EngineerGaming

EngineerGaming, 11 days ago

I don’t see a “year of the Linux desktop” happening, but rather its share growing slowly over the years. Windows would probably not have one big event that ends its dominance, but it can be a death of a thousand cuts.

EngineerGaming, 5 days ago

Imagine being able to opt into an long term support branch when you feel your phone starting to lag

That’s kind of what LineageOS does.

EngineerGaming, 9 days ago

Even with a fully open-source implementation, that thing tells on you more than normal system logs. I like it being called “privacy bomb” - waiting to give extra data to whoever gets into the computer.

EngineerGaming, 12 days ago (edited 4 days ago)

Being open-source is not sufficient, but necessary.

EngineerGaming, 5 days ago

Even if this is illegal - how would such usage be detected? Your device just makes a request to a random domain on a random VPS, and the traffic is TLS-encrypted - would usage of XMPP/Matrix/whatever be that distinct?

EngineerGaming, 7 days ago (edited 4 days ago)

Yea, my main issue is that because of the price, you’re locked to phones that are either out or almost out of support, or secondhand. Even the last generation’s cheapest model is $300! Though very tempted to try to save that anyway.

Plus they are not officially sold here, so always a bit of a gamble.

EngineerGaming, 9 days ago

I wonder what would happen if you host a server but block the domains of the central ones, asking everyone you chat with to use other servers instead.

EngineerGaming, 8 days ago

Yea, my main concern for now is that most people are using default servers. Good thing their servers are very easy to host, but still, power of the default. I would really like to see lists of public servers, like what we see now for XMPP and Matrix. The thing is still young, so looking forward.

EngineerGaming, 7 days ago

I self-host too, that wasn’t the problem, it’s that there is the power of the default. Just like with Matrix. You can ask a friend to use your server or another one and delete the main ones entirely, but chances are you won’t be avoiding them in a random chatroom.

EngineerGaming, 7 days ago

I grew up when social media was already ubiquitous, in the 2010s. Still mostly video games, walks and studying.

EngineerGaming, 10 days ago (edited 5 days ago)

I would prefer Matrix or XMPP, they don’t have the risks regarding centralization and are thus far harder to censor.

EngineerGaming, 10 days ago

Major XMPP clients now have implemented OMEMO - from what I understand, it’s very similar.

My issue with Signal, aside from centralization and phone numbers, is how it is annoying to use without a smartphone.

EngineerGaming, 7 days ago

First - it does still require one for registration, just no longer requires it to be public. Second - this still has nothing to do with the fact that desktop doesn’t allow registration and tells you to register from a smartphone instead.

EngineerGaming, 14 days ago (edited 5 days ago)

Yes. The difference is that you need to pay to host a Session node, and pay BIG money. That locks out most people that aren’t cryptobros, companies or government agencies. While both a Tor/i2p node and Simplex server (or XMPP, or Matrix) are decidedly easy to set up.

EngineerGaming, 13 days ago

I don’t quite understand how it works yet, so wonder: would it work in sanctioned locations, like how, say, Monero can?

EngineerGaming, 12 days ago

Ah. I know that a bank is involved with a recipient, but didn’t know a sender needed one too. But as long as the Taler works between banks that are prohibited to interact too - it would be very useful then!

EngineerGaming, 12 days ago

So technically, you could buy it from a random KYCless seller like you can Monero too?

EngineerGaming, 12 days ago

Why would I do that? Maybe if my bank doesn’t want to support a private currency like that. Or if they’re a legal gray area like crypto now is, so while it is semi-legal now, might change in the future.

EngineerGaming, 14 days ago

When paying in-person, I would rather exclusively use cash.

EngineerGaming, 14 days ago

From my understanding, the OP wanted to use a system that does not provide physical cards though.

EngineerGaming, 14 days ago

Yes, that would be the best. My point is that there might be still some middle ground that OP wants to use for some reason.

EngineerGaming, 14 days ago

Realistically, a lot of businesses would stick with Windows 10 way past EOL anyway. This happened with 7.

EngineerGaming, 15 days ago

Less likely peer-to-peer, more likely selfhostable.

EngineerGaming, 15 days ago

I prefer XMPP, which is lighter, but I have a Matrix server too and get why you’d prefer it.

EngineerGaming, 15 days ago

I am just sad that the desktop version is not as full-featured. The website says no Tor bridges, which here means no Tor connectivity at all. And it is weird that the mailbox is primarily for phones, even though phones are not supposed to be working permanently on a charger - they do have a cli one at least so you’s probably be able to use something like a Raspberry instead, for now only buildable from source but hope it develops. But yea, very cool model! Although I would say for everyday less sensitive communication I would choose XMPP or Matrix instead.