limits of the PS3 were reached and it showed its superiority again on the PS4. Zero Dawn did the same for the PS4 in 2017 and that was proven the moment the PS5 appeared. I reckon that we will see several games that will push the PS5 (or PS5pro) to the limits. There is a chance that Wolverine will push those limits, but it is unlikely. The PS5 is just too powerful, but that doesn’t mean that Insomniac won’t reach these limits. Time will tell, and that will give us a real anticipated release date. Still the games are only part of this and the sudden chance of a war will also stop these hardware frolics from becoming reality (that and this so called fake AI). We see escalations and the demand for more and better stuff comes when limits are reached and as I personally see it, the PS5 is nowhere near these limits. These limits are not reached because some developer thinks he needs them, he get there by delivering short of where he wanted to get and that require people like Hideo Kojima flexing his muscles, only to realise that he cannot flex them any further. I this trend I have only seen Mathijs de Jonge (Guerrilla Games) and John Blackburn (Avalanche Software) get there in the last 20 years and they seemingly have not reached the limits of the PS5, so we have time. 

As I see it, Sony has choice and plenty of time. They merely need to keep the gamers on the 92.2 million PlayStation 5 happy and as I see it, we are plenty happy. The offside of the cow that influencers try to persuade there is require data and they cannot hand is data, merely conjecture (if at all). Metro UK should keep that in mind. We are happy because we get to play the games and we would like to play more games, so players like Bethesda and Ubisoft might remake some of their games for the PS5, it does help, but it would be better if they consider making games that will genuinely take us to the edge of the PS5, only then when we have these titles and we are considering that it could have gone further will we see the impending need of the PS6. 

Have a great day gaming today on whatever system you like to game on. My weekend ends in 87 minutes, darn.

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March 22, 2026 · 01:28

I am not economical savvy

That is the setting and we can conclude that I am intelligent, but not that economical savvy. I have known for the length of my years that if you spend less then you get, you might get rich at some point. I know it is a little simplistic, but I am not an economist. I know data, I can read, write and comprehend data, almost any data. So when I saw something almost a week ago, I wrote ‘Is it insight or data?’ On March 16th (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2026/03/16/is-it-insight-or-data/) and I stood behind Oracle, not because I am so economical, but because I know technology and Oracle is an essential technology. In some ways it is now chased by Snowflake, but that is the nature of the beast. Oracle might be at the top, but it is forever being chased by whomever wants to get into number one. Snowflake is speeding past all the others, but it will not (for some time) go past Oracle. So when I saw that Oracle had half a trillion in their pipeline, the other news made little sense and I wrote about that and 4 days later (the day before yesterday) we get a fool, a Motley fool no less (at https://www.fool.com/investing/2026/03/20/news-oracle-billion-backlog-ai-stock-buy/) give us ‘Oracle’s $553 Billion Backlog Could Make It the Most Important AI Stock of 2026, But Is It Too Late to Buy?’ Pretty much exactly as I said it was. But they give us more. We also see “It’s worth noting that Oracle stock has lost 49% of its value in the past six months, owing to multiple concerns, including a reliance on OpenAI for a significant share of its contractual backlog and taking on sizable debt to build artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. However, those concerns took a backseat after Oracle’s beat-and-raise quarterly report. Let’s see what worked for Oracle last quarter. Then, let’s take a closer look at its valuation to find out if it’s too late to invest in this AI stock that has the potential to soar impressively for the rest of the year”, with an additional “Oracle’s quarterly revenue jumped 22% year over year to $17.2 billion, exceeding the $16.9 billion Wall Street estimate. The company’s non-GAAP earnings growth of 21% to $1.79 was a bigger surprise, as analysts would have settled for $1.70 per share. The company’s cloud infrastructure business also outperformed expectations, with revenue increasing by 84% year over year to $4.9 billion. That was higher than the $4.74 billion consensus expectation. Even better, Oracle’s cloud infrastructure business is likely to continue growing at a terrific pace in the future. Its remaining performance obligations (RPO) jumped a whopping 325% year over year in the quarter to $553 billion.” Now lets be clear, I get most of that data, but unlike that fool Motley there is a lot I do not see, mainly because I am not an economist. 

