I think you have a lot of valid arguments for why Valve isn’t a pure champion for all things good. But, that also wasn’t the question.
I’ve used proton more often than not with games purchased through GoG. Their contributions to wine and the layer on top is excellent. Sam Latinga is a Valve employee and creator of libSDL, which is also another significant and foundational contribution to FOSS.
A company can do a lot of good without having to be exclusively good. And as for Linux gaming, it wouldn’t be where it is without Valve.
Oh, the number of times my introverted mind has become exhausted after a meeting, and instead of taking a 30 minute nap and play time with doggo followed by a 4 hour focused work session, I’m borderline catatonic with a headache for the next 2 hours until it’s time to head home.
I used Plex for my home media for almost a year, then it stopped playing nice for reasons I gave up on diagnosing. While looking at alternatives, I found Jellyfin which is much more responsive, IMO, and the UI is much nicer as well....
Here is my opinion on some FOSS software. PS, I’m too old to give a shit about team mentality, I just want stuff to work. Also, my motivation for liking FOSS is not so much “free”, but rather “unencumbered and unrestricted shared human technology and knowledge”.
GNOME, for the hate it gets, it comes close to getting everything right. I’d give it a 95/100 score. Windows a 30/100, and MacOS a 35/100. No verdict/comment on KDE as I haven’t used it. I have good reasons for disliking W10/W11 and separate ones for MacOS. As desktop environments, they are both shit for each their own reasons.
Blender. 3D/Scultping/Drawing/Video Editing. Aside from Linux kernel, the most impressive and well managed FOSS project there is. I grew up with pirated 3dsmax, and what a dream it would be to grow up today with Blender as it is.
Linux as a OS kernel. One can argue about the desktop market share, but people don’t know better. They think the software that runs on it defines it. But, there is a reason why 100% of top 500 supercomputers in this world run on Linux. I’d also mention the Arch/AUR community. Doesn’t matter if you use Arch or not, arch/aur wiki is a goldmine.
Godot: 2D game engine. As a 3d game engine, it’s not nearly as good as the non-FOSS competition.
Firefox: If it wasn’t for Firefox, I don’t know what I would do. I don’t trust chrome one single bit.
Alacrity terminal: I’m sure there are plenty great FOSS terminal emulators, but the built in ones for MacOS and Windows are garbage.
Prusa Slicer: I think this one is as good as the commercial counterparts for FDM G-code generation.
VLC. Mixed feelings about this one, as I think it’s UI is lacking, but since it plays almost everything the UX ends up being great.
LibreOffice Writer. Perhaps debatable. But the fact that you can trust LibreOffice to respect and adhere to the OpenDocumentFormat, and equally trust Microsoft Word to deliberately not do so in subtle ways, LibreOffice Writer is ultimately the better software IMHO.
Projects I wish had an edge over commercial proprietary software:
Gimp. It just isn’t as good, even if you get used to it. Some things, of course, it can do much better (e.g the G’Mic QT filter pack). The lack of non-destructive work flows is the key part that is missing.
FreeCAD. It’s good, and you can do wonders with it, but oh so rough compared to onshape/Fusion/etc.
Darktable. Not as good as commercial counterparts like Lightroom.
Kdenlive. Not as good as Davinci Resolve, or the adobe counterparts.
LMMS: Not as good as most commercial DAWs.
Krita: This one is actually not too far away from being best in class. I still suspect photoshop and has an edge
InkScape: A “best for some vector things but not all”-kinda thing. It’s FOSS nature makes it the defacto vector editing software for certain kind of makers. But as a graphical vector editing suite, adobe’s stuff is just much more solid.
Mobile stuff that I think is better than the counterpart, or at least so good that I don’t care if there is a counterpart
Tuner: f-droid.org/packages/de.moekadu.tuner/ It just does what it is supposed to. There are hundreds of these on the play store, with ads or paid. There is no need for it.
Telegram: Sort of FOSS. Aside from security concerns whereby Signal would win out, it’s still the best UX. Compared to Messenger and Whats’App, not even a contest.
Ah, good to know. I found the source code for Vivaldi, but it probably has some proprietary bits so you cannot build it yourself? I’ll remove it from the list.
That’s what I wanted to mention! I just remembered 5-10 years ago, I tried getting into DAW stuff. and it just felt clunky, all of the linux ones. I definitely tried Ardour and LMMS. It didn’t help that I have no musical skill, but with FL Studio, it was more obvious that I was the problem. I’ll give Ardour another go some day. Thanks for reminding me.
That is an interesting observation, though, it is getting quite better. Blender is top tier. Gimp, Krita and InkScape are also exceptional software. Just a little bit rough around the edges, and some niche commercial applications. Very easy to be highly productive with those tools. Same with FreeCAD. But, where as Gimp, Krita and InkScape I would say are 8/10 in feature completeness, FreeCAD is more 5/10.
