With Firefox dead, what's left?

Hmm ... so - I'm thinking of installing Linux again. Which means ... I'll have to find a way to reset my BIOS password. And I suppose I have to get to the wire for that one. So, wish me luck, I guess.

But, that's for the weekend.
So - well. It concerns me, what I have learned of Firefox today - and, it's been a while since I've lost my faith/trust in it (well, I lost my faith in it a lot earlier - actually), but since I didn't like any of the other options (vibe check omega fail) - I first thought of the Linux version. So I googled IceWeasel, but it's now called IceCat ... and yea, you should too ... and soak in ... the Linux experience.

Challenge 1: Installation!

But it really starts going once you open the thing. And yea, let me tell you, I'm not missing it. But ... I'm not really having negativity towards it. Actually, my first experience was rather positive.

But, I feel like I have to get this thing off my chest first. I made a conscious choice ... when setting that BIOS password while maintaining Windows on it. It wasn't a logical one and later I regretted it but then I found I had remembered it wrong. I felt smart for picking some kind of unguessable yet memorizable concoction ... but yea. Now I have a picture of Snoop Dogg and Pikachu in my head whenever I try to remember it. So, I didn't really mean to maintain Windows, but rather just give it a chance.

And so ... well ... fate has ruled.

And there are some things that I enjoy about Windows over Linux. Number 1: Stability. The average lifespan of a Windows installation versus it's lifetime is in about one viral breakdown short of absolute. It's like more or less on pace with hardware evolution. Number 2: Dealing with Windows Binaries is a lot more user friendly than dealing with Linux binaries. ("Executables" for people who know, "Apps" for people who don't know). And when it comes to apps I feel a little ripped off, but that's also just me being kind of late to a party I was never supposed to show up at, so ... whatever. They're their own thing however that do in a way transcend the simple concept of an executable in that it has a "bigger interface" with the operating system. Conceptually at least they're more wired in. I mean, to try and give the term some meaning.
Number 3: It isn't android (and I'm really not an Apple person - and I regard the faint allure to luxury computing as an appeal to my superficial agenda that I have to grade as a foolish temptation. A.k.a.: I have close to no desires to own any apple products, and what little nipples of my brain might be teased by their advertising are harshly outnumbered by "nu uh").
And yea ... my Brother Printer ran out of Magenta recently; And somehow it would yet continue to print. Now, that's good advertisement somehow. Well, the line that got me was: I got my old brother laser brinter bag out of storage and it still worked marvelous (versus inkjet) - so ... . Yea, and I sure wasn't going to get me an HP.
The thing with android is - well, it doesn't belong here but some people thought it'd be smart to turn it into a desktop operating system and oh boy ... how do these people earn their living?
I ... am puzzled.

So, I'm willing to accept that Windows is a great shining example of human skill and handywork. But as it stands ... we're losing more and more leverage over the system, if we even have any leverage left at all.


All it takes is a new standard we're asked to adapt to - and there's no changing the fact that there will be first adapters - and amongst them probably also a lot of influence. Or "influencing power". A large 'influencing factor'. Say, big businesses - imposing a soft "forced update" - as this and that required tool that does however break this or that regulation (or thing you might care about) has to be accepted. Soon the rule or idea gets discarded - the "exception" has become the norm - and so and so many twists and turns later we find ourselves in the year 42 of her Majesty and yet there's no end in sight. Sortof.

And ... I wonder. I haven't looked into it - but at some point I just felt it was over and the news from ... well, it was yesterday actually I think, that's just the antithesis of everything that Firefox once stood for, it's ... shit right into our faces.


So yes. Linux. With IceCat installed you'll soon realize that your standard browsing experience is actually gatekept behind a variety of stuff that IceCat blocks out for some reason. Back in the day the issue used to be that the video players were proprietary software so it couldn't be shared open source or whatever. Today it's more about data protection. I checked out my website to see if YouTube plugins work. They weren't even there. IceCat blocks out certain services ... and an icon shows all the things it blocked. I tried to enable them and was greeted with another wall. From a brief glance I think IceCat manages certain services by requesting user ID - and these then can get whitelisted. Somehow. It's a whole world of it's own and while I don't feel like giving recommendations, I'm just not comfortable with my data being handed around like it's everyone's God-given right to do so - and the degree to which they want to wrestle it from us rather than making a solid case for themselves ... is kind of telling.

Yea, don't expect to get good grades for bad performance!


Like, the whole "I'm getting ads for a thing I just bought" meme is old - and still somehow ... just trying to make sense of it already gives me brainrot syndrome.
And who still insists on putting Internet and AI into everyday appliances? And who's buying that shit? What's wrong with you?

Yea, we have a climate crisis - let's put more energy consuming cirquits into our stuff.
And let's allow the fridge to order food on its own - I'm sure that'll have only positive impact on the economy. (sarcasm - I have to throw up)


Jesus - and everyone who's still driving an SUV ... I wish a rain of bricks upon you!
Uhm, not on Jesus. But on the SUV owners. I wonder - if we took a use-for-society:burden-on-society score ... we can play with the numbers by putting different weight on certain things. And we'd all agree that that's a good idea. And people without skills or opportunities ... they should get the high score of bur... no. They should get a discount on the 'use' side, where the base burden is to simply nourish and house them. Which would ultimately be the goal, by the way ... for a vastly automated, advanced civic society.

