@nprofile1q... 'The app' is the secret sauce.

@nprofile1q... TL;dr — Linux has gotten too big.

Any pretense of a security focus is out the window now.

But this crisis isn't all to be placed at the feet of GenAI use: It demonstrates how the monolithic Linux architecture was wrong to begin with.

The future is already arriving in the form of small, trustworthy microkernels and hypervisors that can isolate risk and allow users to retain control of basic resources (the computers) even under heavy attack.

@nprofile1q... @nprofile1q... @nprofile1q...

You cannot use BSD and not aknowlegde the copyright holder.

But Intel can wait decades before disclosing (as an afterthought) that Minix was used in billions of CPUs bearing Intel ME. And then Minix' author says this is an example of BSD's maximal freedom.

@nprofile1q... Shades of the #PatternZ malware.

Any of the same people involved?

@nprofile1q...
Narrator: And grow it did...

@nprofile1q... On Windows this is OK, because the actual location of "My Documents" and "Downloads" changes between 5 separate locations depending on your current mood and the humidity level.

@nprofile1q... My recommendation is to look towards Android apps for the switch. Android arguably has a better selection of apps, and the current version includes a reference desktop GUI! So libre Android distros should lead to better results in the long term.

"Desktop Linux" isn't a real thing; its more of a mirage for techies who revere Unix. Skills learned by non-techies at the GUI level are non-transferrable to other Linux systems. Consumer expectations and Unix fandom are not compatible.

@nprofile1q... Mastodon makes this even worse: If you follow someone, it will put every segment of that */11 thread into your TL, making a mess of it. Its why I don't follow Cory Doctorow and a few others, sadly.

@nprofile1q... Apple isn't cleaner or (much) safer than a patched Android fork. They do the CCP's dirty work, and and they don't mind looking the other way when apps bake-in lucrative malware en masse. Apple's high fees are goading app vendors to find any/every way to exploit their users even when those monetization frameworks start advertizing out-and-out "attacks" on users.

Another iOS downside is you're allowed only one html rendering engine (Apple's).

And they updated iOS network stack so that VPNs are forced to leak endpoint IP address info.

@nprofile1q... Nail this to the door...

@nprofile1q... Its strange that this is considered legal activity for some people (sorry... "corporate partners") but not for others...

@nprofile1q... You're saying the user can't change the culture that expects them to click on sketchy domains "to do their job". (A dubious claim.) But no one is helping them because the IT field has sunk into mass malpractice.

So everything will have to relocate here: