A 50-something French dude that’s old enough to think blogs are still cool, if not cooler than ever. I also like to write and to sketch.
Indeed, Europe have high value industries (and not just our respective countries, France and Sweden ;). We would not lose much quality-wise. Europe has only stopped being autonomous after WWI and WWII, we’re not doomed to remain like that. But we need the willingness to change that, no matter how painful.
My old laptop was very slow and laggy. I wiped it clean from Windows and installed Linux Mint. Now it’s like it’s brand new, I’ve come to rely on shortcuts and features that don’t exist in Windows and I love how all the unnecessary resource draining bloat is gone.
I did not wipe clean my old desktop running macOS, also I was not suffering much from bloat on macOS (I suffered of the lack of repairability). After 40+ years being an Apple customer, realizing they would not come back to selling upgradable/repairable devices, I just stopped replacing my Mac by a newer Mac and instead purchased a (much cheaper &) used Mini PC (HP ProDesk something) on which I installed Linux Mint and came to the same conclusion as you.
That was 6+ years ago and I did not miss the Mac once. My only regret? Not having made that switch a few years earlier…
I feel like I’ve been subject to some psychological fallacy where I’ve assumed that the most popular alternative is the best and it’s been eye-opening to realize it’s simply not true.
I can share that feeling but I also feel like I also have way too lazy, personally, all those years by not bothering considering ‘local’ EU alternatives and sticking to US-based tech out of a lifelong habit of using them. In that regard that sad election and the (unsurprisingly) pitiful shit show that followed had a real positive impact by forcing to stop relying on as much US-based products as I could, and to check in my own part of the world what was available.
Side note regarding that dangerous laziness, probably also a very naive note: as a French, I hope our German friends will realize their government could very well be as lazy, at this very moment. How so? By insisting on keeping on purchasing an other very specific type of US tech instead of European-made alternatives (and yep, disclaimer, that alternative could include my very own French tech): US weapons.
The EU should question that choice which hurts real bad, and is only made in the hope of maybe preserving something that I think is already gone, for good. Something that will hurt the EU even more long term by weakening our key defense industries and any hope the EU can one day stand its ground against the US absurd demands and can one day stand alone. Maybe the US and the EU countries can remain partners, and members of NATO, I would see no harm in that, but we can’t rely on the US anymore and certainly not on something as critical as rearming ourselves. I mean, we should not rely on them even after (if ever) the Trump is replaced by another POTUS because, as we witnessed, there was barely any opposition from any US institutions or persons in power against his shit show and his wreckage of our 80-years old alliance which means we should take it as a fact that the US don’t give a fuck about our alliance, and we should stop hope for the good old times to come back. Those times are gone.
Isn’t there already enough labels?
And like you said: who will bear the cost of that nth label?
I’m using Waterfox: privacy respecting and AI-free fork of Firefox.
Don’t put anything personal in it. That’s what I sued to do using my iPhone and what I still do now, using an Android.
thank you :)
The only spyware we own are our phones and we completely distrust them, barely using them for what we’re required to use (security apps, and pro apps, stuff like that). At home there is no TV (would there be one, it would not be a smart one and if would there be no alternative it would just be a computer screen), no smart appliances, not even one of those hellish doorbells, or light bulbs. Our computers are wired to the network and the WiFi is off (we really barely use our phones) unless we have a specific need and it’s temporarily turned on.
What really worry us, my spouse and I, is the realization that sooner than later, we won’t have the choice of not using spyware riddled device anymore, as there will not be any alternative left.
Maybe it is not that huge of a deal for ourselves, we are getting old enough to not worry about buying the latest whatever, we also already focus a lot of our attention on analog tools and analog/low tech ways of doing things. But it still is a real worry.
Even more so for I (my spouse will surely tell you I’m kinda paranoid, but she is wrong she may even be part of their attempts at keeping me silent :p), as I have little doubt legal spyware could be enforced upon us by governments, say:
Dear citizen,
One of our algorithms noticed your purchased a cake two hours ago and your real time Health Companion noticed after your latest pee that your sugar level was too high. Reaching a level that matches the exact sugar intake of that cake. . This goes against your medical condition. As a result:
Since it is a 333 Calories intake above your scientifically allowed daily food intake we will take back those 333 Calories from your next daily allowance.
Since it was your second time violating the Happy Healthy Habits program you agreed to by using our the mandatory Happy Health Department insurance, we will hold 50 times the cost of the cake from your wallet.
If you were to ever violate that rule again you will be definitely suspended from all benefits, your employer will be notified and required to withhold any advancement or promotion, and your entire wealth will be confiscated to reimburse the cost such egoistical behaviors like yours cost to the collectivity, and to the planet.
There will be no further warning.
Be happy, be healthy.
