DefiantEmbassy's recent activity

  1. Comment on Oracle, Silver Lake consortium to control 80% stake in TikTok in US in ~finance

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    I mean, Automattic invested in WPEngine as it was named. They could have raised these issues way earlier. In general, my position lies somewhere close to this article. And frankly, yes. In...

    And the confusion WP Engine has created by intentionally choosing that company name does seem pretty damn unethical to me too.

    I mean, Automattic invested in WPEngine as it was named. They could have raised these issues way earlier. In general, my position lies somewhere close to this article.

    And frankly, yes. In practically every online discussion I can see, the consensus has swayed wildly against Mullenweg.

    1 vote

  2. Comment on Oracle, Silver Lake consortium to control 80% stake in TikTok in US in ~finance

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    i mean most people are on the side of WPEngine in that controversy, so they’d be pro Silver Lake i’m sure they’ve got plenty of other stuff you can dislike :)

    i mean most people are on the side of WPEngine in that controversy, so they’d be pro Silver Lake

    i’m sure they’ve got plenty of other stuff you can dislike :)

    1 vote

  3. Comment on My guess and opinion on the common blockers to Linux adoption in ~tech

    DefiantEmbassy
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    So, I'm a software engineer who uses a terminal (macOS/Linux), has sysadmined a Linux cluster, and hell, I'll throw in the fact I'm a Vimmer. In short, a lot of things that ordinarily would drive...

    So, I'm a software engineer who uses a terminal (macOS/Linux), has sysadmined a Linux cluster, and hell, I'll throw in the fact I'm a Vimmer. In short, a lot of things that ordinarily would drive me towards adopting Linux for the desktop & advocating it for others. But, frankly, you'll pry Windows out of my cold dead hands, for a couple of reasons.

    • General familiarity: everything about how Windows is laid out, to how the mouse moves across the screen (granted, Linux is closer to Windows, but on a low-powered machine I found Windows was /far/ more responsive), is just second nature to me now.
    • Bad experiences. The last time I tried running Linux on a SP3, I ran into a couple of issues.
      1. I managed to soft brick a Fedora (!!) install within about 5 minutes by changing a theme, updating and restarting. The login theme no longer existed.
      2. The screen on the device was broken. On Windows and Xorg, there were relatively trivial ways to disable it. But for some reason, the only way I could find to get something remotely similar on Wayland was to use an application that simply consumed all of the input. (Hopefully, I've Cunningham's Law'ed my way into the answer now).
      • None of the above issues are really impacted by the Microsoft-ness of the device, so I'm not really swayed by it.
    • Games. I play too many games with kernel-level anti-cheats (and I'm /fine/ with it).

    Windows is /relatively/ simple for me. I install it (after finding the right incantation to get local login), run ShutUp10!, and then use winget to get all my apps. Once I've done that, it just works. I know I could get Linux to a very similar state, but I'm not interested.

    As for what I suggest to others, I would much rather recommend ChromeOS Flex to people instead of a Linux distribution. Mostly because I will never have to give them tech support again.

    6 votes

  4. Comment on Your favorite YouTube channel is (probably) owned by private equity in ~creative

    DefiantEmbassy
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    One note: the video lists PRIME Hydration as a success story of influencers creating real world products. It’s more mixed than that: PRIME had a brilliant initial run, but sales have collapsed by...

    One note: the video lists PRIME Hydration as a success story of influencers creating real world products.

    It’s more mixed than that: PRIME had a brilliant initial run, but sales have collapsed by 71% in the UK.

    7 votes

  5. Comment on Grok searches for Elon Musk's opinion on controversial questions in ~tech

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    There’s also an interesting note in the post after that, which is focused on Grok Heavy not having a public system prompt

    There’s also an interesting note in the post after that, which is focused on Grok Heavy not having a public system prompt

    In related prompt transparency news, Grok's retrospective on why Grok started spitting out antisemitic tropes last week included the text "You tell it like it is and you are not afraid to offend people who are politically correct" as part of the system prompt blamed for the problem. That text isn't present in the history of their previous published system prompts.

    Given the past week of mishaps I think xAI would be wise to reaffirm their dedication to prompt transparency and set things up so the xai-org/grok-prompts repository updates automatically when new prompts are deployed - their current manual process for that is clearly not adequate for the job!

    7 votes

  6. Comment on Grok searches for Elon Musk's opinion on controversial questions in ~tech

    DefiantEmbassy
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    Super interesting behaviour. At the /very/ least, it has a weird sense of identity. Although I wouldn't be surprised to hear that there is some element of the system prompt being hidden, that...

    Super interesting behaviour. At the /very/ least, it has a weird sense of identity. Although I wouldn't be surprised to hear that there is some element of the system prompt being hidden, that causes this behaviour.

