The tools I love are made by awful people

https://ankursethi.com/blog/the-tools-i-love-are-made-by-awful-people/

by todsacerdoti • 1 year ago

83 174 1 year ago

mergy• 1 year ago

Switching to Linux is not easy. You almost have to hit a wall when you are just done with the bargaining to keep something like Apple or Windows. It kind of takes a major jump.

You also need to be persistent after that jump and not retrench when you can't pull from the familiar.

You'll get there at some point just don't think or care about the awful people - think about how and in what way you want to operate directionally going forward and it will click.

disillusioned• 1 year ago

I still remember getting all amped up at taking the leap to Linux when I read this or that guide for doing so in a 90s issue of MaximumPC and I made it as far as realizing there weren't drivers that would work with my mouse (without _considerable_ effort) and noped right out.

the_third_wave• 1 year ago

taking the leap to Linux when I read ... there weren't drivers that would work with my mouse (without _considerable_ effort) and noped [sic.] right out.

That wasn't much of a leap you were planning it a mouse got in your way, especially given you seem to have planned this "leap" in the 90's - solidly within Windows 9X territory which was infamous for its instability and reboot-tendency:

   You moved your mouse pointer,
   your PC needs to be restarted
   for this change to be implemented.
   .
              [OK] [Ignore] [Cancel]

pjerem• 1 year ago

Switching to Linux is not easy.

Which is a shame because in itself, most Linux distros _are_ easy. The ergonomics and the rationales are, imo, better/easier to understand than Windows or even MacOS.

In fact, even _installing_ a modern distro is easier than installing Windows 11.

What’s hard is not Linux, it’s switching. It requires to, well, think different :)

Having said that, I honestly think switching from Windows to MacOS is harder. I appreciate working with macOS and it can be pretty ergonomic but it’s honestly barely usable without installing and paying for half a dozen sharewares.

wink• 1 year ago

I think that's personal preference and circumstances though.

I have used Windows on the desktop since 1994, I have used Linux on desktops since 1998 (work machines being 50% or exclusively Linux since 2010ish) and I got my first mac last autumn. (Planned Linux but some unimportant things stood in the way, so I gave it a shot).

Working on Windows is pure pain for me. I use it as my gaming/browsing machine and every time I have to touch code I hate it.

Linux is 100% fine for work, but I noticed I am having problems with games with my usual setup with tiling window managers (i.e lots of fullscreen usage and non-easily-resizable windows, also getting my Logitech's G keys recognized).

macos is... 90% fine actually. I hate some small things but otherwise it just works, the windows key as cmd is actually in a nicer position than ctrl, but that might be my weird hands.

So if I wasn't playing certain games with certain keybinds, switching to Linux fulltime would have happened like 10y ago for me.

imgabe13• 1 year ago

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 are sentient beings with their own agency. Main character syndrome run amok.

polishdude20• 1 year ago

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.

giomasce3• 1 year ago

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.

dheerajvs2• 1 year ago

While I agree with the sentiment, just out of curiosity, would you buy a Tesla if it meets your needs and even if you disapprove of Elon's actions?

Ekaros2• 1 year ago

I would. With some modification. If it was cheapest vehicle on market that meets my needs I would probably buy it. But it is neither cheapest or gas...

lolinder• 1 year ago

I think it's more rational to fuss about buying a Tesla than about buying a Windows license for a few reasons:

* It's a heck of a lot of money to send to any company, so it makes more sense to pause and consider what you're funding. I can't put that much effort into every <$100 purchase without going crazy.

* Tesla is far more about Musk than Microsoft is about... whoever runs Microsoft these days. There's a very specific person tied to it.

* Driving a Tesla is seen by the world as a statement of some kind in a way that running Windows simply isn't. It's worth considering if that's a statement you want to be making.

imgabe13• 1 year ago

Yes. If you determine a Tesla is the best car to fit your needs, there are far better ways to influence Elon's actions than depriving yourself of the best car for you. You could write your Senator / Congressperson to support laws that would curtail Elon's actions. You could speak publicly and propose better things than what Elon is doing or publicize how and why they're harmful, etc. Buying or not buying a Tesla is very unlikely to influence Elon at all.