And here you might think that there is confusion, because I have (and still) say that AI does not yet exist. But data does exist and when it comes to data Oracle is the Rolls Royce of data systems. So, whatever these people want to make you believe, they can do it better with a good data solution. And all DML (Deeper Machine Language) as well as interactions with LLM (Large Language Models) require the best solution (which gets you to Oracle with optional Snowflake) so whatever data solution these people select, they need to rely on their data ventures and that puts Oracle in the picture and when you comprehend that, the half a trillion dollar pipeline starts making sense. 

What astounds me is that some people like to make some kind of consideration and as I see it, Oracle is a long term investment. You might think it is about the wealth of Larry Ellison and you would be partially right there, he brought Oracle to life (as the saying goes) and whilst some people are in it to play the markets, Oracle is above that. It is the safe place to put your dineros (as the expression goes). 

So why Oracle? As I see it, for over 30 years the people who wanted to get into data emulated and copied what Oracle did and called it innovation, but there is only one Oracle, the rest is almost a joke (OK, Snowflake might be the exception, but it is not as great as Oracle). Some tech firm bought Sybase and flogged it off as THEIR baby and they did well, but it is not the same a being the actual innovator. So as some call it, some stock is up to scrap and as I see it, it would be Oracle. 

Whilst I am writing this something occurred to me and this falls on the mattress of Google. We are given “Oracle (ORCL) is widely considered a strong buy by analysts following robust Q3 2026 earnings, surging cloud demand, and a massive $553 billion backlog. With a 4-star rating from Morningstar, the stock is viewed as moderately undervalued with significant growth potential, although some analysts caution about high capital expenditures and heavy reliance on AI partner OpenAI.” And the two points are in the first “following robust Q3 2026 earnings”, so they decided on earning that will not be completed for another 6 months? Explain that to me, because as far as I know time travel is not a valid method of predicting earnings. Then we get “heavy reliance on AI partner OpenAI.” Why reliance? So, who calls the shots there? Is there a given that OpenAI demands Oracle? I get that people who are in the ‘spell’ of AI require Oracle, that makes sense. But think of that for a moment. There are numerous data vendors. Do you think they all select Oracle because Microsoft/AWS/Google/IBM are all Dodo’s? It is all dependent on what solutions these customers have now and that might set the bar for what data is selected, don’t get me wrong. Oracle is the best as such I applaud their actions. But I have seen my share of boardroom meetings where someone was in favour of whatever they had, as such I have an issue on the use of ‘reliance’ as in ‘heavy reliance’, but that might just be me.

In the end, we all take what we can get and data people select Oracle for the simple setting that it is the best. So select what you think is best for you and consider that Oracle will continue no matter what, because there can only be one number one. 

Have a great day, It is not Sunday here. Time to imitate a sawmill as It is massively past midnight.

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March 18, 2026 · 18:39

Adding the plus sign

It started the day before yesterday. I was looking at an image of a plague doctor, a back leather mask with it’s raven beak. I remember the scent of garlic in the beak, it was a clear image I was seeing. It caught on and my mind decided on the setting of the ‘plus’, not in the Game or New Game, but to set this plus on the NPC characters. OI would go as far as to ALL characters. As I see it, it has never been done before as I see it and there is a side that it could grow the game in its entirety. 

