Ger a fairphone?

No bloatware, 7 years of updates, unlocked for whatever OS you want, spare parts sold and easy to replace. Tool free battery replacement in less than 10 seconds.

But then again, you did erroneously imply that pedestrians are safer in European streets (absurdly untrue- per-capita death rate for a pedestrian is double the US rate in Europe)

Where on earth have you got your statistics?

Because they don't remotely match any of the ones I'm looking at, especially for my par of Europe (UK).

The USA has murder roads by comparison for drivers and especially pedestrians, and that's even given how few of the latter you have. I mean speaking of which you can get to zero pedestrian deaths by simply banning pedestrians entirely, but that's not really meaningfully safer.

Actually this is a **LOT** more common than you think. I worked in physical security (key cards, cameras, alarms, etc.) For one thing, the multiple shifts all need to login, and security guards tend to be only about two steps above burger flippers in smarts (the brighter ones use it as a placeholder until they get a better job). The equipment is frequently on a private network disconnected from the rest of the corporate backbone, so outdated software is not really a concern as long as physical access to the end points is controlled. One of the last jobs that I did as a contractor was move the security system for our local Coast Guard base off their creaking old Windows NT 4.0 server, not because it was a security risk but because the hard drive was failing.

Another reason is because the system needs to be serviced, and the techs need to be able to log in even if they've never been to the site before. When I worked for a security contractor we frequently had to work on systems set up by other vendors, and we had a list of passwords that they used. (One of the larger installers used the same login/password on every system that they installed in North America for over a decade.) I instituted custom logins/passwords for each customer and we kept them in a shared Keypass database, this became a major selling point with our customers' IT departments. No one wants their biggest security hole to be their security system.

If it's on a private network with controlled physical access then it could be running DOS and it's not actually a security risk.

Had an instructor in college whose day job was doing pen tests for financial institutions. When they arrived at a site they'd be assigned a conference room, and while he started setting their equipment up his partner would get on the phone. Calling a branch office he'd say, "Hi, I'm Greg, the new guy in IT. I'm supposed to update the configuration on the router in your office, but I don't have the password and everyone else in my department is in a benefits meeting. They said your manager has the correct permissions, can I get his password?" In two years they never failed to get a branch manager's login and password by the time he was finished setting up.

Huh, my bad then. Not sure why I was so convinced she didn't. Now I know better.

I buy games on Steam and then do all this stuff to make them work better on Linux. But I also buy games on GOG. And I have games on Epic and EA too, and Lutris does all those too.

I initially got ProtonUp-Qt specifically for use with Steam, because it is the best (easiest) way to install steamtinkerlaunch.

I approve of this campaign, which I'm just now hearing about. I have complained about their intentions regarding side loading here previously. I am frankly boggling about it, as it is really the most meaningful difference between the platforms.

Steam is definitely not literally a monopoly. Most people don't seem to know either of the most important things about monopolies, which is 1) what one is and 2) that it's not necessarily relevant whether they are, because antitrust doesn't require a monopoly. It only means you're abusing a somehow dominant position in a market.

With that said, I've been using Steam for a lot of years. I've had many technical problems with it, but I'm not aware of any way in which they are abusing their position. I haven't exactly been looking for this information either, though, and I do see that the article mentions a lawsuit I seem to remember something about.

I think 30% is a lot, but I don't think Steam is really doing anything to prevent anyone from releasing anything else anywhere. They also allow a whole lot of content that is frankly surprising for a mainstream game site, they are ultra-liberal about permitting whatever and I think that's pretty amazing. I do worry about the whole thing packing up one day, but that's a whole other discussion. Are there really any complaints about Valve that have legs?

Wouldn't EU privacy rules would require the encryption?

I hate to be a broken record about this lately, but Lutris is a great interface to your GOG library. So far it's successfully installed and run everything I've tried. I'm gonna have to try this Heroic thing that seems to be more popular than it is now, but last time I looked everyone was telling me to use Lutris — when at the time I was happy with PlayOnLinux, which was then being maintained. On Linux you can very reasonably use the web for GOG (and it's easy enough to get Steam reviews there) and then install the games with Lutris.

While I'm advocating for software you want for playing Windows games, you will also want ProtonUp-Qt if you don't have it already.

My truckette still has a cassette player, you insensitive clod!

It's just a bit hard for me to believe that there is any amount of people actually asking for this.

And the enshittification continues . . .

Than she changed it at some point, she didn't used to.