Automated phone systems have been a thing for decades. They are notoriously shitty and adding a layer of “friendly AI” on top of that shitty system doesn’t bode well.

Die a hero or live long enough to become the villain

That’s great! Competition in this space is working to improve both.

Instead of this stupid fanboy shit of Android vs iOS, we should celebrate an actual success in development.

Can anyone explain why Apple is such a target when there are several other companies that truly are a Monopoly, not just popular? They might not have super great business practices, but under capitalism that it not only okay, but it seems to be the default.

There isn’t a single product they sell that only Apple sells, there is a huge market for smart phones, smart watches, home computers, tablets, headphones, chargers, etc. Being a popular product does not make a company “a monopoly” and if we wanted to just go off market share, Microsoft needs to continue to be pursued, as does Amazon, Google, Disney, Comcast, the single other ISP in your region of the country, your power and water utility companies, every chain restaurant, most places that cut men’s hair.

Why go after Apple specifically when there are many companies to go after? Because people don’t like them? Do you like your power company? Tough shit, they are the only game in town. Do you like your ISP? Tough shit, you have two options and one is the worst DSL connection you’ve ever seen. Did you like any of the 20 streaming options in 2018? Tough shit, 12 of them merged into 3. Want to buy a computer in a store? Better like Microsoft or have the ability to install and maintain a new OS (is Linux the only other option?)

I’m not saying Apple is amazing or they have good business practices. But there are far more insidious companies where there simply isn’t many or any legal alternatives.

An old fashioned meme but it checks out

HP is the one responsible here, Windows is just the delivery service HP uses to deliver their updates.

I’m all for hating on Microsoft, but you don’t blame the UPS driver for delivering a bomb to your house.

I mean, you got a 2 year extended warranty and free delivery, both of which I’m sure Best Buy charges for.

I get it, I walked into the den and poked the bear. But I think a reality check for this kind of “Linux will take over Microsoft” is necessary. 95% of computer users don’t care about their OS and would never imagine re-installing it or installing a different one. Just the idea of thinking about an OS puts that person in the advanced user category. It took Google to mod Linux and sell it to every public school in America to get it to a 4% user base. It is clearly not something for everyone, it isn’t even for most people who use Reddit or Lemmy, and those communities are def more closely representative of people capable of using Linux.

I understand that there have been many advances to make it a usable OS for the casual person. But it isn’t. Sure, your mom might be able to use it “out of the box” but it doesn’t come in a box. The two widely adopted versions of Linux had to be heavily modified by large dev teams of Valve and Google, for very limited numbers of devices. Would Valve make a version for a non-gaming focused device, or computer at large? Would Google make a version that wasn’t in direct support of Googles products? I doubt it.

It isn’t just lack of knowledge of Linux that is holding it back. Its main demographic is nerdy computer people who are willing to, occasionally, run a shell command or hunt down the necessary things to get their webcam to work. That isn’t what Microsoft aims for, they aim for the average computer user who wants to watching videos, play games, browse the web and check their emails without thinking about any part of how or why it works.

I appreciate the enthusiasm Linux fanboys have about this. But ain’t nobody but the most tech savvy would even consider it.

Linux is not consumer friendly, it typically involves putting in a shit load of effort to get working with your hardware, the ones that don’t still need a ton of work to make “Windows-like” and compatibility is always going to be an issue.

Yes, there have been a ton of strides toward this dream situation. But without financial incentive, making things user-friendly isn’t going to happen. In fact, much of the Linux community prides themselves on having a “difficult” OS.

Once Linux can, by default, have an easy to use interface, can natively run Android apps and windows applications, and can work with a huge range of hardware, it will never take off. Linux might get a few points of market share due to some business applications finding Linux a better option than updating HW and windows build, but those companies are going to struggle and will be even more dependent on their IT staff for the simplest of things.

USPS/Fedex/UPS don’t share location, name or photo and you don’t see a lot of them getting shot. I drove for Amazon for 6 months or so. Most people know when they are expecting a delivery, especially from Amazon.

There is absolutely no way sharing a photo of the driver would increase safety for anyone. Anyone shooting at the pizza guy at the wrong house or teens turning around in the wrong driveway aren’t going to pay attention to a photo.

Amazon should, IMO, return back to an estimated delivery window. It is more than the other big delivery companies offer already.

Is it common for your delivery driver to knock on your door and hand deliver your package? Standard for Amazon is customer requested location and a photo. There are some exceptions, but those packages wouldn’t be given (typically) to the individual Flex drivers.

UPS/Fedex/USPS drivers don’t share their location or a photo/name. Those systems have been working well in that manner for a century.

All Amazon drivers are contracted. The Prime drivers you see are working for Amazon DSPs. The ones in their own cars are doing the same thing without the middle man- less packages, better pay, but no guarantees and no benefits provided.

All Amazon drivers are contracted, check out Amazon DSP. We also use the Flex app. Your location, even as a Flex driver, is on a delay. Unless you are having to take 10+ minutes at a stop, it will never reveal your current location. Even my DSP couldn’t get my exact location until I had been stationary for some time.

As a former Amazon driver, ain’t nobody got time to knock on your door and wait for you to answer/receive your package.

I delivered hundreds of packages a day and, maybe, interacted with 2/3 people, and typically because they were outside when I pulled up.

Standard delivery for Amazon is customer requested location and a photo.

I’m glad to hear you are off the opioid train. Have lost family members to it and my father is currently been on them for years. I tried to get him on the THC train, he even has a medical card, but he claims to not like the effects. I live in a recently legal state so I’m waiting until I can show him a store with a wide variety to try. I know there is some strain that will help with his pain and suffering without the effects he didn’t like.

The “gateway” drug thing was taught to me through DARE in the 90s. But has been confirmed propoganda for decades. Calling Cannabis (marijuana is not the proper name) a “gateway” drug is like saying water or air are “gateway” drugs. Sure, a crack head has probably smoked weed, but that isn’t what got them into crack.

I would guess that these materials are, either, very old or they categorize cannabis differently because it is so common. It doesn’t help that it is illegal in half the country and legal in the other half. So any state with cannabis not, at least, decriminalized will still have the talking points for the 1930s.

Some of these replies seem to think it is okay to hit a random guy, walking passed, in the knee with batons. Escalation of force starts with clear and concise commands. I didn’t see one of those uniformed men command or inform those two that they weren’t allowed to do whatever it is they were doing (appeared to be walking casually on the street) before they busted out the batons.