#windows and chrome

[cpunch71]

2024 tech support experience: user: hello yes when i sign in it gives me a wordpress error support: what os and browser are you on user: linux and firefox support: we don't support firefox :3 user: your wordpress application is giving me callstack traces when i attempt to sign in support: we don't support linux :3

[incognitopolls]

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[thegikitiki]

Living Room Decor, 1974

[abbiistabbii]

Quick lists of "Alternative" software/websites I use:

Firefox (as an alternative to Chrome): Especially for the ad blocking capability. Use on both Phone and Computer.

DuckDuckGo (as an alternative to Google): No longer the thing your paranoid uncle uses, now an actually good search engine with the lack of tracking being a plus.

Kubuntu (as an alternative to Windows 11): My current Linux Distro and the best for people leaving Windows for Linux for the first time. Also KDE is Goated now.

LibreOffice (as an alternative to Microsoft Office): Works with MS-office formats and is FOSS, great if you don't trust google but need office software.

GIMP (as an alternative to Photoshop) because fuck Adobe.

Kdenlive (as an alternative to Premiere) because again, fuck Adobe.

OpenStreetMaps (as an alternative to Google maps): Tends to update quicker and is more detailed because everything is done by volunteers on the ground.

Krita (Alternative to ProCreate): Great painting app.

[autolenaphilia]

The main reason to use Firefox and Linux and other free and open source software is that otherwise the big tech monopolies will fuck you as the customer over in search of profits. They will seek to control how you use their products and sell your data. When a company dominates the market, things can only get worse for ordinary people.

Like take Google Chrome for example, which together with its chromium reskins dominate the web browser market. Google makes a lot of money from ads, and consequently the company hates adblockers. They already are planning to move to manifest V3, which will nerf adblockers significantly. The manifest V3 compatible chrome version of Ublock Orgin is a "Lite" version for a reason. Ublock's Github page has an entire page explaining why the addon works best in Firefox.

And Google as we speak are trying to block adblockers from working on Youtube, If you want to continue blocking Youtube ads, and since Youtube ads make the site unuseable you ought to want that, it makes the most sense to not use a browser controlled by Google.

And there is no reason to think things won't get worse. There is for example nothing stopping Google from kicking adblockers off their add-on stores completely. They do regard it as basically piracy if the youtube pop-ups tell us anything, so updating the Chrome extensions terms of service to ban adblocking is a natural step. And so many people seem to think Chrome is the only browser that exists, so they are not going to switch to alternatives, or if they do, they will switch to another chrominum-based browser.

And again, they are fucking chromium itself for adblockers with Manifest V3, so only Firefox remains as a viable alternative. It's the only alternative to letting Google control the internet.

And Microsoft is the same thing. I posted before about their plans to move Windows increasingly into the cloud. This already exists for corporate customers, as Windows 365. And a version for ordinary users is probably not far off. It might not be the only version of Windows for awhile, the lack of solid internet access for a good part of the Earth's population will prevent it. But you'll probably see cheap very low-spec chromebookesque laptops running Windows for sale soon, that gets around Windows 11's obscene system requirements by their Windows being a cloud-based version.

And more and more of Windows will require Internet access or validation for DRM reasons if nothing else. Subscription fees instead of a one-time license are also likely. It will just be Windows moving in the direction Microsoft Office has already gone.

There is nothing preventing this, because again on the desktop/laptop market Windows is effectively a monopoly, or a duopoly with Apple. So there is no competition preventing Microsoft from exercising control over Windows users in the vein of Apple.

For example, Microsoft making Windows a walled garden by only permitting programs to be installed from the Microsoft Store probably isn't far off. This already exists for Win10 and 11, it's called S-mode. There seem to be more and more laptops being sold with Windows S-mode as the default.

Now it's not the only option, and you can turn it off with some tinkering, but there is really nothing stopping Microsoft from making it the only way of using Windows. And customers will probably accept it, because again the main competition is Apple where the walled garden has been the default for decades.

Customers have already accepted all sorts of bad things from Microsoft, because again Windows is a near-monopoly, and Apple and Google are even worse. That’s why there has been no major negative reaction to how Windows has increasingly spies on its users.

