The future was here, once upon a time.
Comment on Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without an online account
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
I am horrified by what computers have become, from expensive magical tools to solve real problems, to ubiquitous shit-shoveling malware appliances controlled by some of the worst elements of society.
PrimeMinisterKeyes@leminal.space 3 weeks ago
monotremata@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
🎶 The dream of the 90’s is alive in Linux🎶
bless@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
and still expensive
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
Those kinds of computers still exist, it’s called Linux.
tiramichu@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
I’ve never been more appreciative than I am now of the decades of effort that have gone into building this free and open-source operating system.
Imagine if we were here in 2025, with all the incumbent operating systems going to shit, but in a world where Linux didn’t exist and there was no alternative that wasn’t owned by a tech giant.
I don’t even want to imagine.
Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
Don’t forget to donate to your favorite distro (and other open source projects) to help them keep the lights on.
Gotta do our part to fight the massive mega corps from devouring every aspect of our lives.
palordrolap@fedia.io 3 weeks ago
The alternative alternative existed before Linux and still exists today: BSD
In a world without Linus Torvalds, all those people who have devoted time and effort into Linux might well have found themselves working / hobbying in the BSD ecosystems instead.
I think it's almost certain that Linux's niche would have been taken by it. It worked for Apple, after all.
Or, who knows, maybe GNU Hurd might have become viable.
tiramichu@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Sure, if it wasn’t Linux then another project may have got the love and attention.
I’m not glad it was Linux specifically, just glad there is a credible FOSS alternative of some kind, and in our universe that’s Linux.
You might think there’s no such world where we wouldn’t have had some credible alternative, and as reasonable as that is - because freedom and independence are things people intrinsically want - I’m sure if you flap the butterfly wings enough times there’d be a universe where we all just collectively decided that commercial operating systems were the answer.
Glad I don’t live there.
dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I find this alternate timeline incredibly likely. I had a friend in college who was all about SCO Unix back before they went evil, even when Slackware was the go-to distro. We would have a lot more BSD forks out here now, although NextStep (and maybe even OSX) would probably still emerge as one of the better commercial ones.
As an aside: what I find amusing is that Homebrew is basically BSD Ports, served from a git repo. In 2025, it’s a completely insane way to ship OS software to a single platform, but it does work.
Mio@feddit.nu 3 weeks ago
Yes, competition is good.
It is just a problem when the competition is big tech and can ignore everybody else as they get even more money from somewhere else like Azure.