How the fuck is Linux a trap compared to the shenanigans of Microsoft?
Microsoft and other proprietary vendors are the trap, and Linux is the way to avoid it.
I agree with you, that's exactly what my post says.
Microsoft is the trap. My point is that "Sanitised Linux" is just Microsoft-style shenanigans being forced onto our ecosystem via regulation. I literally started the post by saying Linux is the only sanctuary left.
OK I read it as Linux won't cut it if we are forced to use Microsoft.
Microsoft will of course do everything possible to create that situation, as they've been doing very successfully since the 80's.
Linux is the only sanctuary left
Acktually there is still some Free and Open Source BSD variants. And for the lols we also have GNU Hurd. So even a world without Linux, does not mean we have to use Windows. (I don't even count MacOS.)
But here’s the thing, nobody knows what operating system you choose to install. This regulation will be equally as effective as anti-pirating legislation has been, which is to say, essentially nil.
I agree with you. The only thing I could see "Linux being a trap" would be, for people who expect Windows replacement without the Microsoft bullshit. So in one way this "could" be interpreted as a trap for those. But that is if I try to stretch it to justify calling it a trap.
Ive been running Linux for close to a decade now and one thing that I've noticed is rarely brought up in Linux circles is that Linux Kernel Development is heavily funded by major big tech corpos. Examples include Microsoft, Google, Oracle, and IBM.
There is a vested corporate interest in keeping Linux well maintained as it is the OS that underpins the vast majority of corporate server architecture and infrastructure.
I'm not saying Linux development wouldn't exist without them, but imho, Linux certainly wouldn't be as ubiquitous as it is today without this corporate backing. Thusly, it is worth noting that in many ways, we Linux users have not escaped corporate influence simply from switching from Windows or MacOS to Linux.
We've maybe lessened it to some degree, but to think we are somehow immune to the misguided mandates from state governments, like the latest recent age verification laws, is misguided.
Here's one way that liberal fascism maintains control:
It's how they got TikTok, etc. It's how they'll try to get Lemmy, Linux, VPNs, etc. The wild part is how many lib "allies" will fully support this.
Yes, it's a trap like everything else. It's another front in the struggle.
Just to underscore what you said, this is achieved in FOSS via control of non-profit orgs & a monopoly on consumer chip architecture (for the time being)
The fascists' weakness is their extreme overconfidence in everything they do.
TikTok was a data harvesting surveillance tool from day one. It didn't need to be 'got'
This is why shaming the idiots who say things like "what's the big deal, it's just a field in a text file" is so important. They need to be made to understand that solidarity is required to resist the tyrants.
shaming the idiots
solidarity is required
Your team building tactics could use some work.
-An idiot
I think if Linux becomes something for the masses it will no longer be for me. So I'm hoping that won't happen.
End users just want their hand to be held by some kind of corporation. Happy to give up their information and privacy. To have no choices in interface etc.
Basically, Linux for the masses will look exactly like ChromeOS. Completely unusable for a power user with a need for privacy and control.
Meh it's not like Linux is one static block of immutable code.
It's modular.
So it's not like all linux distros will evolve the same way. And OP points it out that some distros are affected by age verification laws while others are not at all.
So I think it makes no sense to panic and thinking all linux will converge to some Windows ersatz...
I think the fact there is so many distros out there is our strength but also what prevents people from discovering the right linux for them.
So this will be the year of linux discovery imo and all linux user should help out new users finding their way to a linux that fit them for their journey to freedom.
Not really but you do see already that Linux is becoming more opinionated. For example recently kde introduced a new display manager (to replace sddm) that requires systemd.
It's becoming harder to get off the beaten track.
I had similar thoughts, but at the same time i honestly think that wouldn't be an issue because of the nature of linux and it being free and open source. There's bound to be distros out there that won't conform to whatever bs the corpos come up with.
