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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: March 30th, 2024

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  • I recently swapped to Mint and have been enjoying it. I still have Windows as my daily driver and I have a handful of things that I still need windows for, but I have a media center and a gaming PC set up both on mint. There was an odd quirk with Steam where it didn’t launch after some update, and it was a bit asinine to be honest. But after a few hours of research online I found the issue and modified a file so it loaded properly. Stuff like that sucks, but it gives me experience navigating the OS and understanding how it works.

    To your point though, it overall just works. My wife uses it no problem and is getting use to where things are. I maintain the system though, ensuring updates are applied and searching for solutions when needed (for instance, we use caffeine to stop the monitor from going to sleep when playing games with a controller)


  • Have you checked out Affinity? They support Mac and iPad, and are comparable with the core Adobe suite. Its a buy once scenario (per major version release). My only problem is they don’t support Linux.

    Of note, they were purchased last year by Canva, but it has been stated they will keep the Affinity products separate for purchase.



  • I’m assuming the windows machine is a work PC and the Linux is yours right?

    Because what you describe doesn’t sound like a “windows” issue but rather an IT management issue.

    You can put off updates and reboots a very long time. And always be able yo postpone them.

    Applying updates on boot daily sounds dumb to me. But I’m also figuring your IT dept has poor (or no) sense in managing their inventory well. Most updates can be applied silently at a scheduled time.

    Also, your machine sounds old and/or poorly maintained the way you describe it. If its more than 5 years old your company is just cheap.

    I’m all for griping about Windows but this seems off to me.


  • I have a hard time making the connection that DMS is making.

    OnlyOffice is a Russian company, so it naturally has “ties” to Russia.

    They have not condemned their government for invading Ukraine, which can be for many reasons. Maybe they approve of it as DMS concludes. But maybe they don’t want to get political at all (hell, look at what a single comment from Andy Yen has done to views of Proton). Maybe they don’t want their government making life difficult for them. There could be a multitude of reasons they didn’t say anything.

    The way the statement is written is condemning for lack of evidence. Which is fine as an opinion. But that’s all it is.

    Don’t get me wrong, I followed your link because I wanted to know and appreciate the heads up. If there’s shady stuff then I’ll avoid them. I have no ties to OnlyOffice for anything.

    But being honest with the info doesn’t support the DMS claim. I’m happy to be wrong if there’s other information out there, but their biased statement makes me distrust DMS more than OnlyOffice.





  • I think you put too much weight on everything, including your opinion. I am not trying to be insulting, just realistic.

    I can equally say that I hate how so many people say, “just switch to Linux, its easy and does everything.” Neither of those is the case because it doesn’t factor in the learning curve nor does Linux do everything.

    So if you want more Linux users, focus more on being helpful. Ask what their specific concerns are, or what apps they must have vs would be nice to have. Point people to distros that would fit their use case (it’s mind boggling as a non Linux user to just look up what distro to get). Then point them towards how to find answers to their questions and troubleshooting steps.

    Nuture the seeds you plant and they will grow. Yelling at them that they aren’t growing isn’t going to help.




  • I use magic earth for maps. It lacks in a lot of ways but is a usable map and navigation system. I like the nav and some of the features bit has (safety alerts, reported police) but the map detail kind of sucks. You zoom in and not every street name is shown. But try it and see if it works for you.

    Battery life will be better, and by how much depends on your setup and usage. For instance, I have play services installed, which does eat some battery. But I also turn off location, Bluetooth, mic, camera and sometimes WiFi. I only turn services on when I want to use them. That saves battery. So expect good battery life, but don’t expect any miracles.







  • This is a good discussion point, rather than an arms race discussion of ads vs adblockers.

    Some key points to make are that Google is making a crap ton of money from ads, they are keeping most of it so creators must resort to sponsorships and patreon. Google additionally makes money by selling your profile data.

    It’s not like I have a true answer to your question, but a “workable” system should consist of: Google makes money Creators make money Customers are reasonably private The concept of making money isn’t about making the entire system worse, just so you pay for it not to be

    My problem with Google is they don’t really care. They’ll burn it all if it makes them money until it’s dead.

    There could be some key features that get implemented on a paid tier, but paying is just ads vs no ads.

    An equally valid question would be, what can YT do to incentivize you to pay? They could ad features only available to subscribers, but they really don’t.

    I would make it a semi walled garden, with free and premium content. Subscription tiers would be for customers and creators alike. Vimeo has a good system (though not perfect) with feature sets only available certain tiers. There’s incentive to upgrade if you want those features.

    Here’s a big differentiator though. YT has this magic algorithm that feeds you what it wants to. Creators have no say in that (nor do customers). But if I post a video you like, I want you to watch more of my videos, not videos from somebody else similar to me. YT takes full control, and sends people away just as fast as sending them in. Why would I pay for that?

    Platforms like Vimeo don’t do that (I’m not advocating vimeo, they’re just the example I think is most comparable). Wouldn’t having some level of control over that as a viewing customer and content creator have value? No, let’s just slap ads on it.

    I can also argue that this goes against my final criterea point, that YT just made things worse with their algorithm and this is just paying to remove it. There was a day where subscribing to a channel meant you got to see their videos. No bell ringing needed.

    And I’m sorry I just vomited my brain into these thoughts and wall of text. If you made it this far, bless you.

    But this is why I don’t use YT directly. I was with vanced but ended up with newpipe, because its a simple scraper. That fact not only removes ads, but it gives me control of what I watch with my time (which has value). That is the lesson YT forgot, and the root of why any of this is an issue.


  • Worth is subjective. It sounds to me like it’s not a fit to your criteria so I wouldn’t recommend it.

    Personally, I like it. I actively use email, drive, calendar, and VPN. Yes, they’re all separate apps so it’s not like its a true ecosystem, but its really the closest to a suite of products you’ll get in the privacy world. Mostly though, I like what the company stands for and how they treat their customers.

    Biggest issue I have is their password manager. It’s been improved since I’ve tried it but it wasn’t great. The main issue I had was it sharing the same password as the rest of it’s apps. No. I want a single password manager password I can remember and then a unique, complex password for apps. So I use a separate password manager.

    I also don’t use their aliases. I tried to switch over and just didn’t like how it handled the headers and how it worked with my sieve filters. One day I’ll probably make the switch, but it just doesn’t seem worth the time when Addy is $1/mo.