The Surface Laptop you linked to is - 16GB of RAM and 512GB of Storage (no 8GB of RAM option)

The $599 Mac Neo is 8GB of RAM and 256GB of Storage. It doesn't have a 16GB RAM option but a 512GB storage option is $699.

8GB RAM seems to me to be targeting folks who don't run a lot of local apps or multiple big apps

I later started using Gemini but I use it without signing in to try to ensure my privacy.

I recently came across this App [0] and I've been trying/using it. I end up going back to Gemini if what I need is quite complicated but it's not that common these days.

[0] https://ai.nocommandline.com

Disagree with this. In the places I’ve worked, I’ve lost count of the number of times we turned down feature requests with the explanation that - this isn’t common practice and seems to be unique to you.

And yes we were judged on how pleasant to use our software was. If we miss a feature or ship a feature that customers intensely dislike, best believe that we’ll get a torrent of negative feedback on our support channels

2) I didn't change the policy on the workspace email when I signed up for it

The point is still - why ask me to authenticate via different methods and then reject them after I've correctly authenticated? If some policy is overriding these, then you shouldn't have asked me to authenticate via those methods in the first place.

More than once, I was in a different country and tried logging into a workspace gmail account. Google flags it as a strange activity (fair enough) and needs to authenticate me. It asks me to enter the complete address for my recovery email (I do this), it sends me a code to use for sign in (I do this) but it still refuses to sign me and says it can't authenticate me. It says I need to sign in from a location that I've signed in from before.

So, for the period that I was out of the country, I couldn't access my email. This happened each time I'm in a new country. My only work around was to sign in to my email (on my laptop) before traveling and not sign out (for security reasons, I don't like to do this).

Something similar happened when I used a new laptop.

I just don't understand this. What then is the point of having recovery email and phone number if you won't use them?

This isn’t what you think.

First, large ERP vendors will repeat the mantra that you shouldn’t customize and that they don’t advise it. At best, implementation consultants will be the one talking about customizing.

Secondly, ERP sales process isn’t as simple as you think. Buying firm have a detailed and documented list of requirements and these are checked off as they’re being demoed. If customization is needed, that specific customization needs to be shown before that item requirement is checked off.

Yes, there are times when processes/procedures are truly unique to a firm but it usually isn’t and the firm can ‘standardize’ their process so that it fits into the ERP flow.

These ERPs are usually shipped to handle common/different scenarios/usecases and clients simply have to configure them accordingly (configuration is totally different from trying to customize)

If you used consultants for the implementation, how is a botched rollout the ERP vendors fault?

This article says …… The council initially customized Oracle but now plans to reimplement the software out-of-the-box, adopting standardized processes..….

The above tells you the issue isn’t from Oracle the ERP vendor.

1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41584410

2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41584391

Beg to disagree. This is the complexity that large ERP firms handle and why Oracle, SalesForce, etc are expensive to implement. They figure out the commonality (if any) and build for it. Then they add on features specific to countries they target and then they add the ability to configure for your own situation (to a certain level).

PeopleSoft did this for Payroll and workforce administration which is part of how they cornered the market for HCM.

Customizing ERPs is where consulting firms make money but the ERP vendors themselves advise against this because it becomes expensive maintaining the customizations as new versions of the software and more features are released.

ERP products are designed following "standard" or "best" practices/processes. It's common to see companies first contract a consulting company to "re-design" their processes before they then try to implement an ERP system.

1. https://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-2/revisions-to-jobs-numb...

2. https://www.politifact.com/article/2019/sep/12/revisions-job...

I'll say it depends on the size of the product. If you're dealing with say ERPs (Oracle Fusion Apps, WorkDay, SAP, etc), a PM can't own an entire product. Instead, they'll own multiple features where each of those features are complex in themselves and being ERP typically involve integration with multiple other products.

But I agree with the general thrust of your point which seems to be that the PM should own something 'significant'

At the end of the day, whether you should have a Product Manager or not AND the number of PMs you should have will depend on various factors such as the product itself, team size, size of the company, type of company (B2B, B2C, etc). But saying that PMs are NEVER needed and Developers should just build is wrong. Someone has to wear the hat of a 'Product' person. Whether it's a separate person or the developer is dependent on the factors earlier listed.

My comment here [1] and the discussions for that post is a good example of this mindset of PMs are NEVER needed.

1) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25975417

1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25975417

Are you saying they told Mira they were going to fire Sam and they didn't give her a reason but she was still okay with it?

According to reports, Mira was informed of the decision to fire Sam the night before Sam was fired. There's no indication she was against it and she also didn't inform Sam. So, I don't get this "she rejected their plan".

If the board informed her they were going to fire Sam, it seems logical that they also informed her they were going to give her the interim CEO position. I have no knowledge of this (it just kind of makes sense to me).