ChromeOS is basically the blueprint for the "Gold Cage". My real worry is that "security" is just becoming a convenient excuse to swap user ownership for corporate control. Once that "masses" version becomes the legal standard for compliance, the rest of us are basically looking at digital exile.
That stupid Newsom age-gating OS bill is pure political theatre. It won't affect Linux -- too many capitalists would be inconvenienced, and inconveniencing capitalists is the last thing capitalist darling Newsom would do; he couldn't even be bothered to support a modest 5% tax on billionaires.
Linux is here to stay -- it runs the internet. And it will always be customizable, because that's part of what gives it so much value.
That legislation is pushed by big tech lobbies, mainly Meta. The more people use open source the less power those big companies have to push shit like this.
Also we've had attempts to microslopify Linux before, by the hands of Canonical and Red Hat.
What people don't realize is, that every year is the Year of Linux Desktop. We just beat the previous year. It's like having a new world record every year.
Their building a Prison System ™️ regardless, open source (e.g. Linux) just offers SOME protections.
We have to do more regardless, but it's still all part of the good fight in my book
It's just the buzz-word of FOSS enthusiasts.
It is a myth, always has been. But the worry isn't the "Year of Linux" happening, it's the corporate version of it being forced on us via regulation.
Its not really something that can be avoided other than political change. Or moving to a different country. Its not a linux problem its a facism problem.
Year of linux?
Dude, please. I'm on my third decade of the thing already.
How would anyone place a 100% community driven distribution like Debian in such a cage? There's no monetary leverage, the community is truly international, so local laws don't apply .....
Please note that it's also one of the most prolific distributions, and the foundation p.e. for *buntu.
If you're living in an oppressive jurisdiction, your employer might obviously not allow you to use a truly free operating system, but that's hardly Linux's fault.
So if your favorite distribution is starting bullshit, just switch to the next one, there are literally thousands of them. That's why "Year of the Linux desktop" is confusing: it's "year of steamOs" or "year of *buntu", probably even "year of Debian", but most certainly never "year of the nixos desktop".
You have choice. Use it.
My real worry isn't that Debian will cave, but that the services we use every day—banks, government sites, DRM-heavy media—will start checking for a "compliant" kernel. If those "invisible borders" get built, you might have a truly free OS that's effectively useless for 90% of the modern web.
It's not about the distro failing; it's about the "compliant" versions becoming the only key to the door. We have the choice now, but the gap between "free" and "functional" is definitely getting wider.
will start checking for a “compliant” kernel.
Reminds me of all the banking apps that rely on Google's "secure" crap to run.
How will they check for a compliant kernel, at a technical level? I haven’t seen any proposed way to do that that can’t be easily circumvented.
It’s less about a "scan" and more about the "handshake." Look at things like Windows 11 requiring a TPM and Secure Boot, or the Microsoft Pluton chip being baked into newer CPUs.
They don't need to inspect your code. They just need a cryptographic "attestation" that says your hardware and kernel are in a "known good" state. If your DIY kernel doesn't have the right digital signature from the manufacturer, the service whether it's a bank or a Netflix stream, simply says "computer says no" and denies the connection.
Sure, we'll find workarounds, but for 99% of people, that "invisible border" is a brick wall.
Sure, we’ll find workarounds
I'd phrase it as "we might occasionally find workarounds that kinda work sometimes". I tried running de-Googled Android on my phone for a while, and the only reason I could use it for online banking, pay for public transport, contact health services, etc. was because some people had reverse-engineered Google's services (i.e. microG). It also stopped working every now and then when something changed, and to my knowledge Google could also shut it down instantly if they started encrypting their APIs. I wouldn't bet on there always being workarounds if this push to lock down operating systems and online services continues.
Someone else posted something interesting/alarming the other day.. With AI becoming more advanced and also more accessible, it's going to be increasingly difficult to keep spam, scams, etc. at bay. If the mainstream computing world ends up in this gilded cage trap, even if a minority choose to maintain and use forks that stay outside the system, it might be quite difficult to keep for example a forum functional.
