lol, Microslop shooting themselves in the foot once again.

At this point people will move to MacOS or Linux because so much damage to their brand can’t simply be ignored anymore.

And also consider moving some of your repos to Forgejo. I’m running it for more than a year now and it is by far my favorite service. Way faster and essential features do not require monthly payment (branch protection for example). It can easily run on a Raspberry Pi 4 1 GB RAM.

Use Docker Compose and put Caddy in front of it for HTTPS. For backups the easy way is to just git pull your repos via cron on some remote systems. Or use syncthing to also move the server configs over. For the runner, 1 GB RPi 4 should be fine for many situations. It can compile and run many Rust/Python tests fine or build static sites. You could also setup an old x86 next to it (this is essentially what GitHub Runners are too: old x86 cpu’s).

You may want to have a look at docker-volume-backup[1]. I personally use it.

[1]: https://github.com/offen/docker-volume-backup/

I avoid docker volumes whenever possible since I find them such a hassle

Apple has done the exact same with its iphone app store, lots of companies got shut down because of their app not beeing available anymore with no explanation. The problem is with exclusive app stores.

I don't often praise Apple, but their kernel hardening on macOS has been in the form of a deliberate, decades-long plan to move kernel extensions to userspace by providing the appropriate SDKs. Meanwhile Microsoft is running around like a headless chicken.

Apple requires notorization for applications outside their store too.

> At this point people will move to

I think most people just don't care about their computer. Most people just use whatever they are told to use at work.

Most people are just accustomed to pain because they don’t know it could be different

This. Most people will think that using a different system will just be a different type of pain.

I have never had a successful experience getting someone to try something better, but different. In my experience, people fight for the enshittification they know.

Asking someone to install Signal is already the end of the world, trying it sounds like starting a PhD. I'm not even talking about thinking about using it as a replacement for WhatsApp.

Really, people just don't care. Which I find sad, of course.

No they won't, because Apple is out of reach for their pockets, and most OEMs still don't sell Linux powered devices on the shops people go to.

It is 800 euros for 8 GB device, no thanks, especially in coutries where many dream of getting 1000 euros a month.

Dozens of youtube video reviews showing that the 8GB is not really a limitation for what most people need to do with the laptop. Heck I saw a review where the guy played minecraft on it with 20 rather hefty tabs in safari open, without any stuttering.

So what is the actual limitation of a neo, and how to they apply to users in that price class?

How much Electron crap did they tested with?

It's surprisingly fine. Not the fastest though.

It's a computer released at the peak of the RAM crisis. Even Raspberry Pis are expensive now. That's just life.

Its $600 in the states. $500 if you are a student. What is a cheaper but good enough alternative in your opinion?

I don't live in the states.

What is a cheaper but good enough alternative in your opinion?

Here is one with 512 GB SSD, 16 GB, DirectX 12.1, Vulkan 1.3, under 500 euros, and enough connections without dongles.

https://www.auchan.pt/pt/tecnologia-e-eletrodomesticos/tecno...

Interesting. You save 200 euros(in germany) but lose significant CPU performance. As long as its not a chromebook its usable.

Maybe you don't need a laptop then, if your dream is 1000eur.

Ah, too poor to play kind of argument.

Writing this from a corporate win11 computer, the whole thing is so laggy, it's unbelievable. Last year, I had revived my old desktop from 2007 with an intel Q6600, windows xp and a clicky dying HDD, and that thing flied compared to this. Dear Microsoft and its partners (Especially DELL!), what the hell happened?!

In some sense, "you did".

Your actions, intentional and direct or not, allowed for one more sale of Win11 and an accompanying sad Dell computer, giving them the signal (however weak from you as one single individual) that whatever crap they have been doing up to now, still is a good choice in order to sell one of those combinations.

In some sense, "you also did".

You couldn't argue the case on the internet better, and convince enough people not to give the signal that it's okay. We are all guilty :)

It would be the same with Apple or anything Linux, due to the shitty compliance software that had to be installed regardless of the operating system.

Corporate Windows == CrowdStrike, Sentinel One, or other US Government in disguise Malware.

Have gone back to Linux after 23 years, Ive only had to go to the console once to make all hardware of my framework 12 work since i chose to use a non supported distro. That's definitely a breath of fresh air compared to the old times, where getting wifi to work was a major hassle, anyone remember ndiswrapper? ouch.

