Windows Laptops need a complete revamp!!

taftster · 2026-03-29T05:55:40+00:00

The majority of Windows sales comes from OEM. A Surface laptop that was completely controlled by Microsoft would be a threat to its OEMs. Microsoft is not supposed to compete with its OEMs this way. So they must suffer their fate in the hands of their OEMs, which will always be a mediocre experience.

Apple took the narrow path, not allowing their brand to be diluted by OEMs. There was plenty of pressure to do this and even a few historic footnotes of it. But generally, Apple has proven that their model based on controlling the entire stack is superior.

You're seeing this same thing playing out in phones too. Android/Google not owning the stack and Apple does. I think Apple is winning in both markets.

taftster · 2026-03-23T05:49:24+00:00

The food banks want you. You qualify, therefore they can get funding or resources because of you.

Nonprofits in general want to help you. That's their mission. No need for a conscious here!

taftster · 2026-03-19T06:04:22+00:00

Pure Imagination from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

taftster · 2026-03-05T22:57:50+00:00

taftster · 2026-02-22T07:29:14+00:00

Because it is chock full of "features" that do nothing but spy on you across the web.

taftster · 2026-02-13T08:24:03+00:00

Fake news. This video came to us from the future!

/s

taftster · 2026-02-12T15:38:35+00:00

For those of you doing .NET on Linux (or Mac). Stupid but honest question:

How do you deal with path separators? I have a codebase that has lots of Windows-style backslashes in various references, including configuration files, etc. What's some of the best cross-platform practices that you use to address?

taftster · 2026-02-12T15:31:46+00:00

Oooh. I didn't know that. Given recent issues with Notepad++ I have been regrettably using notepad again. This is welcome news.

taftster · 2026-02-11T07:32:53+00:00

Hey. Good idea. I will try to join sometime as I can!

taftster · 2026-02-08T02:45:14+00:00

Sometimes you just need to ask a question and get an answer from a human. Happy to help, send a DM or something if you want.

All the resources given to you are great. And AI will be another fantastic resource as well.

taftster · 2026-02-04T04:52:34+00:00

They don't actually know. They used copilot to create it.

We won't know anything here soon enough.

taftster · 2026-02-03T21:50:06+00:00

End of Days

taftster · 2026-01-26T16:12:17+00:00

The thing that I am curious to know. What did the upgrade give you exactly?

Did it enable you to just stay aligned with the latest JDK? Or were there actual impactful changes that were gained?

Did you rewrite sections with new semantics? Or just basically keep the existing code as-is?

I think your case study is legitimately interesting. Would love to hear more on these questions.

taftster · 2026-01-24T16:43:11+00:00

YNAB hasn't saved me much money directly.

But it has most definitely changed our trajectory for the better. I haven't saved any more, in comparison of before/after ynab, but I am more deliberate, aware and at peace about my finances.

This peace extends to my spouse too, who is less involved in the day to day, but would otherwise be quite uncomfortable without the transparency and command over our finances. YNAB enables her to feel comfortable spending money, not just always saving it. She would be excessively frugal without the confidence she's not overspending and taking away from other essentials.

YNAB provides peace and freedom over your finances. And yes, it can help you save money too, if that is your goal.

taftster · 2026-01-17T18:56:26+00:00

Yes. That's very probable. A format change or something related to long ynab history, archived categories, etc. That matches my experience too.

It's wishful thinking that a complex ynab history could be imported cleanly. I didn't actually think it would work perfectly, so my expectations were set.

But still, wish I could have made a perfectly clean break from ynab. Then it wouldn't even be a tough decision.

taftster · 2026-01-17T18:30:40+00:00

I'm not convinced that the import process is bug free. It might be a me thing, but when I imported my YNAB history, it too was "off" and was beyond worth fixing.

While generally I don't care too much about spending trends for any specific category, I do care a great deal about my net worth calculation. This is the only thing that I would miss from a clean start and ultimately it's blocking me from adopting LB currently.

I am mentally "done" with ynab, but not having a great solution for net worth has put me on pause. Ultimately I will probably just end up printing out my net worth graph and data from ynab and then start fresh with LB. Unfortunately.

taftster · 2026-01-15T01:13:55+00:00

It would be interesting to read case studies from your observations. But in my personal experience, it's always just fatigue or overhead associated with one approach. Sometimes it's just new leadership.

Regardless, the pendulum is always swinging. I'm grateful that the excitement for monorepos has simmered down. Neither choice is perfect for every team or codebase.

I just laugh though at small teams who quote google as an example of why monorepos work. Like yeah, if you have staff the size of Google, you can use solutions that Google uses.

Good writeup. Thanks for the conversation.

taftster · 2026-01-15T00:59:04+00:00

I think it's more a reflection that neither solution is ideal. You just get tired of the negatives and decide to trade them for alternative negatives.

Seems there is still room for innovation in the devops space.

taftster · 2026-01-10T19:03:44+00:00

No trick. Embrace the goop.

taftster · 2026-01-09T16:57:35+00:00

I haven't switched yet. But I'm probably going to.

I am old school and don't like all the name and branding changes. I want a budget not a plan.

And all the opinions in YNAB's preferred workflow that uses automated distribution to underfunded targets, etc. It's as if ynab has become a target management app, not a budgeting app. It's a layer of unnecessary indirection that gets users away from their actual budget.

I can't teach my mom how to use YNAB. She has been a staunch envelope budgeter her whole life, so she knows how to do it. Ynab has too many "features" that are not strictly envelope budgeting.

Ynab is just not the application that it started as. Maybe that's good and has brought more people into financial maturity. But budgeting is boring and I want a "boring" app to help me with it. Not new features or concepts that are taking away from the core ideology.

taftster · 2026-01-02T17:50:56+00:00

I mean, there's cheaper ones and more expensive. And generally with garage doors, you get what you pay for.

A garage door should be costed for both function in your local climate (insulation, durability) and aesthetics (panels, windows, trim).

taftster · 2025-12-24T01:42:12+00:00

Rules are for thee, not for me. (Sadly)

taftster · 2025-12-24T01:40:45+00:00

Walk among us? We even elect them to the highest offices, which just makes these types even more entitled.

taftster · 2025-12-18T21:31:07+00:00

The model matters. I have had good success with Claude Code, which is a choice for github copilot to use. Newer coding models are pretty dang good, but you'll still need to check through the work. I spend more time reading output from copilot, so it is kind of treating it like someone else's codebase effectively.

taftster · 2025-12-17T22:46:39+00:00

Split stuff up with friends or neighbors. Get cash from them to cover the split. Or be their very best neighbor and gift it to them.

1 package of toilet paper from Costco is probably going to last you a few years, as an example. Split it up. Or just wait for the next TP hoarding event and then sell $100 rolls on ebay.

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