Posts by GNU Enjoyer

Apple-Intel divorce to be final next year

Re: Take it or leave it...

>In all the surveys over several decades: Windows on Intel has been overwhelmingly the dominant platform with Apple accounting for circa 10% and everyone else less than 5%.

Yes, in measurements of browser useragents for the visitors to a limited subset of websites, or in surveys to a limited subset of people.

It also needs to be considered that any OS can pass any useragent (firefox in anti-fingerprinting mode sometimes uses the windows useragent when running on GNU/Linux for example), which would skew the results too.

But such measurements only confirm that most of the users of such websites run windows and that most of those surveyed run windows - it is fraught with error to try to apply such statistics to OS usage as a whole at a percentage.

The dominant platform on such websites is now Android, followed by windows, followed by iOS; https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/ (although the stats are quite suspicious, with a separate "OS X" and macos count?).

GNU/Linux is being used extremely often now - but it appears that it is not being used to browse such kind of websites.

>Windows compatibility

Those 2 words that don't really belong next to each other.

Re: Royalty

You wrote about imaginary property royalties.

In the real world imaginary property does not exist - there is trademark law, copyright law, patent law, trade secret law, contract law (none of which are property laws, most are rather monopoly laws) and many others that are all completely different.

The only thing that needs campaigning against is such popular error, as there is no point campaigning against imaginary laws.

As far as I can tell, with hardware fabbed to make a RISC-V chip, most businesses that sell such hardware, appear to almost always use the RISC-V reference designs and don't pay royalties for modified designs.

Re: Royalty

Imaginary property does not exist; https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.html

You are thinking of soft cores.

RISC-V also offers reference HDL designs under a free license, gratis - so to copy any of such designs would not require royalties.

Typically businesses take the reference RISC-V designs and add their own proprietary extensions and speedups rather than contract such process out.

Re: Take it or leave it...

Raspberry Pi's run a proprietary OS on the GPU - GNU/Linux is the secondary OS.

ARM SoC's aren't really as useful as real computers - there are many more real computers that either intel or AMD, AMD64 or i686 running GNU/Linux or GNU/Linux-libre.

AMD and Intel aren't worried - as the AMD64 CPUs they sell are still generally the fastest processors available and the low-power models are now reasonably efficient enough for everything but demon rectangles.

Ease the seat back and watch some video in your car with next Apple CarPlay

Imagine being restricted by digital handcuffs

Resulting in you are unable to play videos without the handbrake sensor detecting that the handbrake is on (it is entirely possible for a handbrake to work fine, but for the sensor to fail).

That's something free video playback software won't stop you from doing - although you'll still be arrested just as hard if you watch videos while driving and get caught.

Microsoft slows Windows 11 24H2 Patch Tuesday due to a 'compatibility issue'

Re: Seems appropriate

That won't do.

You'll need to at least install GNU as well to get an operating computer.

Microsoft rolls out Windows 11 Start Menu updates

Re: Or.....

`bash --version`

Apple tries to contain itself with lightweight Linux VMs for macOS

Re: They love their shareholders, not their customers.

The only thing microsoft embraced was; calling GNU, "Linux".

"WSL1" didn't have Linux in it, but it had GNU; https://mikegerwitz.com/2016/04/gnu-kwindows

The idea is that people are prevented from escaping from windows to GNU/Linux, as on windows they can have a "Linux shell" (GNU bash) and run all the "Linux software" (GNU software) to get all functionality missing from windows, with the bonus of not much chance of them realizing GNU exists as it's; "all Linux".

Well there is is

"GNU" --> "Linux".

"Linux" --> "Linux kernel".

1.5 TB of James Webb Space Telescope data just hit the internet

Re: COMMUNISM!

A lot of US government data and legislation is not free, as it's only accessible after the execution of nonfree JavaScript, or not made available and some laws are secret too (for example the laws related to domestic airline travel and IDs, even those such laws clearly cannot be classified information).

While work done by the US governments employees is regarded as not applicable for copyright, work done by contracted companies is regarded as applicable for copyright.

Provided you can actually get a copy of all the data, collecting a file physically or having it posted doesn't make it nonfree, just inconvenient.

Re: COMMUNISM!

Giving data away for freedom (under a free license if necessary) would be an act of freedom and would previously be deemed American (but now it's the land of the nonfree, where sharing is deemed wrong).

Communists were known for restricting sharing by having a guard at each photocopier to prevent forbidden copying (which has been implemented by the USA via digital handcuffing software, some of which has been installed onto printers, which often refuse to photocopy things like US notes, even though doing so is perfectly legal).

