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Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

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Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

#461

Post by alias_neo »

4ggr0 wrote: post #460
alias_neo wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been gaming on Linux for about a decade, it has improved massively since Proton, and I'm at the point where I'm able to play Helldivers 2 with its anti-cheat with my buddies and get great performance (the game's performance/bug issues aside). I tried Bazzite for a while on my desktop, it's fantastic for gaming, but I'm also a dev and a Linux user since I was a teen (almost all of the years of Linux) so I found i…

for me Bazzite is perfect, as my Home-PC really is 99% used for gaming. every couple of years i want to edit a video, guess i'll need to search for another software, or just install Davinci Resolve on the dualbooted Windows :D don't have as much Proton experience as you, but i also feel like it's gotten way better compared to 4-5 years ago when i first tried it. i'm always very mindful when suggesting people to use L…

> every couple of years i want to edit a video, guess I'll need to search for another software

There's a few video editing tools on Linux, I believe Kdenlive[0] is popular, I don't really have any experience with them beyond very basic editing of family videos.

> but for people who aren't afraid of tinkering a bit, sure

My daughter who's now 6yo has only ever used Linux (Arch no less; yikes) and until someone in the educational system tries to make her use Windows, there's really no need she'll have to. She's a little too young for a conversation about "software freedoms" at the moment, but she can play Minecraft on my laptop just fine, once she's interested in branching out I'll find (or recommend) other tools for her.

> now at the point where I'm considering switching to AMD from NVIDIA

That's been on my mind for a while now too, I jumped back to AMD for CPUs when they got back in the game, my XPS laptop is the only Intel device I still have.

The only the holding me off AMD for GPUs is the performance, they're just not competing in the top end with Nvidia, once they have something I'm happy will perform I'll jump ship there too!

[0] https://kdenlive.org/

Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

#462

Post by netdevphoenix »

wartywhoa23 wrote: post #308
gethly wrote: post #264

I have been using windows since version 95. I even liked the Millennium version, that was most hated before Vista. I tried Linux several times, but Windows just always worked and Linux usually had always some issues(mostly drivers, lack of good programs and no gaming). But now, after more than two decades, I am certain Windows 10 is my last Windows. Nothing lasts for ever, not even Microsoft's domination on personal…

I switched to Ubuntu 3 years ago and never looked back for a daily driver. The reason Windows (and Microsoft itself) is not 6' deep yet is a relatively small number of commercial creative software like DAWs, graphics suits and CAD modellers. Yes, there's a huge amount of legacy software in CAM, plant control and whatnot, but that can run alright on all those Windows XP and 7 machines like forever. All major software…

> The reason Windows (and Microsoft itself) is not 6' deep yet is a relatively small number of commercial creative software like DAWs, graphics suits and CAD modellers.

Google is likely actively working towards a future where all of those programs run on a browser.

Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

#463

Post by netdevphoenix »

kragen wrote: post #320
rixed wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Drowning in e-waste" was a metaphor for "slowly destroying the conditions for civilisation with the violent obsession for more fossil fuel and more minerals to extract".

That's a bad metaphor, because those problems don't have anything significant in common with the e-waste problem, but there is no particular danger of smartphones being a major contributor to them, either. According to https://www.apple.com/nz/environment/pdf/products/iphone/iPh... the emissions per iPhone 16 are 56 kg of CO₂ equivalent, 18% of which is the expected energy consumption during the life of the product.…

> the emissions per iPhone 16 are 56 kg of CO₂ equivalent, 18% of which is the expected energy consumption during the life of the product

Are you counting the emissions produced to make it and all the packaging that comes with it, the vehicles used to transport it, lightning used in the warehouse where it sits and the appliances used to keep the warehouse clean too? Phones, just like anything else, are not made in a vaccuum

Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

#464

Post by netdevphoenix »

bob1029 wrote: post #217
repiret wrote: post #41

I agree with all of the articles points except for the first one: TPM and Secure Boot do not reduce user choice or promote state or corporate surveillance. If you want to be able to prevent root kits you need secure boot, and if you want to store secrets that don't need a user password to unlock and can't be stolen by taking apart the computer, you need a TPM; or you need substantially similar alternatives. I would s…

I am starting to see the benefits to secure boot and TPM from a gaming perspective. I realize this can still be tampered with but it eliminates so many casual cheaters that the edge case is practically irrelevant. I don't see how my TPM module will prevent me from using the machine the way I want. The offer of a cryptographic assurance to a 3rd party is something I happily provide in order to gain access to a competi…

> I am starting to see the benefits to secure boot and TPM from a gaming perspective. I realize this can still be tampered with but it eliminates so many casual cheaters that the edge case is practically irrelevant.