Your caring partner from the Happy Health Department.
FYI, it doesn’t auto play tha video (I hate what that happens) using Waterfox, a Firefox fork, with uBlock Origin.
Deletion is best-effort, not guaranteed. You’re effectively trusting a network of operators, not just one. I dunno whether that makes it better or worse.
Any deep thoughts on this conundrum?
I love the Fediverse for it’s respect of privacy, for its no-tracking and no-ads. And for that alone I would have zero desire to ever go back to Reddit or to any corporate-owned social platform, no matter how much more users and content they can have.
Back then on Reddit, I did not care about deleting my content. I still don’t care about that since I moved here.
I very regularly edit my posts, for correcting typos (adding informations) and stuff like that, but I don’t think I have deleted any, save a couple in the very early days that I published by mistake before they were finished. In other words:
and in that regard, privacy is only one aspect of the ‘problem’, imho. Censoring of ideas and persons, and self-censoring, is at least as important. At least.
After I started using the Fediverse, I quickly realized there were ideas and thoughts that were OK around here, and many more that were not. As well as ways of saying things. I also quickly realized I would rather not talk about some of those topics, and not use certain words… which, this time, is saying something about our own willingness to respect freedom of speech, and is saying at least as much about my own lack of courage, I suppose.
Every time I notice this (self)censoring happening, and it’s not hard to notice or rare, I can’t but wonder in what way are we acting differently or better than what we denounce? Also, it makes me wonder if we really are that fragile?
And it makes we wonder when this ‘childification’ (‘you must be kind to the others’, ‘you can’t use that naughty word’, and so on) of our conversations/debates/interactions and of our ability to confront ideas and people became our norm?
I’m confident enough in my own ideas and personal values to not fear being confronted with opposing peoples and ideas… even when they are salty. To a certain limit, obviously. And when that limit is reached I don’t call for those people/ideas to be censored/banned: I block them, without feeling any guilt about it: I preserve their right to express their salty ideas while also preserving my own right to not be willing to listen to their salty (and often sad) ideas. (do keep in mind I’m only considering ‘legal’ topics being discussed in the limits of what the law consider a civil discussion: calls to any form of violence are not ‘salty’ anymore, they’re threats and they’re illegal, and they should be dealt with accordingly.)
Hi,
Filen.io, they have a free 10 Gb plan and it’s end to end encrypted.
And all my best wishes for you journey.
“Parent-proof” as in ‘they are old and clueless users’ (a bit like myself) or as in “I’m a minor and I don’t want my parents to get a look into my por… personal library of cute images” ?
Half-trolling here but not completely: if you’re a minor, there is very little ways to put any of your data out of reach of your parents.
As for cloud backups. I don’t know much alternatives to Backblaze (I used to one of their customers) but I now use European based cloud storages as backups. It works depending the volume of data:
They both have mobiles apps, if you need that.
Filen is the less ‘user friendly’ of the two (nothing that bad either, it’s just… less polished and somewhat clumsier) but the most secure and privacy respecting as far as I can tell. Both are working well once they’re configured. I really love Infomaniak’s simplicity to be honest. It’s also simpler to share stuff with other people.
My pleasure: I’ve been their customer for many years, before moving back to physical.
There is Qobuz (edit they do streaming and purchase). I used to purchase a lot of music on iTunes too, back when they went DRM-free but I went back to… physical media.
not deal with physical media (I’m not a collector, and I want to avoid plastic waste)
This probably not the ideal solution you are looking for, but you can purchase the disc, rip it and then donate it to someone else.
Bre…nter?
Hi & welcome,
As others have mentioned, it’s a way to link to a community. More specifically, it’s what allow to share a link to a community (not to a specific post, just the community itself) that will work no matter what instance anyone is clicking it from, unlike your usual link.
The Fediverse is still quite new and still has many rough edges. Its fragmentation into multiple instances, that are working together while also being completely independent is both one of its strength (independence, resilience and… choice) but is also one of those rough edges I mentioned: standard links don’t work well when one wants to share a link between different instances. This is the best workaround for now ;)
edit: typos
If I had to chose, I would rather speak Latin: amazing collection of work available to read from, and to discuss about.
But as others have mentioned English is not a US made language and they certainly do not own it. English comes from Britain but its rooted in old Germanic language. It’s also a mix of a few other languages (including my own French… which is also a mix btw).
Certainly, and I did not delete my account either ;)
Welcome onboard ;)
That was the last piece of Apple tech I replaced too. I would have loved to buy an e/OS/ phone but it was too worrying to not be able to find reliable info regarding the compatibility of those very few specific apps I need. So, I went with a stock Google android… and since I tend to make the device I own last as long as possible, it seems it will be my phone for at least the coming 7 years ;)