The tools I love are made by awful people • Hacker News Board

Re: The tools I love are made by awful people

#61

Post by giomasce » Thu, Apr 24, 2025, 5:30 AM UTC

polishdude20 wrote: post #5

imgabe wrote: post #4

There’s this modern affliction where people believe they are morally responsible for the actions of every person they buy anything from. For your own sanity, please let this go. You are responsible for your own actions. If you buy a pen from a psychopath and he uses the money to buy a bullet and shoot someone, that’s not your fault. He’s responsible for his actions. It’s like everyone somehow forgot that other humans…

I feel the same. It may be because it's easier to feel virtuous by not buying a company product than to actually be virtuous by going out doing virtuous things.

Giving up something you'd otherwise enjoy or find convenient because it would indirectly bring harm to other people feels a very virtuous action to me. I wish more people (including me) had the ability to do that more.

Re: The tools I love are made by awful people

#62

Post by bhaak » Thu, Apr 24, 2025, 5:31 AM UTC

geniium wrote: post #39

safety1st wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here! I'd love to know why the author keeps crawling back to Mac after trying Linux. I feel grateful that Linux exists and would never contemplate moving away from it. I totally understand that I am an esoteric techie and other people may have different experiences, of course. But in the ~14 years Linux has been my daily driver, it has improved so much.

for me the main reason is that mac just works. I spent less time configuring my OS and tinkering around and just focus on my work.

For low levels of "it just works".

Every major OS update Apple changes something that breaks either specific programs or restricts the OS further which leads to breakage.

The "too many files open" error could be fixed by raising the limit of open files (there are instances where a tool really does need lots of open files and isn't leaking) but nowadays I need to break the security of my own hardware to maybe be able to raise it as Apple adds hoops and is changing what to do every so often.

Re: The tools I love are made by awful people

#63

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 24, 2025, 5:32 AM UTC

all2 wrote: post #16

lenkite wrote: post #12

I would love it if I could use Linux on the Desktop. Windows 11 feels a practical joke played on humanity by Nadella. The new Macbooks have amazing hardware, but the software quality has deteriorated considerably - even spotlight has bugs nowadays. However, I need basic sleep/restore to work on my laptop - and it feels like this is a Mars-mission-effort level problem for Linux to solve. If the Linux Software Foundati…

I hate that this is true. I have 10 year old hardware and I still haven't managed to get suspend on lid close to work. Also, power management? Linux seems really power hungry. I expect 6ish hours out of the battery I have, but with Linux doing browsing and coding I get 2 to 3ish hours, even with cpu throttling and the dimmest back light settings. Have mainline Fedora or Ubuntu solved these issues?

[deleted]

Re: The tools I love are made by awful people

#64

Post by imgabe » Thu, Apr 24, 2025, 5:32 AM UTC

aptj wrote: post #58

imgabe wrote: post #4

There’s this modern affliction where people believe they are morally responsible for the actions of every person they buy anything from. For your own sanity, please let this go. You are responsible for your own actions. If you buy a pen from a psychopath and he uses the money to buy a bullet and shoot someone, that’s not your fault. He’s responsible for his actions. It’s like everyone somehow forgot that other humans…

Wrong. It's not about morality (or "main character"), it's about caring for your own and your beloved ones current and future. Ignorance, apathy and indifference keep the buyers/consumers/followers encouraging the unhealthy yet very "focused and efficient" morons (big and small) to ruin the world for everyone while they accumulate enormous power to further abuse the rest. __If you buy gold from someone who poisons a…

We have a government to enforce laws to protect the commons. If someone is poisoning the river, the government should fine them and shut them down. They should be inspecting gold producers to make sure they are complying with regulations so that all gold is produced in a sustainable way that doesn't destroy the environment.

If that's not happening, then we need to fix the government so it does happen. Expecting each individual person to be their own EPA and research how every single item they consume is produced idiotic and doomed to failure.

Re: The tools I love are made by awful people

#65

Post by mifydev » Thu, Apr 24, 2025, 5:32 AM UTC

I switched to Linux 12 years ago and still use it daily, although I think the problem is bigger than that. Even though hardware support is getting better, some bugs are lingering for years, and Wayland took such a long time to be a viable option. Now, as desktop became more complex to support, new platforms are coming, VR and mobile.