I don't see a license or public domain release or copyright disclaimer on that dataset

Thus it's hard to know if you're allowed to do anything but look at the data, considering any work deemed creative is automatically copyrighted.

Works directly from NASA may not be eligible for copyright, but this doesn't seem to be the case.

At least SourceXtractorPlusPlus is released under a free license, so all good there (too bad copyright headers are missing on some .h files that are borderline trivial).

Forked-off Xlibre tells Wayland display protocol to DEI in a fire

Re: Code talks

Even the most malicious capitalists don't have any problems "giving away" copies of their proprietary malware, gratis, as the spying and/or lock-in capabilities is what they really value - not copies of the software (although some can get ultra suckers to hand over money for copies).

Free software is compatible with capitalism, as the money is in service, support and/or warranty (as it costs next to $0 to make a copy of software) - if the program that the business offers support for is free software that is also generally available gratis, people will not hesitate to use and share it, which is the best kind of advertisement for the business's services.

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html#four-freedoms

But really, the ways proprietary software is implemented is closer to communism than capitalism.

Need for speed? CityFibre punts 5.5 Gbps symmetrical broadband at ISPs

Re: I would be happy...

There is no difference between the susceptibility of business and residential computers when it comes to botnets (many of them come with the malware/botnet known as windows by default, although more residential computers have GNU/Linux later installed than business computers).

Most residential computers cannot send spam to mailservers configured to mitigate spam, as ISPs often nullroute packets to/from port 25 by default and residential connections don't have rDNS or SPF or DMARC (and "residential" IP ranges are often even blacklisted by default, which is unreasonable unless that can be undone by visiting a JS-free web form to remove an address or address range from it), while business connections are usually not blacklisted and can have a mailserver already setup, which can be used to send lots of spam if it can be hijacked.

A residential connection is usually useless for DoS attacks due to too little upload, but both residential and business connections are useful for DDoSS attacks as both tend to use the same models of insecure/backdoored routers.

Re: I would be happy...

>In the download direction, there's only so much bandwidth you can consume: sooner or later you need to watch those videos, or play those games you downloaded. Faster speed mostly means

downloading the same amount in a shorter time.

Bandwidth is utilized, rather than consumed - less than 100% utilization is really a waste of what could be utilized.

ISP's don't usually care how much you download, as it costs them next to nothing if you keep the pipe full the whole time (although ISPs are known to massively oversubscribe a single 1000BASE-T or 10GbE link, despite how it's not that difficult or that expensive to bond multiple links, or go for a 50GbE or higher link, which can cause issues if too many people actually utilize the download effectively).

>But in the upload direction, there are a minority of people who abuse the network by filling the pipe 24x7, whether that be by hosting bittorrent or by doing full backups of their server every 10 minutes to the cloud. If you apply a transfer limit or FUP, even something huge like 10TB per month, everyone will complain loudly. By keeping the upload speed low, you put a lid on the problem.

All decent networking technology is symmetrical - and just like download, less than 100% upload utilization is really a waste of what could be utilized and is not abuse.

The issue is that there are rent seekers on the Internet's pipes and all of them demand payment for every single MiB uploaded, which means it actually costs the ISP something for upload, which can eat into their profits if a lot of upload is utilized, which means ISPs often sabotage the upload to some piddly amount before packets start getting dropped to ensure that they still make a profit from the 5% that actually utilize the connection.

But really upload doesn't cost that much anymore for ISPs that have upstreams that are not massive scammers, thus there is no reason why most ISPs wouldn't be able to have a base 1000BASE-T plan (a 25+ year old technology) or a 10GbE option for those that have a use for that (which ISPs "somehow" offer in some countries; https://www.sakuramobile.jp/lp/?i=home-internet#plans).

I need 10GbE

To download and deliver all the free software at an acceptable speed, alas it is not available.

Apple goes glass whole as it pours new UI everywhere

Re: I'll reserve judgement...

It's too bad, you will learn the new GUI as you don't even have the freedom to just use an older GUI version (you may be able to defer the update for a while, but good luck with that).

China accuses Taiwan of running five feeble APT gangs, with US help

Re: "Beijing complains it’s under relentless attack"

Yes, there are many botnets of hijacked BusyBox/Linux routers (many of them contain a telnet backdoor with no password, or a known password), which run a poorly programmed script that tries logging into GNU/Linux machines (or anything else with ssh) with weak username/password pairs (i.e. root/root) - as even a poorly executed attack as that, when run against random IPv4 addresses, will eventually uncover several dozen decently performant computers that can be hijacked for other purposes.

