Can you link the wallpaper? It’s nice!

Any alternatives to google docs/sheets? It’s really convenient for shared documents, and it’s the only thing (other than gmail) keeping me in the Google ecosystem

The ownership part sounds exciting to me as well, this is the first time I’ve heard about a coop. You also raise a valid point about it being open source. I just don’t really see it becoming as popular as bandcamp or Spotify, since for a regular consumer (who doesn’t like to hop platforms) I don’t think the features could be warranting a switch. I’ll definitely will keep an eye on this project though, I hope it takes off!

Interesting concept! Do you think there is a need to replace Bandcamp as well? To me it seems to be a better alternative to spotify, with a focus on the small creators as well

I was using Lubuntu (and before, Linux Lite) on an old laptop, and they ran okay. Now I run a very barebones Arch, and it is really snappy, also the battery seems to last a bit longer(but that may be psychological). So if you are into a bit of tinkering, I think give Arch (or Manjaro) a try!

For me, it’s not only that it’s federated, but that it’s limited and kind of small still. It helps me curb my “social media” usage, since there is no limitless stuff to see.

What do you use it for?

I didn’t even know that the thinkpad was such a popular choice for Linux, but I bought a used x121e thinkpad laptop a while back because I needed something small for school. Windows was horrendous on it, so that’s how I got into Linux! Even on this old and not very powerful hardware, Linux Lite and Lubuntu ran quite nicely, but recently I switched to a very barebones arch install which is very streamlined and lasts an hour longer than my Linux lite install. So even a shitty laptop will work very well (especially with an SSD), which is great for your wallet!

Sorry, I’m not very well aquainted with Puppy, only used it a couple times as a live system to recover some files. Can you actually modify the system in a way that sticks around for the next boot?

Thanks for the info!

Sorry I don’t know much about this. Why would it be beneficial to install this in addition the package manager that’s already on my system?

Yes, giving your data to someone is not necessarily bad. Consent plays a huge role here, and is why privacy online is a concern: people don’t really know how and to what extent they are being tracked, and service providers are not eager to educate them. The cookie popup for example, rather than being informative, is an annoyance at best. So I think educating people about security and privacy concerns online is a crucial component in being able to change malicious practices.

And yes, a decentralized internet would be great, but unfortunately to me seems like an utopia rather than a possible reality. You are also right about the services – in many cases the service is actually really good. It really is a complex question which does not have black and white answers.

Thanks for the book recommendation, I’ll look into it. And you raise some good points.

But, if we’re talking about motives, why would you question the motives of someone standing at your window, and not someone(or something) that’s trying to learn as much as possible about you online? (I was wrong before, I guess: the motives are questionable as well) Also, someone standing at your window is apparent. Using Google or Facebook, you don’t really see how much they learn about you, I think that’s what’s makes me the most unconfortable.

About my motives: First, I am not really a privacy nut, I just like to think about this stuff. I try to use alternative services, but still use Messenger because all my friends do. And I don’t want to be so private, I just want to be private. I think privacy is important to think about because it’s useful to understand the services and platforms millions of people use, and how they can maybe misuse the power they wield. So no, I don’t really put much effort into it, and I don’t think I should, I think regulators should hold the services that essentially spy on people accountable. I don’t want to always hop on the next, most secure platform or app, I just want to be able to use programs which treat their users with respect.

Why would it be suspicious? I think this is a question concerning boundaries. If privacy is the right to self, privacy is something that defines the boundary between a person and the outside world. To excercise the right to decide what others know about you means to define time and time again what is inside (or part of) your private life and what is outside it. (of course, this is a fuzzy boundary) And for someone else to learn information about you without your permission is at most a forceful destruction or at least a complete disregard of that boundary. A house is like this “self”, or private life: Would you like for someone to stand at you window at all times, looking at everything you do, even if you have nothing to hide?

I think this is not about malicious intent at all. What I think Snowden and @ericbujis is getting at is that privacy should be treated like a basic human right and as such, should be respected without question. So you should have the freedom to divulge whatever information you want about yourself (whether online or irl), but only you should have the right to decide what others know about you. From this view, collecting information about someone essentially means you learn information about that someone without their consent, thus infringing upon their right to privacy.

This might be too black and white, since something like looking at another person in a shop and seeing what’s in their kart also constitutes learning information about them without their consent. But when this is done systematically, and with an intent (that’s not necessarily malicious) to learn as much information as possible, it seems quite problematic.

Thanks, I did not know that! Saved me a year!

That’s also what I’m doing! It’s great to jump back in, and learning new things! Hope you have a great time doing it! Yes! I’m looking forward to understanding it better! It’s so different to have to learn to use the command programs I use, for example. I feel GUIs make the user able to use a program sufficiently very fast, but this way hide the way it functions. Reading man pages and looking at the output of the --help flag can be considered tedious, but I feel it allows me to understand the program better, and use it in a more flexible way. I guess what I’m trying to say is that the programs I’m used to usually very strictly tell you (through visual cues, etc), and these command line tools do not, or are at least much less strict. And I like that, it’s refreshing!

Seconding Pop, it’s a breeze to set up, and is very snappy! All my (very light, mind you) gaming is done on Pop_os

That’s a nice question! I am doing great, thanks! Just entering the world of Linux, and tinkering with everything is quite fun. How are you doing?

I see, so since all the lemmy instances are federated, I could visit all of them and subsribe to different communities, right?