    12 votes

  8. Comment on Org-roam is not for me in ~tech

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    Ditto for me, but with Obsidian (although I migrated from org-roam). The Zettlekasten stuff effectively provides a useful framework, but I don't subscribe to it. And search works great with...

    Ditto for me, but with Obsidian (although I migrated from org-roam). The Zettlekasten stuff effectively provides a useful framework, but I don't subscribe to it. And search works great with Obsidian's native tooling, and if I needed something more powerful, it's just text at the end of the day.

    2 votes

  9. Comment on Org-roam is not for me in ~tech

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    Interesting factoid: the developers of Obsidian actually started out with a infinite outliner, Dynalist (a cheap way to validate this, see the publisher of the Obsidian Android app). It's...

    Interesting factoid: the developers of Obsidian actually started out with a infinite outliner, Dynalist (a cheap way to validate this, see the publisher of the Obsidian Android app). It's basicially on infinite hiatius from what I can see, so probably not worth investigating.

    2 votes

  10. Comment on Minecraft’s problems aren’t just the new features in ~games

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    Just wanted to say thanks! I did not know there were mods for newer versions that brought old terrain gen back. I ended up going with 1:1 Beta for my goals, which was "as close to 1.7.3 as...

    Just wanted to say thanks! I did not know there were mods for newer versions that brought old terrain gen back. I ended up going with 1:1 Beta for my goals, which was "as close to 1.7.3 as possible, on a newer engine" (because 1.7.3 isn't the best experience in terms of technology).

    2 votes

  11. Comment on I'm tired of dismissive anti-AI bias in ~tech

  12. Comment on Obsidian is now free for work in ~tech

    DefiantEmbassy
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    I'd recommend people read the CEO's comments on the Hacker News and reddit thread (username is kepano) - I'm a bit more assured by their comments that Obsidian is sustainable without corporate...

    I'd recommend people read the CEO's comments on the Hacker News and reddit thread (username is kepano) - I'm a bit more assured by their comments that Obsidian is sustainable without corporate licenses.

    8 votes

  13. Comment on Kendrick Lamar - squabble up (2024) in ~music

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    Had to end work early This is like the third time he's done that to me this year

    Had to end work early

    This is like the third time he's done that to me this year

    4 votes

  14. Comment on A Minecraft Movie | Official trailer in ~movies

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    Mojang has effectively decided to stop using C418 as a composer for Minecraft. A video on the manner, but tl;dw: the suspected reason is that C418 is unwilling to change the terms of licensing his...

    Mojang has effectively decided to stop using C418 as a composer for Minecraft.

    A video on the manner, but tl;dw: the suspected reason is that C418 is unwilling to change the terms of licensing his music to Mojang.

    4 votes

  15. Comment on Valorant is winning the war against PC gaming cheaters in ~games

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    I did think a little bit more about this point, and it's a fair criticism. I don't actually think most people are segmenting their systems in this way, but if they chose to do so, it is a shame...

    API another process can access the memory of a different process of the same privilege level AND the same user

    I did think a little bit more about this point, and it's a fair criticism. I don't actually think most people are segmenting their systems in this way, but if they chose to do so, it is a shame that kernel-level software provides a loophole for vendors to inspect all accounts.

    (Of course, you could take this segmenting a million miles further: seperate Windows installs, both BitLockered? Hell, if you're using multiple installs, you can use Linux if you want, with FDE to stop data sniffing there. Or just Qubes, lol, although no competent anti-cheat will let you play video games using Qubes).

    Maybe the question why game companies want to use kernel level access in the first place is a good question to ask. They want to be able to scan the memory and monitor the behaviour of arbitrary applications. Why would they need kernel level access in the first place if this were possible in an unrestricted manmer for userspace applications?

    Because as we've discussed, user-mode can't read kernel-level memory (or even any sort of privileged memory), so cheat vendors will go there. Cheaters obviously don't worry about installing arbitrary kernel-level software.

    My point is: for me, as a user of a single user machine, on a non-isolated operating system, all of my software runs in user mode. The scope for data stealing is outrageously high already, and so the kernel-level aspect doesn't particularly change my security posture.

    I guess what I'm saying is don't give kernel level access to software if not absolutely necesaary, but don't make the operating system vendor enforce that policy - just make the admin jump through reasonably many hurdles before arriving there.

    This is where it becomes tricky.

    On the one hand, completely agree with you. I do worry about a future where users lack control over their computing technology. I totally agree with this user that adding kernel-level technology to co-op, or singleplayer titles, is a gross overstep of responsibility (as well as titles like GTA:Online, where they haven't even attempted to solve the inherent problem of trusting peer-to-peer networking being impossible - making it a server-based title should've been the first move). I basicially agree with everything he said, to be honest.

