The cloud is kind of an odd one out here, cloud providers are bringing in like half a trillion dollars a year from willing customers

Debian is perfect in particular for work. Stable, free, capable. Hardly more to want. And it’s been almost the only stable bedrock in my tech career of over two decades. I’ve probably made over a million USD with it, while everything else eventually gets taken by a corporation and becomes folly to build on. Free software forever

I’d say it’s certainly possible for the economics and business strategy to shift in a manner where consumers get a much worse deal like this indefinitely. But it’s really haad to say if it’s actually going to play out that way or we experience a return to the previous equilibrium

It’s a pretty complex topic but ever more valuable skill. I too believe AI will be used for mass surveillance that I don’t want to be a part of. Free, open source software is your best friend in general.

Windows and microsoft are particularly nasty in that they’ll record you where you interface with the computer (i.e. what the screen is showing and what you tell your own computer to do) and at some point will offer everything to the highest bidder. The offences of ISP and websites are pale in comparison.

We as a society should be rethinking the term “security”, if it’s come to mean submitting to being jerked around however best suits some private company’s interests instead of our own. If there’s a central platform for its security benefit it should be democratically controlled instead of controlled by what are effectively feudal lords, or perhaps even an occupying force

I’ve noticed nary a thing except vapid media and social buzz. I’ve tried the tools themselves and they seem to waste time too often to be worthwhile