The only subtle detailed you missed, which is not surprise, is that Sweden and Norway (not sure which if the other skandies, maybe this is a EU thing, hm) use those letters, with those colors, and those arrows to indicate energy efficiency rating. So, it could be a nudge at the relationship between reducing emissions or suffer consequences of global warming, which will eventually lead to famine and war.
When you say “left wing”. I assume you use the US political reference, right?
Just so you know, in a lot of places, “US left wing” is further right than the most (non-fringe) right wing party there is.
And as such, the perception of politics in the US goes from “insane but maybe a step in the right direction” to “absolute evil and/or destructive/immoral”
My point, which I’m not trying to make to annoy or offend you, but you might want to reflect on: A lot of what is considered “political left wing” in the US, is “common sense” elsewhere.
So, you running into discussion forums is not necessarily that they are “left wing”, but rather not deprived of morality, and share a different set of common sense values of creating a society that is fair, the vulnerable and sick are taken care of, no one is exploited, etc etc. That just happens to be “socialism” according to Americans, and otherwise the full political spectrum in my country as to the nuances on how to best achieve that.
It’s not really “coping”. Other than that, you are right about a lot of points. I am providing a Eurocentric point of view, as you put it. I have no other perspective or insight to share.
US politics are certainly lacking in morality relative to European farts. If listening to 5 seconds of Trump doesn’t convince you, or the recent Republican debate… No rational mind or argument will.
When I started using MacOS, I was prepared for annoying design decisions that I would eventually get used to. I was not prepared for inconsistencies, bugs, and a significant loss of features and functionality. MacOS is a terrible operating system.
As much as it is “the algorithm’s fault”, I also blame humans for being, broadly speaking, incredibly dumb and with bad taste. Whenever I happen upon the “what’s popular” view, it’s filled to the brim with everything void of anything thoughtful.
Privacy concerns are a very popular and valid talking point on Lemmy, so I would like to gather your thoughts and opinions on this. (Apologies if it’s already been discussed!)...
I use two extensions in gnome I cannot live without. Currently travelling, so I don’t know their names by heart. One is for vertical workspaces, the other to visualize CPU/memory/network/disk.
I’ve had to use a Macbook for a month now, and let me tell you. The world of “I need some functionality = install third party stuff” is infinitely worse.
Want to launch custom terminal with global hotkey? => third party app
Want to manage window layout with keyboard shortcuts? => third party app
Want to add support for normal keys on an external keyboard? (like, home key not being dead) ? => third party app
Want better screenshot support? => third party app
Want to be able to navigate workspaces without waiting 2 second with 120Hz refresh rate monitors (because developers implemented it wrong)? => third party app
Want an alt+tab functionality that isn’t a mix between bugged and useless? => third party app
The situation of gnome would be a godsent. It’s so bad that I don’t care about system monitoring or vertical workspaces. But, once I do, those too would be third party apps.
I have tried to play NMS four separate times now. I just cannot get past a certain point where it feels like repitition towards some kind of story line that is always one stept away of “something interesting”. The mechanics of the gameloop are maybe a bit too obvious, which takes away form the immersion. I end up shelfing it because something else catches my goldfish like attention. Then a year later a major update comes out, and I think “maybe it’s good now”?
I’ve had to use a M2 pro for a month now. I expected dumb design choices. I did not expect the amount of bugs and incorrect implementations. MacOS feels like such a shitty operating system. Hardware is decent though.
The use of depleted uranium munitions has been fiercely debated, with opponents like the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons saying there are dangerous health risks from ingesting or inhaling depleted uranium dust, including cancers and birth defects.
What is the point of peace talks with Russia? Promises and assurances by Russia have had no weight or effect. Which is why the war even happened. Also, Russia can end the war any day they want.
I joined reddit on the tailwind, so it was all echo chamber, we hate newcomers, gatekeeping, automod frenzy, too many rulebreakers, too many rules, etc I could be wrong, but thats what I imagine it used to be like.
YouTube/Google also made this mistake. Or, I’m sure it is tested to make some KPI look good. But, certainly not the ability to discern “is this video garbage/scam” at a glance.
Sure, I’m clicking more videos to find a relevant one. So, probably “increases engamement”, but also reduces my willingness to pay for the service. But, I suppose it’s mostly driven by ad impressions.
I’ve been a huge fan of CDPR since the witcher 2. I love the world of cyberpunk. The combination seemed like a dream come true. So, I deliberately held out on absolutely any and all spoilers. It was not easy.
I bought a new computer for the game. I booked a two week vacation to play the game.
And, I mostly enjoyed it. It was a little bit underwhelming, and some systems seemed a bit contrived. But, it was still fun, with some amazing city design. Definitely not something that I would call GoTY.
