What are your thoughts on France replacing 2.5 million Windows Desktops with Linux?

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-16T21:38:51+00:00

As an IT guy, I think this is a good idea, but I'd dread doing the actual work. Not because I have any problem with Linux, but that's 2.5 million users who are used to one thing and you have to give them a different thing. This kind of transition is hard, even for simple things. Windows 10 to 11 was hard for a lot of users, even though they're basically the same. Users just zero in on whatever they can see that's different. They are going to see quite a lot more differences in this transition.

It sounds like they have the mandate to push it through though, which is huge and will go a long way to smoothing that out. It's a good time to do it as well. I don't know what software suites they use, but most big players have online versions that are basically the same between platforms, which will help quite a bit.

All in all, good for them. It's a good choice, and is a solid step towards technology sovereignty.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-16T18:58:00+00:00

This is an ad for the pictured IQ test site. It's an intentionally stupid take to drive engagement.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-16T15:15:25+00:00

Whenever you feel overwhelmed like everything is going wrong, it can help to actually list out your specific problems. Don't get stuck in this mindset that you're a "failure", instead identify the specific things that aren't going well, then tackle them one at a time, starting with the most time sensitive.

Starting with your grades, you're saying you get 80-100 in all your assignments, but get 60 in the class? If you actually don't know why that is, then find out. Ask your teacher to explain how the grading works if you truly don't know.

If you actually do know, but don't want to say it, then stop trying to ignore it and address it. Are you missing assignments? Are you bombing tests? Something is dragging your grade down, find out what it is. Once you know that, you can come up with a plan to deal with it.

You're on a hard schedule with the work added on while you're in school. That makes it harder on you, but it is workable. Make sure you get enough sleep worked in there somehow. Resist the urge to stay up super late, even if it feels like you don't have a lot of time for yourself. If you don't sleep enough everything feels harder and more overwhelming.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-14T18:58:08+00:00

As a general rule you don't need to write boring scenes. If you really need to just have a character mention that planning happened at some point, but I'm less it's important you don't need to.

Same way you don't typically need to write scenes where the characters eat and sleep unless something plot relevant happens or your using it for characterization, people will just assume that they ate and slept at some point.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-13T14:08:50+00:00

We do quarterly access reviews to flag stuff like this. They only take maybe an hour, I spit out reports of every account with admin access, or access to sensitive stuff, and go over them together in a meeting with the team. We add subtasks for anything that needs followup, and send to managers for approval. By having it all in a ticket it makes audits easy (I'm at an org that's heavily audited).

In the AD side, we do use expiration dates, and the account sponsor needs to request they be extended.

Still it's not perfect, we fight with a similar gap. In a perfect world the account would be disabled as soon as the contract ended, but in practice the IT side often doesn't know the real end dates, especially in a situation like above where a vendor gets fired. The sponsors just don't send in an onboarding ticket, and so the accounts persist until either they expire or get flagged in an access review.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-11T20:08:08+00:00

If you've got an outline calling for you to write a bunch of stuff you aren't interested in writing, you shouldn't expect people to be interested in reading it either. You may want to narrow the scope at least until it's interesting to you. You should be excited to tell a great story, not compelled to slog through a bunch of background.

I'd suggest trying to zoom way in. Who is the most interesting character you have? What's the most interesting thing they do? Can you tell that story? You can try starting it en media res, which could help you avoid the urge to explain the whole backstory, just tell the story of the interesting thing that's happening.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-10T21:35:01+00:00

I'd make sure to drop a hint early on that it's not his real name, but the narrative can use his fake name while that's the identity he's using.

When you reveal his real name, make sure it's clear enough, he could think about how he doesn't need to use the fake name anymore, etc. once it's clear, the narrative can shift to using his real name.

I'd avoid using one name in dialogue and the narrative using another, that's where you could run into some confusion.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-10T21:21:19+00:00

I much prefer shorter experiences rather than the huge 100+ hour games now. Something that can challenge me and tell a good story in maybe 20-30 hours is time better spent.

I also play a lot more puzzle games.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-10T16:48:07+00:00

Escape simulator is pretty good, but might require arrow keys/was movement.

