Jason Lefkowitz

What being a Windows user is like in 2025

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/05/in-3-5-years-notepad-exe-has-gone-from-barely-maintained-to-it-writes-for-you/?comments=1&post=43746095

Ars Technica user "very-jaded" posts:

There's a difference between the "Notepad app" and notepad.exe. The Notepad app has the AI and all the new stuff in it. But the old C : \windows\system32\notepad.exe still exists, and is unencumbered by all those new features.

By uninstalling the "Notepad app", the old notepad.exe takes over as the default text editor. And you can once again edit a config file without having the quotation marks automatically replaced by smart quotes.

EDIT: I've only done this on my work Windows 11 Pro 23H2 laptop. I don't know about other versions of Windows.

Like 23 May at 3:55 | Open on vmst.io

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Julien Avérous – 🇫🇷🇪🇺🇺🇦

@jalefkowit @jpmens If the enshitification also touch simple softwares like notepad… 🤦‍♂️

23 May at 9:45 | Open on social.sourcemac.com

ℒӱḏɩę :blahaj:

@jalefkowit I'll be running Win10 for another decade. 0Patched.

23 May at 10:03 | Open on tech.lgbt

Sharp Leaves

@jalefkowit I love this era. I'm completely tech illiterate, but because I hated Micro$haft enough to install Mint, I now get to smugly mock every Windows user ever like I actually know what I'm talking about. It feels so good being right, and rubbing it in like I accomplished something is the best bit.

When I get home I'm going to hug my laptop, open text editor and write 'fuck AI' 500 times, I love Linux so much!

23 May at 10:09 | Open on mastodon.social

Jason Lefkowitz

He's best known for successfully conning a mark into buying the Eiffel Tower, but my favorite story about legendary con man Victor Lustig has always been his "magic money box."

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-smoothest-con-man-that-ever-lived-29861908/

Born in Austria-Hungary in 1890, Lustig became fluent in several languages, and when he decided to see the world he thought: Where better to make money than aboard ocean liners packed with wealthy travelers? Charming and poised at a young age, Lustig spent time making small talk with successful businessmen—and sizing up potential marks. Eventually, talk turned to the source of the Austrian’s wealth, and reluctantly he would reveal that he had been using a “money box.” Eventually, he would agree to show the contraption privately. He just happened to be traveling with it. It resembled a steamer trunk, crafted of mahogany but fitted with sophisticated-looking printing machinery within.

Lustig would demonstrate the money box by inserting an authentic hundred-dollar bill, and after a few hours of “chemical processing,” he’d extract two seemingly authentic hundred-dollar bills. He had no trouble passing them aboard the ship. It wasn’t long before his wealthy new friends would inquire as to how they too might be able to come into possession of a money box.

Reluctantly again, the Count would consider parting with it if the price was right. Lustig was, if nothing else, patient and cautious. He would usually end up parting with the device for the sum of $10,000—sometimes two and three times that amount. He would pack the machine with several hundred-dollar bills, and after any last-minute suspicions had been allayed through successful test runs, the Count would disappear.

Like 1 16 March at 17:27 | Open on vmst.io

Jason Lefkowitz

How the above analogizes to modern AI companies I leave as an exercise for the reader

16 March at 17:28 | Open on vmst.io

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Jason Lefkowitz

Every time Mozilla steps on a rake regarding privacy or security, people come rushing out telling everyone to switch to Firefox forks. And I always feel bad about it, because if your main concern is privacy or security, there is no scenario where you would be better off on a Firefox fork

Like 28 February at 18:02 | Open on vmst.io

Jason Lefkowitz

"Explain." OK.

1) No Firefox fork is doing large-scale engineering work on the browser. They're all small teams whose main contribution is things like different configuration settings. If Mozilla dies, these forks will all die too.

2) Some forks consider it a feature that they keep old, insecure APIs Firefox itself abandoned because they could not be secured (NPAPI, XUL, etc.) Mozilla could not secure these APIs; forks aren't going to be able to. Most don't bother trying.

3) You're still running on Mozilla code, so your trust model still includes Mozilla. Now it just also includes a third party. Do you trust them? Why?

"Explain." OK.

1) No Firefox fork is doing large-scale engineering work on the browser. They're all small teams whose main contribution is things like different configuration settings. If Mozilla dies, these forks will all die too.

2) Some forks consider it a feature that they keep old, insecure APIs Firefox itself abandoned because they could not be secured (NPAPI, XUL, etc.) Mozilla could not secure these APIs; forks aren't going to be able to. Most don't bother trying.

Expand text...

1 28 February at 18:07 | Open on vmst.io

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Jason Lefkowitz

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