Also consider: There are thousands of employees at Tesla and thousands of shareholders. Do you also need to individually vet every one of their opinions before you enrich them by buying a Tesla? What if they don't all have the same opinion? Are you supposed to take a poll and go with the majority? This is silly.

jmorenoamor• 1 year ago

I would buy a "tool" that solves a problem significantly better than its competitors, but I usually ditch options that are marginally better o cheaper if I feel a personal moral conflict.

Just to honour the Godwin law, take the Eduard Pernkopf anatomy manual as an example, a fascinating example of this discussion.

There is always a tipping point where practicality beats purity, and I think it's ok trying to stretch it, respecting other's choices in the way of course. No need to judge.

jsiepkes3• 1 year ago

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.

If you know upfront that's what's going to happen, why wouldn't you have a degree of responsibility?

imgabe13• 1 year ago

You don't know up front what's going to happen. Seeing the future is not an ability humans have. Unless the pen is being sold as part of some murder fundraiser and you're going out of your way to specifically buy it there than from any better options the person doing the murder is the one responsible for the murdering.

mastazi• 1 year ago

you can be pragmatic and choose not to buy from certain companies whose behaviour you consider egregious, while at the same time not having to worry about each single expense you make.

Deciding what bank you will get your home loan from -> not something you do every day, it's ok to do some research

Deciding what cafe you will get your next lungo from -> not worth your time

cweagans• 1 year ago

Isn’t that the same as “just avoid things you’re morally opposed to as time and energy allows”? Why even bother with taking a moral stand if you only do it when it’s convenient?

gryfft• 1 year ago

"if you don't like it, vote with your dollars or quit whining"

ninetyninenine5• 1 year ago

I feel the opposite. I feel I am responsible if I know the psychopath will use the money to buy a bullet and shoot someone.

I think what you're not realizing is that most people don't care. They don't care and they don't think about it. They just scaffold really weak logic to justify the whole thing and then go about their day. So when you ask them they have convoluted reasoning why they're ok with it. This blog post is that convoluted reason.

Ultimately the real reason is that we just don't care.

adastra229• 1 year ago

Most people think the comparison to an actual killer is hyperbole. These institutions are flawed, not evil.

(And if you’re going to jump in the comments about them being evil, check your privilege. None of these tech companies operate literal death squads as several non-tech companies did as recent as a few decades ago, and probably still now.)

aptj3• 1 year ago

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 river (to extract the gold more "efficiently"), soon your whole forest will suffer from deceases and degradation.__

You may feel tiny and powerless but it's sane and healthy to care for the whole ecosystem and think about aftereffects of everyone's actions.

imgabe13• 1 year ago

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.

fargle2• 1 year ago

wrong about wrong. if you go down that path, you are powerless. we live in a society that is imperfect. but you cannot live on a pedestal alone and be perfect either.

you should shop at "walmart" or where-ever your dollar is the most effective. and that gives you the most stability and and position to challenge whether the current Walton regime's love of China is a good thing or not. but cutting your nose off to spite your face does nothing useful.

merouan4• 1 year ago

Hmm, this doesn't track with history. Boycotts, and more generally collective economic action (strikes, etc), are an incredibly powerful form of protest. People have shaped the world through refusing to buy from oppressive forces - case in point, the boycotts of South Africa during apartheid successfully pressured South Africa out of apartheid. We got our collective rights as workers (40 hour work days, etc) through strikes, boycotts, and more.

It's not easy, but if you're serious about it is best done in community, with support and strategy. So, the opposite of main character syndrome, I would say.

It's also very odd that you take an analysis that is fundamentally systemic and translate it into purchasing from an individual psychopath - under what assumptions is that a valid comparison, one with any merit? It's not like corporations exist in a vacuum, only to emerge from the void to casually sell a single pen, the money with which they use to buy a single bullet. We as individuals, as communities, exist in feedback with the systems that we are a part of, including (surprise) corporations. So, yes, we have power to shape them, though (again) not easily.

imgabe13• 1 year ago

Boycotts are a different thing. A successful boycott targets a specific company about a specific issue that that company has the ability to change. When the company changes the thing, the boycott ends.