Mobile: I own Librem 5, and it was the biggest purchase disappointment I have ever had. I've been ridiculed by my friends while I was waiting for it for years, and when it was delivered, it was too outdated to use. The only silver lining from this is that mobile support exists in GNOME and KDE now. Hardware is still not there.

VR: I have not seen any viable option.

I'm optimising, and hoping that with AI it would be easier to support all of this, but now it looks kinda gloomy.

Re: The tools I love are made by awful people

#66

Post by fargle » Thu, Apr 24, 2025, 5:32 AM UTC

nradov wrote: post #7

We're all awful people, every one of us. Some are better at hiding it than others.

the overwhelming majority of people, 95%+, are wonderful awesome people.

probably you too. awesome people sometimes screw up, but that's OK. if you really still think that "everyone sucks" then maybe you are in the 5%

Re: The tools I love are made by awful people

#67

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 24, 2025, 5:33 AM UTC

all2 wrote: post #16

lenkite wrote: post #12

I would love it if I could use Linux on the Desktop. Windows 11 feels a practical joke played on humanity by Nadella. The new Macbooks have amazing hardware, but the software quality has deteriorated considerably - even spotlight has bugs nowadays. However, I need basic sleep/restore to work on my laptop - and it feels like this is a Mars-mission-effort level problem for Linux to solve. If the Linux Software Foundati…

I hate that this is true. I have 10 year old hardware and I still haven't managed to get suspend on lid close to work. Also, power management? Linux seems really power hungry. I expect 6ish hours out of the battery I have, but with Linux doing browsing and coding I get 2 to 3ish hours, even with cpu throttling and the dimmest back light settings. Have mainline Fedora or Ubuntu solved these issues?

[deleted]

Re: The tools I love are made by awful people

#68

Post by jackphilson » Thu, Apr 24, 2025, 5:35 AM UTC

Parodoxically, this aversion to convenience decreases his ability to make a positive impact. Much better to focus on improving your ability to make a positive impact instead.

Filling your mind with negativity makes you unhappy, outsources your power and attention ("minimize my impact", "do less bad"), and distracts you from doing good.

Re: The tools I love are made by awful people

#69

Post by merouan » Thu, Apr 24, 2025, 5:36 AM UTC

imgabe wrote: post #64

aptj wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wrong. It's not about morality (or "main character"), it's about caring for your own and your beloved ones current and future. Ignorance, apathy and indifference keep the buyers/consumers/followers encouraging the unhealthy yet very "focused and efficient" morons (big and small) to ruin the world for everyone while they accumulate enormous power to further abuse the rest. __If you buy gold from someone who poisons a…

We have a government to enforce laws to protect the commons. If someone is poisoning the river, the government should fine them and shut them down. They should be inspecting gold producers to make sure they are complying with regulations so that all gold is produced in a sustainable way that doesn't destroy the environment. If that's not happening, then we need to fix the government so it does happen. Expecting each…

Governments are pushed to do things to protect people by the people. Seat belts were not a thing (i.e., required by law) until there was sufficient public pressure to make them so. Heard of Ralph Nader? Food is made in unsafe conditions and governments are fine with it until there is pressure - have you ever heard of "The Jungle"?

Re: The tools I love are made by awful people

#70

Post by switch007 » Thu, Apr 24, 2025, 5:36 AM UTC

lenkite wrote: post #12

I would love it if I could use Linux on the Desktop. Windows 11 feels a practical joke played on humanity by Nadella. The new Macbooks have amazing hardware, but the software quality has deteriorated considerably - even spotlight has bugs nowadays. However, I need basic sleep/restore to work on my laptop - and it feels like this is a Mars-mission-effort level problem for Linux to solve. If the Linux Software Foundati…

People simply can't have the same expectations of hardware as with Windows. You must select your hardware for Linux support.

They make heroic efforts in supporting a variety of hardware but if you have the choice it's better to use hardware with better support.

There are vendors like System76 and Dell who offer Linux support

Ubuntu has a certified hardware list:

https://ubuntu.com/certified

I'm confused that people think it normal to go to Apple to get an Apple device to run Apple OS, but the idea of going to a Linux vendor to get a Linux laptop to run Linux is a weird idea.