I mean, we have been saying that exact thing for close to 30 years at this point.

Yet, they are still around, they are still deeply embedded in most businesses, and no matter how much they screw up, it just keeps going.

Starlink by virtue of being your ISP would have access to any DNS queries you send over the Internet over UDP port 53 in plain text. Starlink is also able to redirect those queries to their own servers. Even if you manually specify 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1 Starlink can redirect traffic to their own DNS servers and return responses as if they came from those servers.

By itself DNS can tell a pretty detailed picture about you and what you do on the Internet without the need for SSL inspection or other deep packet inspection techniques.

Amateur Radio has entered the chat.....

Even as a licensed ham it's getting increasingly difficult to even get hardware that allows utilization of frequencies I'm duly licensed to transmit on in the 2.4 GHz band. Short of building and designing your own transmitters it's become impossible to repurpose hardware like it was before. Our club has aging M2 Rockets from Unifi that were modified for this use that are now decaying and dying. It's unfortunate too because once these stop working that's it. A few club members have been championing GLiNET but same problems. They are relying on older models which weren't as locked down and already show signs of suffering the same fate as the Rockets.

In this economy? /s

The other more compelling reason why people would have a rooted phone is to run ROMs that may still be providing OS support where the stock OS has been abandoned or EOL'd by the developer.

Having an unlocked bootloader at the minimum would be required in those scenarios. It actually saves hardware that still works from ending up in landfills.

edit: spelling

The first time I walked past a homeless person on a smart phone it took a minute to process - phones are effectively free at this point.

(The first time I walked past a homeless person using a VR headset, on the other hand, was a fucking trip.)

That sounds like a Silicon Valley bit.

That show didn’t hit Black Mirror levels of existentially uncomfortable, but man, I recognized too many of those scenes.

I have a cache of old devices, largely the freebies Google gave out at I/O in the early days of Android. Was prepping them to sell last week and saw most are running Cyanogen (the first big community Android fork). Even then, root was a popular way to gain more functionality and add features that haven't been released for a device.

Incidentally, if anyone wants some collector's edition Google/Android devices...

> Incidentally, if anyone wants some collector's edition Google/Android devices...

Please get in touch with the postmarketOS folks, since any phone old enough to be running CyanogenMod proper is most likely not supported there yet. (It would be super nice to even have a proper list of all devices where old CyanogenMod was officially supported at some point, with device specs for each. We're lacking even that at present because the transition from the CyanogenMod name to LineageOS was so messy.)

Of course, the combination of extremely limited hardware specs (512MB RAM + 512MB built-in storage was a common spec), old ARM32 SoCs and the ongoing 3G/2G mobile network phaseout means that many such devices will only really be useful as glorified palmtops or for even more minimal uses. But it might be worth experimenting with nonetheless.

This is the way. Widevine is a cancer that only serves to lock down the browser market to a small handful of web engines that have been approved by Google. If your browser isn't based on Chrome, Firefox, or Safari you're out of luck.

Most people will not use a browser that can't open youtube videos and they know and exploit this with extreme precision.

If you are already paying for the streaming service that offers the content and they restrict you from watching because of your OS are you harming the industry by downloading it? Nothing is stopping you from buying a 4k webcam and recording your computer monitor.

You're already paying the monthly fee to stream it, you're just streaming it in a more friendly way. Granted if you cancel the service, you should delete the content.

Many won't though and that's the problem but that problem is caused by the fact that you're being restricted in the first place.

a 4K webcam recording of a screen will produce a trash copy that isn't notably better than ripping off the 720p you can already screen record.

There are still other, non-trashy ways to record your screen. Motivated actors have no problem with such restrictions, as happens with everything. It is for exerting control over the normal users' behaviours and habits.

Figure of speech.

I'd love to explore this comment further:

Nothing is stopping you from buying a 4k webcam and recording your computer monitor

Video DRM that doesn't protect the stream all the way through to a decryption key embedded in your eyeballs always seemed somewhat futile to me.

I really thought I was done with the wild seas back when Netflix was new, but turns out I can't kick my put.io subscription even 10 years later.

> Am I right in this assumption?