The bus boycotts in the US Civil Rights movement are a good example. "Hey bus company, we're going to stop riding your buses until you end your racist seating policies". It's clear what they wanted to happen, and it was in the power of the boycotted company to make that happen.

This new thing is something else. Just a general "don't buy from this company because ... uh ... vague noises about evil". Like, what is it exactly you want this company to do? How will you not buying from them force them to do that? Do they even know what you're asking for?

This is not about trying to effect any sort of change. It is just plain virtue signalling so you can appear righteous to others. There is zero chance of anything happening in the world because of this.

tdb7893• 1 year ago

Your purchasing decisions are one of the more significant ways you impact the world and it makes sense people want to be cognizant of how they are effecting other people.

Though I recognize depending on people's mental health it can be stressful to think about and if you can't then it's okay, one of my friends in particular was worrying about what she was buying to the point where it was a significant source of stress in her life and that wasn't good (though therapy for her general anxiety helped a ton so she's now concientious about what she buys while not stressing over it. It took her a while to get there though).

s1artibartfast3• 1 year ago

It makes sense if consumerism is your only connection to human society.

It is a form of trained helplessness to fixate perpetually on consumption.

If someone wants to do good in the world, go out and do it. help someone for real. I think it is lack of real connection that leads people to navel gaze about the third order consequences of their clothes or software.

I think this substack [1] summed it up perfectly:

I was 16 when I realized I had to kill myself. I was in a Denny’s with my friends, looking at an empty glass of Diet Coke. The glass was produced by taking the raw resources of a foreign country, exploiting its workers in horrible factories, and sent to me to drink out of. And I didn’t really have any other option for getting liquid from a nearby water source into my body, it had to travel through moral atrocity along the way. It wasn’t just one glass, of course. It was everything. It was the shoes I was wearing (shoes were a big deal in those days) and the flooring I walked on and the food I ate. The only moral act was to kill oneself, and failure to do that meant you accept your role as a vicious monster. (The depression helped, but maybe the depression/guilt causality was reversed.)

https://deathisbad.substack.com/p/does-the-omelas-kid-have-a...

_DeadFred_2• 1 year ago

No, they are one of the laziest, most do nothing ways.

Right now in your community are tons of organizations looking for people to actually help.

I've restored nesting habitat for endangered birds. And I just happened to be able the beach when volunteers came around. That did more than stressing over what I bought ever did, and it was just hanging out at the beach. There are orgs for driving people to medical appointments. That can be an amazing impact on someone's life and on yourself (more than buying the right ketchup).

Make yourself financially strong so that you can help others. Sacrificing your money to make a point is wasted virtue signaling.

I mainly see people who shop correct/rescue animals as the most minimal helpers who want to feel they are helping. There is an old woman dieing crying in your town right now because she's overwhelmed and doesn't know how to get to an appointment she needs. An no one cares. But if I buy the right ketchup, that matters? If I drive 2 hours to save a dog (while the old woman dies crying and alone, unable to get to the doctor, a 15 minute trip) I'm a good person?

giomasce3• 1 year ago

Sure, I am responsible for my own actions, and buying something is an action I (can) make. Therefore I bear responsibility for the side effects of my buying actions. Not the same kind of direct responsibility of those that directly make bad actions, and I don't think I should become insane over evaluating the impact of every single thing I buy, but there's a middle ground between that and ignoring the side effect of anything you buy.

There's a better viewpoint on that, though: ignore moral responsibility, think in terms of agency. Choosing from whom you buy is one of the few ways you (as an ordinary citizen) have to make the world a little steer towards a better form of itself. My own choice alone won't change much (which is correct, otherwise we'd be in an economic dictatorship), but if many people consistently care about that capitalism will work its magic and make wonders happen.

cvz• 1 year ago

Yes, you are morally responsible for your own actions. But those actions don't happen in a vacuum. They happen in a world that you are able to observe and make predictions about, however imperfect those predictions are. If you don't know that you're enabling the shooter, sure. But if you do know and do it anyway, you are responsible for knowingly enabling the shooter.

