strolling through

I don't think people realize how absolutely wild Linux is.

Here we have an Operating system that now has 100 different varieties, all of them with their own little features and markets that are also so customizable that you can literally choose what desktop environment you want. Alongside that it is the OS of choice for Supercomputers, most Web servers, and even tiny little toy computers that hackers and gadget makers use. It is the Operating System running on most of the world's smartphones. That's right. Android is a version of Linux.

It can run on literally anything up to and including a potato, and as of now desktop Linux Distros like Ubuntu and Mint are so easily to use and user friendly that technological novices can use them. This Operating system has had App stores since the 90s.

Oh, and what's more, this operating system was fuckin' built by volunteers and users alongside businesses and universities because they needed an all purpose operating system so they built one themselves and released it for free. If you know how to, you can add to this.

Oh, and it's founder wasn't some corporate hotshot. It's an introverted Swedish-speaking Finn who, while he was a student, started making his own Operating system after playing around with someone else's OS. He was going to call it Freax but the guy he got server space from named the folder of his project "Linux" (Linus Unix) and the name stuck. He operates this project from his Home office which is painted in a colour used in asylums. Man's so fucking introverted he developed the world's biggest code repo, Git, so he didn't have to deal with drama and email.

Steam adopted it meaning a LOT of games now natively run in Linux and what cannot be run natively can be adapted to run. It's now the OS used on their consoles (Steam Deck) and to this, a lot of people have found games run better on Linux than on Windows. More computers run Steam on Linux than MacOS.

On top of that the Arctic World Archive (basically the Svalbard Seed bank, but for Data) have this OS saved in their databanks so if the world ends the survivors are going to be using it.

On top of this? It's Free! No "Freemium" bullshit, no "pay to unlock" shit, no licenses, no tracking or data harvesting. If you have an old laptop that still works and a 16GB USB drive, you can go get it and install it and have a functioning computer because it uses less fucking resources than Windows. Got a shit PC? Linux Mint XFCE or Xubuntu is lightweight af. This shit is stopping eWaste.

What's more, it doesn't even scrimp on style. KDE, XFCE, Gnome, Cinnamon, all look pretty and are functional and there's even a load of people who try make their installs look pretty AF as a hobby called "ricing" with a subreddit (/r/unixporn) dedicated to it.

Linux is fucking wild.

hot take possibly? but i actually think it’s okay for things to be marketed for adults. it’s literally okay if things aren’t suitable for children. i feel like we are losing the plot

It's like no one ever had the "not everything is a toy" conversation when they're a kid. Not everything is for you, and that's good!

Kids shouldn't use stoves or knives, that doesn't mean we need to ban cooking shows.

Kids shouldn't play with cleaning supplies, that doesn't mean we need to take toilet bowl cleaner off the market.

Children don't drive but we ain't getting rid of cars or driving manuals anytime soon.

adults have things they enjoy, some of it is kid friendly some of it isn't.

Most of the people who scream "think of the children" aren't actually worried about the children. They either want their world view enforced, or they want to turn the world into an advertisement.

Most people who scream “think of the children” aren’t thinking about children, they’re thinking about adults who are doing things they don’t like.

In America, your credit score can prevent you from getting certain jobs, being allowed to rent a roof over your head, etc. I know it's not the literal "social credit score" fantasy they mean when they talk about China having a system like that (they dont) but we literally are socially ostracized based on financial credit. People end up homeless or dead because of financial credit. Is that not social credit, in the end?

ASHTON SUMMERS & DOM KING LIE TO ME (2023)

Something I like about dungeon meshi is that Falin's resurrection is never treated like a bad thing. Sure it was "forbidden magic" and Marcille TECHNICALLY committed a crime, but the story is pretty clear that these are just laws created by people, and that that doesn't make it inherently immoral. There's never any implication that Falin was "supposed to die" or that "it was her time." The narrative says that Falin continuing to live is unambiguously a good thing. That Marcille made the right choice in wanting Falin to keep living. It was a pure act. Unlawful, but good.

If the oranges would never rot, and if the leaves would never fall