Yes. I tried using Chrome on Linux just to watch movies that I purchased on Youtube at HD/4K and watched as the stream was limited to 240P. IMHO regardless of what Google says in their ToS they have already broken the trust agreement by not providing what I paid for. Regardless of what the studios want, all this does is push me back towards piracy because once again the industry fails to understand that piracy is a accessibility problem, not a financial problem. If I pay for 4K then regardless of where I want to watch that movie it better be in 4K, that's what I paid for. Google hides behind their ToS to get around the fact that they sold me a product then failed to deliver.

> ChromeOS gets 1080p/4K not because it has massive market share but cause the hardware and boot chain are locked down by the almighty Google.

ChromeOS is based on Gentoo Linux underneath just very stripped down and Googlefied. It's the same BS that Bungee pulled with Destiny 2 and Linux. If you so much as dared to run Destiny 2 on Linux you would be banned. Stadia used Linux but because Google controlled the platform they allowed it to be played there.

These are the games they play to make other platforms that aren't MacOS/Windows appear like they are incapable but in reality it's just corporate greed and grift.

I'd imagine only SteamOS on the GabeCube could make this guarantee on Linux

I think the difference is really more noticeable if you're on a limited connection. For example, on Starlink I only have 50 GB to play with. It's entirely ineffective if the browser downloads the ads and only scrubs them out of the view after the fact. Same with anybody using a mobile hotspot over LTE. In those situations bandwidth is super limited (I have 5 GB of hotspot data a month) unless you can convince the carriers to zero-rate data pulled for advertisements (they won't) I'll continue blocking ads before they can be loaded.

Edit: and I'm not on some cheap MVNO, I'm paying over $80 a month with AT&T on their post-paid plan. The phone gets unlimited data but any other device I may need to share that connection needs to be as efficient with bandwidth as possible. Only Firefox and derivatives provide proper ad blocking at this time.

Switch to an AT&T MVNO that gives you a lot more than 5 GB of hotspot for less than $80/month:

https://prepaidcompare.net/

Also, all those ads that are still loading, are still tracking you.

Dang that's expensive. I am paying $35/mo and getting 100GB tethering on my AT&T phone plan per month.

Unfortunately this is not unexpected because Mozilla needs to continue receiving money to survive and unfortunately nobody wants to have the tough conversation about paying for a browser so when whoever is funneling money into Mozilla (Google) says you need AI in your product you have no choice but to jump.

I think their logic is a bit wrong here. Microsoft is a "trusted" entity. Trust doing a lot of heavy lifting here, and even they had to roll back their AI ambitions after seeing the lackluster adoption rates of people using their AI features. The trust part just doesn't matter. It's the principal that we've had browsers for over 20+ years and we never needed AI in our browsers. I would quickly abandon Firefox for an alternative in a heartbeat that doesn't include AI in it.

The uncomfortable truth for all these companies though is that most people simply do not need AI in the places they are shoving it into. Like why does notepad need AI?

I'm paying for my search engine now. I'd pay for Firefox if Mozilla wasn't a fucking clown car of an organization at the business level. I have a deep respect for the engineering team there, but the bean counters running the place should long ago have been ousted. It's the same cabal paying themselves exorbitant salaries and driving completely inane initiatives that nobody wants (see pocket, now AI). I'm not giving them a dime until they get their corporate shit together and I'll be disabling whatever crap they're shoving into Firefox.

Oh I agree 100%. I also play for my search engine so it's definitely not a lack of interest in doing so. I agree with your point as well. Get rid of the money vultures in the C-suite who are paying themselves exorbitant salaries and hand that money over to the Firefox devs. Give them the runway necessary to bring on more developers that would give Firefox the attention it needs to keep up with Chrome/Chromium and maybe start playing with the idea that if you want the latest updates when they release you pay for the browser. If you don't need immediate updates you'll get the deferred releases under a 1-2 month delay or whatever they deem fit with security fixes obviously being backported to keep those who refuse to pay happy enough to not abandon the browser entirely.

Fuck that noise. The places that shadow ban and encourage self-censorship do not deserve your traffic nor your content.

Start voting with your voice and your (digital) feet. Don't be sheeple. Keep the Internet weird. It is not on us to censor ourselves to protect the feelings of snowflakes who get all bent out of shape because of something someone said.

Those contracts will be monitoring their service availability on their own. If Google can't be honest you can bet your bottom dollar the companies paying for that SLA are going to hold them accountable if they report the outage properly or not.

The real point of SLAs is to give you a reason to break contracts. If a vendor doesn't meet their contractual promises, that gives you a lot of room to get out contracts