No but I am looking for a new laptop and this time I’ll definitely spent more time checking Linux compatibility.

My previous thinkpad worked fine out of the box, but my current laptop is an HP Omen, that I mostly selected for the price to performance ratio. But I immediately learned that Linux compatibility sucked. Like not being able to boot an Ubuntu usb drive (without messing with the boot parameters).

I pay for a plugin so I can use Thunderbird with the exchange server (and 2FA) my office has. Best purchase in a long time, I think it’s like a dollar a month or something, pretty cheap.

Wait next thing you tell me is that I can’t complain about having too many people on bicycles on the bicycle roads?

Not sure about how good or bad it is in the US, but in the Netherlands (a place that is known for good infrastructure) it’s definitely not perfect.

I never realised until we got a baby and I started walking with a stroler. Way too often the sidewalk is inaccessible because of cars or bicycles. Also lots of places without ramps or elevators.

No it’s just borrowing, it’s temporary anyway, I recently looked at some movies on a very old harddisk and it was like DVD quality or worse. Threw the entire disk out.

So that was the peak!

“If buying isn’t owning, piracy isn’t stealing”

Too be honest I was fine with seeing an ad every few videos. But at some point it became unskippable ads before , during and after a video.

Also I’d rather wait without ads than wait with ads, like what’s the point?

I was going to say something similar, if you use the play Store you’re about as safe as you use the Apple app Store. They do the same kind of checks. Some apps that are allowed I would not personally install as I consider them spyware (like TikTok or anything by Meta).

You should always be considerate what you Install, if you Install a video call app that needs camera permission fine, if you Install a digital clock app that needs camera permission not fine at all.

I once had a phone with a replaceable battery, headphone jack, IR blaster (so it was also my TV remote) and SD slot.

I feel after this we gained waterproof phones.

(although I only once dropped my phone in water and it was before waterproof phones and it still worked 48 hours later, so I don’t care that much for waterproof phones).

Anyway I feel we just got downhill after this phone, my current pixel has no: headphone jack, IR blaster, SD slot, replaceable battery, etc.

I wonder what would happen when a major smartphone maker would make a phone with all those features again.

Is that even enough for a single LED to turn on?

About 50% of Apple revenue comes from iPhones. So if an iphone sells less then expected it’s a big impact on the company and stock price. The iPhone 15 was OK, but not innovative or interesting enough for people to ditch the previous one and get a new phone.

Also investors really look at future growth, so when the main product they sell shows signs that the end of growth has been reached they are not happy.

In reality the only thing that has unlimited growth is cancer, I just like to add this…

Unlike Disney, Netflix, etc, Spotify is the only streaming service where I never think oh this is missing let’s find a torrent.

Music streaming (at least for the consumer) is so much better than video. Where it’s super scattered over multiple services all wanting money.

You’re right, although I wouldn’t be surprised that at some point MacOS will have a mandatory app store to protect you.

I kind of really dislike the notion that you only use Linux because you are too poor for Apple.

I don’t use Apple because I don’t like to be stuck in a walled garden where a company decides what’s best for me.

I know it’s just a meme, but I think too many people actually think Linux is somehow inferior to Apple (MacOS) while I think it’s the other way around.

I totally get that and I used to do the same. Maybe this community is different but on some online communities people kind of looked down on mint and pretended it was only a beginner distro.

I tried so many distros in the last decade, but I recently had to start with a fresh setup again and I went with Linux Mint. I think it’s the most underestimated workhorse you can get. Everything just works, tons of help online if you need it and instead of tweaking it forever you just get work done.

Do we really want to be bigger anyway? I kind of like where Linux as a desktop isn’t really big enough for all the scammers and malware makers to care.

(And I know it’s huge for servers and malware also targets that, but they are usually maintained by professionals, not your parents that would probably run every shell script they are offered as help)

If Linux would become the biggest desktop os you are going to find so much more bad advice whenever searching for help online. I wonder if the nice people we have now are really ready for when the terrible people invade the community.

He just really wants people to know he’s the bischop of Arch