So long, Windows Update website 🫡

This week, Microsoft took down the old Windows Update v6 web app entirely. It was a time capsule locked in the Microsoft.​com design from 2005. It’s been broken since 2021.

You can still see it preserved through Windows Update Restored.

Another peeve: There’s no possible way to know the true market share of Linux. Why? Easy, Linux people are very likely to be blocking JavaScript-based trackers such as StatCounter’s.

This article has come up on my timeline a few times, and it’s interesting seeing replies prescribing a reason for what’s clearly bad data from one source.

For as long as I can remember, tech blogs have sat on the edge of their seat waiting for the month’s StatCounter update, so they can make a […]

So long, Windows Update website 🫡

This week, Microsoft took down the old Windows Update v6 web app entirely. It was a time capsule locked in the Microsoft.​com design from 2005. It’s been broken since 2021.

You can still see it preserved through Windows Update Restored.

Say what you will about Epic and their motives with this whole App Store thing, but for anyone sure Apple would never possibly implement the DMA in bad faith, here’s some real data.

Dark patterns work because you don’t realise they’re making you answer in a particular way. This was no exception […]

Legacy Update updated – so your old Windows can be, too

https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/29/legacy_updated_updated/

Need – or prefer – an EOL version of Windows? Don't panic!

<- by me on @theregister

🌎⬆️ Legacy Update 1.12.1 fixes some issues from 1.12. (Surprisingly few issues for a big rewrite!) https://github.com/LegacyUpdate/LegacyUpdate/releases/tag/v1.12.1.0

More on 1.12 in the quoted post below 👇
https://hachyderm.io/@kirb/115259926213144446

🌎⬆️ Legacy Update 1.12.1 fixes some issues from 1.12. (Surprisingly few issues for a big rewrite!) https://github.com/LegacyUpdate/LegacyUpdate/releases/tag/v1.12.1.0

More on 1.12 in the quoted post below 👇
https://hachyderm.io/@kirb/115259926213144446

there’s a project that bridges Bluesky with the Twitter API v1 so you can just point an old Twitter app at the proxy and boom it’s 2011 again babyyyyy

Steam powered? No no, *Windows* powered

Steam powered? No no, *Windows* powered

🌎⬆️ Legacy Update 1.12 is a huge rewrite release. We switched from compiling with Visual C++ 2008 (and 2010, and 2017, and 2022…), a setup which Microsoft recently broke, to a streamlined open-source MinGW/GCC toolchain. The result: 1.12 is 50% smaller than 1.11, which was already below 1 MB! […]

root: boring, not scary at all, can just access it with sudo

NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM: loud, asserts dominance, requires service hacks to access, shows The System is in charge

@krutonium Unfortunately, probably only because you had to turn your modem on first for it to work

macOS Tahoe UI has a HUGE new feature for folks like me who have 24/7 Mac Minis running and access them remotely: you can now type the boot password remotely via SSH!

Power on the Mac, then SSH to it. A simple SSH server will handle your request. Typing the […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]

@stroughtonsmith It honestly blows my mind they shipped a spreadsheet app for this tiny screen

Oh dear. Why can you do this? Who decided this is a good idea?

It would have been nice if icon color and widget color were separate settings, because any config that makes icons look good also makes widgets look garbage, and vice versa. But I guess it’s not like Apple cares much about Liquid Glass making sense anyway, or this wouldn’t even be an issue.

Oh dear. Why can you do this? Who decided this is a good idea?

This really ain’t it. macOS Tahoe RC. All of the tinted modes look pretty bad, but did they completely forget to check contrast on the iMac default colors?

@stroughtonsmith MASTODON_POST_REPLY_QUIP_BODY_stroughtonsmith

Recently there has been a lot of discourse about ActivityPub and AT Protocol which has been quite dividing and heated.

Yesterday at the Social Web CG meeting (the group that maintains the ActivityPub and related specifications), I proposed releasing a statement that counters the narrative that […]

Did you know your MacBook has a sensor that knows the exact angle of the screen hinge?

It’s not exposed as a public API, but I figured out a way to read it and make it sound like an old wooden door.

Source code and a downloadable app to try it yourself […]

[Original post on hachyderm.io]

I’m sceptical there’s any way to make Arc profitable without doing the shady things other Chromium forks do (sell user data, inject affiliate links/ads, Google Search kickbacks, get fined by the FTC). Creating an honest browser that’s nice to use leaves few opportunities for monetisation.

I’m […]