If you use openssh correctly for internet facing access and use a keyfile and in /etc/ssh/sshd_config set;

PasswordAuthentication no

UsePAM no

then such scripts cannot login even if your login is root/root (but the scripts are so poorly programmed they will keep going even if they always get; "Permission denied (publickey)").

With a keyfile, such attacks will never succeed, but you do get logspam, which tools like sshguard and fail2ban can silence down to a only mildly annoying level (I would recommend a higher login fail rate than 4, as you will end up locking yourself out if you ever add another computer and fail to get the config right a few times).

If you want to silence all of such logspam, you'll need to choose a random non-default port (i.e. any result above 1000 in GNU bash; `echo $((RANDOM % 66535))`) and charge in /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Port 22 -> Port 28406

>actually no user accounts to use could only attach from a physically attached keyboard

I suspect sshd is running, which would allow access with the right username and password if so configured - but you may want to stop and disable if you don't use ssh.

The concept of an IPv4 address tracing back to a country is bizarre, as it's just a number on any computer - although there are (often inaccurate) geoip mappings available.

Many such cases; https://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-users-never-heard-of-gnu.html

Broadcom sends VMware to record revenue, margins, as most big customers sign for private cloud bundles

Re: Monopolies and regimes always win

VMware is a monopoly, as only one business has control over such proprietary software.

There is other VM software that is not VMware, but to use that requires escaping from the VMware monopoly by breaking all of the handcuffs that have been affixed.

People find amazing ways to break computers. Cats are even more creative

Re: Kitty nicknamed "Mac killer"

Kitty was saving you from the proprietary software.

Firefox 139 arrives for non-Chromium browser fans

Re: Vivaldi has tiling

Vivaldi has a proprietary GUI, therefore Vivaldi is proprietary software.

For software to be good, it must meet the prerequisite of goodness by at least respecting the users freedom and then how convenient the functionality is can be considered.

If software is proprietary, it is always bad, as it is an yoke of unjust power over the user - although there may be convenient functionality to bait the user.

Re: Vivaldi has tiling

I don't understand why you would downplay how Vivaldi is unacceptable proprietary software that takes the users freedom by writing that it's "not FOSS".

Or could it that be the whole idea of "FOSS"? Downplaying the wrong of proprietary software?

Virgin Media O2 patches hole that let callers snoop on your coordinates

Re: Emergency caller location

I am not allowed to reply by the register.

Re: Emergency caller location

Mobile location identification for emergency services uses a different system, thus filtering out SIP headers that leak metadata wouldn't impact such.

You cannot "block cell location" - the way mobile networks works means that mobile companies can and do record the location data of every customer by IMEI (device id) and IMSI (account id) and sell that.

Mobile devices also contain a GPS chipset, which cannot be turned off (only asked to go into a low-power mode), that determines the precise location - which is provided to whatever party that pays on the mobile side (even rough 100mx100m or 1kmx1km location data good enough for most nefarious purposes, but 4mx4m is nicer).

In Android, reportedly turning "location data off" still results in the current location still being sent to google occasionally.

Three ways to run Windows apps on a Linux box

The kernel, Linux does have a list of specifications

It needs a MMU (µCLinux is a separately maintained patchset), a 586 or newer (or newer ARM CPU etc), 128MiB+ of RAM (although it will work on less with really cut down images, it has really bloated up so much now that Linux+Linux(initramfs) won't even fit into 128MiB of RAM), a 100MHz+ CPU (a slower one will technically work if you don't mind waiting hours for boot, but really you want a faster one), and an init that launches the rest of the OS (GNU or BusyBox) it needs (otherwise it just shuts down).

Re: VMware

It was never free, it was always proprietary software - it was never gratis either, although a "trial" period is offered.

With proprietary software, the master of the software can gouge their fees for ??? and you have no choice but to pay unless you stop using it and swap to the free VM software you should have been using (which you may choose to pay for support for and support fees are hard to gouge, as you can just go to someone else or hire someone).

Re: Some Of This Sounds Like Heavy Lifting!

It shall be explained to you.

If you purchase a computer with no OS on it, microsoft has minimal chance of subjecting you to their malicious software or their proprietary restrictions.

Unfortunately, often doing so doesn't reduce much, or at all, the amount of money that is paid to microsoft, as they have made predatory agreements with the bean counters of many computer companies, where in exchange for a discount to the large windows tax, a payment is made per unit for every computer sold, whether it comes with windows, no OS, or another OS.