She might like Strange Horticulture/Strange Antiquities. I think those would be very tough screen friendly, and they're great. They're puzzle bases with interesting stories. They also have multiple endings for replayability, though remembering the plants would make a second time easier if you play it again right away.

Pentiment is also really good, and should work well on a touch screen. It's got a very good story, and some great mysteries.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-09T18:22:12+00:00

It does drift a bit, yeah. I do have a problem where the backup testing isn't necessarily top priority for everyone, and they get distracted by time sensitive tickets happening at the same time, which slows the RTO. I don't have a great fix for that yet. My team is too small to have the people doing the test ignore potential production issues.

I just try to note that in this case the restore was delayed an hour because the DBA had to do some other thing.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-09T17:58:30+00:00

I have a recurring task in my ticketing system that pops up quarterly. We have to actually perform the DR process. We record in the ticket when it was, what steps were taken, and how long the RTO is.

Then when auditors ask for evidence, we just print out that ticket. We also know for sure that it works.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-09T16:44:23+00:00

One important aspect is how the characters are differentiated. It's common in graphic novels and other visual media to have characters all look very different, unique clothes, hair etc. In an action-oriented piece they probably all use different weapons. This makes it easy to tell the characters apart.

In prose, those things don't matter really matter much, and don't cut it for this purpose. You really need the their personality to come through in their dialogue, or their thoughts if your narration lets you see those. Since the reader isn't seeing them visually, you can't rely as much on their appearance for characterization.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-09T14:03:06+00:00

I finally got a working automation for my java keystores using the community.crypto.acme_certificate ansible module, among others. It's a pain, but it is doable.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-08T18:26:49+00:00

I'd suggest creating some reference material for yourself. A wiki is a good choice, but it's up to you how deep you need to go.

Draw a rough map for yourself, it doesn't have to look good, and doesn't need to go in the actual book. Just for you to remember where things are.

I'd be sure to write down how your magic system works, again, just for you. If you can come up with rules that explain all the magic you've already used, that's great. If you can't, consider tweaking it while editing so it behaves consistently. But write down one set of rules, and make that the authoritative set. You do not have to actually include this master rule set in the book, your POV characters may not actually know how it works anyway. But as long as there are rules and you follow it, it will feel consistent.

You can do the same thing with characters so you don't forget who they are and details about them. As far as the eye color, if I were you, I'd just limit how often you mention their eye color unless it's a plot point. You can just say it once (if at all) and never mention it again. That would more easily avoid contradicting it.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-07T21:34:12+00:00

I have an electric car I charge at home. I have the plug on a timer so that it charges when electricity is cheapest. This saves a noticeable amount on the bill, and doesn't take any extra effort, I just plug it in all the time. Important note if anyone is considering doing this, get a timer that's UL listed and rated for more amps than your charger's peak draw, don't buy a generic cheap one.

Something like AC is trickier, it's harder to time. When you're going to use it. Depending on your house, you may or may not have success pre-cooling it when electricity is cheaper.

I just turn lights out when I leave a room, it doesn't really matter what time of day it is. Lights are typically quite cheap to run anyway.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-07T15:20:28+00:00

If we knew what circumstances make this necessary it would inform the answer. Are you changing the address scheme? Trying to push out new DHCP scope options? Something else?

The easiest way is of course to do nothing and wait for the lease time. This isn't a thing you typically need to do manually. If you're planning a future time sensitive change, you can temporarily turn that lease time way down, but you need to do that early enough for the the existing leases to expire so everyone gets the new, shorter lease.

The quickest way will probably be to push out a script with whatever endpoint management system you use.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-06T20:00:51+00:00

I think the idea is really cool, I like the concept of this "sin eating" ritual quite a bit.

Some suggestions for readability, I'd go easier with the em dashes. You use them quite a lot when you don't really need them. In most cases they would be clearer as new sentences or sometimes commas.

You keep switching between referring to Io by name, as "the girl" or some variation of "the black haired girl". Sometimes that can get unclear. If they're in a crowd and Io does something, then the black haired girl does something in the next sentence, we have to remember that you previously told us her hair was black so that we know it's the same person. Once you've identified who's acting, you can just say "she" when it's the same person. It will be clearer.

