Re: Not Much LINUX Stuff of Late

On 7/26/26 16:00, John McCue wrote:
> c186282 <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Plenty of POLITICS, some 'existential' and
>> 'philosophical' stuff ... but not much Linux.
> 
> true
> 
>> Oh well, maybe not TOO much "Linux" happening
>> at the moment ... gotta fill in .....
> 
> Not much is really happening, Linux has matured.  You
> can get native office suits, stream music and video and
> even use bluetooth.

   Agreed ... a good level of functionality has now
   been reached - so things don't change as fast
   anymore.

   But there will always be SOME weird things, any
   system so complex WILL have such weirdness.

   Also not everybody is a Linux ultra-guru, many of
   us haven't used EVERY capability/utility/whatever.
   Help will be needed. I've never used 'Docker' for
   example - something about the concept weirds me out.
   So if I ever DO need to use it ... who can provide
   the finer-level advice ?

> But in reality, corporations are now and have been pushing
> Linux changes for almost 20 years.  In the past users
> had influence on the direction of Linux.  Now end user
> requirements are completely ignored.

   Well, not "completely" ... but it's not as good
   as it used to be.

> For example, users want a browser that blocks ads, no
> java script, no AI, fast and lite on memory and can read
> any site without dealing with cloudflare.  What are
> corporations giving us ?  Nothing but spyware, ads, DRM
> and soon ID checks.

   Browsers ... you're looking at relatively few makers
   and at that point you're out of Linus's sphere. The
   makers DO wanna make some money - and that means
   making things more friendly for ads/spying.

   Oh well, use Duck and put NoScript on yer browser.
   Not perfect, but 'better'. I see sometimes up to
   20 JS thingies in NoScript. Trial and error, only
   allow JUST what you need for what you're doing.

> To me, most distros are very close to becoming an exact
> clone of M/S Windows or Apple OS.  The way things are
> going it will be almost impossible to tell these apart
> in maybe 5 to 10 years.

  Well, Linux could NEVER be as bad as Winders  :-)

>> I'd rather see SOMETHING in the groups rather
>> than NOTHING.
>>
>> However I do expect more Linux/etc ... as "AI"
>> kinda takes over EVERYTHING. Who can do the
>> better job ? Where is the money/hiring going
>> to go ? What happens when Linus gets Too Old ?
>> Will Claude/Chat out-program ALL humans ?
>>
>> M$/Apple want to DESTROY Linux - the entire
>> computing world MUST be in their grasp, and
>> make them LOTS OF MONEY. They have many many
>> resources, lots of lawyers, lots of infiltrators.
> 
> See rant above :)  But I think it is many more corporations
> then just M/S, it is just Microsoft is the most visible.
> Just look at who is pushing Wayland instead of enhancing
> X11.  If end users were in control like we were in the
> 90s, X11 would have improved a lot over the last 15 years
> instead of people working on Wayland.

   Everybody wants to make a buck - and at this point
   anything 'net' is a political football too. Predictable,
   pain in the ass, but predictable. We will just have to
   devise ways to work AROUND most of the bullshit.

   I'd REALLY like to see a good clean revision of X11
   than anything Wayland. X11, at this point, "just
   works" and there are many utilities and docs. As
   I don't do video games the Wayland claim to "speed"
   doesn't impress me much.

   Heh, I do remember early X11 ... took me two days
   to tweak obscure poorly-documented config files
   before it'd even find my mouse and monitor, much
   less operate them reliably. I was a lot younger
   then - today, dunno if I'd put in that much effort.

   Oh, and don't forget the BSDs ... not the latest
   greatest drivers but they're solid. A few distros
   are actually good-looking now too.