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Your Computer Isn't Yours

sneak.berlin

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Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#551

Post by aunty_helen »

amalantony06 wrote: post #354

I'd strongly advocate fellow hackers/technical users to move out of the Mac ecosystem and get yourself a Thinkpad. My Thinkpad X1 Carbon that I got a few months ago runs Fedora as seamless as the Macbook runs MacOS. I haven't had a single hardware compatibility issue to date. I don't even miss the Apple Trackpad since I've gotten used to the Thinkpad Trackpoint which is an order of magnitude better as an input device…

Hey thanks for mentioning this. My current dread is having to switch to a linux laptop because I hate the yak shaving inherent with linux systems and driver issues. However, I won't be getting big sur or any other future osx systems until they fix their api and allow firewalls to actually work with their software.

So starting to scope out what options I have and this helps.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#552

Post by strogonoff »

tistoon wrote: post #372
szc wrote: post #127

I'm not going to comment on the linked article, other than say I think it contains serious mistakes in describing what OCSP is for and errors in other statements. In the background there is a war going on, but it isn't what you think. It is a war between malware creators and OS creators. From my perspective it goes like this: To "identify" malware you need signatures. Signatures need valid certificates. Signing keys…

So what? There are risks everywhere in life. You buy a new car and you decide to go on a road trip and there is a dangerous road ahead. The car company should stop your car remotely?

When you are driving a car, the dangers you encounter are immediately perceptible, and your driver’s license means you specifically trained for and are certified as able to deal with them.

With our laptops full of PII, corporate secrets, cryptocurrency wallet keys and so on, without proper security measures one can be taken advantage of without detection over long periods of time, and only a tiny percentage of the user base can adequately assess potential attack vectors (even the scope of possible damage is not intuitively obvious).

There may be issues with specific implementations, and the degree of trust one has to put in their device’s manufacturer could probably be lower, but without those measures a typical user would be like a 5-year old driving a Ferrari on a winding mountain road. Yes, I’d be okay if my car automatically stopped before a cliff that I couldn’t see even if I drove right into it.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#553

Post by II2II »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #342
sdevonoes wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As someone who has been using Linux for decades, I find the setup and user friendliness of something like Windows far inferior to to Linux. Yes, part of that is due to familiarity. On the other hand, some of it is inherent due to there being fewer restrictions with open source software. Non-tech people don't want (or don't know how) to "setup". The most user-friendly setup won't ever beat "no setup" (e.g., macOS).…

> Non-tech people don't want (or don't know how) to "setup". The most user-friendly setup won't ever beat "no setup" (e.g., macOS). I don't like this line of thinking because it is condescending. More importantly though, there are plenty of competent technical users like myself that would love to be using an open operating system but are fed up with dealing with the systemic problems Linux Desktop has that its develo…

I'm going to let you in on a secret: most of the people who advocate a particular operating system are pretending that systematic problems don't exist.

Strictly speaking, Windows is a usability nightmare. Most people don't notice simply because most people learn and use a tiny subset what is there. Beyond that, there is an entire industry to support Windows (which is part of the reason why people like it). Apple isn't much better. They tend to paper things over by simply dropping support. An example was brought up by another commenter when they mentioned that some ix programs use raster fonts. Strictly speaking that can happen under Linux yet not macOS since Apple dropped support for legacy software while some ix software is decades old. Linux will have its own issues, but I'm not the best judge of that since it is my operating system of choice.

At the end of the day, any operating system will be a compromise of some form or another. Which you choose will depend upon what your wants and needs are.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#554

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

feanaro wrote: post #249
rsanheim wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You pointed out a core problem here, and a common blindspot with the HN crowd: > continuing to use Apple/Google/Microsoft That is probably 98%+ of devices that most typical people use for everyday computing, across phone, laptop, and desktop. Whether it is an android device, an iPhone, a Dell laptop or a new M1 macbook you are beholden to a corporation that doesn't care about privacy. I would argue that Apple cares a…

> And before "have you tried this *nix distro??" comments appear Your style of comment is also quite the meme at this point, though. I always reply with: if my dad, mom, grandfather and other 10+ members of my family can use Mint and I have to do minimal maintenance for them, much less frequently than with Windows, then so can you.

Yeah, because your family members definitely represent literally every possible use case in the the world anyone could possibly have for a computer.

Ugh.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#555

Post by evercast »

ajuc wrote: post #477
eznzt wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what do you expect us to do, install Linux and spend days configuring the touchpad? Computers are a tool we use to do our work. Setting up the computer cannot become a job by itself.

