9 comments

  • userbinator 32 minutes ago
    "The mutation path", "the fully lab-validated line. Other accepted builds warn.", "Status can still inspect", "command, verdict, exit code", "device-identity rehydrate sources", "the network gate", "real-shaped PUID"?

    WTF.

    That was extremely difficult to read. I'm assuming it's LLMese (I've had less trouble with reading the writing of ESL'ers), but one of the strangest dialects of it I've ever seen. It has the flavour of article-spun SEO spam and those shady fake research papers with "tortured phrases". What causes this obfuscated writing style?

    • someothherguyy 2 minutes ago
      "real-shaped PUID" seems like usage of "real-shaped" outside of normal disciplines, but probably accurate enough
    • andersa 27 minutes ago
      I like to call this style of writing "advanced technical claudish"
    • azalemeth 25 minutes ago
      > What causes this obfuscated writing style?

      Claude without an editor having worked too long on its own project.

      • Retr0id 8 minutes ago
        Yup. It's the most frustrating thing in the world, because in my experience it works (claude's claudglish-infused code that is, I can't vouch for TFA). So I brave through it to achieve whatever it is I'm working on.
    • nullsanity 6 minutes ago
      [dead]
  • IronWolve 3 minutes ago
    <Gov AI> this user keeps hitting our instances with no GDID, better look into it.
  • cadamsdotcom 30 minutes ago
    Sharing in the hope it helps even one person on the fence to convert.

    C. 2012 I swore never to use Windows again, and I've managed it! It is possible - macOS is really good (you'll have to unlearn your muscle memory of the Ctrl key) and Linux gaming has come a long way.

    If using Windows professionally, consider installing it in a VM on your mac or linux box, then asking your agent to set up scripts that remote to to it (eg. via ssh) and do the required tasks (builds, headless test-runs etc) - remotely.

    Offtopic for the GDID thing; but couldn't be more on topic if you think the market shouldn't tolerate GDIDs and such things.

    • Retr0id 6 minutes ago
      > you'll have to unlearn your muscle memory of the Ctrl key

      There is another option, which is to use Karabiner to revert to PC-like shortcuts. Learning the mac way is probably better if you plan to use mac exclusively, but I was triple-wielding macos+windows+linux for a period and I wanted my muscle memory to work across all of them.

  • hypfer 1 hour ago
    Wouldn't it make more sense to instead use the same GDID on thousands of hosts?

    Or a random GDID on each read?

    No GDID sounds like it sticks out a lot more.

    • happosai 35 minutes ago
      Trying to make windows work differently than what Microsoft wants is a losing proposition.

      It would make more sense just not use windows to begin with.

    • isdononthephone 11 minutes ago
      Might as well start deleting random files from System32 while you're at it and see if it breaks things.

      > Wouldn't it make more sense to instead use the same GDID on thousands of hosts?

      Why are there user names on HN? Would it make more sense if we all posted anonymously?

      > Or a random GDID on each read?

      Why not create a new HN account for every post?

      • gruez 6 minutes ago
        >Why not create a new HN account for every post?

        Your profile:

        >created: 1 day ago

        • isdononthephone 4 minutes ago
          Guess I can't leverage my karma number to downvote posts I don't like and beg for VC money. My loss.
    • jmclnx 1 hour ago
      Or recreate it on very boot :)

      For example, it you are paranoid about Linux's /var/lib/dbus/machine-id file you can easily use dbus-uuidgen(1) to re-create it on shutdown.

  • isdononthephone 15 minutes ago
    What's the intersection between the GDID schizos and those who believe Microsoft should be forced to collect your child's birth date and provide it to any app or site that asks for it?
  • exceptione 36 minutes ago

      > Court reporting in 2026 established that Microsoft held a GDID-to-URL/time/IP association in one investigation. 
    
    Afaik, this is illegal under GDPR, as an IP has been classified as a personal identifier.
  • LoganDark 42 minutes ago
    Windows has a hardcoded list of Microsoft domains that entirely bypass the hosts file. I see nothing about this, so I would assume there is no countermeasure here. Curiously, this approach appears to have been tested as working anyway.
    • vetrom 17 minutes ago
      Run say a linux firewall vm with PCI nic passthrough and give the host windows machine a virtio-pci/TAP interface as its network access is one countermeasure off the top of my head I can think of.
    • jasonjayr 37 minutes ago
      Is there anyone maintaining a canonical list of such domains and hosts? This would be useful to add as firewall rules on a router upstream of any windows hosts, or to a pihole.
  • nixosbestos 32 minutes ago
    Fun story, when my ex and I split a few years ago, I wiped all connections of my Microsoft account to the machine I built him.

    Last week, when I logged into my Microsoft account, I had an extra machine with a funny name. Checking some logs, sure enough that was the hostname he gave that machine. Realized what had happened, refreshed the page, and it was gone.

    The URL parameter for these devices in the Microsoft Account page is the GDID. So the Microsoft Account page showed me a GDID of a device I unlinked ~4 years ago. (And I'm slightly obsessive, I check on my Google/Microsoft account every other month.) Gooood job Microsoft.

  • cyanydeez 1 hour ago
    while it'd be nice for your paranoia to believe this id key is used for surveillance, it's more likely they just use the same type of finger printing that browsers use.

    There's zero way to onion.route your internet connection information, unless you plan to go nowhere and do nothing.

    Sure, it's worth to highlight privacy-potential-invasions, but the idea that you'll some how escape notice by changing the gdid is short sighted navel gazing.