The trigger would be a ‘mundane’ and personalized object. An image, a piece of clothing or a tool and when you grab it you will get the image that you cannot let go of the object, it isn’t evil, but it seemed important. That would be the setting of the ability. To get to that stage you get to sleep. Sleep is the activator. You normally sleep for whatever time you need in a game, now it becomes the start of another part of the game. There you wake up in the body of whatever item you had, if you have more than one item, you will be assigned a random person. As that person you will have mundane tasks. As a farmer you will tend the fields, as a butcher you will tend the meat and carve animals, as a stone mason you will form bricks and so on. The setting is that you get to up the game from that point forward. The farmers as the game is will produce more and better crops, resulting in higher health for you and the NPC. The stonemasons will result in better houses (over time) and better settings of the homestead. These are the mere tread stones of the game. The stage that a better smith will make stronger weapons, more impactful weapons comes with this and more. The fact that an RPG has never set the strength to the NPC’s as a game is oddly ‘discouraged’ as I see it. But better settings is the evolving base of any game and in RPG games it is not ‘heralded’ as a ‘wanting’ prospect. But that is where RPG games need to go, they need to go into new terrain, added terrain and this is one way to get there. We all herald the creation of Horizons and Forbidden West is the current horizon for the RPG game to follow, but there will be more. I have no idea how Guerrilla does it, but they will. They have created two games in perpetuity that are RPG games of awesome quality and even as I didn’t like the end of it, I get that it was done, but what drove me was the fact that the first thing after the finale, I went on finding more. That is the making of a near perfect game. The near perfection of this RPG game gives clear desire to upgrade RPG games, make a more perfect game by setting the stage to new frontiers. It doesn’t matter whether it is Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Red Dead Redemption, Horizons, Mass Effect or Baldurs Gate. They all need an upgrade, although I am the first to admit that the niche that Mass Effect created is near perfect, it merely needs a better story and backdrop. But in all this, they never resorted to upgrade the NPC’s and that is the new frontier. I already added stories in the past to upgrade the game, but to set the stage to upgrade the NPC themselves does not seem to be considered. Why?

It was a natural escalation of any RPG game and this possibility was clearly possible from the stage of the PS4, now we have the PS5pro and the PS6 will be coming at some point, so to get to this point, we need to upgrade games as they stand. When we ignore the perfection of Guerrilla games, we see that the others need serious work. And why not? Bethesda created Skyrim 14 years ago, and for the most it still does the job. A game doing the job after 14 years is almost unheard of. Consider that in 1987 Leisure suit Larry was released by Sierra on line. And it was excellent gaming, but it faded within 5 years, newer versions were created and the storyline faded. It was the way things were, but were is yesterday what comes next is tomorrow and even as Guerrilla and Avalanche Software might rightfully feel safe at present, but there is space for more and whilst there is nothing wrong with these two games, the RPG gamer wants variety and someone will pick this up. Whilst Bioware is seemingly going on the same track, when its storyline disappoints, their stage will be set in an instance, not one they would hope for. We can assume that it is ‘all’ going according to plan, or we can push the boundary of gaming and as such several  evolutionary steps were suggested (by me) in 2024/2025. Now I am getting to the stage of advancing NPC adherence. There are plenty of tracks, but the the one they will use will remain a secret until they are ready to give us the Alpha version of their game. I honestly wonder if Bethesda will make the cut. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t know where they are going and I have the greatest admiration of Skyrim, but where they are going no-one knows (unless you are part of the Bethesda higher echelon).

So all the others, the Indie developers, the newly wannabe’s? Where will they go? Follow in the tracks where the other games are, or will they seek out the new boundaries and create a game that creates a setting of long term playing and in this economy having a game that keeps you happy for over a year is the way to go. I reckon that soon we will see the merchandise cloth us in the setting we desire, I reckon that 2027 will be all about that and as the money becomes more and more stringent of out money, we will need an escape and gaming is a justified escape. That is the setting I see and I also see that gaming will give release to the people. Nintendo does it the way it does (they always do) but the setting of Sony (PC and streaming decks too) will need a game that they can enjoy not for a hundred hours, but for a thousand hours. Development firms don’t want to do this, but they have to. Consider that the price of oil now is $101–$102 per barrel, it was $55 a month ago and it will go down again I reckon, but in the meantime all costs are going up and they will for some time, so take that into consideration when the costs are rising, jobs are fading and costs of living are exceeding what people find comfortable. They need an escape and gaming is one direction that is open to all. Not everyone needs that escape, but the amount of people that need that escape is rising and it is rising fearfully fast. And as we look at the options, we see a mere 100 hour escape, now consider an RPG game that holds a 1000 hour trip. This is the direction I see and there is a much larger population that is ‘demanding’ the escape route of gaming. I reckon that Microsoft had this in mind all along and like the setting set by Don Mattrick with his disastrous statement “Fortunately we have a product for people who aren’t able to get some form of connectivity, it’s called Xbox 360” he called the play too soon and also in the wrong way, now as Microsoft is a fading setting, the others need to be cautious and consider long term playing. Because the setting for 3 100 hours games might seem nice, the setting of that one 1000 game will hold a much larger population and that is the stuff of legends. I reckon that Bethesda is still in the running, but others can joint that setting too and I am kinda hoping they will. The RPG range needs enlargement and that is the drive we need to face and we might want to try other sides on RPG that will be offered and perhaps you will enjoy a change of taste (without forsaking the other games). Yet taking all the elements I wrote about in stride and giving it a face in these RPG games, we will see a new generations of gamers and a new generation of play.

