Not a replicant

I tried co-pilot. Once.

I asked it “why does Windows Defender peg my HDD* at 100%”

The reply was “I don’t know, but here are some google searches that might help”

Microsoft’s own co-pilot doesn’t seem to have access to microsoft products, so now I uninstall/deactivate it every opportunity I can.

*yes, a HDD. Not ideal for performance these days, but it’s the last laptop I have with a HDD, and I use it for experiments.

A sequel to Ex Machina - Ava’s experiences in the real world. Caleb has managed to escape, and he’s tracking her.

Ringworld and its sequels The Ringworld Engineers, Ringworld’s Children, and the Ringworld Throne, with some less-dated attitudes. I mean I’m not totally opposed to rishathra as a concept, but just a few tweaks here and there to catch up with modern attitudes.

If money really wasn’t an issue, the entire “Known Space” series. A chance for some really good CGI with Pierson’s Puppeteers, Kzin, and all the specialised post-human races living on the Ringworld. And Thrint, Slavers, Outsiders, and so on.

Then there’s the first-contact “The Mote in God’s Eye” and its sequel “The Mote in Murchison’s Eye” AKA “The Gripping Hand”. Another opportunity for some interesting three-armed CGI aliens.

Oh, and “Footfall” - an alien invasion story. These aliens look somewhat like baby elephants 😲

Some of your data flows through Syncthing servers (but I agree that’s a great product, I use it myself) LibreOffice works for entry-level users, but it does not have the same functionality as MSOffice. And the UI sucks as much as MSOffice.

It’s not difficult to block the mining and telemetry. Pihole, a few registry tweaks, a few scheduled tasks disabled and life goes on.

Folk see nothing wrong with spending hours tuning a Linux distro, but they object to doing the same with Windows?

FWIW I use vanilla Debian for everything other than what I’m required to use Windows for.

One doesn’t need to pay for MS Office. Not home users, anyway.