If you are going to purchase a new laptop, maybe it'll be a better idea to purchase a computer with windows on it, but refuse to accept the terms and demand a refund for the windows price (but I wouldn't, as all the new AMD64 laptops sold in shopping center stores etc are handcuffed to only run proprietary software hardware init).

microsoft may offer a further windows tax discount for a sticker, but it is ludicrous to suggest that microsoft would pay for a computer to run windows (microsoft has a unique chokehold - while microsoft gets paid for companies to exclusively use windows, Intel had to pay Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo and NEC etc to get them to exclusively use Intel processors).

If you purchase a computer with "Free"DOS on it, you have paid to have it installed.

Some vendors also sell computers that come with GNU/Linux, but microsoft has been doing their best to prevent that, or also receive payment for that.

WINE optionally supports interfacing with a Linux module for screen recording I believe (but otherwise it does not talk to Linux).

If you want to use that, you'd need to reboot if the module is not included in the distribution of the kernel, Linux you use and you install a different one (with it), or you compile it in as a module and it doesn't want to load without the main elf being updated.

Torvalds' typing taste test touches tactile tragedy

Re: Pondering..

>Linux vs GNU is a dead issue.

Despite how hard businesses and people try to kill freedom, it refuses to die.

>When people refer to Linux, they generally mean GNU/Linux

If they really meant that, they would just say; "GNU", as that is shorter to say or write.

In all cases where I've seen GNU/Linux (or GNU+Linux or LiGNUx or GNU with Linux or just GNU) been called "Linux", people have either been mislead and think it's "just Linux"; https://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-users-never-heard-of-gnu.html or know that the OS is GNU and is intentionally misleading others.

>Torvalds has never downplayed the importance of the GNU part.

He certainly has - he has stated he's happy to take credit for things he didn't do.

If his intention was not to downplay the importance of GNU, he would have said to please call his kernel; Linux and to please call the combination of his kernel with GNU; GNU+Linux - but he has not.

>if the only way you can get the functionality into the OS is by using non-free code, then go right ahead.

It has been claimed many times that the only way the GNU OS could have functionality is to include proprietary software, but it's 100% free software and it certainly isn't lacking in functionality.

>Without the regrettable proprietary blobs, Linux couldn't be as popular as it is.

Well there it is; `People try to justify adding nonfree software in the name of the “popularity of Linux”—in effect, valuing popularity above freedom. Adding nonfree software to the GNU/Linux system may increase the popularity, if by popularity we mean the number of people using some of GNU/Linux in combination with nonfree software. But at the same time, it implicitly encourages the community to accept nonfree software as a good thing, and forget the goal of freedom. It is not good to drive faster if you can't stay on the road.`- https://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.en.html

The sole reason the OS exists is to be 100% free software and while adding more and more proprietary software leads to increased popularity and therefore is driving faster, it is driving in the wrong direction.

>We'd all like GPL'd Bluetooth, WiFi and display code, but it ain't gonna happen

It certainly isn't going to happen if you ruinously compromise and put the proprietary software in and never take it back out; https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/compromise.html

But it would be quite easy to achieve if the GPLv2 was enforced - just like how GNU advised MCC that its GCC extension of a C++ front end must be released as free software (or not released at all) and how they advised NeXT that their extension to GCC to implement an Objective-C frontend must be released as free software (or not released at all), it would be quite trivial for Linux copyright holders to require that any and all extensions of Linux must be released in source form under the GPLv2-{only,or-later} or under a compatible license (or not released at all).

Maybe a handful of malicious businesses wouldn't do so (the users really should be defended from those businesses, rather than assisting such business's schemes), but when made to, most business turn out to not have a problem with respecting the users freedom after all and the result would be free software bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPU peripheral software (this wouldn't end up impacting popularity either, as if there is only a handful of peripheral devices to reverse engineer, then it's feasible to develop free software for all of them).

Alas, those Linux copyright holders almost never enforce their license.

>let's make the best of an OS which is a lot more free than Windows and at least we have a choice.

A proprietary GNU/Linux distro is merely less proprietary than windows - it's not "more free", as you don't have have the 4 freedoms with all the software.

One of the core tenets of proprietary software is to never give the user a choice.

>With all his faults, Torvalds has managed to provide an alternative to Windows, and for that I thank him.

He has not done that and that was never his goal.

His goal was to write an alternative to MINIX, but he only ever got around to writing a kernel.