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March 16, 2026 · 02:58

War

War is serious business, it comes with responsibilities and with an aftermath. Just like the fact that at present 2,500 soldiers are on route to Iran with a stated 2,500 soldiers to follow. I had a different scenario in mind, one that might not have required boots on the ground, But I am a no one. I don’t matter. But there is no fun in war. The consequences on both fronts tend to be horrible. I have always known that, I saw the impact personally and lets leave it at that. So the president who gave us ‘Trump accuses Starmer of seeking to ‘join wars after we’ve already won’’, we see that in the BBC (and many other newspapers, at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dn3j04lydo) and this was a week ago. Consider those words “join wars after we’ve already won” and a little over a day after we get “Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States may carry out more strikes on Iran’s vital Kharg Island oil export hub “just for fun”, rejecting the prospect of a swift peace deal with Tehran.” He is going to hit a place ‘just for fun’? What is he? 12? It comes across as empty as me proclaiming that I’ll hit 15010 NE 36th St, Redmond, WA 98052, United States with a nuclear bomb, just so that Satya Nadella bends the knee and learn some manners concerning our privacy. It is empty, hollow and has no business in war statements. 

Now consider that President Trump gives us ‘Trump urges UK and other nations to send warships to Strait of Hormuz’ a mere 18 hours ago. So what do we see? The war is not won, the powers that be in the defence department of the United States of America have no idea what they are doing and that is the message they are sending to the gulf states? This is probably the first time that the gulf states are considering that USA bases on their lands are a bad idea. I wonder how long it will take China to offer a setting of peace by allowing their bases on these spaces. You see all things have consequences and the worst are the ones done by players who have no idea what they are doing. It is nice in a poker game, because they get plucked right from the bat. In war there are larger considerations. I am not one of those ‘Epstein’ conspiracy people. I am of the mind that America is desperate for the oil Iran has, which I scuttled in the last 2 days by voicing that the 10 refineries Iran has needed to be bombed (with due haste) and after they hit the gulf states, they might support my point of view. Because these refineries in the hands of the United States might have larger consequences, the ones we do not applaud or look forward to.

So, whilst we were given (by the BBC) that “Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that “many countries” would be sending warships in conjunction with the US to help keep the strait “open and safe”. He claimed “100% of Iran’s military capability” had already been destroyed, but that Tehran could still “send a drone or two, drop a mine, or deliver a close-range missile somewhere along, or in, this waterway”.” Which is nice as we were given as Politico gave us less than an hours ago ‘Gulf Arab states intercept new missiles and drones as Iran threatens to widen war’, which makes me wonder if President Trump knows the meaning of 100%. That implies they have all military capabilities scuttled (or drowned), but as attacks are still coming, and as the United States ‘needs’ others to come in and send warships, the setting of 100% is massively debatable. And we are given (via Politico at https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/15/gulf-arab-states-intercept-new-missiles-and-drones-as-iran-threatens-to-widen-war-00829221) “President Donald Trump said he hoped countries reliant on oil and gas exports would send warships to secure the Strait of Hormuz. None responded with firm commitments by Sunday, though some said they were considering action. Israel said it continued to strike Iran on Sunday as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE told residents they were working to intercept incoming projectiles, a day after Iran threatened three Emirati ports, the first time it has done so against a neighboring country’s non-U.S. assets.” The game chances to some extent, as the united States is showing itself to be no closer to a clue on how to wage war, the pressure will soon come on Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE to end solutions for their citizens. It is my personal view that this is a setting that China could press to push the United States out of the Middle East. Soon they might actually become the minor player in a band with Russia and Iran to survive, where Iran could offer the USA a barrel of oil every time it states ‘Polly want a cracker’ OK, this is mean, but the setting is there and consider that it could show that his Department of War is a bigger failure then it was in 1949 when President Truman was one of the people to make it the Department of Defense. That is the setting we see today and I wonder if the United States is hungry for a president that is showing to (apparently) set personal gains over the needs of the people of the United States (just asking).