This doesn't mean that the shooter doesn't have his own agency and his own responsibility for his actions. It just means that his responsibility for his actions doesn't diminish your responsibility for yours, even if your actions involve him.

It seems to be a common idea that we can just overlook the abuses committed by the other people we deal with, as things "I'm not responsible for", regardless of our actual ability to do something about them. I have no special insight, but I think it's a common idea because it lets us feel better about ourselves while we do nothing. But "feeling good about oneself" isn't a solid way to build or evaluate a moral framework.

ryandrake• 1 year ago

This individualistic attitude is how we got to our current situation, and why we are perpetually stuck here. Everyone in any position of corporate power is a psychopath, because the system will replace them if they are not. Every purchase you make has the downstream effect of encouraging whoever you bought it from to continue doing what they are doing. And, what everyone is doing is "throwing everything possible (morally, ethically, and legally) under the bus to grow profits." Individuals don't get to dodge culpability just because we are only indirectly funding all this bad behavior.

Absent government will (which has been the reality for decades), we have no way of stopping this bad behavior than to stop funding it. But since nearly every company is engaging in bad behavior, "stop funding it" means becoming a hermit and not buying anything, which is also not feasible for enough people.

_DeadFred_2• 1 year ago

Becoming only consumers is how we got here. We are no longer citizens, no longer members of religion, no longer anything but consumers. Hiker/biker/crafter/music maker...so much around the scene is consumption. So all we see is consumption. To the point that making the tiniest movement in consumption is the only impact we can possibly imagine. Every good company sells out in the end. You aren't making a difference, you are building someones brand.

Don't play that game. You aren't a consumer you are a human being. Today you can impact for the positive. Choose your shopping based on savings/health, and invest that money into your local foodbank or helping someone at something like Kiva.org (I don't keep up, is Kiva bad now?) or other local charities where you can actually have an impact.

It's crazy how people have been convinced to give up and do the most barely needle moving things to feel moral.

nradov• 1 year ago

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

rpgwaiter• 1 year ago

Sounds like projection to me

fargle2• 1 year ago

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%

dogleash2• 1 year ago

Alternate frames of reference aren't inherently misanthropy or make people lesser. And the "if you disagree, you're proving me right" style dig at the parent poster is toxic positivity.

Animats• 1 year ago

I've been entirely on Linux for over fifteen years now. And I used to develop for Win32.

safety1st• 1 year ago

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.

geniium5• 1 year ago

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.

adastra229• 1 year ago

Most people I know who are 100% Linux users are like you. They don’t know what they are missing, and they are happy.

dismalaf10• 1 year ago

What do you think Linux users are missing?

akho6• 1 year ago

This is a very arrogant take. Linux users don’t live in isolation, and are exposed to Win/macOs daily.

dogleash2• 1 year ago

I don't want to dismiss your premise, I know I don't pay much attention, so please tell me what I'm missing.

I suspect the main thing I'm missing is Schedule I. And I think even that can be had if I go enable proton or something? Haven't really looked into it yet.

sitkack• 1 year ago

soundtrack to the post https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8Igmd424X8

lenkite2• 1 year ago

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 Foundation started a Linux-On-The-Desktop project that addressed core usability and stability issues, I would gladly contribute monthly towards it.

all2• 1 year ago

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?

zelphirkalt• 1 year ago

It all depends on your hardware and whether that is well supported. The blame lies with hardware manufacturers keeping secrets and proprietary software vendors. It is a reverse engineering effort to get this stuff to work properly.

worthless-trash4• 1 year ago

No distro solves problems by itself, the upstream kernel does. Fedora pushes upstream first, ubuntu much later if it does.

Because computers are complex, and there are many computers with many different hardware configurations nobody can answer if it solves the issues for you.

daemonologist• 1 year ago

I'm on mainline Fedora on a Thinkpad Z13 (Gen 1). Sleep works unless I connect or disconnect a thunderbolt device while the machine is sleeping (which hard crashes the system); I would say it's noticeably more reliable than Windows. Power consumption is still poor in all states - usable, but generally worse than under Windows and pathetic compared to a Macbook.

ac292• 1 year ago

Any reasonably modern laptop has runtime power control, which can make a huge difference. Personally, I use TuneD: https://github.com/redhat-performance/tuned

realusername• 1 year ago

It depends on your laptop probably, I don't have any issue with sleep/suspend with my thinkpad.

