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Your Computer Isn't Yours

sneak.berlin

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Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#571

Post by zepto »

dasKrokodil wrote: post #134
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…

> I would argue that Apple cares a bit more Have you read the article? Spoiler: They don't.

The active word is more. The article doesn’t examine other platforms at all, so doesn’t address this.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#572

Post by zepto »

supermatt wrote: post #144
deadbunny wrote: post #16

Yet despite all the wailing and gnashing of teeth - both in the article and in the comments here in the various threads - people are still making excuses for continuing to use Apple/Google/Microsoft/et al products because the alternatives are a bit rough round the edges. These companies have repeatedly shown that they don't respect people's privacy and people have resoundingly responded that neither do they. I would…

A number of user stopping using these products wont change the slightest thing. We all encouraged our friends and family to ditch IE for chrome, and look where that got us. Legislation and regulation are the only fixes for these practices. The EC have a lot of kettles in the fire here - on multiple fronts. I trust that, although it will take time, "fairness" will prevail.

Legislation doesn’t solve software problems.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#573

Post by dannyw »

cutler wrote: post #569

It won't be long before logging into the root account on your Mac is flagged as suspicious.

Flagged? It won't be long before `sudo` is removed from macOS.

Why? For security, of course, and you'd get a million people defending it.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#574

Post by spurgu »

pdkl95 wrote: post #247
emptysongglass wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's worse is the number of other posts with the top comments being vociferous defenses of these companies as if they needed these people to defend them or cared one iota for their welfare. It feels like it's Stockholm Syndrome on a mass scale. I worry for Gen Z because they're tiny-mobile-device native. And the only usable tiny mobile devices are walled gardens. They scream outrage when they're not allowed their t…

> I worry for Gen Z because they're tiny-mobile-device native. And the only usable tiny mobile devices are walled gardens. Without the ability to grow up playing with system level software, combined with the software industry's unwillingness to pass on institutional knowledge to younger generations, I fear we are already on a path towards a civilization that loses a lot of the technological capability we currently en…

Thanks, that was a really good watch!

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#575

Post by krebs_liebhaber »

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…

> 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

I understand the general public, but the developer community? Why can't the "professional-computer-whisperer" demographic be arsed to setup their computers?

In all seriousness: The extent to which you have to manually configure / fix stuff in Linux is seriously overstated, especially w/ the "easy" distributions like Ubuntu and Mint. I've installed both of those on other people's laptops and they've had no complaints at all.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#576

Post by dannyw »

sailfast wrote: post #558

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?

Purism is what you are looking for.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#577

Post by mauricio »

jrib wrote: post #338
zanny wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good thing said hacker culture spent 15 years buying inflated laptops and desktops from them ultimately for convenience to give them the market presence to do this in the first place. Its the same thing with Windows. People will preach all day that they won't make any personal sacrifices to try to avoid feeding literal cancers that are eating the software industry and are shocked when said all consuming voids take aw…

Next laptop for me is going to be from a company that explicitly supports linux. Probably dell or lenovo. A lot of people like to rag on Ubuntu. I agree with some of the criticisms. But the one thing they have done right is broker partnerships with hardware vendors like dell and lenovo. https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/overview/cp/linuxsystem... https://news.lenovo.com/pressroom/press-releases/lenovo-laun...

Highly recommend the Dell XPS 13 if you enjoy the Macbook build quality. The edge-to-edge screen feels like the future.

I run EndeavourOS which is like a GUI installer for Arch. Arch's package management with (AUR -- Arch User Repo) will remind you a lot of Homebrew. And their wiki helps you get up to speed quickly.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#578

Post by vetinari »

fn1 wrote: post #369
AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In other words, it is perceived as harder because people make it harder. If by "people" you mean "Linux Desktop developers". They have taken relatively simple things and abstracted them two or three times until they are so complex and fragile they need special programs and standards to automagically manage it all for the user. As soon as you step outside the box of what they expect (hey, why can't I install a progr…

> hey, why can't I install a program on a different disk than my OS? Apple user here (had Linux on the desktop for 5+ years and windows for a longer time): Why would I care whether my program is on one disk or another? Why would I even "install" something, instead of dragging/dropping a single "file" (yes I know it's a directory) like I usually do. Do Linux applications all self-update using Sparkle like Mac-applicat…

> Why would I care whether my program is on one disk or another? Why would I even "install" something, instead of dragging/dropping a single "file" (yes I know it's a directory) like I usually do.

Answer to your second question is very similar to the first one. Why should user drag anything anywhere, and decide to which folder put the applications? It is much easier to click on the install button in the store-like application.

Many users are confused by dmgs and they keep launching apps they downloaded from their ~/Downloads folder.

> Do Linux applications all self-update using Sparkle like Mac-applications do?

Linux applications were auto updated by their respective package managers before Sparkle was a thing. I consider keeping a Linux system updated to be much easier, than Mac one; even if it is updated by multiple mechanisms underneath (apt/dnf, ostree, flatpak, fwupd), from the user's POV it is unfied in the form of Gnome Software or KDE Discovery. On Mac, you have Apple App Store, Sparkle, brew, Microsoft Update, Adobe Update, Eclipse updater, and myriad of other mechanisms, specific to each app.

> I input my apple-id on a new mac and everything sync perfectly without any issue. Do I get that in linux? One login and my mail, notes, calendar, photos, music, files, backups, keychain sync across all devices?

I don't get that on a Mac. But then, I'm not locked into their products.

> And also simpler UI-questions: Can I rightclick on a file/folder and it says "Compress to zip?"

Yes, you can. In Gnome (default for Ubuntu, Fedora), you can right click a folder and there is a "Compress..." menu item. It will give you a choice of .zip, .tar.xz, .7z. I'm sure KDE has something similar.

> Can I easily configure keyboard shortcuts system-wide?

Easily? There's no system that would do that. Some are more flexible, but more difficult to configure, and vice-versa. MacOS goes into the less flexible one, for example I've never managed to have the media keys controlling VLC instead of launching iTunes, or Apple Music nowadays.

> Can I have a photos-app that is as good as Apple Photos?

This is about the first time I see 'good' and 'Apple Photos' used in the same sentence.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#579

Post by blcArmadillo »

kebman wrote: post #381
jm547ster wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gravit designer, Blender and Bitwig studio would come to mind as tools for multimedia production that are as good as anything on the other platforms.

Great tips! Thank you! I'm more into 2D compositing for video, but I've had my eye on Blender for some time. Not sure how it stacks up against stuff like After Effects. For audio production I already use Reaper FM, but I might give Bitwig a go too. ^^

Not open source; however, supposedly DaVinci Resolve is supported for Linux: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/. For most people the free variant should be more than enough.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#580

Post by ubercow13 »

diab0lic wrote: post #543
ubercow13 wrote: post #474

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn't say Linux is unsuitable for a particular use case or give any meaningful criticism or definition of a use case, they just said that it 'just doesn't work'. Is it any wonder people call out that tripe.

'just doesn't work' and 'doesn't just work' are two very different statements. You said the former, but I've only spotted people saying the latter in here. Also if you have to argue with someone that linux does work for them, you've missed the point.

Ah yes you're right, I did misread that.
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