Proton + Steam now working easily, not to mention things like Heroic Launcher… the daily stuff 90% of users need really is taken care of at this point.

Fair enough, as I said, I really am not informed enough to make any commentary myself, just seemed apropos to bring up that it’s a simultaneous conversation happening over there.

There was just a thread on the privacy community about how Linux has a similar machine-id that could be used to identify and track you.

Far from a Linux power user, so I don’t know the veracity of that claim or how far it goes, and at least it isn’t tied directly to a company that you know is tracking you. Just pointing out that Linux generally seems to have a similar machine-id it presents to browsers with a lot of information that could be used to identify you.

Literally in the last month or so Windows pushed an update that messed up the BitLocker check and locked a ton of company laptops . I’d point out this was also a major security update.

But at least we agree updating for the sake of updating is bad policy on any software if you care about stability, so we can set that argument aside now, yes?

For this new argument you’ve moved to: Distro hopping is for fun for people who like tinkering with computers. You wouldn’t get it. It’s not for everyone, plenty of people just pick a long term support release and call it day.

As opposed to forcing updates that break basic functionality?

Anyway, it’s certainly not common to do no upgrading, just not mindlessly pushing every single new release when you don’t need it (ie, not a major security fix or something). Which is a good thing if you value stability in your system, no matter what software you’re running. The ones dealing with the BitLocker locked company laptops right now after the last Windows update kerfuffle could probably tell you all about it. It’s a lesson hard won by neophyte system admins.

Lots of reasons today, but I started out of necessity: a poor kid that couldn’t buy new hardware, much less a windows license. Discovered the magic when I picked up a little pre-Chromebook XP mini laptop that the person gave me for $20 because it just couldn’t run usably with windows’ overhead. Put one of the light Ubuntu distros on it, and damned if that little thing didn’t get me through college.

Honestly stoked a real passion for how Linux can be a really effective way to repurpose what would otherwise be e-waste and get it to people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to really get into technology all with an opportunity to learn how the machine works.

I’m likely relocating soon, but I’ve really considered afterwards setting up a local non profit dedicated to flipping old machines like that to get them into poor kids’ hands, maybe even with pipelines into basic Linux/terminal learning, security basics, programming, etc for those that show an interest.

This was my understanding, but I really am not in the loop enough to say it with certainty, so appreciate the confirmation. I agree, I think we’re seeing from contributions made by people like Valve that there’s real value in requiring derivative work to give back to the community it drew from. But again, I’m really not super well informed. I just tend to pick GNU options when available.

I feel like there’s a lot of concern about more and more free software moving over to the MIT license.

I honestly don’t know the ins and outs, but it’s probably relevant to people concerned about it.

Yakuake. Nothing major but a nice quality of life upgrade for terminal work.

Easy block.

The only real excuse for digital only is DRM free

And cheapness. Steam has always gotten away with this because it’s just plain cheap. Their distribution costs are way, way less per game and it’s easier for them to pass on savings, which I think is a big part of how they can push games for so cheap compared to most phyical media sources.

Using faschist terminology like this waters it down

Or takes the piss out of it. Just depends on your point of view.

“Not doing an illegal thing” isn’t really an obligation in a sense anyone would understand that statement, but OK.

Go and give some kids free poisoned sweets and see how far that gets you.

I can’t think of a single analogous action in providing software for use for free aside from injecting malware, which I’m pretty sure is criminal? No?

I wouldn’t call “not intentionally being malicious” a responsibility anymore than following any laws is a real responsibility… responsibility here implies an active duty to do something, not really to not commit crimes. I really can’t think of any active responsibility any dev has for software they’ve put out there. It could literally cause harm to some hardware and they still really wouldn’t have a responsibility for anything as long as it isn’t (in fact that’s for good reason a common disclaimer for things that tweak hardware).

What did you have in mind as responsibilities a dev has?

No, it’s worse. Currently, if anything were to happen to my data, I could redownload it freely. If anything happens to your data with physical media, like the disc getting scratched and damaged, lost, or stolen, you’re just SOL.

Sure, if GOG goes belly up that goes away, but that’s what you’re stuck with in physical media the second you walk out the door with the disc.

GOG has managed to put out DRM free games though on a digital distribution platform. I can have my entire library backed up and it isn’t possible for them to nuke it in any way, as far as I know. It really isn’t a problem inherent to digital downloads, only the way some are trying to do it.

Valve gets away with it because you can get games for dirt cheap there.

I suspect if we were looking at the same image as above except buying Dead Space for $6 like you can on Steam, we’d be seeing a lot less pushback. Part of the excuse they had was physical media having a way bigger distribution cost compared to digital. They’re kind of trying to have their cake and eat it too, here.

And yeah, GOG is DRM free so that’s a pretty big difference.

I’m still a couch and controller gamer primarily, I just use a PC to do it lol. Honestly, with Steam, it’s really easy to just change Steam Big Picture mode as the default shell for Windows, so even if you don’t want to install SteamOS, you can still have the console experience of just turning the machine on and booting right into your games menu.

Perhaps, but one could argue it happens so often that the hammer lends itself to hammering this particular nail, and so often devolves into that. The Balkans are this experiment played out, attempting to carve out ethno states, and we’ve seen how that’s gone. Once you start saying things like “this country should only be (or primarily be) for X people”, you almost necessarily have to engage in some degree of genocide (in the wider sense of removing a people and culture that doesn’t fit the paradigm), or apartheid, otherwise the statement ends up a bit vacuous, no?

Israel is, in my view, a very clear example of this; once you’ve decided “this is a Jewish state”, anyone not Jewish by definition become second class citizens.

If we’re just talking general assimilation, that’s more nuanced… I don’t oppose calls for more assimilation, but I think governments have done a very poor job in using more stick than carrot. They tend to not put any effort in helping people integrate, which is, from experience, very difficult. One could argue it isn’t their responsibility, but I think such framings for state action is silly… either the state has an interest in a thing being done or it doesn’t, and in this case I think they very much do. Most immigrants that form insular communities do so not out of any inherent pull to, but because they’re already being somewhat ostracized. In the US, Chinatowns arose as a direct result of ostracization and discrimination.

I do think there is a danger of assimilation programs overzealously wiping out culture… the Sami have faced multiple attempts in the past at trying to stamp out their culture, the US and Australia religiously forced the elimination of many native cultures in the name of assimilation. It is also a fine line to walk. But there is undoubtedly a state interest (and immigrant interest!) in assimilating into society.

I’d argue the binding culture that should be assimilated shouldn’t be things as fuzzy as ethnicity… the culture that binds should be the values of that nation. Which doesn’t really have anything to do with ethnicity.

I guess I’m just skeptical this false impression will work on locals… I’d presume they aren’t hearing from this group from lemmy mainly and likely already have feelings established, no? It just seems to me this wouldn’t be a good forum on which to spread misinformation… strikes me as a lot more likely that a forum known for being pretty left leaning is just latching onto a story that is related to their interest.