It's funny because almost nobody uses Apple where I live (Poland). The only people who use MacBooks are some "artsy" types and some managers (because they only need office and outlook to work :) ). Developers never use apple because it has tons of compatibility issues.

Is it really the case though? I am also from Poland (though I do not live there anymore) and based on my experience it was rather a popular dev machine a couple of years back, easily seen at conferences. It is of course less popular due to pricing but definitely not absent.

Can you maybe also comment further on the compatibility issues? Mac is perfectly fine for any general-purpose frontend/backend development. Unless you work in a Windows-centric environment or in a setting that clearly rules out a Mac (e.g. Linux system programming), I cannot really imagine what compatibility issue would prevent you from using a Mac e.g. for Typescript, Java, Python or Go development. Not sure why Poland would be less friendly for developer Macs than the rest of the world.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#556

Post by sudo_rm »

The title of this article really captures the feeling I had when I decided to ditch my iPhone. My mobile device was the last piece of tech that I owned that did not truly feel like I owned it. I've recently switched to an original Pixel running LineageOS. There are only a handful of pain points for me that make the switch difficult, most notably navigation. The feeling of actually having control of my device seems to be worth it so far.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#557

Post by zeveb »

arcticbull wrote: post #124
est31 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are totally right that Linux is only a single digit percentage in user share if you look at all computers deployed world-wide. However, in the developer sphere, GNU/Linux is way more represented. In the Stack Overflow 2020 survey, 26% of people said they were using a Linux based OS [0]. This number has been gradually increasing over the years so further growth is expectable. It's less than one percent less than t…

Every company I've worked at for the last 10 years has developed exclusively on macOS. Linux is fine, but it doesn't just work, and it needs to in order to gain a foothold not just in the developer community but with the general public -- that's the lesson Android has taught us. Until it does it will not budge the numbers. It just won't. The real apologism here comes from the Linux community, who believes that by vir…

> Every company I've worked at for the last 10 years has developed exclusively on macOS.

Counter-anecdote: I have had a Linux computer on my desktop for over the last twenty years, have used Linux primarily for maybe the last eleven, and exclusively for the last eight.

I do not get the near-religious love for Apple products. Pre-OS X, they really were wonderful, best in class without a doubt. I kinda get the attraction back in the early 2000s, when Linux could still be a chore and Macs were a decent choice to get a computer which had a shell and ran real software. But now? They are just not for me. I want to own my own computer, write my own software and control my own destiny.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#558

Post by sailfast »

OK who here wants to start the next consumer computer company to address this with a Linux distro and a focus on consumer privacy?

I'm not your huckleberry, but I'll certainly buy from you. Any margin in the hardware these days?

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#559

Post by raxxorrax »

jonfw wrote: post #449
raxxorrax wrote: post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Estimated 1-3% developers of developers I worked with run MacOS. Maybe it is a local or SV thing, but most I know prefer the freedom. In the industry I work there aren't many tools for Apple ecosystems available. edit: https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2018/ It is quite high and to correct myself: Some developers have a Mac for iOS development. Most people I know hate it.

IBM has nearly all of it's developers on Mac at this point. I came from using exclusively linux for 10+ years and have decided to switch my personal machine to a Mac and my phone to an iPhone because it's been so good. Mac has everything I liked about Linux but with zero cognitive overhead. With brew and a window manager (amethyst) I'm not missing any features I enjoyed in Linux.

I hope that changes with the acquisition of Red Hat. I think they did it to help Red Hat, but they also wanted to buy the community of developers in my opinion.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#560

Post by tylerjwilk00 »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #431
TrispusAttucks wrote: post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like all subcultures when the hacker ethos went mainstream it's spirt died and all that was left was fashion. No one cares anymore if their consumer choices are a threat to freedom as long as they look cool. Outward appearances are now more important than principles. Prickly principles require sacrifice and why have character when you can have a disposable "personality".

The hacker ethos didn't go mainstream. People who don't deserve the moniker started self applying it. I'm not a hacker, I'm a corporate shill because I work for my own profit within a system that's set up to ensure its own continuity. I'd like to be a hacker, but I have a family to support and am too weak or addicted to lifestyle or scared or realistically-minded to actually commit to what's required to earn the titl…

I totally agree with you.

The ethos went "mainstream" in the sense that it was fashionable to play the part and be in your words a "fake hacker". And for future historians and those unfamiliar with the jargon, hacker ethos isn't about criminally breaking into computer systems.

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