I’ve spent years championing Linux as the only escape from Big Tech, but I’m starting to get twitchy.
While we’re distracted by the Steam Deck making Linux “mainstream,” the corporate players and politicians are busy building a digital cage. Between California’s AB-1043 mandates and Microsoft’s “Face Check” infrastructure, I’m worried we’re heading for a hard schism: “Sanitised Linux” vs the “Free Rebel” distros.
If the compliant, age-gated version becomes the industry standard, where does that leave the rest of us? Digital exile?
I’ve put some thoughts together on why the “Golden Cage” is closing in and why education, not mandates, is the only real fix.
I think if Linux becomes something for the masses it will no longer be for me. So I’m hoping that won’t happen.
End users just want their hand to be held by some kind of corporation. Happy to give up their information and privacy. To have no choices in interface etc.
Basically, Linux for the masses will look exactly like ChromeOS. Completely unusable for a power user with a need for privacy and control.
The issue with Linux is going to be if there will be a single distro that dominates or if it will be more distributed. Right now, it looks like Google and Valve are the closest to making dominant distros, but I can see at least one EU government one being created as well. If there are few distros, then I can see development getting locked to those distros rather than across all Linux.
The same thing happened with Android, Google ended up controlling Android so the open source side got hollowed out and the closed source side controlled by Google became necessary to running Android.
Meh it’s not like Linux is one static block of immutable code.
It’s modular.
So it’s not like all linux distros will evolve the same way. And OP points it out that some distros are affected by age verification laws while others are not at all.
So I think it makes no sense to panic and thinking all linux will converge to some Windows ersatz…
I think the fact there is so many distros out there is our strength but also what prevents people from discovering the right linux for them.
So this will be the year of linux discovery imo and all linux user should help out new users finding their way to a linux that fit them for their journey to freedom.
Not really but you do see already that Linux is becoming more opinionated. For example recently kde introduced a new display manager (to replace sddm) that requires systemd.
It’s becoming harder to get off the beaten track.
I had similar thoughts, but at the same time i honestly think that wouldn’t be an issue because of the nature of linux and it being free and open source. There’s bound to be distros out there that won’t conform to whatever bs the corpos come up with.
ChromeOS is basically the blueprint for the “Gold Cage”. My real worry is that “security” is just becoming a convenient excuse to swap user ownership for corporate control. Once that “masses” version becomes the legal standard for compliance, the rest of us are basically looking at digital exile.
SheepleOS