Another thing is how the system requirements for Windows seem to grow almost exponentially with each edition, making still perfectly useable computers unable to run the new edition. And Windows 11 is the worst yet. Like it's hard to get the numbers of how many computers running Win10 can't upgrade to Win11, but it's probably the majority of them, at least 55% or maybe even 75%. This has the effect of Windows users abandoning still perfectly useable hardware and buying new computers, creating more e-waste.

For Windows users, the alternative Windows gives them is to buy a new computer or get another operating system, and inertia pushes them towards buying another computer to keep using Windows. This is good for Windows and the hardware manufacturers selling computers with Windows 11 pre-installed, they get to profit off people buying Windows 11 keys and new computers, while the end-users have to pay, as does the environment. It’s planned obsolescence.

And it doesn’t have to be like that. Linux distros prove that you can have a modern operating system that has far lower hardware requirements. Even the most resource taxing Linux distros, like for example Ubuntu running the Gnome desktop, have far more modest system requirements than modern Windows. And you can always install lightweight Linux Distros that often have very low system requirements. One I have used is Antix. The ballooning Windows system requirements comes across as pure bloat on Microsoft’s part.

Now neither Linux or Firefox are perfect. Free and open source software don’t have a lot of the polish that comes with the proprietary products of major corporations. And being in competition with technology monopolies does have its drawbacks. The lacking website compatibility with Firefox and game compatibility with Linux are two obvious examples.

Yet Firefox and Linux have the capacity to grow, to become better. Being open source helps. Even if Firefox falls, developers can create a fork of it. If a Linux distro is not to your taste, there is usually another one. Whereas Windows and Chrome will only get worse as they will continue to abuse their monopolistic powers over the tech market.

[tofusalesman]

𝔘 𝔰 𝔦 𝔫 𝔤 𝔪 𝔶 𝚃 𝙼𝚘𝚋𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝔚 𝔦 𝔉 𝔦 𝔡 𝔬 𝔫 𝔤 𝔩 𝔢 𝔱 𝔬 𝔡 𝔬 𝔴 𝔫 𝔩 𝔬 𝔞 𝔡 𝔞 𝔩 𝔩 𝔱 𝔥 𝔢 𝔴 𝔯 𝔬 𝔫 𝔤 𝔰 𝔬 𝔫 𝔤 𝔰 𝔦 𝔫 ✨2 0 0 8✨ 𝔬 𝔫 𝔴 𝔞 𝔯 𝔡 𝔰

[mildmayfoxe]

finally wondered if maybe adobe express giving me issues is because of whatever is also making it so i can’t look at my fucking store dashboard on firefox so i opened chrome and after fighting through it being fucking laggy as shit adobe express opened and loaded all the fonts (big issue on firefox) no problem. which is SOOOO irritating. also my shop dashboard opened no problem too 😑 why doesn’t my shit work on firefox. i can’t watch dailymotion on firefox anymore either it straight up doesn’t load

[verycrowindeed]

"chrome is like the Linux for windows"

Real thing that a guy that has been studying IT for two years said to me yesterday

[razorlope]

Max drawn in 14 operating systems

Windows 2000

Windows XP

Windows Vista

Windows 7

Windows 8.1

Windows 10

Windows 11

Ubuntu

Puppy

OpenSUSE

Linux Mint

Debian

StormOS (Solaris)

ChromeOS

I was going to do MacOS, but couldn't due to technical difficulties

Systems were ran on Virtualbox (with the exception of ChromeOS and Windows 10)

youtube video

[dreaming-hibi]

I was suspposed to be writing chapter 4?! Hello?? Where did it all go wrong??

[cabaretofghosts]

switched to firefox yesterday oh my god why didnt i do this sooner

[bluejayscrying]

my ao3 needs to be a verrrry specific font size on my laptop or phone otherwise i get nervous

[mateuscosmeportfolio]

Puppy Love

design for Boss Life

[youcantdateosmosisjones]

the hyperfixation's at the stage where i spent all night plotting out a (mostly blank) family tree that spans over centuries. includes death dates, placing everything within somewhat reasonable historical eras, doing the age math, and straightening out the generations in accordance with the timeline.

[snarp]

Need one of you nerds to ID whatever malicious Windows contractor's doing this

[whispersleo]

I finished the first chapter of my thesis, I'm trying to finish my big mystery project today (I have to finish it today) and I still have to prepare a big presentation for monday, someone just kill me please