Then, I looked at all the outrage, and I looked at the promotional material. And, oh boy, did that seem fraudulent. Like, “how come no one went to jail”-fraud. Pretty straight up lying about every part of the game. And why? I don’t know, but it seriously stained my view of CDPR.
Years ago I used NewPipe but when I wanted a little more from my app I switched the ReVanced until it started giving me more and more issues. For the past 3 months or so I’ve been using a cracked Youtube Premium app, but now it’s dropping every video after about a minute. So what’s everyone using these days to avoid all of...
Indeed. Nothing comes close. Organic Maps on f-droid uses OSM, which is decent enough for most things, but struggles more with changes like road work or traffic congestion.
Oh wow. I checked the stats for Norway, which is at 12%. gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/…/norwaySweden and Denmark at <2%, Finland 4%, Iceland 3%. That is a surprising W for Norway.
Madeline: Science denial really grinds my metaphorical gears, and Flat Earthers are some of the most egregious about it. So manhandle them into strait jackets and shove them in the damn rocket already.
We need to allow different opinions, sure. But, do we need more morons and conspiracy theorists? They feed and exist because of the amplifying factor of social media.
I usually welcome any challenges to my opinions, but I expect a minimum requirement for self reflection and critical thought. This doesn’t pass that bar.
Ah, gotcha. As a thought experiment it falls on the same moral issues as with any capital punishment. The bigger problems I think are with how woefully unprepared society is for the incentives advertisement based social media has.
One might think, “what does advertisement have to do with this?”. It turns out that outrage is much more engaging than any intellectual discourse that discusses nuances. So, Facebook and it’s ilk amplifies all and any cancerous misinformation. Humans being malleable believe what they are exposed to, and measles outbreaks are now a thing again.
Flat earthers aren’t the problem. Neither are Maga morons, Q-anons, anti-vaxxers. They aren’t even the weakest souls. Humans aren’t all that different. Just different circumstances. And, the problems are those that encourage and facilitate those circumstances. Put those in a shuttle destined to the sun.
Hi guys, first of all, I fully support Piracy. But Im writing a piece on my blog about what I might considere as “Ethical Piracy” and I would like to hear your concepts of it....
I don’t think it can be that black and white. You probably have some kind of framework in mind where that makes sense. Otherwise you would be arguing that the very thing you wish to obtain a copy of, should not be rewarded in a way that allows that work to exist. So, is the framework you have in mind some kind of egalitarian world that unfortunately doesn’t exist?
Most content is corporate generated consumerist garbage anyway so it doesn’t matter
Our right to access content is more important than a creator’s right to restrict access to it for profit
It’s information and ideas, and we are entitled to all information simply because I say so
I find none of these statements to be particularly accurate, and as such also your reasoning. I’m sure there are good arguments for it, but the solution and approach you’ve presented is flawed. I had hoped for something more enlightening. Now, I don’t disagree with your ultimate goal or conclusion, it just needs different circumstances than reality currently allows. You either shoot yourself in the foot where creative work dies out, or we manage to create a society where such pursuits are motivated by the art itself and not the gain. But to me, you have not argued that piracy is “ethical”, you just make a point of not really caring about the ethical component of it, because the end goal of you getting access to it without making an effort towards the contribution and the sustainability of creating it, is what matters to you.
I get what you’re saying. But, do you get what I’m saying? If someone asks “why is X Y to you”, the answer “because it is Y to me”, doesn’t add much. Now, the OP asked for a reasoning for why it was ethical. You have pretty much said “fuck ethics, I do what I want”. And, as you very much point out, you do not care what anyone thinks. Which… I find weird to point out in a discussion forum. FYI, ethics tries to be a little bit more general than “anything I want is by definition ethical to me”. I’m sure we’re both happy to leave it at that.
Russia (I assume this is what you mean) didn’t go “alt right”. They likely spend a lot of resources encouraging right wing politics in all countries they benefit from weakening the stability of. It’s no surprise they had a hand in helping Trump, brexit, Bolsonaro, NRA. Just look at who they supported in a massive disinformation campaign in Poland, a leader of the ultra-nationalist, neo-fascist “All-Polish Youth”.
To anyone in general, not OP: inb4 any whataboutuism about US meddling in the world. It’s a separate matter. Two things can be shit at the same time.
And since you won’t be able to modify web pages, it will also mean the end of customization, either for looks (ie. DarkReader, Stylus), conveniance (ie. Tampermonkey) or accessibility....
Buy a domain sure, but just use paid protonmail and use it with the domain you bought. It takes a few minutes to set up, and if protonmail ever goes to shit, you still own the email address. Maintaining your own email server just isn’t worth it imo.
It’s not really an accurate analogy, nor is this concept complicated enough to warrant one. Content creators (air makers?) need to sustain themselves with the revenue their work grants them. People who circumvent this like you, add to the running cost of YouTube but contribute nothing in return. I personally despise advertisement of all forms, so I understand your motivation to do so. I would even encourage it if you have no other means. But, to justify it in the way you do seems intellectually and/or morally dishonest.
