I remember renting a game, and it was on a high density 5.25" inch floppy at a whopping 1.2MB; but or family computer only had a standard density 5.25".

So we went to the neighbors house, who was one of the first computer nerds (I’m not sure he’s still alive now), who copied the game to a 3.5" high density 1.44MB disk, then we returned the rental because we couldn’t play it on the 1.2 MB HD 5.25" floppy.

… And that was the first time I was party to piracy.

I had a similar experience with Samsung. I had a bunch of evo 870 SSDs up and die for no reason. Turns out, it was a firmware bug in the drive and they just need an update, but the update needs to take place before the drive fails.

I had to RMA the failures. The rest were updated without incident and have been running perfectly ever since.

I’d still buy Samsung.

I didn’t lose a lot of data, but I can certainly understand holding a grudge on something like that. From the other comments here, hate for Seagate isn’t exactly rare.

Why do you wound me like this?

I too, am old.

They can where I live. While I might “own” the land, I’m in Canada and there’s a very specific and technical legal definition, I never “own” anything. The land is owned by the crown, and we lowly peons get to “buy” (or lease in perpetuity for a one time set cost, plus property taxes every year) the land we live on.

The Crown, and by extension, the government acting on behalf of the crown, can do whatever the fuck they want, including telling you what you can, and cannot do with your land, and whether you can turn it into a trash heap.

Many other places are the same, though, not as technically/legally screwed; I don’t have to look any further than city zoning to know that similar (in effect, not implementation) rules exist for everyone. Zoning means you can’t just turn your plot of land into an industrial manufacturing operation because you feel like it. That’s the government telling you what you can (or cannot) do with your property. There’s plenty more examples and rules that limit people’s freedoms as to what they can do with “their” property, if you do any research at all.

Don’t be such a spoon.

The part that I hate about it is obliging future homeowners to participate.

I get that the obligation was the main reason why HOA types wanted to build HOAs, but I’ll never live under an HOA. As soon as I’m aware there’s an HOA involved, I’m out. Burn the paperwork. I’m not buying it.

… Not that I plan on moving ever again.

My city has bylaws for that sort of thing. I can’t let my grass turn into a jungle either. That’s also a bylaw. Shoveling snow into the street? Guess what, bylaw.

Don’t need an HOA full of overbearing Karen’s to Lord over me about what color I painted my garage on top of the fairly loose bylaws that I also need to abide by.

At least with bylaws they’re enforced by public workers, not Karen from next door.

HOAs are full of crazies.

Cities are usually fine… Not all cities though.