So when we look at the statement in the BBC article where we see “In the meantime, the United States will be bombing the hell out of the shoreline, and continually shooting Iranian Boats and Ships out of the water. One way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait OPEN, SAFE, and FREE!” Which gives is the little thought “How many Minesweepers did the American Navy deploy?” Because that becomes the next setting. This is seen as the Japan Times (at https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/03/13/world/iran-laying-mines-hormuz-uk/) two days ago gives us ‘Iran has likely begun laying mines in Strait of Hormuz, U.K. says’ with “It’s becoming increasingly evident that Iran is laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the U.K., as Iran’s new supreme leader used his first comments to the media to say the critical waterway should stay closed.” And the Guardian gives us a mere 4 hours ago ‘UK may send ships and mine-hunting drones to help open strait of Hormuz, says Miliband’ with “Britain is considering sending ships and mine-hunting drones to the Middle East in an attempt to reopen the strait of Hormuz, Ed Miliband has said. The energy secretary confirmed on Sunday that ministers were talking to their allies about how the UK could help secure the vital waterway after the US president, Donald Trump, urged Britain and other countries to deploy ships to the region.” So now a small consideration, when did President Trump (or its lackey Pete Hegseth) give is the rundown on deploying minesweepers? They might not sound sexy, but they tend to keep shipping lanes decently free of mines. A critical need in War efforts and the strait of Hormuz is a bottleneck, as such essential. Where is that newscast? Just Asking?

I personally see several openings for China to become the settlers of hardship in the Gulf and as President Trump is making a mess of things, Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China might consider that this is the best time to kick the United States of America out of the Middle East, perhaps they will still have a base near Tel Aviv, but that would be about it. And that is speculation, or I prefer to think it is presumption. The mess that is shown over the last two weeks shows that the United States of America (with its Department of War) seemingly have lost their grips of reality, because who bombs an already bombed place ‘Just for fun’ consider that these bombs cost an alleged $200,000-$350,000 per run and that includes logistics plus an additional $18.95 for coffee and cakes. 

So (according to the BBC) President Trump gave on Saturday “He repeated his appeal in a post later on Saturday – extending it to all “the Countries of the World that receive Oil through the Hormuz Strait” – and said the US would provide “a lot” of support to those who participated.” So, why? He had won the war 100%, so why was this needed and for reference, how many minesweepers did the United States deploy before that point? Simple questions and anyone who attended the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis would have known this. So, why allegedly didn’t Pete Hegseth know this?

These might seem simple questions, but they have had a massive impact on the gulf states, especially the UAE as it has faced over 1,600 Iranian-launched drones have been engaged or detected by UAE air defenses as well as 294 ballistic missiles and 15 cruise missiles. Simple numbers that apparently the United Stated have had little say over, even if they defeated the IRGC 100%. As such there is a chance that the Chinese flag will proudly wave in gulf states soon enough. That is not set in stone, but tactically there is every chance of that, but what am I saying, the people at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis should be telling Pete Hegseth this as well, whether he will tell President Trump is another matter. 

Have a great day.

