Some people ask “why are you hotboxing a lobster?”

Others ask why not. Others dare to wonder, to dream.

A compelling argument. However, counterpoint:

Sailor Boy by Fernando Botero
“That boy ain’t right.”

I rest my case.

Weird, I thought Secure Boot and TPM and kernel-level malware were supposed to be the be-all end-all nail in the coffin? It’s almost like everyone who had two brain cells to rub together was right, and that shit doesn’t do squat to replace good community moderators. But that can’t be it, surely…

well, this is the first time I’ve ever been accused of being an AI, but you can believe whatever makes you happy. It’s no skin off my ass. Personally, I think you’re just intentionally being dense and found there wasn’t any fault you could pick with my original post to champion your original point of “linux bad”, and you instead just decided being a dick and calling me a bot was a decent out. which, for the record, fuck you kindly for suggesting I only write as well as ChatGPT, even a comparison to Claude would be less insulting. But that’s fine, I still forgive you. I just think that’s a terribly sad way to go about interacting with others.

I hope someday you become a tranquil autist, or at least only a moderately irritated one. Because I can’t fathom yours, as it is, being a satisfying way to socialize; nevermind an effective one to change anyone else’s opinion on Linux or any other topic. Take care.

actually no, but if it makes you feel better you can believe whatever you want. I forgive you for being wrong.

Or are you just in disbelief that 2010 was 15 years ago? Because yeah, I feel old, too. I just can’t remember exactly when it was, 10.04 had a beta in 2009 and released early 2010 and was the Hot Cool New Thing for a time because HOLY SHIT IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE IT’S FROM THE 90S LET’S GET IN ON THIS. Might’ve been late 2009 I tried the beta, might’ve been 2010. I was in my teens at the time, it’s too fucking long ago for me to remember exact dates.

I am sorry you have such passionate hatred for something a bunch of nerds tried to do for everyone else for free, to be nice. I am also sorry you have apparently not tried gaming on Linux in the past ~3 years. It can’t be comfortable having all that pent-up anger inside you.

I myself used to be like you, namely around the early 2010s when Linux distros started gaining GUIs that weren’t stuck in the 90s. Where they looked sleek and modern and oh god were they not at all, they just looked that way. I tried to make it work, but every time I had to boot back to Windows to do something I eventually just ended up staying in Windows. I can’t fathom how fucking archaic and awful it would’ve been to use in the 90s/early 00s, you tried to struggle through that for three years? I barely made it a few months with Ubuntu 10.04 in ~2010. Something I said then, and still say now to Linux dorks who don’t “get it”, is that “some of us want to work on their computer, not work on their computer.” I just want shit to work. I don’t want to troubleshoot or tweak or fiddle-fuck with settings. My OS is a means to an end, not an end in and of itself – if I’m spending more time fucking with the OS than I am using other programs on it, something has gone dearly wrong.

Having said that, I switched to Mint about a year and a half ago, and it works pretty well for me, not nearly as many headaches as I recall when I tried Linux ~15 years ago. When I printed something from a network printer and it just worked without bullshit issues, I was floored. There’s still the occasional hiccup, but then, I also had to deal with occasional hiccups on Windows as well, and the terminal isn’t nearly so scary when you’re used to dealing with the Group Policy Editor and PowerShell. I can count the times I’ve had to boot into Windows since on my fingers, it’s definitely less than 10. One of the things I think I love most is that I can choose to postpone updates, or restarting for them, as long as I want without the computer thinking it knows better than me. I got shit to do, I’ll get there when I get there – and having Windows go “nuh-uh, you’re restarting now” pissed me the fuck off.

Having said all that, I will freely admit and agree with you that a large portion of the Linux community is made up of elitist twats who will tell you to go read xyz instead of being in any way directly helpful. Nerds are not generally known for their social skills. However, it really doesn’t do anyone any favors to be needlessly inflammatory. If Windows works for you and you like it, great, I’m glad you’re happy with it. But there’s simply no reason to be so aggressive over Linux existing, especially now that it’s finally becoming tolerable even for former Linux-loathing users like me.

remember, if you had fun while wasting time, it wasn’t a waste of time at all.

more than that, all the other PC handhelds that’ve come out so far just sort of… miss the mark, in some way. Either hamstrung by windows, or being too big and heavy, or having terrible battery life by comparison, or because of the lack of touchpads. Whatever your personal gripe with the other offerings, the Deck stuck the landing and mastered the balancing act of “powerful enough, with a long enough runtime, but not too big or heavy”. It not only created a new market segment, but it is the standard for that segment that every competitor must be measured against, and so far all of them have one or two missteps.

The funniest part about this is that the Aztec is usually considered “ugly”.

But when you compare it to a cybertruck… It looks like a masterpiece.

Dunno, but I know an awful lot of skateboarding games that are perfectly fun without being online 100% of the time. Same goes for racing games. Making them singleplayer, and fun, when you’ve already got the entire multiplayer aspect set up, isn’t hard.

yeah hard pass, I used to play The Crew.

The Canadians would also find no shortage of Americans willing to help them, as well.

ooh, I get what Windows Recall is for now!

in a not-so-distant future:

[Clippy rolls up smug as fuck] Windows Automated Trust & Safety has detected you may be attempting to [research certain delicate historical topics|plan a protest|subvert the will of the Party/ruling class]. Please wait patiently where you are, the proper authorities have been notified.

The idea nobody ever thought was a good idea that they went ahead and did anyways? Yeah, makes a lot more sense now! Cram an AI in your PC, give it full access to all the things you do on it through a series of screenshots, and be sure the system prompt includes “phone home if they act a little… Luigi-ish”.

no, he’s a “christian”

I’m not going to pretend religion hasn’t been used as an excuse to do a lot of awful shit throughout history, but in terms of actually following the teachings of Christ, Republicans are about as far as you can get from them. Loving thy neighbor, welcoming the stranger from another land, flipping over tables and chasing the money changers with a whip – so on and so on. And I’m an agnostic who’s never read the bible proper, merely snippets, so if I know this shit better than they do, yeah, nah. They’re not Christians, they’re “Christians”.

Good, keep forming unions and keep making them shut down facilities. They’re shitty places to work and fund a shitty human being, who funds other shitty human beings.