I’ve run Linux since 1998, about half of that time was as a primary desktop. I switched back to Windows on the desktop for a few years (but always had Linux servers on my home network), and recently switched back to running Linux on the desktop about 18 months ago.

I don’t run Gnome, KDE, or Wayland. I don’t want my Linux desktop to emulate a Windows machine. I prefer command line apps for a lot of things, like music players, file browsers, etc. I don’t mind the efforts to make Linux on the desktop more beginner friendly through various UI tools, but I abhor when they do so while degrading the non-UI experience (gconf, you can fuck right off).

I also don’t care too much about FOSS. I run plenty of proprietary software packages. I have both Nvidia and AMD GPU’s and both work fine, though I prefer the Nvidia because of some of the AI tooling I run. Both have worked fine in Steam for the handful of games I play (FFXIV+mods, New World, Enshrouded, ESO+mods, Neverwinter, Path of Exile, Planetside 2), but I only have about 30 games in my library and I can tell you a good 70% of those I’ll likely never feel like playing again.

I do all my work on the same Linux desktop, but most of my job is done on command line tools (coding, git, aws, docker) or via web-based tools (Jira, Outlook, Teams). I have a VM for running Word when I need to open documents with DRM.

I don’t think Linux is for everybody, and I don’t think people should switch to it unless they’re actually interested in learning how to run Linux, and not simply looking for an alternative because “Windoze bad lol”.

Sure, we could talk about the evils of capitalism all day long, but this isn’t the place for it.

The reality is if a car manufacturer wanted to break into the luxury EV market and wasn’t sure if they should make a mid-sized family sedan or a 2 door coupe, do they just pump billions into R&D and hope for the best, risking the jobs of thousands of employees and entire communities in the process? Do they call BMW/Tesla/Audi/Mercedes/etc and ask them for their sales data?

No, they go buy that information from a market research firm, who buys that data from BMW/Tesla/Audi/Mercedes.

PII data controls are an important aspect of privacy, but blanket statements like “no one, anywhere, ever should sell my data” are childish.

I used to think that way, but the reality is I’m a huge fan of data driven decision making and the biggest consumers of customer data are market research brokers.

On linux? No thanks.

I have 4 different browsers installed, I use Chrome for work activities, as it supports the Outlook and Teams PWA’s and I’m not browsing ad-ridden sites. I use qutebrowser for personal stuff/bookmarks, and Firefox for uh, video browsing.

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Maybe because it doesn’t work? I uploaded a picture of someone I know, it found 2 ‘free’ results, neither of them matched, but it then offered me a ‘deep search’ for only $20.47.

And at the end of the day, the responsibility is still on YOU to quit fucking uploading your mug everywhere and making it publicly searchable.