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March 1, 2026 · 03:27

Confusion speaks its mind

So here I was, one day in the past and I see a BBC article. I saw the headline, I saw the ‘bully approach’ and initially I ignored it. It was not the BBC, there was no setting that seemingly truly interested me. I was thinking of a few settings towards IP that could give Apple (and optionally Meta) a nice boost. As I was mulling over the ideas I was having, in comes the CBC about 10 hours ago, or better stated I noticed their article and now something clicks in my mind. I started rereading the two articles. The BBC (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn48jj3y8ezo) gives us ‘Trump orders government to stop using Anthropic in battle over AI use’ with ““We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Friday.” Of course if he doesn’t want it, there must be a good reason why people might want to use it and we are given “Anthropic is mired in a row with the White House after refusing demands that it agree to give the US military unfettered access to its AI tools. The refusal led US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to say he’s deemed Anthropic a “supply chain risk”.” And we are given the quandary that there should be some clarity. The idea that the US Military has unrestrained or uninhibited access to any AI is dangerous. And that is merely to look at it from THEIR point of view. We saw over the last 5 years a few examples where Pentagon staff used whatever USB key they had optionally opening their systems to backdoors and this can result in several ways where the Pentagon would be affected including: Human Interface Device (HID) Spoofing, Malware Infection via Social Engineering, Exploiting OS Vulnerabilities or Juice Jacking (Compromised Public Ports/Cables) and a few other ways. Even in this decade more than one system seemingly ended up on the danger list. So, ‘someone’ now wants to grant AI unfettered access which opens the doors to AI accessing data involves sophisticated, automated, and often, continuous interaction between intelligent systems and vast data sources, including internal corporate databases, cloud storage, and public web content. It constitutes a critical, high-speed, and high-stakes component of the modern AI ecosystem that raises significant security and privacy challenges. And this is not some ‘fear mongering’ There is a lot of AI works that is still to be considered and because AI doesn’t exist and this is all DML on several layers that interact there are dangers to be seen. As we saw a mere week ago that Microsoft had to ‘confess’ that it had accessed confidential emails of Microsoft users. Now consider this happening on a serious level in the Pentagon. It has well over 50,000 desktop computers within its building, with reports from 2014 indicating at least 18,000 were part of specific virtualized infrastructure. Now consider that we have seen the accusation of “Based on reports in early 2025 and 2026, OpenAI has accused Chinese AI startup DeepSeek of “inappropriately” distilling, or copying, the capabilities of OpenAI’s models (specifically ChatGPT and its reasoning models like o1) to train its own competing, low-cost models (such as DeepSeek-R1)”. As such, the dangers of unfettered access can go in two directions and that sets the bar of distilling from the Pentagon a lot lower than anyone could find acceptable. As such there is every chance that Russia is already considering the massive win they could gain once the unfettered access could merely hit one system that was transgressed upon. Because the greedy and the stupid will do anything to propel the setting of self, whilst not caring what others could gain in that setting as well.

So whilst some will consider the dangers of “The company said that “designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk would be an unprecedented action — one historically reserved for US adversaries, never before publicly applied to an American company.” Anthropic said the “designation would both be legally unsound and set a dangerous precedent for any American company that negotiates with the government.”” No one seems to be considering that the opposite is a lot more dangerous. So whilst some focus on the stage of “Anthropic had said it sought narrow assurances from the Pentagon that its AI chatbot Claude would not be used for mass surveillance of Americans or in fully autonomous weapons. The Pentagon said it was not interested in such uses and would only deploy the technology in legal ways, but it also insisted on access without any limitations. The government’s effort to assert dominance over the internal decision-making of the company comes amid a wider clash over AI’s role in national security and concerns about how increasingly capable machines could be used in high-stakes situations involving lethal force, sensitive information or government surveillance. Trump said Anthropic made a mistake trying to strong-arm the Pentagon. He wrote on Truth Social that most agencies must immediately stop using Anthropic’s AI but gave the Pentagon a six-month period to phase out the technology that is already embedded in military platforms.” As I personally see it, it is the accumulation of stupid and technologically ignorant all combined in one package. And that is before we get to mass surveillance. You see combine mass surveillance with data distilling and the United States of America will be handing the data on 349 million Americans straight to China and Russia. This is not AI, this is DML. That means it comes with the hangups and limitations of a programmer. So when this goes wrong it goes wrong in a massive way. 

As such what will people like President Trump and Pete Hegseth say? Do they think that the response ‘Oops’ will cover it?

I don’t think so, but what do I know? 

So whilst CBC (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/trump-anthropic-feud-ai-9.7109006) gives us “U.S. President Donald Trump, U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials took to social media to chastise Anthropic for failing to allow the military unrestricted use of its AI technology by a Friday deadline, accusing it of endangering national security after CEO Dario Amodei refused to back down over concerns the company’s products could be used in ways that would violate its safeguards.” And this is the setting we expect to see and it will be the undoing of several people, because as I see it “U.S. President Donald Trump, U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials” is the start of what comes next. You see, the internet doesn’t forget and these ‘other officials’ have sealed their fate with this action and there is no ‘He told me to do that’ they were instrumental in assisting to hand over the data of the population of the United States of America to optionally both China and Russia. Do you feel safe now?