    On the other hand, if you want a future where kernel-level anti-cheats aren't required, the game has to be able to attest that the environment is secure, which obviously takes way those user freedoms.

    2 votes

  16. Comment on Valorant is winning the war against PC gaming cheaters in ~games

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    I'm actually referring to a later blog post by Riot here (you are referring to the first blog post),

    I'm actually referring to a later blog post by Riot here (you are referring to the first blog post),

    As we were getting at in the “botting” section, some cheaters have begun to pivot to macOS VMs, in an effort to free themselves from the Vanguard requirement. This move was about as unexpected as syrup on pancakes, so we’re pleased to announce that Vanguard’s companion product, Embedded Vanguard (mVG) is coming soon to a Mac build near you. The unique security of the macOS environment allows us to be a little less stringent on defending its kernel, so as the name implies, this won’t require any extra installs—the security is “embedded” right into the game client. Further still, we’re actually already using mVG to great effect on VALORANT console and on Wild Rift.

    Once it ships at the end of this year, we hope it will be the final blow to bots and to the two public scripting suite developers that are now grappling with the realization they wasted three months on porting cheats to OSX. Don’t worry too much though, Swift looks great on a resume.

    4 votes

  17. Comment on Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu to leave Kick Sauber as team confirm decision to part ways in ~sports.motorsports

    DefiantEmbassy
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    Sad Bottas never got a great send off in terms of racing (24 in a 20 man series can’t be fun), but hopefully he can hold his head up high, especially when glancing at the fates of some other...

    Sad Bottas never got a great send off in terms of racing (24 in a 20 man series can’t be fun), but hopefully he can hold his head up high, especially when glancing at the fates of some other drivers who’ve tried battling greats. He could at least be 2nd best, consistently.

    Glad to see a rookie explosion, though!

    2 votes

  18. Comment on Valorant is winning the war against PC gaming cheaters in ~games

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    This gets to the crux of what I’d prefer. Actual proper isolation and sandboxing. Macs have made a similar great effort here, and it’s why Riot are fine having a significantly less intrusive...

    As for keyloggers - yes, there are better solutions than how windows handles it. Wayland is for example much better at isolating keystrokes so that only the current window can access them.

    This gets to the crux of what I’d prefer. Actual proper isolation and sandboxing. Macs have made a similar great effort here, and it’s why Riot are fine having a significantly less intrusive solution on that platform.

    It would be highly questionable if one userspace application could read/write from a different userspace application's address space without some kind of exploit

    My friend, I just downloaded System Informer (portable), opened it with no admin access, and told it to dumps the strings from my Firefox process. I can clear as day see the browsing history of various pages I had open.

    Like, I can only speak for myself. But the concerns you speak of, they’re not sufficiently worse than the existing sorry state of user mode.

    But your comment about Wayland is the future I’d desire. Better isolation, no kernel-level access for anyone.

    7 votes

  19. Comment on Valorant is winning the war against PC gaming cheaters in ~games

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    (I’d like to preface this by saying that I really wish I could reply without bumping this thread relentlessly.) I dispute that. I say the action of installing the software is already the camera,...

    (I’d like to preface this by saying that I really wish I could reply without bumping this thread relentlessly.)

    I can surveil you without entering your home, so you should just let me put cameras up inside it anyway.

    I dispute that. I say the action of installing the software is already the camera, and all the kernel-level driver is doing is bolting it down and installing an infrared sensor. Sure, the infrared sensor can see more, and bolting it down makes it harder to remove, but the problem is the fucking camera.

    To be clear, my hypothetical perfect future is one where applications are properly sandboxed. Where kernel-level access is impossible, and you use modern techniques like eBPF for monitoring purposes. Ideally with some user agency built in, but you’re never going to be perfect here. Cheats to a large extent become far less useful here. Do it properly like PS5/Xbox, and you’re even removing the ability for hardware peeking.

    That, or we give up on the idea of running competitive multiplayer titles on PCs, and consoles properly support mouse and keyboard. The input device is my problem, not the hardware. Screw Linux? Screw Windows too.

    In my ideal world you don’t need to install the fucking camera. But right now? I don’t give a damn how powerful the camera is.

    2 votes

  20. Comment on Valorant is winning the war against PC gaming cheaters in ~games

    DefiantEmbassy
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Oh, I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't improve the security posture of modern operating systems. Hell, half of doing so would help resolve many cheating issues by itself! It's why Vanguard on...

    Oh, I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't improve the security posture of modern operating systems. Hell, half of doing so would help resolve many cheating issues by itself! It's why Vanguard on macOS is significantly less intrusive than on Windows.

    But why does it take kernel-level anti-cheat to have that discussion? It seems a needless distinction to the reality that modern operating systems are leaky faucets.

    5 votes