I’m not saying it’s a good strategy, just that since SoftBank it’s basically core to the VC default playbook.

I believe it’s been tweaked, thanks to Musk, Enron and banks to subsidies transitioning to too big to fail.

So, it might not work, ever, but I still think if you look at the large VC rounds, that’s what they are funding, to be so big nobody can reach you at any cost.

Damned, edited, thanks! (shows the benefit of discussing ;)

Well I’d suggest a forest instead but anyway depends how you get there :

• look up online how? there might be now a path on a server to your target destination
• disconnect phone in a pattern that’s usually not how you use it? more surveillance
• public transport tracking, plate tracking until you leave the city
• rough estimation on your direction then follow up with drones tracking you, if it’s 100m high it’s hard to notice

… anyway, ending the paranoia comment ;)

Indeed, as they said in Italian “if my grandmother had wheels she would have been a bike” … the reasoning might be theoretically correct but in the current situation it’s just not the case.

Run up their bills until they can’t afford to be speculative any more.

Sadly I don’t think you’ve met venture capitalists… they will use your usage as a KPI for success. They have a runway longer than you can imagine, check the history of Amazon or Uber. They can be unprofitable for years, heck longer than a decade, and they are fine with it because they are claiming (and sadly sometimes right) to be cornering a trillion dollar market.

Won’t repeat what I wrote just hours ago in https://lemmy.world/post/44130119/22616090 but just the ending :

"I would personally consider instead Bottles, GOG (have different problems), Steam (obviously not open source and basically monopolistic position), etc.

Overall I think preventing discussion is unhealthy (even though sadly sometimes needed, here I lack context, maybe the issue poster did this numerous time on other platforms, title definitely was provocative) but removing provenance is NEVER a good choice. They want to use Claude on their repo? Absolutely fine (even though not to me) but hiding it makes it instantly untrustworthy to me. In fact I even argued in the past that even though I personally do not use GenAI/LLMs (for coding or otherwise) except for testing it should always be disclosed precisely so that others can make THEIR choice in consequence, including using or contributing, cf https://fabien.benetou.fr/Analysis/AgainstPoorArtificialIntelligencePractices"

In retrospect that whole value proposition is nuts.

The suggestion here is to spend 10min, let’s say 1h if the connection isn’t far and the USB stick (or microSD) is slow… for something you will then use for years onward. Typically one does NOT re-install an OS frequently unless they want to (e.g. tinkering quite a bit or distro-hoping).

Right, and to be clear I’m not suggesting to “just” buy a PC without an OS.

I’m suggesting both PC manufacturers and OS providers make an effort to facilitate that step.

One good example IMHO would be Raspberry Pi and its Imager. Yes you get your Pi but that’s not just it, you can get install Raspberry Pi OS … or Ubuntu, Apertis, RISC OS Pi, … but also media ones e.g. LibreELEC, OSMC, etc … or emulation with RetroPie, Batoccera.linux, … but still more with RaspAP, MoodleBox, … and countless others. You follow the steps thanks to a colorful GUI, put a microSD card in when prompted, wait, remove it, but in the SBC, boot and voila.

I’m not claiming it’s perfect or that anybody could do it but I believe it’s a good compromise ihelping people getting the OS they need if only they are genuinely ready to spend 10min for it.

Unfortunately for you you don’t have what it takes. You need to be a proper psychopath to scam others.

Your English is good don’t worry about it. What I meant to say is that we should stop talking about a hypothetical time when Linux would become mainstream, that’s in the past. It’s mainstream since at least since February 2022 when the Steam Deck became a commercial success.

Right but Framework is basically new, founded just in 2020. Also I believe most people who go on their website is precisely because of this kind of options. I don’t think, sadly, they are representative of the broader market.

Well 100% in fact as that’s NOT the definition of “out of the box”.

There you go https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/amzn/metrics/revenue-by-segment/ but TL;DR: AWS is more than 15% of their revenue and it keeps on growing.

Genuinely no idea why people keep on using YouTube. There are countless quality alternatives, from Vimeo to PeerTube to torrents.

I don’t understand the argument. Linux already is mainstream since there are millions (number out of my ass, I don’t actually know) of devices people buy and “just” use Linux. Those clients are no tinkerers or developers, “just” gamers including I bet a significant proportion who are not even adults. My bet is when those people are asked “Are you using Linux?” they either don’t know, or don’t care, and yet when they finally realize they are actually using Linux daily they probably think “Wow, it’s not that complicated, it just works” and thus it will change mindsets at scale.

You can buy computers without an operating system installed on it

AFAIR that hasn’t been the case in most places for a while precisely because Microsoft made partnerships with OEMs to avoid that situation.

I believe new laws were added, e.g. in Europe, but I would be curious were this was the case. In fact I remember the opposite, namely that most computers one would buy always came with an OS, Windows for PC and MacOS for Apple computers. Even computers that one would buy in part that would be assembled for them from non OEM would also have the options to have an OS. In fact I’d be curious about example of fully assemble PCs, not just parts nor SBCs, that could be purchased without an OS before the law in the places where its the case now, would prove an OS-free option. Can you please share examples?

Also, assuming you do find such examples (thanks in advance) I’d then be curious what’s the market share, namely is it significant, e.g. 10% or is it basically anecdotal, e.g. 0.01% and thus just enough to say “it’s possible” yet has no actual impact.

Linux will never be the mainstream OS

The SteamDeck prove that wrong, it’s already mainstream.

Learn about a tool that is basically in the middle of some of the most crucial interactions in their lives? From receiving an email to vote, to booking an appointment to get a passport, to working, to dating, to browsing an encyclopedia, to entertainment broadly, to creating music, to …?

I’ll stop there but yes, even though learning is scary I think if the safety net is clear enough (namely you just can’t mess up so badly your brand new computer won’t work) then it’s worth investing in.

… and I’m grateful for that but maybe we can finally decouple from OEM for OSes? Maybe could JUST buy a computer and not be forced an OS on it?

Sure I admit it feels nice to unwrap a new device, turn it on, set up few options and use it. Yet, the alternative it to turn it on, plug a USB drive on it, turn it on, set up few options, wait for 15min tops for installation to proceed and use it.

It’s actually a ~15min difference but it could bring so many good practices.

People of little faith, it’s just 1 over-the-air update away from becoming a spaceship! /s

FWIW https://elonmusk.today/