GNU has provided the replacement to windows (as the goal was to provide a fully free OS), although Linus (and many others) happens to provide one essential part (out of the many essential parts).

While I thank Linus for releasing a free kernel from 1992-1995 and give him credit for that, I do not thank him for releasing a proprietary kernel in 1991 and allowing Linux to become proprietary software again in 1996 (but thankfully some GNU developers have provided a free distribution of Linux; GNU Linux-libre and I thank them for that).

Re: Pondering..

Maybe Linus would deserve a Noble peace prize if his kernel was 100% free software and it was licensed under the GPLv2-or-later - but it isn't.

By the same lieu that those who write helpful programs deserved to be rewarded, those who write proprietary software, or are complacent in proprietary abuses (i.e. take a fat salary in exchange for doing absolutely nothing about bad things happening to others) rather deserve to be punished.

I wonder why nobody ever mentions putting GNU up for a Noble peace prize despite all the good it has done? (far more than Linux ever did)

No, Linus is not a hero

>the global hero most of the world doesn't even know exists.

Much of the world does know he exists, as they've heard of "Linux" (Linus with the s swapped out with x - a massive cult of personality and a buzzword too).

If Linus hadn't decided to author a quick and dirty but technically functional kernel, GNU would have allocated more development time to Hurd, or determined that a monolithic kernel was more suitable and found a suitable one and got it freed.

Alas, most of the world haven't heard of the real heroes - Richard Stallman and those behind the GNU OS (which he doesn't ask people to call "Stallmanx", just GNU and to also give credit to Linux when relevant).

>he was still using his Apple M2 laptop

It's not his - it's Apple, as it's handcuffed by digital signatures that only Apple has the privatekeys of and how wear components like the SSD is soldered down and is not reasonably replaceable.

Something is only yours if you have control over it and another party cannot decide when it'll stop working.

Microsoft open sources Windows Subsystem for Linux – well, most of it

Re: Just several MORE things Microsoft was hoping you'd forget...

Ballmer was in fact complaining about the GNU General Public License version 2, but he knew that if he actually named the GNU, then chances are it could be over for microsoft, thus instead he said "Linux" and "the license".

Re: Bassackward?

It is fact started off as a components of windows enabling GNU binaries to run without Linux; https://mikegerwitz.com/2016/04/gnu-kwindows

Re: Bassackward?

It was in fact named with the wrong name; https://mikegerwitz.com/2016/04/gnu-kwindows

Freshly discovered bug in OpenPGP.js undermines whole point of encrypted comms

Should have used GnuPG and native software

Enough written.

The 'End of 10' is nigh, but don't bury your PC just yet

Re: Skill issue

>It wasn't that they "didn't realize". They don't care.

If people are not informed that x is a thing, they have never even considered if they care about x or not.

>Of the four freedoms, three are almost entirely useless to someone who cannot read code and don't intend either to learn how themselves or to ask someone else to do it for them.

That is not true. Everyone benefits from all 4 freedoms even if most individuals don't intend to learn how to read code, how to program or ask someone else to make a change.

Sharing copies of software does not require knowing how to read code either.

>To the average nontechnical person, your argument sounds like this:

Such following exchange is ludicrous - GNU/Linux has GUI's and shells that are far easier to use than the joke of a GUI and shell's that proprietary OS's come with now (it's called powers hell for a reason) - they just don't happen to be exactly the same and contain the same defects.

A more likely exchange would be;

Me: This GNU/Car is the best there is, you should use it.

Them: I like my car. Why should I use yours?

Me: Since it respects your freedom and will therefore actually be your car - all the software comes with the 4 freedoms and it does not come with spyware (both inside and outside), malware, a backdoor that will drive you to a torture prison on command, proprietary software in the doors that will lock you in the car when it lights on fire and digital handcuffs.

Them: But I feel it doesn't have a steering wheel, as the interface isn't exactly the same.

Me: It can be steered via a selection of steering wheels (a number of desktop environments), or with a keyboard (GNU bash & GNU Emacs), or with any other steering mechanism you wish. If you want a steering wheel that looks the closest to windows', maybe you want KDE?

Them: How do you accelerate?

Me: With the GNU/Pedals, or with the z key, or with whatever input you wish.

Them: But I don't like the GNU/Brown colour of the pedals, what freedom does it give me again?

Me: All of them - for example you can change the pedal colour if you wish.

>Until you understand their position

I understand their position quite well.

If someone doesn't care about their own freedom after being suitably informed, it's their loss and they will continue to face proprietary software and its consequences.

