I wish I could fully agree. Canonical is a bit pushy: "Ubuntu Pro / ESM subscription will make your machine safer! and it is convenient mega free!! ((for non-business uses))"

Workplace very strictly requires Ubuntu LTS for toolchain & compatibility reasons, otherwise I'd run Debian or Fedora or Tumbleweed with Ubuntu containers/VMs where needed.

Nonetheless, Linux popups and promotions (even from enterprise distros) are not nearly as bad as the Windows 11 experience.

Fastmail had a UI change a year ago, where they went all "rounded corner" and created unique rows for every message that weren't so easily sorted with Stylus CSS. I emailed them about the changes, and a few weeks later the messages were listed in a way that I could easily apply my own stylesheet again. They also acknowledged on their subreddit the UI change was not incredibly popular (even the CEO was "not enjoying" it) and they took some feedback and provided a few better UX customizations in the options.

At one point, Fastmail had an error parsing Unicode in misconfigured iCal files (Google Calendar showed events correctly) but after a short back-and-forth, they fixed it within a week.

Now, Google Calendar has had a problem with my organization's iCal files for the past four weeks. Submitting a bug report via the help community is very opaque and unhelpful (a la "Have you tried turning if off and on again?"). Fastmail loads the iCal correctly. I have no clue if Google is aware or when they'll ever fix it.

One huge productivity advantage to FM over Gmail? Sort by sender name. (This makes it so easy to bulk apply changes)

Setting up own domain has been straightforward. (It's a bit of work ensuring DNS records have DMARC/DKIM/SPF, but it's all in the FM checklist/documentation.) Setting up Python scripts to auto email me using app passwords has been straightforward. Creating aliases and throwaways is straightforward.

I have not regretted paying for email; specifically, Fastmail.

It's great when the source of revenue for a company is the user, rather than other companies that the user is being sold to. Too bad this is so rare these days.

Around the same time, I think the Photoprism image also didn't work on IPv6 because of Traefik

I thought having a MacBook Pro after a few decades of Windows/Linux use would be utopic, but Apple hides a ton of keyboard/mouse shortcuts, so the majority of software is slow to learn and use. Simple stuff like split screen, file handling (particularly compressed files, mounts, and network), or USB device permissions leave a lot to be desired.

It gets worse when you need to add Parallels because a particular lab machine only has Windows support. Being Vim-dependent, I got unlucky receiving the butterfly keyboard model with no physical escape key.

excellent hardware specs, superb battery life, very opinionated aesthetic (I hate it.), not nearly as intuitive as one would assume

The perfect design is no rounded corners. anywhere. ever.

How do you tell a snapped window from a free-floating window in that case?

I've never really needed that, or I don't understand the need for there to be a difference. I typically tile windows into each corner based on how large I need them. When I need more than 4, I'll manually place them.

What I do notice is the wasted space needed by the entire window border to accommodate rounded corners and how annoying it is to grab a window handle in e.g. Ubuntu w/ GNOME because you're clicking/touching where the corner would be (but isn't, because it's round).

A founder I know is making reduced-pin Arm-based prototyping modules: https://www.bergsonne.io/

They're seriously tiny; basically answering the question, "What if mechatronic prototypes didn't need to be the size of an Altoids tin?"

While this looks novel, I don't quite get the expected usage pattern? Those boards don't seem any more easy to solder to than the chip itself

I keep purchasing ThinkPads (Z13, X1 Gen 11, X1 Gen 12, T16) where the USB-C port breaks within a year (respectively: "no dock or external monitor", "no charge and only non-Thunderbolt enumeration" on a single port, "charge only, no USB enumeration at all" on both ports, "fries other devices during reverse PD"), and I'd love to be able to swap out a broken port rather than ship the entire machine to Poland for two weeks and get lectured by the support contact that, "maybe ports only stop working under Linux but we'll still repair the mainboard this time."

I am waiting to jump ship to a different manufacturer, but nobody is challenging ThinkPad on keyboard quality/layout and Linux support, the two factors where I'm totally unwilling to compromise. (Tuxedo is close but still not the better alternative.)

I think they mean: there is no USB socket on the enclosure containing the AC-DC conversion circuitry, like you'd find on most smartphone charger bricks. The cable (with the USB-C plug on the other end) is attached to the enclosure permanently. Thus, when the plug breaks, you need to throw away the entire power conversion brick. If the converter had a USB socket, not only could you replace the cord when the cord inevitably breaks, you can choose the cord length and whether it has a 90 degree bend and/or magnetic disconnect at the end.

We have probably 10 Thinkpads at the house. Three power bricks have been rendered useless (and four USB-C ports) because Lenovo has set their part selection and engineering design to "best value for the company" rather than "best quality for the end user".

Also, the PD negotiation of the Lenovo bricks is unusual, where it will not provide significant current at the 5 volt base USB power to some non-laptop devices and also not accept fast charging rates from some non-Lenovo chargers: Our ThinkPads will charge using some high-wattage smartphone chargers but not every one of them. Every once in a while we find a device with a USB-C charging port (e.g. baby monitor display) that will charge with any charger around the house but not with the Lenovo laptop charger.

The entire site (including page margins) being a link to HN is an annoyance

edit: also, the autoscroll thing

The Tailwind CSS complaints aren't wrong even today; any time I want to apply a Stylus CSS to fix someone's janky site---particularly, weekly offers from area grocery stores, where I fix it once or twice and enjoy a much better UI for a year or two---and then all I see is class="rounded-lg shadow-primary-400 my-4 md:px-4 bg-white py-20 pt-8 dark:border-gray-600" for every single element... it gets me seriously aggravated! It's a hassle to modify and a hassle to parse. I imagine it's only convenient to write/maintain because you use a separate tool and compile it into the garbage it becomes.

Not just Tailwind; most of the listed criticism are still valid and relevant, even after those products had success.

In fact a lot of these helped shape our miserable dystopia. HN didn't see that coming

"Everyone adopted it, therefore it won" can exist at the same time as "sometimes the crowd is not wise."

There is an increasing pre-chasm drip over past 5 years posts discovering modern HTML, CSS, and JS. They talk through the monster abstractions then show how to handle with the foundations at a fraction of code and future cost.

It'd be interesting to see this realization, however slowly it has started, catch on all at once.

Thank you. HN delivers.

The finished product has an imprint (with commercial name, according to Spanish law). The blog post isn't commercial.