I binned Windows 11 recently (only kept it around for gaming) because I didn't like the direction it was clearly going (and has been for a while - including their shoehorning of AI into everything when I don't want it or need it) and don't game enough that I care much any more.
For the first time since the 80's I'm not running a Windows OS on any of my machines.
I doubt they'll care, I'm one user of hundreds of millions but I don't have to consider whether every update is going to turn on something I don't want/hate so I care.
Windows is _always_ a pain in my a*. Every time I boot my windows box it costs me and average of 45 minutes of software updating.
And, FWIW MS's gaming-business is around 10% of its revenue, which is likely to be slowing soon:
- Valve made Steam OS (aka Proton) run on ARM architecture in addition to x86, and Valve also releasing a Steam OS PC to play Windows Games on in addition to its pioneering Steam Deck + clones (https://www.windowscentral.com/hardware/virtual-reality/valv...)
- Cross-platform title releases are happening more and more frequently, with MS / XBox owned studio games being released on PlayStation
5mm (cheap) A4 Pad on my desk and a pen - nothing important/with duration longer than a day or two goes in there (but I write the date at the top right of each page and keep them on a two month sliding date window), I tried taking a photo of each page but realised I never looked back more than a couple of months so just stopped bothering.
Everything else I just throw around on the filesystem wherever makes sense for the thing I'm doing.
Yep, tech is incredibly circular. Once Nvidia gets there is highly probable that "disruptive" competition will apear due to mere desire/pressure for more freedom and options (and knowing NVDA, also costs).
They seem like a better razor for your Yak Shaving than an actually useful product (generally, I'm assuming some people do benefit from them).
Honestly if constant online distractions are an issue - just put your laptop/PC in airplane mode, if you don't have the self control to not turn air plane mode off you likely aren't going to have enough to not pull your phone out/grab your laptop.
That hasn’t been my experience. It’s a lot more friction to pull out a phone than to not tap a single control center button.
It’s why I take a notepad to meetings now. I’ve tried taking notes on a laptop, and simply can’t. I can either fight to make something work even though it’s failed for me for decades, or give in and adopt another strategy.
They went ahead with manifest v3, as a result Firefox (and it's derivs) get full fat adblocking (Ublock Origin) and Chrome gets Ublock Lite which does the best it can with the v3 manifest limitations.
browser.ml.chat.enabled set to false
browser.ml.chat.menu set to false
browser.ml.chat.page set to false
browser.ml.chat.page.footerBadge set to false
browser.ml.chat.page.menuBadge set to false
browser.ml.chat.shortcuts set to false
browser.ml.chat.sidebar set to false
browser.ml.enable set to false
browser.ml.linkPreview.enabled set to false
browser.ml.pageAssist.enabled set to false
browser.tabs.groups.smart.enabled set to false
browser.tabs.groups.smart.userEnable set to false
extensions.ml.enabled set to false
That should do it.
Can also use the user config override if you want to do it without having to do that every time you install FF somewhere new (put user.js in the root folder of your firefox profile).
At this point, it's easier to start with a privacy-focused, AI-free fork, like LibreWolf, and turn some stuff on to stop it breaking sites that have privacy-hostile workings, like disabling that LibreWolf exclusive fingerprinting protection that many sites don't play nice with.
While we might get to laugh at those silly people with their software patents (and describing them as toilet paper is quite funny) it still has real world effects for us.
For many years I had to install a linux distro and then mess around with freetype because there was a valid patent on subpixel hinting that was valid in the US and irrelevant in Europe but because the distro's I used at the time where US based I got caught in the cross fire.
Given the huge imbalance between US tech and Europe Tech (and rest of the world really) in software they sneeze, we get flu.
That only stopped been a problem when the patents expired[1].
That's why you should always use either European or Canadian mirrors.
On FreeType, maybe Clear Type related; but I remember some slight hinting methods not related to cleartype which looked far superior on flat LCD screens IMHO.
Another one was Lame and MP3. And I remember the codecs issue with the Penguin Liberation Front for Mandrake, LIVNA for another distro and Debian Multimedia, among others.
> Instead of digging through selectors and hand‑writing custom JS/CSS
Some of us like that or at least the exact control it gives us Vs installing an extension that has access to my entire browser infrastructure and those terms.
I suspect many HN readers aren't the target market for this.
I enjoy having control over my browser, as well. So much so that I built an extension that could help me with it :)
I didn't build this so I could make money, it was a side project that I tinkered with (after YC). I shared it with a few friends, they thought it was cool, their friends also thought it was cool, and it grew from there.
It's okay that many in the HN audience don't necessarily resonate with "Instead of digging through selectors and hand‑writing custom JS/CSS". At the very least, hopefully I inspired someone else to play with this idea. I personally think it is very cool and beneficial for the web!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpruA5mC7wg
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