They interrupt me to advertise, now

It's 3:30 in the morning. I'm chasing down some odd detail of Federal debt. I download a file from FRED, in Excel format, and open it. I get the "protected view" warning, in case I'm too stupid to know that I just got the file off the internet and it might be full of virus. Yep, ya just cant trust that FRED. When am I gonna learn?

But there is an extra warning this time. Two yellow stripes. I have to stop what I'm doing and read it because god knows this one might be important.


"SUPPORT FOR OFFICE 2010 ENDING OCT 13, 2020"


"Stay supported by moving to Office 365 or other current versions of Office"


They suggest that I click "Tell me more"

Yeh, when hell freezes over. The stuff they call "support" I call mostly irrelevant. They want me to buy the new version of Excel. As an inducement, they're ending support for the version I use. That's extortion.

The internet is different now. The world is different now. They're squeezing blood from stones, and if they have to treat me like a stone to do it, it's okay with them.

Changes like this are everywhere. Changes like this, I think, are the result of 40 years of SUPPLY-SIDE favoritism in economic policy.

And now it's four in the morning and I lost half an hour. I think I shall send Microsoft a bill. My time? A trilllion dollars an hour.