>You need to correctly describe the deficiencies in the alternative

Yes, the replacements aren't exactly the same, but when it comes to simple computer usage, you will not have any problems doing the vast majority of tasks - the defect rate of the software is far lower than the wares microsoft offers.

There does exist proprietary sabotage, which is not a deficiency with the software, which I describe when relevant.

>but nobody will realize what freedoms they don't have if you keep doing this. Break your loop.

People will never realize what freedoms they don't have if I speak in alternatives and functional enhancements only.

Re: Linux alternatives

>GIMP is quite a reasonable alternative to Photoshop

GIMP intends to replace all proprietary image manipulation software, rather than to be a mere alternative.

>But Inkscape is good and, like Libre Office and GIMP, it is free.

They are all free as in freedom, although they happen to usually be gratis as well.

>Xcode I don't know enough about to comment on

It's an IDE and there exists many free software IDEs that are functionally better when it comes to writing software, unless you want to write proprietary software for fruity toys (but you shouldn't do that).

>decent basic (free) CAD packages available for Linux

OpenSCAD and FreeCAD are both free as in freedom CAD's and are available for GNU/Linux and other OS's.

They are quite advanced now and they can do many advanced tasks just fine, although they do require a high level of user skill to carry out such tasks.

>it can be run in Linux using Codeweavers Crossover

"Codeweavers crossover" is a proprietary version of WINE that usually does not talk to the kernel, Linux - it makes POSIX function calls, which are handled by several libraries, including glibc.

Yes, you can run most proprietary windows program in WINE on GNU/Linux now (with some workarounds still required in many cases and most complete breakage caused by intentional sabotage (some programs contain a malicious feature that detects if WINE is being used and refuse to run if so)).

But doing so is bizarre, as you are taking an OS that has the sole purpose of existence to be free software and then adding even more proprietary software to it?

>What price Windows 11 / 12 now?

For most computers that you can buy from a store, usually $50-$100 USD of the price is the windows tax (whether it comes with windows, or no OS, or another OS).

It seems that the typical "physical license" goes for ~$50 USD now (I remember it being ~$125 USD, but it seems the competition from GNU/Linux has forced them to drop the usual price from seriously ridiculous to just ridiculous for those who are willing to install an OS), but microsoft seems to also offer it for ~$200 USD and sometimes a <$20 USD discounted price - effectively targeting both bigger and smaller suckers and therefore maximizing profit.

Microsoft also targets suckers that aren't big enough of a sucker to pay (but are still a big enough sucker to use it and allow them to profit from showing them ads and/or spying on them and/or reinforcing their network effect) by choosing not to remove KMS activators and the like from github.

It will never be the "year of Linux", as that proprietary kernel doesn't operate on its own (a fact that many people don't like to read, as it hurts their feelings).

It was the year of the GNU/Linux desktop in 1995 or so, as you could finally use a recent computer in freedom again (alas that freedom was ripped away with the first proprietary program added to Linux in 1996).

>despite Microsoft's best endeavours to make it so.

All microsoft has endeavored to do so is stop people from escaping to GNU/Linux - of course they love [referring to GNU as] Linux.

To achieve that goal, they released "WSL1", which was in fact GNU *without* Linux, to allow people to run GNU software like GNU bash from windows, while still using windows (although such feature wasn't new - Cygwin and MSYS2 implemented such long before).

Only later was "WSL2" released, which was mostly glorified GNU/Linux VM's and some BusyBox/Linux VM's (like Virtualbox but worse, although auto-configured and auto-installed by default unlike Virtualbox).

>run a couple of flavours of Linux (Mint, Kubuntu)

I would rather call those flavors of the systemd OS (but really they use the same versions of GNU and Linux and systemd, the biggest difference is the default Desktop Environment and what packages are available in the package manager).

>I too am a grandad, grown up grandkids who wouldn't know where to start and didn't even know there were alternatives to Microsoft and Apple.

Very few people even know that GNU was written to be a free software *replacement* to all proprietary OS's - but now you know.

>Unless businesses strongly adopt Linux

The vast majority of businesses already use that kernel with GNU on computers that host their websites and anything else that needs to work - although many don't even realize it.

Many businesses are indeed still conned into using windows on their desktops, even for computers that do nothing but run a web browser.

>until Linux distros stop creating a version for every man and his dog

There are only a handful of Linux distros, for example two are;

https://kernel.org/

https://gnu.org/software/linux-libre

As for GNU[/Linux] distros, most of them are the same and mainly only differ in defaults, default DE and package manager, thus for the most part any will do when it comes to running software for GNU, so it is irrelevant if there are 1000 different distro's.