I do think that power management isn't there yet though on the other hand.

moffkalast• 1 year ago

I always found it funny that my ASUS laptop has always functioned perfectly under linux... except that putting it to sleep would trigger a full shutdown every time lmao. I may or may not have lost some data once or twice by being overly gullible.

yjftsjthsd-h2• 1 year ago

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.

Pick any model on this list that has all green boxes. There is no step 2. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Laptop/Lenovo

(Sent from my thinkpad with perfectly working sleep)

sshine2• 1 year ago

Sleep works perfectly on my Lenovos, and it fails miserably on my custom gamer laptop.

Supporting arbitrary hardware is hard for an open-source project.

Sticking to solid brands with well-tested models has other benefits.

ac292• 1 year ago

I've been using Intel Dells for years without sleep issues in Linux.

bobsmooth• 1 year ago

What if I have a laptop not on that list and I don't want to buy a whole new machine?

dismalaf10• 1 year ago

However, I need basic sleep/restore to work on my laptop

??? I've had 3 laptops over the last decade+ and sleep/restore has worked on all of them. You using some weird distro or DE?

switch0072• 1 year ago

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.

Tepix• 1 year ago

The Dell Latitude 7440 has a webcam (made by Intel) that works with Ubuntu 22.04 but not with Ubuntu 24.04. A really crappy user experience.

(I think the design of the webcam is to blame)

seanhunter• 1 year ago

Umm get a framework laptop. Sleep/restore works out of the box. Admittedly I only tried it on QubesOS and Nixos, but if it works in both of those places chances are pretty good that it will work for any distro.

THere’s a reasonable chance if you get a lenovo thinkpad or similar very mainstream laptop it will just work there as well, but get a framework anyway because they’re good and you deserve a nice laptop.

sshine2• 1 year ago

They're not so available in the EU.

Some countries they don't export to.

Other countries the VAT + import tax just adds up.

lenkite2• 1 year ago

Yes, framework looks really good. Wasn't an option before due to extremely heavy import duty and they didn't bother opening ordering. (But hopefully changing now that Trump has raised the reciprocal hammer and revised trade agreements are being signed..)

nektro• 1 year ago

i use a framework 13 with nixos and have perfect sleep and wake

fulafel• 1 year ago

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.

This has not been true for over 20 years. You just need to buy known good hardware.

(Anyone know when exactly we first got reliable sleep on the early Thinkpads with APM?)

thefz2• 1 year ago

The new Macbooks have amazing hardware

Hm. You can't really repair or upgrade them, so you don't own the hardware at all. That's far from amazing.

mrguyorama4• 1 year ago

People who insist Apple makes good hardware are falling for marketing. Apple historically has had constant engineering poor choices and bad designs and outright flaws that they just never acknowledge, and for some reason people take that as "good".

Back in the day, Apple laptops used to cook and kill themselves with poor GPU heat management.

Several versions of macbooks shortened a display cable such that it would degrade over time because it simply wasn't up to task, and eventually your screen would be borked and have absolutely ungoogleable issues (this happened to me)

They had an entire run of macbooks with flawed batteries.

The entire keyboard fiasco, all in an effort to bikeshed computer thinness FFS. Meanwhile even before the butterfly tech, macbook keyboards have always been trash. They have un-ergonomic keys and no travel and just seem to prioritize aesthetics over usage.

Internal connectors have 50v backlight pins right next to logic level pins which means instead of a drop of water just killing the backlight power supply, it routes 50v through everything and kills half your mainboard components.

Pre M series macbooks hard thermal throttling issues if you charged them from the ports on one side, but not the other.

Apple laptops have NEVER had good thermal management.