And in response to this setting we see “The dispute stunned AI developers in Silicon Valley, where venture capitalists, prominent AI scientists and a large number of workers from Anthropic’s top rivals — OpenAI and Google — voiced support for Amodei’s stand in open letters and other forums.” And that should have been a clear message that the competition was on the side of Amodei, so, why would that be? Whilst people in the Pentagon (seemingly) forgot about that router with password ‘Cisco123’ there is every chance that these DML engines will be cleverly distilled by people controlling systems like DeepSeek and whatever the Russians have. I should buy another egg timer, because this is a setting that might gain me a few coins, especially as several people are blind to the danger that is coming for them. And consider one additional setting. It is said that:

“AI decisions can be corrupted primarily through the manipulation of the training data, the algorithms, or the inputs during operation. These methods can introduce biases, cause malfunctions, or lead to fraudulent outcomes, often making the corruption difficult to detect due to the complex “black box” nature of many AI systems.”

So what happens when distilling comes with an additional insertion of data? I can’t wait for that setting to lose balance and the training data in American data centers start losing authentication and reliability markers. But that is  likely a story for another day.

Have a great day today.

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February 27, 2026 · 11:06

The fear behind us

There is a setting, one that requires scrutiny and one that demands closer looks. You see, I do not completely agree with the setting that The Guardian gives us (at https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/26/how-to-replace-amazon-google-x-meta-apple-alternatives) with the illustrious title ‘Leave big tech behind! How to replace Amazon, Google, X, Meta, Apple – and more’ the first big thing is that there is no mention of Microsoft in that title. So that is the very first thing that comes to mind. Especially as CoPilot was mentioned earlier this week of sifting through our confidential emails. I can drop the ‘alleged’ as Microsoft admitted to this and basically said ‘Oops’ as an implied reason. So what gives?

It starts with “So many ills can be laid at its door: social media harms, misinformation, polarisation, mining and misuse of personal data, environmental negligence, tax avoidance, the list goes on. Added to which, Silicon Valley’s leaders seem all too keen to cosy up to the Trump administration, to shower the president with bribes – sorry, gifts – and remain silent about his worsening political overreach. And that’s before we get to the rampant “enshittification”, as the tech writer Cory Doctorow describes it, which means that by design many big tech products have become less useful and more extractive than they were when we originally signed up to them.” OK, I can go along with this. And the sentence “many big tech products have become less useful and more extractive than they were when we originally signed up to them” gets a mention from me because some of these ‘culprits’ seemingly have no idea what innovation is, for the you have to look towards China, specifically Huawei and Tencent. So we get to the first hurdle. 

“Google has cornered 90% of the search market for the past decade, but it is often no better, and sometimes demonstrably worse than its rivals, perhaps on purpose – Doctorow has called Google: “the poster-child for enshittification” citing its alleged strategy of worsening search quality so that users spend more time on the site. But changing the default search engine on any device is extremely easy. I’ve been using Ecosia for years. Instead of using your searches to fill corporate coffers, it uses them to plant trees. The Berlin-based company claims to have planted nearly 250m trees since it launched in 2009 (you can even get your own personal counter to feel extra virtuous). Ecosia commits 100% of its profits to climate action (over €100m so far), produces more clean energy than it consumes via its own solar plants, and collects minimal data on its users. Ecosia’s search results are not always as thorough as Google, admittedly (in the “news” category, for example), though the toolbar does give you options to search via Google and Bing if you need to.” The issue is that Ecosia is for all intent and matters Microsoft Bing. So this is seemingly a sales talk by a journalist because there is a massive problem finding anything by Microsoft reliable. And then we get the real stuff, Microsoft knows it is in hot waters, so we are given “The French company Qwant is similarly privacy-oriented (its slogan is “The search engine that values you as a user, not as a product”) and is now mostly independent (having started out based on Bing). It is now partnering with Ecosia to build a new “European search index”.” Yes but Microsoft is American ands as such your data will be copied and frowned on, browsed through to all their hearts content. If this is wrong, Ecosia and Qwant better clearly state that they are independent of Microsoft, because it is still the issue in Europe and for what they state the their DATA is completely secure, the issue becomes where are the backups? If they are on an American cloud or server, the setting of privacy is set to 0%. 

