#I'm sick of getting shit for running linux. I hate all the problems i'm having too. Obvioisly. Fucking clearly

[problemnyatic]

Yeah yeah linux having problems is a big joke but honestly have you considered that linux wouldn't run like shit if it didn't have to reverse engineer byzantine proprietary drivers and hardware architecture and deliberately hostile BIOS firmware and one thousand other things that exist solely to force everything that isn't a corporate OS to suffer miserably on every computer ever

[mortal-ethos]

This is a long story, so buckle in. I have a Google Pixel, I switched from iPhone because I just wanted a fresh start and got sick of Apple as a company. I hated being constantly inundated with notifications and hounded by consumerism. The Pixel has its cons (it is a Google product after all) but at one point, I tried changing the OS for increased privacy and security. In the end, I ended up having an issue with text messages and switched back but that's not the point.

Prior to flashing the OS, I wanted to transfer my photos and other files on my Pixel to my PC for backup. Once you flash the OS, it wipes the phone. So I plugged the Pixel into my PC with a USB cable. (Please note my PC runs Windows 11 at the time. I now am working with a dual boot system where I primarily boot into Linux. This story was the final straw for me with Microsoft/Windows.)

My Win 11 PC refused to recognize my Pixel. It would beep constantly, telling me there was an issue connecting it. Sometimes, when I first plugged it in, I would get a little text box asking me what I would like to do with the plugged in device. Every time I tried to select any of the options, it wouldn't work. I tried every. Single. USB cord. I own. I'm a fucking nerd, I own at least a dozen of these things and you're telling me that these cables that normally work fine SUDDENLY can't connect my phone? (Note, I did have to use a higher quality USB cable to flash the OS, but in general have not had any other problems with any of these cords before.) I finally got the popup text box to tell me something about needing to use some sort of app to connect my phone to Microsoft. PhoneLink or something like that. I was automatically really wary. I shouldn't need to use an app just to transfer files between one storage device to another just because it's a phone. These are both personal devices, it made no sense. The USB cable should work fine, always has.

Alas, I downloaded the app, I couldn't get anything else to work, which of course needed your Microsoft account log in. Of course, I needed to log in to Microsoft to transfer my own fucking files, on my own fucking phone, to my own fucking computer. It's asking for permission after permission after permission. I mainly wanted to transfer photos, so that's the only thing I gave it permission for. At the start. I tried multiple times to transfer photos and it wouldn't let me. I gradually gave it more and more permissions, hoping one of them was the one that would make it work. I turned nearly all permissions on and it still wouldn't work. I was frustrated, I was angry, I was confused. This was so much work, just to transfer photos. And then I saw one of the permissions I really really didn't want to allow. This permission allowed the Microsoft Windows phone link app access to EVERYTHING ON MY PHONE. AUTOMATICALLY UPLOADING TO THE MICROSOFT SERVER CONSTANTLY. Begrudgingly, I selected it. I painstakingly waited for the photos to upload, and ONE BY ONE HAD TO MANUALLY TRANSFER THEM TO MY HARD DRIVE.

I immediately deleted the app, cleared the cache, I did everything I could think of to scrub this shit even with knowing the phone would just be reset anyway. Microsoft not only made Win 11 a pain in the ass to do this on, they made an app to target you and your data, made it a pain in the ass to transfer files through the app so you're forced to keep the app so they can keep stealing your data to sell, and removed your autonomy over your own personal fucking property.

I am fucking tired of everything being wireless. I am sick of being forced to have to use a phone for everything. I am tired of everything being a fucking scheme to sell your data. I hate everything being shoved into one device. I hate that everything is constantly regressing 'upgrading' into oblivion. I hate what this has done to my brain. I hate that I have to fight to have a working brain.

I don't know I'm not done talking about it. It's insane that I can't just uninstall Edge or Copilot. That websites require my phone number to sign up. That people share their contacts to find their friends on social media.

I wouldn't use an adblocker if ads were just banners on the side funding a website I enjoy using and want to support. Ads pop up invasively and fill my whole screen, I misclick and get warped away to another page just for trying to read an article or get a recipe.

Every app shouldn't be like every other app. Instagram didn't need reels and a shop. TikTok doesn't need a store. Instagram doesn't need to be connected to Facebook. I don't want my apps to do everything, I want a hub for a specific thing, and I'll go to that place accordingly.

I love discord, but so much information gets lost to it. I don't want to join to view things. I want to lurk on forums. I want to be a user who can log in and join a conversation by replying to a thread, even if that conversation was two days ago. I know discord has threads, it's not the same. I don't want to have to verify my account with a phone number. I understand safety and digital concerns, but I'm concerned about information like that with leaks everywhere, even with password managers.

I shouldn't have to pay subscriptions to use services and get locked out of old versions. My old disk copy of photoshop should work. I should want to upgrade eventually because I like photoshop and supporting the business. Adobe is a whole other can of worms here.

Streaming is so splintered across everything. Shows release so fast. Things don't get physical releases. I can't stream a movie I own digitally to friends because the share-screen blocks it, even though I own two digital copies, even though I own a physical copy.

I have an iPod, and I had to install a third party OS to easily put my music on it without having to tangle with iTunes. Spotify bricked hardware I purchased because they were unwillingly to upkeep it. They don't pay their artists. iTunes isn't even iTunes anymore and Apple struggles to upkeep it.

My TV shows me ads on the home screen. My dad lost access to eBook he purchased because they were digital and got revoked by the company distributing them. Hitman 1-3 only runs online most of the time. Flash died and is staying alive because people love it and made efforts to keep it up.

I have to click "not now" and can't click "no". I don't just get emails, they want to text me to purchase things online too. My windows start search bar searches online, not just my computer. Everything is blindly called an app now. Everything wants me to upload to the cloud. These are good tools! But why am I forced to use them! Why am I not allowed to own or control them?

No more!!!!! I love my iPod with so much storage and FLAC files. I love having all my fics on my harddrive. I love having USBs and backups. I love running scripts to gut suck stuff out of my Windows computer I don't want that spies on me. I love having forums. I love sending letters. I love neocities and webpages and webrings. I will not be scanning QR codes. Please hand me a physical menu. If I didn't need a smartphone for work I'd get a "dumb" phone so fast. I want things to have buttons. I want to use a mouse. I want replaceable batteries. I want the right to repair. I grew up online and I won't forget how it was!