Soldered SSDs that are stupidly tiny, especially in the early M1 machines that had 8gb RAM and bad swap behavior that was actively killing people's SSDs

Apple buys good screens to put in their machines, and the frame is pretty rigid, and THAT'S IT. Nothing else about their machines is a step above other laptop manufacturers hardware wise

kcplate2• 1 year ago

I am on my third MacBook (recently acquired #3 this month), since 2008. None have needed repair or “upgrades”. I find that an average longevity of 8.5 years on a laptop is pretty amazing.

For what it’s worth, my wife is now using the one I just retired…so it ain’t dead or unusable yet.

surgical_fire• 1 year ago

I would love it if I could use Linux on the Desktop.

Not sure what you use your desktop for. If your issue is that you need certain professional applications that are not compatible with Linux you may be out of luck.

But if your complaint id "core usability and stability", I am not really sure what you are complaining about.

I migrated my personal laptop from Windows to Linux Mint around 3 years ago, and it's amazing how much more stable and easy to use it is in comparison - case in point, back in Windows days I would have to do a fresh install every year or so.

And don't get me started on OSX. I have to use it daily on my work-issued laptop, and I deeply loathe it how it is hostile to more technical users (I would sincerely prefere using Windows than that crap).

lieblingautor• 1 year ago

is linux made by good people?

ninetyninenine5• 1 year ago

its not. People are people. Only the incentives are different.

onionisafruit• 1 year ago

The tools I love are made by flawed people

antupis• 1 year ago

Yeah I first tought that this was rant about how Linus Torvalds is asshole.

troupo2• 1 year ago

Mostly by corporations: https://kernelnewbies.org/DevelopmentStatistics

Ekaros2• 1 year ago

Stallman is interesting personality. To put it politely. Does he belong to good people? Somewhat orthogonal question. And goodness of his stances on software is also well something that can be debated validly.

akho6• 1 year ago

Things will only change when democratically elected governments across the world step in with regulation, drag Big Tech through the courts, and fine them billions of dollars.

How will that help you install Linux.

adastra229• 1 year ago

How will it help anything, really? The law of unintended consequences will strike once again.

bolognafairy• 1 year ago

Yep. Fuck laws. The fact that there are potential negative consequences means that we should throw them all out!

ninetyninenine5• 1 year ago

Why is democracy so universally worshipped? Do they realize evil people with business interests ALSO participate in a democracy?

ethbr13• 1 year ago

It's the worst system of government, except for all the other ones.

suprfsat• 1 year ago

With the funds raised everyone can be assigned a Linux expert to sit next to them.

switch0072• 1 year ago

Nobody should have to learn anything for themselves, paying with your time is grossly unjust, the world owes them a hassle free operating system

bustling-noose• 1 year ago

With the kind of funds raised by AI companies there should be 10 different ones sitting next to me competing with each other.

dullcrisp• 1 year ago

Because they’re better than everyone else on the inside but are forced down to our level by minor inconveniences. But it’s okay because they know what we should do.

lemagedurage• 1 year ago

I think the point is that if the corporations are morally kept in check by governments, then installing Linux wouldn't be necessary.

s1artibartfast3• 1 year ago

how about the government keep people in check by forcing them to install Linux?

oliwarner• 1 year ago

If we're praying for unicorns, they might also notice they're paying millions for licenses to software they can't self-support or even audit. Then reinvest money from fines into in-house, open development, and use that instead of closed solutions.

spwa4• 1 year ago

Can't? Governments most certainly CAN do this. The US government is by far the closest to doing this, but they are definitely not close to doing this entirely.

spaqin• 1 year ago

The part about melding human and machine feels awfully pretentious.

Just use the tools that let you be productive. It's okay to separate the art from the artist. And if you really do care about the global well-being, then... force yourself to the switch (for the moral greater good, after all!) and don't complain about it on the internet?

geniium5• 1 year ago

Why am I in this state of tension with computer products when I use a multitude of non-computer products made by corporations that cause much more harm to people and nature?
I drive a Hyundai car, shop at Reliance stores, wear clothing made by Zara. Why am I not concerned about the poor behavior of these other organizations? It’s not like they’re any better than Google, Microsoft, or Apple.
Honestly, the reason is not entirely rational.