>professional software follows suite

All professional software is already on GNU, considering that professional software is software you can rely on to *never* randomly or targetedly stop functioning and demand a "license key" or "account login" etc.

There is the professional webservers nginx and lighthttpd and more, professional mailservers exim, notqmail and more, professional SIP software asterisk, GNU osip and more and I can give many more examples, but that's enough.

>will remain the install prerogative of nerds

Yes, computers are for those who at least try to use them.

>even if you have succeeded in getting your grandmother to use it for browsing and emails.

Yes, grandmother deserves freedom and gets Trisquel GNU/Linux-libre.

Re: Skill issue

>"IT's the best program in the world" is "It doesn't crash"

I didn't write that - that was only one point.

GIMP is the best image manipulation program in the world, as it at least respects the users freedom *and* is also functionally great *and* it doesn't crash (at least for stable versions - development versions do crash, as all development software does).

>I don't believe I have seen a "Crash" of any of that software in at least the last 3 years.

That would by very surprising if that occurred.

>I have had Network Manager in Rocky "Crash"

That isn't GIMP and yes, software from nonfreedesktop like NetworkManager isn't the best.

>I don't think I want these NICs in this bond anymore

Let me guess, those NIC's run proprietary software? (popularly incorrectly referred to as "firmware").

If so, I wouldn't blame Linux for such behavior.

>"Trampling the user's freedom" makes you sound like a silly zealot.

If stating what is occurring sounds like zealotry, you should see when I go full GNU/Zealot.

Re: Skill issue

>is how free you are to modify and distribute the source to a program

That is only 2 of the 4 essential freedoms; https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html#four-freedoms

>From the perspective of the people targeted by the website mentioned in the article, it's not important at all.

Everyone deserves freedom even if they didn't have any freedom at all previously and therefore didn't realise it was a thing.

>A lot of people do not intend to modify the source of anything.

That may be true, but they may want to do so in the future, or to ask or pay someone else to do so, thus it is unacceptable to deny such freedom.

>is there anything I can do with Photoshop which I can't do with GIMP

The answer is that GIMP can do some things photoshop can't do and photoshop can do some things GIMP can't do and completing some tasks may take longer than photoshop (while some tasks take less time), but GIMP at least respects the users freedom, does not spy on the user, does not take the users work and use it to assist someone else making proprietary works via neural network based image mixing/copying and doesn't cost the user a fortune; https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/when-free-software-isnt-practically-superior.en.html

When it comes to free software that undergoes a lot of development work, eventually the software advances enough that it has no parallel when it comes to proprietary software, even with all the proprietary sabotage in its way (proprietary file formats etc) and with features not allowed to be implemented (due to software patents), but that is years or decades away for any program and it makes no sense on the way to shun such free software totally just because some tasks are harder or cannot be done (although doing so under the "open source" frame of thinking that is only about powerful functionality, which cannot explain why to bother if there does exist functional deficiencies).

>If the answer includes things they use or plan to, they're not going to accept source freedom as a reason not to care.

Yes, if you only mention 2 of the 4 freedoms, there is no possible reason why they would have a reason to care.

>Some of those defenses are obviously motivated by support for the source license

The GPLv3-or-later requires freedom for both the source code and the binaries.

Re: I am incredibly dissapointed

>You shouldn't expect it to work, because you're great at preaching to the choir

I don't expect anything to work, as there is no choir - only me.

>about finding and convincing people who have never cared about modifying the source and don't care now

That is only one of the four essential freedoms; https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html#four-freedoms

People deserve the chance to learn that a free software OS exists that is written to respect the users freedom, rather than such information being hidden from them and only ever learning about some corporate movement about source-availability (sometimes).

Only then are people free to make their own decision if they would like to enjoy freedom or not - you cannot possibly convince someone to enjoy freedom via marketing schemes.

>continuing to complain to us who already understand these differences

It's a public comment available on anyone on the internet.

Many of such sort do not in fact understand these differences - they think Linus did everything from 1991 with a bit of help as they have been misinformed.

Skill issue

For the purposes of image manipulation, GNU Image Manipulation Program is the best program in the world.

It does real work much better than any proprietary program ever has, as it never crashes on GNU/Linux-libre.

It does drawing too, although it is not really great at that - you'd want to install Krita for that.

For vector graphics you'll want Inkscape.

The result is everything you need to get work done if you don't have skill issues.

"Affinity Photo" is just as bad as photoshop, as it tramples the users freedom just as hard.