I can agree with the Browser chapter and even as I still rely on Google (it has never failed me), I get that no everyone is in that chapter of things. I get the Office part. I myself downloaded LibreOffice (download only, no installation yet) and I will look at it at some point, the Apple apps do their work brilliantly. So we are given “Many of them, including Austria’s military and local governments in Germany and France, are switching to LibreOffice, created by the Berlin-based, nonprofit, The Document Foundation. Businesses and individuals are doing the same. Ethical Consumer has used LibreOffice for some time, says Fraser. “It’s an open-source version of Word, and all of the Office tools. It works and looks basically the same.”” I personally reckon that this is the problem Microsoft has and getting the data from Ecosia might be their last handhold to European data, this is not a given, but I expect that this is the inside not Europe to some degree. And whilst everyone is concerned with the privacy of data, I reckon that similar to the setting of 1998-2002, no one is digging and questioning the stages of backups. But that might merely be me and as I am no longer living in Europe, I casually don’t care.

Then we see the mobile settings with a shoutout to Fairphone in the Netherlands. I have nothing against Fairphone, but it always makes me wonder if Fairphone had the same idea that Tulip had in the 90’s. That doesn’t make it wrong, it is merely a Business Ploy that should be considered. I am now and always have been a Google guy. So when we see “There is a catch: most of these phones still rely on Google’s Android operating system, but any phone can be fully “de-Googled” with the /e/OS operating system (it comes as standard with Murena phones), developed by the global, mostly European, nonprofit, e Foundation.” I can think of a way where Google can set this with their Pixels. When the consumer can select Google or A Linux version that does most of the stuff, Google clearly wins in several chapters. I reckon that these flower can merely snap market share because of this, when Google leaves it to the consumers, Google wins nearly automatically. Oh and in all this there is no mention of HarmonyOS in this and I reckon that these smaller players are adjusting to HarmonyOS as we speak, or cater to, or appease that branch. Not everyone in Europe is ‘China hating’ material. And that is merely the smallest setting of these parts. I am personally not touching the shopping side. I was raised as a follower of ‘Support your local hooker’ a phrase from the late 70’s. In that age we got malls, supermarkets and such and die to that escalation loads of local stores went through a foreclosure setting. In that same way I don’t order from Amazon. I have nothing against Amazon and they closed the gap of rural places having no way to get stuff to them having plenty of stuff and over 60% or Europe and 71% of rural USA is now served. As such Amazon did them right. I just believe that I should get to the local stores to get what I need. I only had to resort to Amazon twice in the last 10 years. So I am happy. And all these Amazon haters can go sit in a corner trying to work out the function of a cheese slicer (revelation: the red corners that are diminishing have figured it out).

But my issue is that Microsoft is shown in a ‘favorable’ light, they aren’t and they aren’t due that setting as I personally see it. The fear behind this is not the Big-tech, it is the policy that comes through the CLOUD Act (2018), it gives America too much ability to get to out data and in several cases non-American IP, which is even more frightfully. these hundreds of data centers have no reason to exist if the CLOUD Act (2018) what made illegal, that is how I see it and there is no saving Microsoft, because we get ‘blunder’ after ‘blunder’ and how long until we get another ‘Oops’ setting but now corporate IP was set in some AI hole? That is the larger fear that I see and there is no stopping it, whilst corporations are breathing the AI cloud through wannabe’s who want to move up in the world, that data is most likely to get compromised and as corporations are not setting the HR and data loops to any scrutiny, this is likely already happening and will continue to happen until the then valueless corporations see that they had to act a lot sooner than the day before all their data is in other hands. We already have Thomson Reuters v. ROSS Intelligence (2025), Bartz v. Anthropic (2025/2026), Disney & NBCUniversal v. Midjourney and the best case is United States v. Heppner (2026) where we see that documents drafted using a public, consumer-grade AI tool were not protected by attorney-client privilege or the work product doctrine. And that is the setting that people miss. Should someone at IBM use that setting this work becomes public, so consider that this is not IBM, but Microsoft using Copilot or OpenAI (ChatGPT) the work of your corporation becomes for all intent and purposes Public Domain, did you sign up for that?

There is plenty in the article that makes sense, but the ones that aren’t mentions are a larger fear creator than anything you are trying to hide from. Just an idea to consider. Have a great day this day.

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