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Your Computer Isn't Yours

sneak.berlin

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Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#671

Post by lovelyviking »

pvg wrote: post #640
lovelyviking wrote: post #606

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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. No, this is _exactly_ the war we think. It is a war between Apple and malware over control of _my_ personal(!) computer. At this point both malware and Apple leak personal data from _my_ personal computer. So from the perspective of controlling MY personal computer they are both malware and d…

My control over My computer and My data How much private entities get to shape this stuff is a sensible concern but this sort of absolutism is how pretty much nothing actually works. You can't drive an unsafe car on public roads. You can't build an unsafe house, even on "your" land, etc. It's not crazy to regulate what kind of computer you can put on the public network.

It has nothing to do with absolutism, we are talking about basic human rights for privacy, massively disrespected recently. That fact though doesn't make them less valueable, relevant or required for the free society to function.

May be for you it's not even crazy to regulate what kind of paper person uses for own notes because who knows, may be he will bring those notes to the public one day. But for me this communist and totalitarian way of disrespect to personal rights and freedoms is crossing the red line. I've been in such situations and I saw in person the results of such disrespect therefore I think those who are willing to attack personal freedoms should learn some history and shouldn't be surprised about what people can do to protect their freedoms when words do not work.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#672

Post by arcticbull »

ubercow13 wrote: post #432
AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Have you really used a desktop Linux desktop recently? Someone has to say this literally any time someone mentions problems with Linux Desktop, along with "it works for me", "my grandma uses it!", "you just have to buy the right hardware", and "you're using the wrong distro". It is incredibly tiring.

It's a reply to the tiring cognitive dissonance of posts like GP that basically broadcast that 'oh, I would simply love to support open software and general-purpose computing instead of locked-down proprietary platforms, but alas, Linux is simply unusable you see, so I have no choice!'

Linux is hardly unusable, it's just a worse experience, and for something I spend 10 hours a day on and earn my living with, I want the best experience.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#673

Post by arcticbull »

vetinari wrote: post #612
AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Have you really used a desktop Linux desktop recently? Someone has to say this literally any time someone mentions problems with Linux Desktop, along with "it works for me", "my grandma uses it!", "you just have to buy the right hardware", and "you're using the wrong distro". It is incredibly tiring.

For macOS, you also have to buy the right hardware. You cannot throw it at random $300 Acer garbage either.

You probably could if they'd let you heh, it's really well optimized, and works great on 5 year old Apple hardware with much worse specs than a $300 modern Acer. This is especially true as low-end cheap devices tend to be much more "standard" -- no exotic hardware.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#674

Post by npteljes »

corford wrote: post #445
nicbou wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I might be mistaken, but wasn't Windows well ahead of Apple on this one? First it sneaked Windows 8 and 10 updates onto people's computers, then used every dark pattern imaginable to get them to consent to tracking, then slowly included ads in their operating system. For the last 2-3 years, I thought "at least Apple isn't doing that", but that is changing.

Unless I'm mistaken Windows 10 still allows you to disable everything and doesn't play games with what you can and cannot block at software/host firewall level.

It does allow disabling settings, indeed, but it's a trove of dark patterns, including updates resetting your privacy settings.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#675

Post by RonanTheGrey »

zepto wrote: post #534
croes wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it should be your tool. Apple just grands you the right to use it like they think it's the best for you. That leads to this https://mobile.twitter.com/lapcatsoftware/status/13269902964... How could it be that people are all about freedom when it comes to governments but have no problem if private companies censor and controll what they write and do?

Because if governments get involved we’ll never be able to solve the problem. I.e. if you take away the rights to privately create and distribute software, the current situation will become permanent.

We meet again zepto!

Nobody wants to take away their right to do so (ok well maybe some do; I'm not one of them). Just that there should be rules we all agree to when we do.

We accept this in other venues. Seatbelts. Stoplights. Nutrition labeling on packaging. etc..

No such rules exist for software, which is odd. It does seem to suggest the industry is ripe for regulation. It's always disappointing to me that we only accept limits when the law places them, as though ethics and morals are somehow not good things to pursue for their own reasons.

Which goes back to OP's point: just because a company CAN be as dystopian as they can imagine, doesn't mean they should be.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#676

Post by eeZah7Ux »

rmoriz wrote: post #590
eeZah7Ux wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's alive and kicking, but certainly not on "hacker" "news" or SV. See all the events like CCC and the fediverse.

