amen brother... dependency "hell" using apt is pretty effing good vs flatpak and snap. Appimages I agree are the only portable format that doesn't f*ck you over. Actually, if you use apt you dont' have dependency hell. I've used debian/devuan and apt for ever now, over 20 years, on hundreds of installations. Install or remove/purge operations have worked very well, only occasional problems have occurred with nearly always something to do with python versions. Ugh. If I want problems, I'll stick with PHP. The worst php version problem is nothing compared to python hell. Avoid python if possible. Ive been around the system ops track a few times, and my life has been pretty easy by only using Devuan/Apt + a few Appimages. I had the unfortunate experience of having to install and use Redhat a few times, and what ever they use for package management, I've fortunately forgotten its black name, (rpm?) it was untrustworthy and horrible. Use Redhat if you want to get 98% of a computer working. If you want 100% use Devuan. Even Debian is tolerable since they dumped systemd-resolved.

Looks like a personal customization to me. I did that too about 15 years ago... what was it called? Umm.. I asked the great big head in the sky (Gemini) this was it: Refracta (and its core tool suite, Refracta Tools), created by fsmithred. same guy behind Devuan.

I used Refracta to make a customized iso that I could install on client computers and machines on the private lan ... customize once, install many times. This distro looks nearly like what I had 15 years ago. So yeah. It's barely a distro at all, but a customization of devuan.. but what is ubuntu but a customization of debian? side note. I personally like compiz, but basically it's just a cube and a couple of animations when opening and closing windows... everything else is just a toy... but I find the 3d spatialization of workspaces to be very useful organization metaphor.

You can't be serious. For starters their so called systematic studies are thin and extremely dated. But secondly they obviously did the studies wrong, asked the wrong questions to the wrong users, and drew the wrong conclusions. Nothing makes sense in gnome and it's opaque to discover how to use it. Free yourself and use ... well... anything else.

I believe the description you are looking for is "beyond atrocious".
Fortunately I only had to read your woltman link to see the atrocity that I've sucessfully avoided since Gnome was the best UI in all computerland. (version 2.x I think). Notwithstanding it's large memory footprint at the time.

You'd have to be mentally retarded to want to use that given any other alternative. I'm pretty sure even windows vista was better than that. Even the Gnome programmers are probably doing their work on Macs. Who would willingly subject themselves to that?

you're right. I looked around. He was a loudmouth wrong about nearly everything. I was just wearing my things were better back in the olden days glasses I guess. I didn't follow him past Cranky Geeks. I did like the show though, clearly I forgot all the content. I probably would have hated him if I didnt lose track of him. <puts olden days glasses back on>

just regular joe talk, here not interested in a bunch of name calling..
I don't recall him being so wrong about things. Cranky Geeks, that was the show I used to watch/listen.
I thought between him and the guests it was informative and interesting to hear what they were saying down in silicon valley.

I guess I wasnt hanging around here much at that time... I used to go by fuzz500, but I couldn't get the UID back when I returned here to kick ass I was so bored during the pandemic. I was a 6 digit dude like you.

He was cranky. Kind of like me, now. :-)
Its a lot better than what passes for journalism or "articles" now, esp when I fall upon the odd magazine article on windows, it all sounds like cheerleading to me. Then again, I left windows well over 20 years ago, for obvious reasons once linux had readable fonts, circa ubuntu 6 or 7.

I prefer the cold hard light of day rather than rah rah we love the turds microsoft feeds us.

that there are other stars, with other planets, with other moons?
next thing you know they'll be saying there's water and organic molecules and stuff.
who'd believe that?

You don't make friends when you're a real journalist. They aren't likeable, thats what a real journalist is like, critical thinkers.I thought he brought a slightly jaundiced, but fair point of view to tech reporting. Used to watch his talk show on the web before it was called a podcast, circa... what 2000? really seems like along time ago.... with 3 guest panel discussing tech. I'll miss him.

you're a loudmouth who's wrong about everything

perfect code?
what model are you using?

also... Musician here: what are you using ai for and what model are you using?