So here - things even out around habitual stuff. Do they behave in accordance to what we think we're able to ask of them? Or, do we behave in accordance to what you think you're able to ask of us? Well - in that case, I have to pull out some superiority card ... if I had one!

Maybe. There are these and those.


So, in essence - we can summ up the cost, ... and for everything above base we have to ask: Is that OK?


And sure. Sometimes it might be. We would make excuses for businesses - which when done well would yield a system that would benefit the businesses we care about - rather than one that cannibalizes itself.

But hey. Free Market, am I right?


Hmm ... yea. I just notice. I kind of was raised with this idea or belief, that it's the bad guys who value money above everything. I mean, in every other story, the villain is some kind of ... that. And it's almost unnoticable, because the pictures don't match, how casually money is still usually always somehow on the forefront of everything. Sortof kind of. Depends on where you live I guess. But even here it's still pretty ... much. And thanks to "good bye analogue TV" and "hello streaming services" ... there's also the whole ... yea, so ... what was I ... Linux.

OK.


We would need to bake up our own distro, maybe - and make sure we can and do support a group of people that are knowledgeable with all the stuff round and about to ... get started somehow. As I've seen from IceCat, we could expand on that system and create some kind of 'alt-web' around new standards that we can develop and share.

Eventually we want to roll out a brand-new operating system to replace Linux ... and perhaps we also want to develop a new generation of tech along with it to replace all of the junk that we use today. We want to get rid of planned absolesence or other stuff we deem "malfunct". Like, it might also make sense to do one big big swoop and gather up all the trash - but like, specifically the plastic and figure out what to do with it. Money shouldn't be the issue when getting that stuff processed.

And anyone who intentionally stood in the way of recycling ... I ... I'm sure if we do this we'll have plenty of reasons to remember and curse them.


Oh - OK. So, now my attention is shifted onto "tough guys". I mean - there's a picture of someone who thinks they know better - maybe they even somehow convinced themselves that they're fighting the good fight. People say that this world is rotten ... well, they have different ideas of purity. But I get to think of them because I had to just draw a conjecture in which I assumed Ghettos to be a prime location for "Soul Snatchers".

So, the Anti Drug laws and such create a Zone for criminality to thrive in, and population density does work as a shield against Law Enforcement. There's a huge buffer between the two worlds - so, crime in the streets and law enforcement - as the crime here gets to come from the various homes that exist around those areas.

Big money comes in, drugs start to flow - dens start to develop. Kingpins rise, fallmen fall.

I suppose at some point this was spiced up with some John Whick meets DaVinci Code crossed with the Exorcist esque religious mumbo jumbo - and "Priors" were sent to the streets to preach Fascism. (Stargate Reference)

So, whatever. They're just ... brainwashed soldiers. Well ... I say 'just' to rub it in. Maybe it works.


I mean, this is somehow adjacent to what I see behind Star Wars. Like, I would assume that it started with Clone Wars. It became a basis of Leverage against the Lucas and the Prequels, which ultimately ... yea. But, let's let that topic rest for now. No need to ... but ... . Teethgnashingly.
John Which ... I'm not sure. It does however follow the same style and pattern. So, Juvenile Energy that seems to come out of nowhere and just perfectly hits the Zeitgeist along a very ... might I say ... specific trajectory that has now led us into this hellhole of junk we're looking at.

The thing is - there is good stuff in there ... as I would assume: Some truths burried in the anals of the dark Aslak came to yet shine somehow. Or it was a case of the Blind Hen. Broken Clocks. But so - yea, not to dismiss it. Art is art. But slop is slop.

And yea, however absurd the Ending of Whick was, it was still ... somehow iconic. I mean, it's certainly memorable in that I now get to remember it and I found it to be an actually very well rounded ending. Like, nothing spectacular, just ... a good sendoff.


The big error was the take-over that came with these moves, because yea ... let's just say "not all art is good, and good art isn't all art". So, we could speak of a certain hubris in assuming that what little they brought was able to carry the whole. I might.
I might be the Goku to that Story. But well.

Let's just say I'm stuck with King Kai.


"As a living one may enter, as a deceased one may not leave"


Anyway. The thing with Linux is, something about it makes it require a fresh install ever so often. It's as though it's cursed. I mean, it has tools in place that are supposed to prevent that - but somehow none of them ever worked for me. Skill Issue I assume. I mean, I attempted to install Gentoo on a few occasions, got through the install process once - and then gave up. And later then Arch Linux was my go to.

Which is ... maybe a problem. Because ... I use it - and somehow trust it - I would think that it should become a target. Not 'should' as if I wanted it to be, but 'should' as in: If the world works as I think it does.
Well, plus minus a roll of the dice.


And yea. Occasionally there's some alarm - I kind of just tend to ignore them because I can't do anything and it's really just yet another alarm ... at some point I lost count and ... yea, it's kind of like we got hit by a shit-tsunami and it has since turned into the great mighty poo. (Check out Song: Great Mighty Poo)


That too ... is Art!