There are definitely better front-end alternatives to YouTube. But… they contribute nothing to the people who make the content that you want to use those front-ends for. I pay for YouTube premium, but I still sometimes use other methods for consuming it. So, take this for what it’s worth: by all means, use the free alternatives, etc. But the whole “don’t pay for it if it is free” is shortsighted.
We've clearly created a utopia. (startrek.website)
Valve Is A Wonderful Upstream Contributor To Linux & The Open-Source Community (www.phoronix.com)
WFH FTW! (programming.dev)
What are some FOSS programs that you think are a far better user experience than their counterparts? (sh.itjust.works)
I used Plex for my home media for almost a year, then it stopped playing nice for reasons I gave up on diagnosing. While looking at alternatives, I found Jellyfin which is much more responsive, IMO, and the UI is much nicer as well....
Tier list (lemmy.world)
What do you think about Lemmy, so far?
I happen to like it very much.
Windows 11 (lemdro.id)
Pour one out for the youtubers that chased the algorithm away from what you enjoy. (lemmy.world)
Companies that obtain and sell your user information should have to pay you royalties. Agree or disagree?
Privacy concerns are a very popular and valid talking point on Lemmy, so I would like to gather your thoughts and opinions on this. (Apologies if it’s already been discussed!)...
extension is INCOMPATIBLE with current GNOME version (discuss.tchncs.de)
Starfield, is it getting review bombed? (youtu.be)
Seems kind of like the game is just suffering from reactionaries, but I definitely don’t put that much stock in critic reviews these days either.
be root (discuss.tchncs.de)
Exclusive: US to send depleted-uranium munitions to Ukraine (www.reuters.com)
The use of depleted uranium munitions has been fiercely debated, with opponents like the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons saying there are dangerous health risks from ingesting or inhaling depleted uranium dust, including cancers and birth defects.
is Rust really that powerful / intuitive?
Hello all,...
What are your programming hot takes?
Lemmy probably feels like Reddit when it first started, all warm cuddly and friendly to newcomers eager to discuss and collaborate around central topics.
I joined reddit on the tailwind, so it was all echo chamber, we hate newcomers, gatekeeping, automod frenzy, too many rulebreakers, too many rules, etc I could be wrong, but thats what I imagine it used to be like.
What is your "inexpensive" hobby that turned out to be expensive/ you gradually invested lots of money into?
Edit: so it turns out that every hobby can be expensive if you do it long enough....
Reddit users who switched to Lemmy, what is the most annoying thing you have seen about Lemmy users?
Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty - Gameplay Trailer | gamescom 2023 (www.youtube.com)
Dodge RAM driver kills a cyclist. Media calls it a "bike crash". (www.koin.com)
What's the best app for Youtube right now?
Years ago I used NewPipe but when I wanted a little more from my app I switched the ReVanced until it started giving me more and more issues. For the past 3 months or so I’ve been using a cracked Youtube Premium app, but now it’s dropping every video after about a minute. So what’s everyone using these days to avoid all of...
Which proprietary software do you prefer over their open-source alternatives, and why?
What I expected (lemmy.ml)
Linux Desktop Share keeps increasing, 3.13% now. Narrowing the gap to ChromeOs 3.24% (gs.statcounter.com)
Hot Take: Flat Earthers should be banished to orbit.
Madeline: Science denial really grinds my metaphorical gears, and Flat Earthers are some of the most egregious about it. So manhandle them into strait jackets and shove them in the damn rocket already.
What types of services are you not willing to self-host?
For example, something that is too complex for your comfort level, a security concern, or maybe your hardware can’t keep up with the service’s needs?
Chinese zoo denies its sun bears are humans dressed in costumes (www.theguardian.com)
What would you considered "Ethical Piracy"
Hi guys, first of all, I fully support Piracy. But Im writing a piece on my blog about what I might considere as “Ethical Piracy” and I would like to hear your concepts of it....
Twitter’s rebrand to X may actually be happening soon (www.theverge.com)
Musk's new idea (slrpnk.net)
I've noticed that lemmy as a whole is much more leftist than reddit (outside of political servers of course)
I can’t really think of a reason for that as Reddit is hated somewhat equally by “both” sides of the spectrum. It’s just something I find interesting.
Nebraska teen sent to 90 days in jail over abortion (www.bbc.com)
Google engineers want to introduce DRMs for web pages, making ad-blocking near-impossible in the browser (github.com)
And since you won’t be able to modify web pages, it will also mean the end of customization, either for looks (ie. DarkReader, Stylus), conveniance (ie. Tampermonkey) or accessibility....
Google raising price of YouTube Premium to $13.99 per month (9to5google.com)