Thanks for the summary. I signed up for it just in case, but don’t think I’ll end up using it. I have a similar experience with Mastodon, but then I was never really into Twitter, either.

I share your feelings on the importance of open platforms. While reddit may have been shitty for a while, the whole third-party apps thing was an eye-opener for me, and started me thinking about (and moving toward) open source.

My next big challenge will be to de-Google, but I’m increasingly up for it. Problem is I have a ton of site identities associated with my email address there, so we’ll see how that works out.

Like others here, I dumped Reddit and moved here (and to Mastodon) full time. I also moved to Linux full time on my home laptop and haven’t missed Windows one little bit. I’m looking forward to experimenting more with a couple of other distros of interest (currently Pop_OS) and am having actual fun using my computer again. Heavy emphasis on adopting as many FOSS alternatives as possible in ‘24, and starting to separate myself from the big G.

Maybe not exactly what you’re looking for, but if you know of a program that already does the thing you want, you can search for a variety of alternatives on alternativeto.net. It lists paid and FOSS alternatives.

Cool! But, uh, don’t they need to build a working fusion reactor before they build the ship? The ship kind of seems like the easy part, tbh.

I’m tuning up the sole of my #5 bench plane so I can use it for more reliable edge jointing while I continue my half-hearted search for a #7 plane.

When I’m done with that I am going to start work on a Morris chair using plans from Norm Abram’s New Yankee Workshop. I’ll use mahogany and plan to make my own leather cushions. It will be my winter project, I think. :)

I used to be responsible for the app portfolio in a 1000+ user company, and every 3 years or so I would go back out to the market and try hard to replace Adobe, just for PDF operations. Couldn’t do it because so many products were integrated with them, often in ways we could not reproduce with other products. The best we could do would be to pay for a different product for 1/3 of the cost for Adobe, and then still end up having to carry a significant number of Adobe licenses for cases when integration failed with the other product. No-win situation, and just easier to stay with the evil we knew.

I hate them.

Fwiw, as someone also recently new to Linux, I thought this captured part of the experience brilliantly, and without malice.

Of course op probably went on to google (and find) the answer, so I agree with you that getting the answer with this post was probably not the point. But it’s a quality shitpost, and I endorse it! 😀

Holy shit, this is a must-read if you care about your public library.

I’ve been reading books for years using Overdrive / Libby and my public library. This (fantastic) article outlines the enormous threat posed by vampire capitalist ownership of Libby, which controls digital lending for 95% of libraries in the US and Canada.

It’s actually kind of amazing to read this and realize how static these methods have been for so long. It would be a challenge to adapt to a truly new metaphor, I suspect, but probably worth the effort if it means the manager can be “smarter”. I wonder how they are going to amass enough data on user behaviour to make this truly work.

I’m glad to hear that.

You beautiful bastard! I had one of these and thought it was one of the coolest bits of tech I ever owned. Your post generated so much nostalgia over having to hold my watch in just the right aspect to complete the data transfer. I remember people watching me sync and being shocked (although that was perhaps at how much of a nerd I was to have one). I like to think they were reacting to the tech.

Very nice work! Now I just need to find my old watch…