Because sometimes we just like when things look more colorful, and it’s okay to do that?
I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer a world where all clothing and fabric products aren’t a mix of tan, off-white, or ecru because that’s the natural variation of colors in un-dyed fabrics like cotton.
It’s whole deal is “declarative” system configuration. Essentially, it means if your config file is identical to someone else’s, your systems will have identical software/dependencies, and everything should, in theory, run the same, generally speaking.
So for instance, to install a package, instead of running sudo apt install nameofpackage, I would just edit my NixOS config file to have the line pkgs.nameofpackage in it, run a command to “rebuild” my system using sudo nixos-rebuild switch, and it would automatically be installed.
That’s not the whole of it of course, but that’s just a general overview. It’s really good for if you’re running multiple systems that need the same software, because all you need to do is copy the config file over, run sudo nixos-rebuild switch, and the systems now have identical software.
Oh yeah, and you can also easily rollback. If you break anything, you can, while starting to boot NixOS, just select the previous configuration, start your system, and any changes you’d made to software/settings will just be undone. It’s great for troubleshooting.
AFAIK NixOS also has the largest number of supported packages out of any distro.
Nix is definitely where I’d bet on good GUI development, if I had to choose. I’ve had my own issues with NixOS in the past, primarily due to me simply not being able to fully grasp some of the language for configs, but I’d definitely assume that GUI editing would be much easier due to the more predictable nature of the config files.
What other proprietary software is necessary to use model weights?
“You want this thing to be better? Well why don’t you single-handedly do all the work yourself then? Obviously only those with the skill to do something can hope for that thing to happen!” /s
Local AI Tagging (Optional)
Finally a good use of AI that doesn’t overpromise functionality it can’t actually provide. Just a system for rewriting page text as tags. This is a feature I’ll legitimately use.
“1 in 10 people believe they are not at risk when using illicit sources to watch TV, film or sports.”
ONE in ten? Man, they’re even bad at cherry picking statistics 😂
They even cite a study with only 1,000 participants for their statistic that “32% OF PEOPLE HAVE BEEN VICTIMS OF FRAUD”
In the title, at least. The body of that claim’s card says that it’s the people, or someone they know that have been victims of fraud.
Gosh, I hate dishonest scare marketing campaigns.
I’m not a big expert on database technology, but I am aware of there being at least a few database systems (“In-Memory”) that use the RAM of the computer for transient storage, and since RAM doesn’t use files as a concept in the same way, the data stored there isn’t exactly inside a “file,” so to speak.
That said, they are absolutely dwarfed by the majority of databases, which use some kind of file as a means to store the database, or the contents within it.
Obviously, that’s not to say using files is bad in any way, but the possibilities for how database software could have developed, had we not used files as a core computing concept during their inception, are now closed off. We simply don’t know what databases could have looked like, because of “lock-in.”
That’s what some databases are. Most databases you’ll see today still inevitably store the whole contents of the DB within a file with its own format, metadata, file extension, etc, or store the contents of the database within a file tree.
The notion of “lock in” being used here doesn’t necessarily mean that alternatives don’t or can’t exist, but that comparatively, investment into development, and usage, of those systems, is drastically lower.
Think of how many modern computing systems involve filesystems as a core component of their operation, from databases, to video games, to the structure of URLs, which are essentially usually just ways to access a file tree. Now think of how many systems are in use that don’t utilize files as a concept.
The very notion of files as an idea is so locked-in, that we can rarely fathom, let alone construct a system that doesn’t utilize them as a part of its function.
Regardless, the files example specifically wasn’t exactly meant to be a direct commentary on the state of microblogging platforms, or of all technology, but more an example for analogy purposes than anything else.
What social media platforms don’t have some kind of character limit?
What platforms don’t use a feed?
What platforms don’t use a like button?
What platforms don’t have some kind of hashtags?
All of these things are locked-in, not necessarily technologically, but socially.
Would more people from Reddit have switched to Lemmy if it didn’t have upvotes and downvotes? Are there any benefits or tradeoffs to including or not including the Save button on Lemmy, and other social media sites? We don’t really know, because it’s substantially less explored as a concept.
The very notion of federated communities on Lemmy being instance-specific, instead of, say, instances all collectively downloading and redistributing any posts to a specific keyword acting as a sort of global community not specific to any one instance, is another instance of lock-in, adapted from the fediverse’s general design around instance-specific hosting and connection.
In the world of social media, alternative platforms, such as Minus exist, that explore unique design decisions not available on other platforms, like limited total post counts, vague timestamps, and a lack of likes, but compared to all the other sites in the social media landscape, it’s a drop in the bucket.
The broader point I was trying to make was just that the very way microblogging developed as a core part of social media’s design means that any shift away from it likely won’t actually gain traction with a mainstream audience, because of the social side of the lock-in.
short form content with just a few sentences per post sucks.
I 100% agree with this sentiment.
Jaron Lanier has a great book called You Are Not A Gadget, where he talks about the way we design and interact with systems, and he has some thoughts I think reflect this sentiment very well:
“When [people] design an internet service that is edited by a vast anonymous crowd, they are suggesting that a random crowd of humans is an organism with a legitimate point of view.” (This is in reference to Wikis like Wikipedia)
“Different media designs stimulate different potentials in human nature.”
He talks about how when a system becomes popular enough, it can “lock in” a design, when others build upon it as standard. Such as how the very concept of a “file” is one we created, and nearly every system now uses it. Non-file based computing is a highly unexplored design space.
And the key part, which I think is relevant to Mastodon, the fediverse, and social media more broadly, is this quote:
“A design that share’s Twitter’s feature of providing ambient continuous contact between people could perhaps drop Twitter’s adoration of fragments.”
Fragments, of course, meaning the limited, microblogging style of communication the platform allows for. I’ve seen some Mastodon instances that help with this, by not imposing character limits anywhere near where most instances would, opting for tens of thousands of characters long. But of course, there is still a limit. Another design feature by Twitter that is now locked in.
But of course, people are used to that style of social media. It’s what feels normal, inevitable even. Changing it would mean having to reconceptualize social media as a concept, and might be something people aren’t interested in, since they’re too used to the original design. We can’t exactly tell.
As Lanier puts it,
“We don’t really know, because it is an unexplored design space.”
Yet another case of “AI” becoming a meaningless word to describe generalized computing techniques that have been in place for years
(in response to him selling the family home)
“My family took it well,” the 53-year-old told the New York Post. “My wife’s super supportive. My kids are probably better for it, if we’re keeping it real.”
Just another demonstration of how the Hedonic Treadmill effect means becoming a billionaire won’t meaningfully improve your life compared to the negative impact you inflict upon all of society by taking millions of dollars of worker’s and consumer’s value from them!
I love this approach, balances user freedom & privacy with moderation & voting pattern analysis by the public.
ActivityPub might mean some data is slightly less private, but that doesn’t mean it has to be.
How have I never heard of this before!? I’ve been looking for exactly this for ages now.
Already spinning up a docker container!
Exactly. Most things need to optimize for the lowest common denominator of understanding, and buttons with words and fields that have explicit purposes and positioning are a much easier starting point than “use
command -helpand figure out the syntax yourself,” even if someone who learns the syntax could then possibly be more efficient at using it.