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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 11th, 2023

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  • Bilb!@lem.monstertoLinux@lemmy.mlNostalgic Distros?
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    6 months ago

    Anyone else get free Ubuntu CDs shipped to their house? I think I had 7.10 (Gusty Gibbon) shipped to my house back in 2007.

    Otherwise, Mandrake Linux was my first “good” distro. I first tried one called Lycoris which claimed to be an beginner’s distro with it’s own DE, and it was impressive how well it handled setting up a dual boot installation and at the time it was a revelation that I could use a computer without Windows. I didn’t begin preferring linux until I tried Mandrake with KDE 3, though.


  • Bilb!@lem.monstertoLinux@lemmy.mlHow bad is Microsoft?
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    6 months ago

    It’s not as if they are holding themselves up as supporting Free Software philosophies (as opposed to Open Source), so where’s the pretense?

    If somehow it ever makes strategic sense for them to stop making use of the open source model, yeah, they’ll stop. That doesn’t mean they were pretending.


  • Bilb!@lem.monstertoLinux@lemmy.mlHow bad is Microsoft?
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    6 months ago

    I don’t think they’re pretending. Open source software is a valuable resource for basically all major tech companies, and a lot of it is driven by major tech companies. Some kind of combination of open source and proprietary software will always be a thing for them. This isn’t some major contradiction, they use either model based on the specific needs of the project.

    This is why some think “Open Source” is too permissive since they see it as free/cheap labor to be exploited by huge corporations.

    I’m not sure that I see it that way, but I can see their point.








  • tl;dw

    • Cory Doctorow coins the term “enremovedtification” to describe how platforms start out benefiting users but eventually abuse users and business customers to extract all value.

    • Facebook started by prioritizing user privacy over ads but now prioritizes profits over all else.

    • Network effects are a double-edged sword - they lock users in but also make platforms vulnerable if users leave en masse.

    • Low switching costs due to universality and interoperability allow competitors to reverse engineer platforms and plug in competing services.

    • Mandatory interoperability and limiting data control can curb platform power by distributing control to users and smaller companies.

    • Recent antitrust actions aim to roll back decades of lax merger policy that let platforms consolidate power.

    • Breakups will take a long time so interoperability is a faster way to restore competition.

    • Laws should limit abusive behavior rather than rely on platforms to self-regulate.

    • Federated open services fail gracefully and encourage migration to better platforms.

    • Political will is growing but change will be gradual - focus should be on harm reduction in the near term.