akosma

akosma, 18 days ago to random

"No writer has ever thought about the exact percentage of italics in a line of type, but Word is reduced to this kind of arbitrary principle because its Platonic model—like all Platonic models—is magnificent in its inner coherence but mostly irrelevant to the real world. (…)
Intelligent writers can produce intelligent prose using almost any instrument, but the medium in which they write will always have some more or less subtle effect on their prose."

https://www.nybooks.com/online/2014/10/21/escape-microsoft-word/

akosma, 18 days ago to random

… so here's Lotus 1-2-3 for Unix… for Linux. wat

https://github.com/taviso/123elf

mxp, 19 days ago to random

Ooh, #Sonos pride themselves on releasing crappy software: “it takes courage.” Am I supposed to say “thank you“!?

https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/9/24152675/sonos-new-app-bad-reviews-response-statement

akosma, 19 days ago to random

“Our industry cannot afford to suck a little less; we need paradigm shifts.”

James Coplien (minute 29:49)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrBQmIDdls4

akosma, 19 days ago to random

“In religion and politics, on the contrary, though there is as yet nothing approaching scientific knowledge, everybody considers it de rigueur to have a dogmatic opinion, to be backed up by inflicting starvation, prison, and war, and to be carefully guarded from argumentative competition with any different opinion.”

Bertrand Russell, “Free Thought and Official Propaganda”, March 24th, 1922.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Thought_and_Official_Propaganda

akosma, 22 days ago to random

Everyone, please meet my friend @elitalon and give him a nice follow as a welcome!

akosma, 24 days ago to random

The contrast was brutal back then

Screenshot of Microsoft Word 5.1a for Mac OS 7.5 running on Basilisk II for Linux

juandesant, 25 days ago to random

Love this quote from the article:

«Sometimes I re-learn things I had forgotten years ago. Just like great books are not meant to be read just once, some things are not meant to be learnt just once.»

Totally agreeing with you, Mr. @akosma.
https://mas.to/@deprogrammaticaipsum/112376960315451126

ploum, 26 days ago to random French

Le jour où Microsoft sortira une distribution GNU/Linux, elle s’appellera Velux.

Je vous fait confiance pour imaginer les logos possibles…

akosma, 26 days ago to random

"The design goal for Word 5.1 for Mac OS X was to create a clean, carbonized version that would run natively under Mac OS X with as few changes from the original version as possible."

😏

https://tidbits.com/2003/04/01/microsoft-word-5-1-for-mac-os-x/?tbart=07139

akosma, 26 days ago to random

"Les mathématiques devraient absolument être considérées, non pas simplement comme une discipline scolaire chargée de sélectionner ceux qui vont être ingénieur ou ministre, mais comme quelque chose qui possède un intérêt extraordinaire en soi-même."

Alain Badiou, “Éloge des Mathématiques”, Flammarion, 2015.

akosma, 27 days ago to random

"In short, most Americans would probably prefer European working hours. It is just that their employers, and the cost of health insurance, get in the way. The US offers big prizes for finishing top, and big punishments for finishing bottom. That is partly why Europe exports its most ambitious strivers there."

https://archive.ph/Lf5eW

akosma, 27 days ago to random

Watching "Genesis: Together and Apart" I find spectacular how much this band (and each of its members) defined the sound of the 70s and 80s.

I've heard many (quite arrogant) musicians through the years dismiss their production after Peter Gabriel left, but seriously, it's still remarkable and very enjoyable to my ears. I love Genesis, with and without Gabriel, before and after.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3966500/

akosma, 28 days ago to random

Unpopular opinion: the Internet Archive and Wikipedia should be part of UNESCO.

akosma, 28 days ago to random

Sophie Teuschler's Sophiestication Software website, circa August 2009

https://web.archive.org/web/20090823054938/http://www.sophiestication.com/

akosma, 28 days ago to random

In other news, archive.today is a godsend. https://archive.ph/