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Cake day: June 12th, 2023

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  • But how do you get the average user, for whom the cost of licensing the OS is completely opaque, to even think about cost at all? The computer they bought comes with Windows or MacOS on it already. Neither of which currently has any additional recurring monetary cost to the user.

    You’d need mass-market laptops and desktops coming with a Linux distribution tuned well enough to run Microsoft Office and Adobe products without any more work for the user than running them on Windows. It needs to come pre installed and work so well at the “prosumer” use cases that they aren’t constantly thinking about how much easier it was to run Windows. Doing that means the OEM has to do much more unit testing and compatibility checks to ensure that when the customer opens the box and goes to install Steam and Apex or whatever that it just works without any terminal work necessary. Add to that that the OEM will want support from the company that manages the OS, and suddenly the cost to license tried and true Windows vs almost any Linux distribution for end user workstations is nearly moot.

    And to make a dent in gaming, there is still an ocean to cross in terms of driver readiness and ease of use. It’s coming along, no doubt, and Valve investing as heavily as they are in Linux gaming is sure to move the needle, but it will still be an area of difficulty for some time because the user experience needs to accommodate completely custom builds with unexpected hardware configurations and box-built gaming PCs that can be OE tested and configured and everything in between.


  • This is fair. But at that point the same could be said of a Chromebook for her needs, which I’d venture is true for most people’s computing needs given entire swaths of the world do everything on a phone or tablet.

    The Linux vs Windows debate is peculiar, because it really only applies to users who are more advanced than the average, arguing about problems that only arise when you want to do more demanding things with your machine like development and gaming. Your average user doesn’t care about any of the anti-monopolistic / FOSS reasons to use Linux, which makes the argument for them essentially “you should use this operating system that takes more work to use because it’s better for you for reasons you don’t care about.”

    In order for Linux to become more mainstream, it needs to be able to exceed Windows’ performance and ease of use for gaming and productivity - which is challenging since when most users think of productivity apps, they only think of Microsoft products. It’s not enough to be equal in order to compel people to switch from what they’re accustomed to.







  • She, in particular, does seem to be earning more rebuke from her Republican peers of late. Some of them have recognized that the antics on display by Greene and her ilk are beginning to wear on constituents more and more by the day, and are attempting to distance themselves in acts of self preservation.

    While I hope that it doesn’t work and that these folks also lose their voice and seat, it does seem to bode well that at least a minor course correction is happening in the GOP, if not far too late. I’m not completely optimistic, though, because the constituency hasn’t suddenly become less divided - we’ve just seemingly found the bounds of the caricature the right wing of this country is comfortable with being publicly represented by.


  • Target’s difficulty in Canada had more to do with logistics and existing trucking routes than anything else. They assumed they could push Canadian governments to allow for the creation of new carrier contracts, but they were wrong, and as a result their supply chain was immediately hamstrung.

    The stores in Canada had a harder time getting goods, which caused the company to raise prices accordingly. Images of the stores show many empty shelves, which doesn’t encourage shopping. Canadian consumers weren’t without other options locally, and those shoppers on the US border found it easier and more advantaged to cross over and shop at Target stores in the US should they have a need.





  • CthuluVoIP@lemmy.worldtoTechnology@lemmy.worldYou probably don't need a VPN
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    9 months ago

    This article is basically summed up: “VPNs don’t completely eliminate your digital footprint, so don’t use them unless you need to accomplish these specific things.”

    It seems pretty disingenuous to discourage people from taking steps to protect their privacy in this way. It may not be sponsored, but it’s still bullshit.




  • “Awkward spinning selector wheel”

    Say what you want, but the iPod click wheel was anything but awkward. It was the most approachable and efficient interface and hardware on the market by miles and miles. Navigating other similar devices without it is an awful experience of buttons and layered menus that feel clunky and slow.

    I won’t deny that the Arcos and other jukeboxes were incredible devices, but they lacked accessibility and mass appeal. Their size and expense kept most people from even considering getting one. They were absolutely an enthusiast’s device and nothing more.

    The iPod ushered in the boom of portable media players and paved the road for Apple’s performance in the mobile phone space by establishing them as purveyors of a superior form factor and experience when it came to those devices. Apple owes its continued success in its personal computer and tablet product lines to the iPod’s design and their decision to focus on creating a cohesive ecosystem across their products based on those design principles.