How would anyone place a 100% community driven distribution like Debian in such a cage?
By getting the Debian deciding body to approve systemd a while back, for starters.
It's apparently very easy.
I know what you mean, at work right now when you run Linux they don't give you support but they also don't enforce any of the bullshit but skill give you VPN access to the work resources.
On win and Mac they dust disabled USB storage access and there is a to other bullshit going in TN the name of security while everyone uploads their code to openai or anthropic because they're pushing for it
So now I am hidden from IT, when those Sanitized Linux ditros start showing up they will build in the same bullshit as they have from win and Mac now and then I'm fucked, because they will force me to use them
I think the "trap" is to believe "we" can "win" once and for all.
Under capitalism (and I'm not suggesting there are better systems, only highlight a core mechanism) there will always be competition to capture value, both customers and lawmakers who (should) protect them.
There are countless examples but one of the most obvious on that topic if Microsoft itself with it's sadly now classic EEE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish of which we can admire the comtemporary version with Github. Initially Github was acquired and no changed, nowadays a lot of basic functionalities, e.g. search within a repository are locked behind a login, there are more and more advertisements for Microsoft other products, e.g. CoPilot. That last product itself is questioning the foundation of free software and open source with its license washing process making unclear who did what, breaking provenance, etc.
The same happened with Google acquiring Android but not locking it down more and more.
The list could grow longer and longer, overall the point is to showcase a pattern : nothing is just "let" alone to grow on its own. It's gradually captured and enshittified until there is nothing left but the name of a project because corporations exist only to extract more money. There is no moral, only an imperative for profit or their death.
So... unfortunately we WILL have to keep on both building AND protecting what's been built so far with newer and more powerful threats. Microsoft, Google, and all large corporations who advertise themselves as allies of free software and open source MUST be judge on what they actually do, not on what they claim.
We have to push back and we will always have to. This year and the next.
I have somewhat similar concerns. I'm not as worried about sanitized Linux as I am about new mandates entrenching Microsoft, Apple, and Google as the only valid options. Even it it is an enormous pain in the ass for everyone, including those big three, it would infinitely preferably for them to more widespread adoption of alternatives.
Just propose solutions/mandates that are fundamentally incompatible with GPL and FOSS ideals, or deeply contentious within open source communities and you can do irreparable damage to the growth of Linux and any space that needs to adapt to those new mandates. Linux moving into education? Pretend it is needed to protect the children. Linux moving into government? Pretend it's needed to protect security or efficiency. Linux moving into the workplace? Pretend it's needed to protect AI or liability or synergy or whatever the fuck gets CEO dicks hard these days. BAM - Linux gets hit with massive internal strife and splitting of vital communities and resources. I know it was already absurdly contentious before, but seeing what happened when storing a users age hit systemd really worried me.
I think it's already been kind of ongoing by co-opting or even creating "open source initiatives" from the business world who ultimately just jump in when things look mature and rapidly implement profit extraction and enshittification.
The systemd age-storage drama was a massive red flag. It showed how easily a "safety" mandate can be used as a wedge into the lower levels of the stack.
My worry is exactly what you said: politicians creating "compliance" requirements that are fundamentally toxic to the GPL or the way community distros operate. It’s not about making Linux better; it’s about making it legally unviable for anyone but a massive corporation to maintain. Digital enshittification via regulation.
I don't think we'll see a "year of Linux" per say, I think we're not likely to see either a decade or generational shift to Linux.
I've been using Windows and Android all my life, so it's what I got used to. I'm in my 30's now and over the last year or so I've slowly been introducing myself to Mint Linux on my laptop for basic web browsing and Ubuntu Linux 24.04 on my home server for hosting my own data. In some ways it's actually a lot easier than I thought it would be, but I'm still learning a new language.
On the one hand I considered myself pretty technically savvy, until I dove head first into Linux and quickly discovered how much I really didn't know. On the other hand, I am learning as I go given enough repetition.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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