Can confirm this is an actual issue from Microsoft impacting lots of normal system apps that update via the Microsoft Store and/or Windows Update.

I’ve seen it mess up Notepad, Snipping Tool to name a few.

It’s pretty egregious that a bug like this can mess up utilities already installed on your computer.

Windows is really feeling like a single-player video game that requires an always on connection.

Source: I’m an IT professional who has been helping people with this since yesterday.

More source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5729246/how-to-fix-error-code-0x803f8001

I’ve been trying to find a source but from what I remember the transition was in maybe Munich and it was going fine.

Microsoft opened a new sales or operation center there and got cozy with the government there as quickly as possible to turn them back into a customer.

EDIT: Here is the LiMux endeavor.

Microsoft had announced in 2013 its willingness to move its German headquarters to Munich in 2016, which according to Reiter though, is unrelated to the criticism they've presented against the LiMux project.

Nobody likes being pointed at. The fist point, then, is a way to underscore an important point without the scolding, accusatory associations of a raised index finger—because it uses a thumb instead. Clinton Thumb works best when paired with an intellectually complex point, making it a TED talk favorite. “It is articulating that you’re focusing on something, and that you’re grasping it cognitively,” body language expert Joe Navarro told Business Insider.

I tested it in my iPad and it’s an eyesore and genuinely less readable.

In a simple mechanical sense the glass effects are well done but they create ugly imperfections when covering different backgrounds. In my opinion Windows Aero was more tasteful.

There is also a degradation when it comes to buttons and control frameworks. In previous versions of iOS it was easier to determine what was a control layer and what was a content layer in the UI. Now the content layers are minimized or even hidden for a non appreciable “aesthetic gain” I think in a quest to further make the UI look less technical, in an user interface that already has been made less readable by previous aesthetic considerations (the removal of obvious buttons, which, from an IT standpoint, I run into issues with every day where a user cannot determine what is a control element vs what is a design element)

sixcolors posted a great breakdown on icon regression as well. A lot of icons look downright sloppy or almost like placeholders while penalizing previously well designed icons by third party devs that don’t conform by putting them in the community-coined “bubble jail”.

In short, there is a distinct lack of taste and a poor execution of ideas that is also hostile to third parties who produce software that looks better than this new paradigm.

It’s okay to take a break. Come back if you feel the itch.

I took a big Star Trek break after PIC S1 and came back to the franchise appreciating more than ever before.

Who is this person? Why does their opinion matter? Why are they writing about FOSS on a Billionaire’s Typewriter? Who is their audience? Why are they so concerned about recommending a corporate backed distros over a hobby distro made for hobby users?

The linked author also has account-gated articles such as The Senior Engineer’s Job in 2026 Is Code Review, Not Code Writing There is nothing in their About page and a cursory online search can’t confirm there’s a real person writing this blog.

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Me personally, I use CachyOS on my gaming computer after bouncing from popOS to Fedora to Arch to Bazzite. Cachy provides a familiar foundation while more of my games work without issues, it provides nice quality of life Arch utilities, and gives me a mutable distro to tinker with when I need to.

Is it perfect for everyone? No. Is it going through a hype-cycle? Yes. If Cachy ends up becoming unstable or insecure on my system, can I switch? Easily.

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It’s really weird to me to see a hot-dropped random blog post heavily upvoted with no discussion. Even if the blog matches the poster’s opinion, we should be careful in 2026 that we’re sharing genuine information with each other and not corporate propaganda or LLM slop posts.

It was announced for PC and consoles so I don’t think so.

The further we go the more we find ourselves.

On Joined Trill memory, it could be thought of as a similar concept to “Me” in Doctor Who. The humanoid brain can’t hold multiple lifetimes of memory, but in the case of a Trill, the memory is stored in a symbiont and accessed through a complex psychological connection.

One could also liken it to sense memory, reductively, like Jason Bourne- with an amnesia that allows access to memories or experiences when exposed to emotional or physical stimuli. Take Jadzia, who before being joined had a background that was almost entirely based in scientific academia. However, when on a starship, she is almost always the pilot. Why? Put her in front of the helm and she can access the skills and experience of Torias Dax.

I think of pagh as something like Prana or Chi. I imagine Sam’s program gives off vital signs, so someone sensitive to those vital signs would be able to “read” her.

PAL the format has a higher resolution but DS9’s production process was for NTSC. They would not have redone the series in PAL so that version is likely scaled the lower resolution up to the PAL resolution along with the speed artifacts described.

I think the AI upscales we have now are a novelty but not a substitute for the DVD masters. Additionally, Marvin Rush used specific camera techniques to isolate characters from the background in the early seasons which in hindsight can the image looks undersaturated and muddy.

LCD technology is pretty poor at scaling up non-native resolutions, even in 2026. DVD is probably the best quality but your mileage may vary based on the screen you use. Streaming imposed an additional penalty due to additional artifacting from the low resolution and the usual penalty of increased blur and smudging during camera motion.

Counterintuitively, using an old CRT screen or a filter component like ShaderGlass or RetroArch will process the image in such a way that tightens up the blurriness the image and will let your eyes relax.

As much as I wish DS9 HD was a thing, it will almost certainly remain an artifact of contemporary production. There are ways to mitigate that reality, but no way to change it.

The first episode with greytop uniforms is DS9 5x10 “Rapture”, four episodes after “Trials and Tribble-ations”. The tailoring for it wasn’t complete, so it could be argued to be a different variant than the regular greytop duty uniforms Sisko starts wearing from 5x11 “The Darkness and the Light”.

There aren’t too many stardates cited around that point in season five unless the OP knows something I don’t about the chronological events of 2373.

I don’t believe what we see from the genetically-engineered characters in DS9 is representative of the intellectual disabilities they possessed beforehand.

The implication is that, as Khan and the augments from the 20th Century developed a superiority complex and compulsion to enact their desires on the world, personality traits from Lauren, Patrick, and the others also became heightened. Lauren may have had learning disabilities and a high libido before her cognitive abilities were enhanced. The learning disability was removed, but her enhanced cognitive abilities tipped the high libido into a permanent state of nymphomania.

Likewise, Patrick may have had learning disabilities and emotional processing issues. The learning disabilities got “fixed” but the cognitive enhancements supercharged his emotional processing issues.

Also inferred from dialogue is Bashir’s enhancements were less intensive than the others, which prevented him from developing the kinds of neurosis the others suffered from. Jack, for instance, mentions a “full package” implying a full augmentation, à la Khan and his supermen.

I agree that there was likely censorship involved that toned down the presentation of the neurosis (a great deal of TV was like this at the time) along with a lack of nuanced understanding of the subject matter.

RetroArch should have a video player built in. Anything running in RetroArch should be able to run its shaders.