I know so many CCC people who have trouble to make a living or are (un/happily) employed by companies that went all in Apple, Google, Mirosoft, AWS. Many for sure are brilliant brains but they lack to monetize it. To break or stop near-monopoly/walled garden systems you have to dismantle them through the market. Build better/cheaper (primary) alternatives which are free and open (secondary). IMHO mainstream only valu…

> Many for sure are brilliant brains but they lack to monetize it.

...as if selling your brain was the most important thing in life.

> you have to dismantle them through the market

Citation needed.

The large majority of modern technology was developed with public money.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#677

Post by ramtatatam »

amalantony06 wrote: post #636
ramtatatam wrote: post #175

I'm so glad I sticked to Arch Linux since early days. It felt wild in the beginning but now, after 10 years, I'm glad I took the risk. Yes, I have had a few sleepless nights trying to solve problems (90% of time caused by myself, remaining 10% caused by not reading wiki/docs/forum before doing stuff). And yes, Arch is not as polished and pretty as MacOS is but... I don't care, I do backend so I can survive without fr…

Or you could ditch Arch and go with a workstation specific Linux distribution like Fedora or Pop_OS that works out of the box with a lot of hardware. Gnome is more polished than the MacOS UI imho. Been using Fedora for a few months now and I haven't had a sleepless night yet. Everything just works.

I always loved arch for its minimalistic approach. Well, maybe this is not entirely true since when we was pretty much forced to switch to systemd :) but it is still my favourite distro, even after those sleepless nights. I am maybe a weirdo but I don't regret a minute spent fixing my installation :)

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#678

Post by zepto »

vetinari wrote: post #667
zepto wrote: post #661

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s easy to know what Apple is going to support and for how long, and how much warning you’ll get when things are deprecated. How would I even begin to know the answer to these questions when it comes to the Linux technologies you are naming. Based on what I read here, the community of people who do use them isn’t even sure.

Is it? For few things yes (OpenGL or 32-bit depreciation); other things are simply not found in the new releases (Kerberos Ticket Viewer, TWAIN). Then there's a middle ground, where there is a window of few months to make significant architectural changes to your product (see VPNs and personal firewalls). So excuse me, I'm going to look for a new release of Cisco VPN that works with Big Sur. Of course, it is customer…

Sounds like don’t buy Cisco.

But more importantly - you verified my assertion.

Even if a small number of security related technologies have a smaller deprecation window, the others have very long ones.

More importantly - we can even find out what they are!

With Linux, can you even tell me whether Cairo, the graphics library behind GTK and for which there is no alternative is even still supported?

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#679

Post by daniellarusso »

qayxc wrote: post #660
daniellarusso wrote: post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the parent just meant the surprise at the lack of enthusiasm, based on the ubiquity of the technology/device. Perhaps it is considered more of a commodity now?

> Perhaps it is considered more of a commodity now? It is and it should be. What the white beards all too often forget is the fact that the generation before them would say the exact same thing about them (lack of enthusiasm, lack of interest and knowledge, etc.). This is a story as old as time: > The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love cha…

I have to disagree with you about cars.

There has been a significant increase in demand and cost for pre-owned vehicles that do not have integrated entertainment systems and drive-by-wire systems.

The used truck market, I have seen vehicles triple in value over the last decade.

Re: Your Computer Isn't Yours

#680

Post by monfera »

orestarod wrote: post #664
pdkl95 wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The new Raspberry Pi 400 Learning about the Raspberry Pi is nice, but that doesn't help preserve the institutional knowledge needed to build system/low-level features in a modern OS. I'm not talking about teaching kids to program; I'm concerned about preserving in the future the knowledge of how to create all of the complex tech we use today. Many civilizations throughout history collapsed after they lost the techn…

It was always a tiny minority of the general population that had real knowledge and capabilities of creating the actual technological equipment widely used by the said general population. In the same vein, there are no less people capable of low/OS level programming than before, and you can't expect every proficient user, even a power user or e.g. the now numerous web developers, to be at this level of ability.

What changed is that the very things capable of eliciting interest in programming also offer overpowering content consumption functions with huge, never ending catalogs of games, movies, videos, short funny clips etc.

As computing and "content" proliferate, the uncompetitiveness of creation, esp. symbolic creation such as programming, is increasing. At some point, broadening of the access no longer offsets this effect, and the talent pool may start to shrink even if capability and permeation is a million times higher than it was.

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