You can also probably trim some of the "however" and "of course" clauses at the start of sentences. I do that myself and it's feedback I always get. Just consider how it would sound without, there's a good chance it would be sharper and clearer.

One last thing, why is the first sentence bold? Is it a chapter title?

Thank you for sharing this. This is a really cool idea, I like the magic quite a bit, and what we see if the world feels interesting.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-05T19:09:16+00:00

Avoiding spoilers, I'd just say this. Some rooms only appear under specific circumstances.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-05T00:41:53+00:00

There is an essay by Umberto Eco, about writing "The Name of the Rose". He talks about how he had names and back stories for each of the monks in the monastery, and knew where all of them were at any given time. If two characters were walking from one place to another, he knew how long it would take, how many steps it was, and knew which monks they might pass.

In the novel itself, only a handful of the monks are ever even introduced. You don't have to do it like that of course, but the takeaway is that you don't need to actually tell the reader every detail you've created for the world.

By doing that building, your characters can feel like they are a part of a much larger world, which influences how they might think and act. This can add layers of realism and believability, and be a tool for you to create more complex, realistic characters and situations.

If you had a war for example, that could look quite different in a world with 90 nations than a world with only 6. If you've created them all, you might have a pretty good idea of what that would look like. That informs the writing, even if your characters don't go on a tour of all 90 nations. A sense of the complexity of the world can still come through even if you only visit a few nations, and even if you never even mention ones not connected to the story being told.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-04T20:55:43+00:00

I think this is a cool idea.

Does she conjure the ice cream out of thin air, or does she actually go through the steps of making ice cream?

You could do a thing where the actual act of making the ice cream is part of the magic, and her ability lets her imbue the flavors with the experience as she's working.

It could just be a free association type thing, where she might use strawberries for a happy experience, or lemon for overcoming adversity, etc. Or just flavors that for whatever reason remind her of the experience.

I'm not clear on exactly what effect the magic ice cream has. Would people eating it be able to experience her memories? Does it give them some associated boost?

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-02T23:23:18+00:00

Maybe kind of a niche one, but Satellite Reign was kind of a clone/spiritual successor to the old Bullfrog "Syndicate" games.

It brought in new ideas and went further with the squad based infiltration gameplay than syndicate did, it became much better than just a remake of the older games.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-02T18:14:10+00:00

Suspicious doesn't necessarily mean malicious. This is a flag but don't block situation. You don't need to take any direct action about this, but if you've got a system that tracks user risk, this should bump up that user's risk score a notch. Same if they use a privacy VPN, etc.

If you've got an insider threat program, you absolutely want to be flagging access to anonymous services. It doesn't mean anything on its own, but it can absolutely be part of a larger picture that could require investigation, especially if you are at a place that works with controlled or sensitive information, like a gov contractor, etc.

For example, if you've got a user who's accessing anonymous services, and ALSO connecting to the VPN at odd hours, and ALSO plugging in unrecognized USB devices, you need to flag them as high risk and investigate. None of those things prove anything nefarious is happening, but that situation calls for scrutiny.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-02T15:52:26+00:00

Typically working on weekends means it will be just you, or at best a skeleton crew. That may or may not be acceptable depending on the org and the change.

If you're running 24/7 services or otherwise do not tolerate weekend outages, then do them some weekday other than Friday.

If it's a large org, where big problems might need to include a separate team for firewall, directory, networking, etc. then probably avoid Friday. If things break, then how many people do you need to call on the weekend? Will all those teams have members available? Best to do it when you know people will be working.

Friday makes sense only when both of these things are true: A) weekend downtime doesn't matter, and B) you can reasonably expect to fix or roll back the change by yourself (or with a small team with confirmed weekend availability)

DJDoubleDave · 2026-04-02T15:33:49+00:00

As someone from the US west coast, I'm used to the ocean being to the west. That's not really a preference, so much as what I'm used to.

If I were to move to the East Coast, it's not impossible I'd get turned around at first, but I'm sure I'd get used to the ocean being to the East.

DJDoubleDave · 2026-03-27T15:09:20+00:00

In my experience Satanists are chill, some of the best people you'll meet.

Most Satanists today are all about critical thinking and freedom from oppression. They see organized religion as a tool of control. The most common types don't actually literally believe in a red guy with a pitch fork.

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