I like your comment a lot because you can substitute a lot of different things for “snap” and it still ends up sounding like a very reasonable opinion

I feel like I would be more okay with leaded gasoline if it didn’t still have a lot of very real flaws.

I feel like I would be more okay with anarcho-capitalism if it didn’t still have a lot of very real flaws.

I feel like I would be more okay with PFAS-coated cookware if it didn’t still have a lot of very real flaws.

I feel like I would be more okay with single-use plastic bags if it didn’t still have a lot of very real flaws.

I feel like I would be more okay with cryptocurrencies if it didn’t still have a lot of very real flaws.

I feel like I would be more okay with generative AI if it didn’t still have a lot of very real flaws.

I feel like I would be more okay with eating highly processed meat if it didn’t still have a lot of very real flaws.

You are about to do something potentially harmful.
To continue type in the phrase ‘Yes, do as I say!’

But speaking seriously, I think he tried it for a while and didn’t like it either… not sure why specifically tho, I’ll ask him

It’s not a miniscule gripe tho. Snap is still broken for many users, and relying on it for something as critical as a web browser is asking for trouble. Experimental technologies like snap should be opt-in for users who are willing to deal with the issues they create. Do they really expect a novice to see firefox’s filepicker not behaving correctly, and think “Aha, an XDG desktop portal issue! Let me drop everything I’m doing and go troubleshoot that” ? Ubuntu is meant to be linux for normies, they don’t have the time or the knowledge to deal with snap.

Next step is probably a VM…

Boy, you’re gonna love QubesOS

One of my friends spent like a month distrohopping just to find a debian-based distro that fits these two criteria:

• First-class support for KDE

• Isn’t broken all the time

Ubuntu fails both. KDE Neon excels on the first one, but fails harder than ubuntu on the second one. Kubuntu as well. Debian has horridly outdated packages, and he refuses to use nix/flatpak. Tuxedo OS is obscure and broken. Mint is great, but installing KDE takes some effort.

He finally settled on Ubuntu Server with the native KDE package. Still has to do some weird incantations to banish snap tho.

How did things get this bad?

…what? Insurance companies are not a “barrier” between doctors and patients. What, do you think some sort of insurance gremlin will manifest out of the ground and kick you in the nuts if you try to visit a doctor while uninsured? Doctors don’t care whether you’re insured or not, as long as they get paid. Insurance companies exist to soften the blow of expensive treatment. The product is not getting completely fucked over if you get very unlucky, just like with any other insurance (life insurance, car insurance, whatever). It’s kind of like bitcoin mining pools, but the other way around. Now, is mandatory health insurance justified? That’s a different discussion.

Yeah, but that’s just because Debian’s software catalog is deliberately full of outdated and/or broken packages. It’s like that on purpose. On most other distros native packages trump third-party install scripts any day of the week. On Debian you can just use Nix or Flatpak to get good packages.

Get two birds stoned at once!!

Edge is basically Chrome but with microsoft spyware instead of google spyware… and without AVIF support for some reason!?

Yeah but then I would have to navigate logitech’s stupid website to find the download button… and then navigate it again, because turns out the software for pairing standard receivers is completely separate from the software for pairing unifying receivers… Sigh… But hey, at least it doesn’t force you to make an account!

Don’t forget Microshit’s renowned Orifice software suite!

The screenshot is from Microsoft Edge running in Windows 10 (virtual machine) with no/little browsing history and no account connected. I’m hypothesizing here, but maybe these are the reasons:

• You don’t see the ??? section because you’re not on Edge. Bing AI only works on edge (it checks your user agent)
• You don’t see the ad because you have an adblocker

Can someone ELI5 how searx works

It sends your search query to a bunch of different existing search engines, and shows you all of the results in one combined page

if it’s worth the hassle of hosting

Personally idk, maybe someone else can provide their opinion about this

Unpopular opinion: dead internet is not only real, but GOOD. Once robots get good enough to autonomously sign up for websites and make convincing posts, this will force us humans to go actually outside, make friends, form deep social relationship, and build lasting, resilient communities. Meanwhile on the internet, websites that are willing to allow AI content for money will eventually die out due to lack of actual users. The only remaining websites will be run by individuals and organizations with non-profit motives, and a strict human-only policy with verification based on word-of-mouth / invite system.

I unknowingly downloaded some software from there when I was a kid, and, from what I remember, it came bundled with some sort of update manager or something. Even if it’s not outright malware, I would wager most people who are looking to download logitech’s utility don’t want some irrelevant third-party garbage on their system. So AT BEST it’s crapware / bloatware

Thanks for the tip! I use startpage already, it’s pretty good. From what I understand, it uses Google’s search index under the hood.

There’s also Brave search which (claims to be) privacy friendly and (claims to) have their own independent search index, so you could give that a try as well. I wouldn’t say it’s better that startpage or google tho

Do these things correlate that much tho? Not to toot my own horn, but I am fairly tech-proficient and have terrible typing skills. My technique is somewhere in between hunt-and-peck and touch-typing, despite regular typing lessons in elementary school. I imagine a lot of other people are like this, and vice-versa as well.

I don’t mind people making and sharing AI pictures for fun, but if you sell those pictures, that’s kinda cringe tbh.

I actually do have glasses, I just never bothered learning about any of the technical details behind my lenses. Optometrist measured my eyes, I chose the cheapest frame the store offered, came back a week later to pick up the glasses and that’s about it.

yes, it’s that.