Yeah Linux is a bit addictive. The open source devs use insiduous amounts of seductive features. Such as:
stable TCP networking… since 1997
operating systems that virtually don’t crash
good security
data stays local and under control of the user
frugal on hardware resources and costs. My main PC is 16 years old and is still oversized - it has 16GB of RAM which I never use fully. My laptop is a Thinkpad T490 which I bought as a refurbished device.
frugal on required attention. If you want to write a book, you can have a blank text screen with a cursor and that’s is it
security updates which happen quietly in the background and don’t break stuff.
no user tracking in local apps
depending what you use, superb documentation
stability of good interfaces over decades. I can manage files with the same shell commands as I did in 1994, when I learned them. My favourite text editor had stable interfaces since 1984. My mail program hasn’t changed its UI since 2009. This extends to document formats. I have documents lying around that are over 30 years old and which I can change, format and print on a whim.
and at the same time, I can get the newest fancy stuff with a few key presses. The krita drawing program? Annotating PDFs with Xournal and my Wacom graphics tablet? GNOME with PaperWM extension? The Arduino IDE? The jiujiutsu version control front end? PlantUML to make a nice flowchart? Just type the name into the package manager! And bang it’s there.
easy user interfaces without byzantine bloated features. A really easy, simple word processor? AbiWord. If I want to scan a document with my Brother printer scanner combo thing, I type “simple-scan” and press the “scan” button and then the “save” icon. This is fast.
The common denominator is that Linux is developed by some of its users, and centered around their own interests. This is what underlies all the mentioned qualities.
But yeah, computers can be a bit addictive. Don’t forgot to have a coffee once in a while, and take breaks. Don’t forget to touch grass and go dancing, or whatever makes you happy.
And fuck AI. Fuck these companies. Fuck those employers pushing AI who don’t give a shit about the mental health of their people.
Yeah Linux is a bit addictive. The open source devs use insiduous amounts of seductive features. Such as:
The common denominator is that Linux is developed by some of its users, and centered around their own interests. This is what underlies all the mentioned qualities.
But yeah, computers can be a bit addictive. Don’t forgot to have a coffee once in a while, and take breaks. Don’t forget to touch grass and go dancing, or whatever makes you happy.
And fuck AI. Fuck these companies. Fuck those employers pushing AI who don’t give a shit about the mental health of their people.