You're not going to understand or like this, so just relax. It's a genie in a lamp, just ask the right question.... and get the right answer. You won't ask the right question, you can't ask the right question. Ironic. The AI is a reflection of you. Like Narcissus, you gaze at it lovingly, because it is you. All your flaws and all your strengths are reflected back.

Really smart, self aware people, can ask the sharpest questions, and get the most value. The AI will rise to your level of intelligence.

Dumb people aren't smart enough to realize how good or bad an answer is. The measure of quality is just "is it better than I could have done?". And the answer in most case is yes. So dumb people get the least value and are satisfied with the worst results, but still better than they could have done themselves.

The whole thing comes down to this. AI is all about psychology. You don't know you're talking to yourself. The medium is the message. Read some McLuhan.

This is the most realistic comment so far and also mirrors my productivity gains. I've been able to tackle projects that would be unthinkable without a team of 10. I was elated the day I got great results, but because all of a sudden you have enormous reach, your project scope increases. So if your scope increases by 5x and your ability increases by 10x, you're only 2x as productive. All factored in though, I estimate 5x productivity gains over the lifetime of the project. All for free and not using a frontier model.

I agree with the idea that its a "cultural technique"... it is presented as all things to all people. You get a blank page, just start talking, asking questions. I'm reading over at The Register a lot these days I think they have good editorials and their finger on the pulse of what's happening, and what's happening is the cost of AI is coming down down down because of cheap Chinese models. What they did to the solar voltaic industry and the electric car industry, they are doing to AI. You don't need a frontier model to get good results, and companies are waking up to the cost. Cheap Chinese AI will destroy the current American business models, they'll go bankrupt and be sold off for intellectual property, like Nortel was.

The other major trend now is that studies are coming out showing no correlation between token consumption and productivity. The dumbest people in the office use the most AI and still produce the worst work. The smartest people in the office still use the least amount of tokens and still produce the best work. So .. business as usual. Just costs more and uses more energy. :-(

Yep, me and the other two guys were quite happy to be ignored by the hackers until now.
I'll use LibreWolf in the meantime. Oh, also, I do almost nothing with it. That helps.

touche.
There will be no next generation of true experts for the most part. The AI will contain our expertise. Only outlying savants will leverage it to benefit themselves.

*I'm already contradicting myself and being ironic as pointed out above*

There is no NEED for meatbags. We're splitting into pseudo religious factions. The Oligarchs will likely not train their kids to use it, then there will be hereditary leadership.. Like tribes and kings... Like Barron Trump, your new president for life. Like Larry Ellison and Rupert Murdock. Pass the torch to your bloodline. Techno Feudalism is upon us.

also very interesting comments... I don't disagree for the most part, but I strongly feel the pull of reality.. reality is the AI wave is washing over us because 1. powers that be are forcing it on us, and 2. people are embracing it in droves because people are lazy. That leads to what you are implying I think. Costs for the silicon brains is high, and being subsidized until all the expertise is sucked out of us and we are all 100% dependent on it, then BAM! Raise prices as high as possible. The market will however dictate to some extent where that price point is. I saw this last year when one of the Big Boys started using using persona terminology. Think of an AI agent like a person, like an employee. Then you can quantify the value, and charge accordingly. Want a receptionist? Pay $X. Want a PHD in Math? Pay $10X. Want Skynet? Pay me $billions... make that $trillions. We will be held hostage.

I've gone to the dark side on this. I will bet you a beer the oligarchs win this round. It's no longer about quality, or value to consumers. It's about value to Oligarchs. Value to Big Brains. Value to Authoritarians... Your doctor is already using it. Governments and business are retooling as fast as possible. You will use it whether it works or not, because all your service providers will use it, and therefore by the transitive property, you'll be using it too.

"Elongelicals" .. :-) brilliant!