Honestly I don't have the answer and it's a great question. There seems to be a mix of passion, trends, media, social exchanges and probably tons of small parameters making this happen in our heads.

vczf• 1 year ago

The genius of capitalism is in its unique ability to harness the energy of sociopaths* to produce valuable products and services**.

If there was no freedom to amass fortunes, these people would still exist, and they would do even more damage in whatever theoretical social structure we would have.

* And to a lesser degree, the self-interest everybody naturally possesses.

** Minimizing negative externalities is the responsibility of government accountable to the people.

ranger_danger6• 1 year ago

Agreed, I think the failures of both socialism and "small government" have proven this by now.

troupo2• 1 year ago

Switching to Linux won't help either, because Linux (at least the kernel) is developed mostly by the same corporations: https://kernelnewbies.org/DevelopmentStatistics

dismalaf10• 1 year ago

I've been using Linux exclusively for 15 years. Went through my entire university degree using only Linux.

The biggest issue people face when switching is the desire for it to be the same as their previous OS. It's not. It never will be. It's different (and IMO better).

Like GNOME Shell, so many people hate it. No dock, no way to minimize Windows, etc... Until you actually try to learn it a little. Launching apps is super quick with the search, you can bring up overview with 3 finger swipe up on the touchpad, scroll virtual desktops with 3 finger sideways swipe, arrange your windows with meta + arrow keys, etc... Its nearly as keyboard driven and quick to use as a tiling window manager yet my wife can use it as well (she's very much not technical).

As for apps, there's an app for everything normal people need to do. For developers, it's easily the best OS. Games, it's got most of them. I guess if you're an accountant forced to use Excel don't bother (and if you're not forced to use Excel, Gnumeric is better anyway).

ranger_danger6• 1 year ago

the desire for it to be the same as their previous OS

I think most FOSS developers completely miss this point, assuming their goal is to get more people to use their software.

Sure GNOME can be usable if you learn a different way, but you can't force everyone to do that. Not even most people. So I think if they really cared about doing what's necessary to get a lot more users, they're going to have to make their product more like what the potential new users expect, whether the developers like it or not.

akho6• 1 year ago

assuming their goal is to get more people to use their software.

That’s rare, and is a very difficult motivation to understand. Such projects are also usually a mess.

dismalaf10• 1 year ago

Apple literally built a 3 trillion dollar business on "Think Different". Now they're the slow, lumbering behemoth, but copying cheapens your brand. Copies only reinforce the idea that the original thing is valuable.

mifydev• 1 year ago

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.

jackphilson• 1 year ago

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.

casey2• 1 year ago

Articles like these always lack perspective despite desperately trying to seem woke. These "awful people" are the people that stepped up in the system and were forced to make the hard decisions. You can either be the guy paying strike breakers to kill your striking workers or the guy whose business failed. Do you really think you are any less awful for deciding to minimize your participation?

Who am I kidding, progressive economic theory hasn't progressed passed "lets kill everyone who is better off than me"

brunkerhart• 1 year ago

Have the author did the reality check exercise? What might seem as awful conditions by some westerner, might be great given other options. Once I read a post about working at Foxconn - assembly line for majority of hardware manufacturers. You might remember people were dropping off the roof because of hard working conditions. Yet they have a line of candidates. Because the other option is working at the same intensity but at no conditioned and barely ventilated clothing shop.

captn3m0• 1 year ago

The author lives in India, where Foxconn has multiple factories.

jerome-jh• 1 year ago

I experience some of the same tension being a SW engineer and seing how much SW is dysfunctionning on a day to day basis, sometimes not being able to help relatives having issues with their phone/PC.

Actually most of the time this is SW business which is dysfunctionnal. I totally agree with the phrase "asshole companies", which make people's life miserable on purpose.

tim333• 1 year ago

...made by awful people..mac...

I think awful people is a bit unfair to the folks at Apple. They are probably much like other people, maybe a bit nicer judging by my years of using macs.

Large corporations will never be perfect but not much is. At least they are not Comcast or HP.

The tools I love are made by awful people

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