This is overkill for a feature that is only relevant to one specific usage of PCs. Imagine if your PC got crippled because farmer IT admin benefits from it

Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

#465

Post by netdevphoenix »

BatteryMountain wrote: post #245

The best path forward for home users and small business for non-technical users: Install Fedora with KDE. Install Firefox, Thunderbird and Chrome. Install uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger. Install LibreOffice & bookmark Google Docs. Install multimedia support, h264/h265, VLC/mpv/ffmpeg, enable DRM in browser. Install Steam if applicable. If they have a printer, connect it and show them how to print a page. Configure & t…

>Educate the user on how to do Software Updates

Sorry to tell you that, manual updates are not a thing your average user is familiar with. In Windows land, updates install themselves

Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

#466

Post by netdevphoenix »

dangus wrote: post #140

I really don’t like articles like these because there’s so much FUD in a well-intentioned direction but it takes it too far. Like, secure boot is not a bad feature, and I use it with Linux to enhance my security posture. It is a good thing. TPM is rather useful for encrypting your disks. Stop telling non-technical people stuff like this. The hypotheticals of a future of corporate control via TPM are completely outwei…

> Windows Recall and Copoilot are entirely optional features that are very easy to disable entirely.

And very easy for Microsoft to enable silently. Missing the point here. The fact that they are enabled by default is the concerning bit. You shouldn't need to fight against your OS or worry if the next update will do something to your system that you don't like. This is the crux of it all

Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

#467

Post by 4ggr0 »

alias_neo wrote: post #461
4ggr0 wrote: post #460

Earlier quoted context omitted.

for me Bazzite is perfect, as my Home-PC really is 99% used for gaming. every couple of years i want to edit a video, guess i'll need to search for another software, or just install Davinci Resolve on the dualbooted Windows :D don't have as much Proton experience as you, but i also feel like it's gotten way better compared to 4-5 years ago when i first tried it. i'm always very mindful when suggesting people to use L…

> every couple of years i want to edit a video, guess I'll need to search for another software There's a few video editing tools on Linux, I believe Kdenlive[0] is popular, I don't really have any experience with them beyond very basic editing of family videos. > but for people who aren't afraid of tinkering a bit, sure My daughter who's now 6yo has only ever used Linux (Arch no less; yikes) and until someone in the…

> There's a few video editing tools on Linux

went through this process a couple of times. Kdenlive, Openshot, Shotcut. Sadly never found one i really like. problem for me is that i edit videos once every 2 years on average, so i never get to develop muscle-memory for these indie-linux-tools. with Davinci there's at least a ton of resources online to help me. i think i liked Kdenlive the most, but i also vaguely remember being really annoyed by the workflow and lack of a bit more advanced things. but as with proton, i should probably not loose hope and just try again the next time i "need" a video editing tool.

> My daughter who's now 6yo has only ever used Linux

that's really cute, glad that you're enabling these skills for her :)

> they're just not competing in the top end with Nvidia

i have the advantage of being a power-gamer but at the same time being concious of what i really need, so i'm sure a flagship AMD card will be more than enough for me. i of course don't care about ML and other use-cases, so get that it's not an option for everyone.

Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

#468

Post by fsflover »

hollerith wrote: post #404
naasking wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you want to be able to prevent root kits you need secure boot I think this is very misleading. Secure boot was a response to the poor security of commodity operating systems which allowed programs easy access to make low-level system modifications . In other words, the poor security models of commodity operating systems was the actual cause that allowed rootkits to spread and become a major threat that required…

Yes, but when an individual hacker needs a secure computer and is deciding which computer to buy, it does him no good to tell him that if the whole industry had evolved in a more convenient way over the last 4 decades, he would have been able to avoid secure boot: in the actual world, the only user-facing computers on the market with decent security use secure boot to help deliver that decent security where "user-fac…

Coreboot with Heads exists and works fine for me with Qubes OS. So it's not a hypothetical.

Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

#469

Post by chipsrafferty »

Aurornis wrote: post #381
foxandmouse wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Couldn’t agree more, if you’re pitching Linux to a non-technical user, you need a gentler off-ramp, not a cliff dive. LibreOffice is a UI time capsule..more archaeology than productivity. Most millennials would think they’d accidentally opened a flight simulator.

I’m relieved to see I’m not alone. I expected my comment to be downvoted because speaking against LibreOffice triggers some people > LibreOffice is a UI time capsule..more archaeology than productivity. I agree. Seeing the comments here claiming the outdated UI is a good thing, actually, brings up one of the big problems with a lot of open source and/or Linux soecific software: The resistance to UI change is huge amo…

I don't think it's that people want a certain nostalgic UI. It's that most of these applications are built by volunteers, for free, and are already understaffed. From an individual's perspective, it's much more important, and possible, to fix bug #155 or implement a new feature than to try to overhaul the entire UI. In order to do that, you'd have to get everyone on board and everyone would have to agree with the changes. A lot of projects are too flat as organizations for this to go smoothly.

Re: Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft's move towards a surveillance state

#470

Post by chipsrafferty »

account42 wrote: post #366
amonith wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think by default after fresh install it suggests the "old" layout akin to Office 2000, but you can just select "tabbed ribbon" and then it really isn't half bad.

You know we are living in crazy times when people actually actively ask for the ribbon interface instead of making fun of Microsoft for it. It's one of the worst things ever conceived in UI design.

I just looked up the difference and I don't really feel a strong pull towards either style? Why are you so anti ribbon?
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