I am incredibly dissapointed

The site was clearly written by someone who knows that GNU exists, but they have chosen to lie and refer to installing GNU/Linux as "Installing Linux".

Bonus "Linux operating system" oxymoron.

It even puts the price as the first reason to install and doesn't even mention user freedom (just some weaksauce user control point).

Maybe I should help another freedom enjoyer to host a real "end of 10" site.

Annual electronic waste footprint per person is 11.2 kg

11.2kg average?

I don't seem to be part of that average, as why would I buy new handcuffed garbage when only the old stuff isn't handcuffed?

Microsoft moved the goalposts once. Will Windows 12 bring another shift?

Re: Microsoft Monopoly Must End

The kernel, Linux does not drop architectures very often and it's usually decades after an architecture becomes obsolete.

Even if the architecture is dropped, you can keep using the latest version before the drop without any issues for years, as it's not like the SYSCALL API changes very often.

i686 is still supported and it will be supported for at least 10 more years, if not longer, and most old computers you can find are AMD64 now, thus support is not going to be dropped for all the general purpose computers that still work fine any time soon.

The GNU is much better when it comes to architecture support - for example support for Itanium was removed from newer versions of GCC due to lack of maintenance, but it was soon re-added when a maintainer was found - so moving to GNU/Linux-libre will ensure your computer will work until the hardware fails (which should be decades, but can be shorter if poor-quality components are used).

Also, free software gives you the freedom to just use old versions of software if you wish and if you do that, you don't need to care if support for the architecture was dropped, as what you have installed will just keep working, as it doesn't contain any antifeatures to sabotage its operation.

Re: the problem

Windows uses an inherently insecure design - updates or no updates, if anyone who is skilled wants to crack a windows computer, they'll be able to do it.

A few months or years after no updates, script kiddies will begin to be able to exploit windows 10 with just Metasploit, just like how they can currently do so to 7, Vista and XP - although that won't be a problem if they can't connect to such computers (i.e. the computer is behind a firewall and the user doesn't go and execute whatever malware JavaScript random websites throw at them via the web of arbitrary malware execution (a "modern" web browser)).

>Nothing will stop you running Windows 10 after October 14th 2025. And all your applications will keep working as well

If those were your applications, they would keep working indefinitely, alas, a lot of proprietary software kills itself eventually and requires a reinstall (the same is true of windows 10 itself once enough registry cruft etc builds up - although it seems it can be re-installed in place), which eventually may become impossible if the installer programs use digital handcuffs that have stopped working.

US Copyright Office found AI companies sometimes breach copyright. Next day its boss was fired

Equating copyright infringement to theft is a error

If someone steals your bike, you no longer have your bike.

If someone steals an apple, the shop no longer has an apple.

If someone copies your bike, you still have your bike and perse can enjoy their copy too.

If someone copies an apple, the shop still has the apple and perse can enjoy their copy too.

Alas, there are no bike or apple copiers.

When it comes to works under proprietary licenses, it would be moral (although not perfectly so) to ignore such restrictions and share such works anyway, but that would be illegal.

Works under free licenses can be used, modified and/or shared, even commercially perfectly morally and also fully legally - many people and companies profit from free works via the legitimate business activities of sale of the original copies or selling support.

What LLM companies are doing is scraping works under free and proprietary licenses alike, removing the licenses and selling combined copies of the input with proprietary software and SaaSS - which is clearly an immoral act (as free works are being rendered nonfree) and is also an act of copyright infringement (although companies usually get away with it).

Everyone's deploying AI, but no one's securing it – what could go wrong?

Even microsoft admitted that LLM's are impossible to secure

Which isn't a surprise, considering how would one even begin to secure a generated proprietary software program that you have no idea how it works (as it's in the form on an incomprehensible massive blob after all)?

37signals is completing its on-prem move, deleting its AWS account to save millions

Re: In six months...

What is this "Linux Terminal" you write of?

I open a terminal emulator and type in `echo $SHELL` and I get; /bin/bash

Is that Linux? It doesn't seem to be;

/bin/bash --version

GNU bash, version 5.2-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)

Copyright (C) 2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>

This is free software; you are free to change and redistribute it.

There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Heat can make Li-Ion batteries explode. Or restore their capacity, say Chinese boffins

Maybe the right materials and carefully controlled heating

Will be a feasible method to restore battery capacity.

But lets be real - very few companies will implement it - as current Li-Ion batteries tend to last too many cycles between the wanted repurchase interval if carefully treated.