Anyone who thinks going self-hosted is hard must watch 1 or 2 Docker videos and buy a minipc for a $150-$200. It is really not that hard.
I'm always amazed at how out of touch tech people are with how difficult this stuff is. People say shit like this all the time but when I try it, it most certainly is difficult, and continues to be difficult as time goes on and things stop working.
I mean they could try it but people would just migrate to a different server so there would be no point.
The main Mastodon instance has 1.5M users and no ads.
Sure I understand and agree with you. I was just elaborating.
Agreed, you get to pick between a system that empowers you to do whatever you like, or an unborkable system.
Yeah that's not true. There is no such thing as an "unborkable" system. There are, however, systems that aren't often borked by their developers, and systems that are easy or intuitive to fix when they do become borked, or systems that quickly ship a fix when they do become "borked" (this is Windows BTW).
The implication that any "borked" Linux install was somehow self-inflicted by the user is ridiculous.
I kind of agree but you also have to consider the industry that Valve is in and the plethora of anti-consumerism taking place right now.
Valve could have made the Steam Deck with a proprietary OS. They could have locked you into big picture mode and/or locked the bootloader like so many Android and Nintendo devices. They could have done everything in their power to ensure you can't install GoG or Epic games. They could have glued the SteamDeck together and serialized all the parts together so you could never replace any of them.
And you know what? No one would have batted an eye because that's what society has come to expect in this day and age, and far too many fucking people will tolerate and accept it.
Instead they went out of their way to build it on a FOSS OS, even going so far as to add the "exit to desktop" right into the GUI. They obviously don't actively promote other platforms but they also do absolutely nothing to stop you from installing them, or making literally any changes to the device that you want.
Instead they made every single component available for purchase from a third party retailer, who also includes detailed tutorials and diagrams.
Now could they be better and lower their commissions and refuse to allow DRM? Sure. But at least they put those commissions to good use developing pro-sumer hardware.
The Ally is better at all the things that don't really matter, in my opinion.
...because people will realize there are better platforms without privacy violations and ads where they can still interact with their friends and transition.
Like Mastodon and others have basically all of the benefits and none of the drawbacks.
So that...people will use it?
I mean the whole purpose of social media is to interact with others.
Maybe you prefer spending your time interacting with strangers. There was once a time when social media was actually about networking with friends and family and people you otherwise actually knew. That's why I joined.
Also to get more people AWAY from the tech giants and basically reimagine advertising and business as we know it.
I mean really it's good for everyone who's not a conglomerate tech company.
They won't. The vast majority aren't using any kind of ad-blockers in the first place or Google would go out of business.
With the number of people concerned about privacy, it is a wonder why chrome is even popular.
It's no wonder. It's because people aren't actually concerned about privacy.
If you ask someone if they're "concerned about privacy" many people will of course say yes. If you follow up that question with "what are you willing to do about it", you'll find that the answer is a resounding "not a God damn thing". If they were they would spend 3 minutes on Google looking for an alternative browser that works even better than Chrome but without the privacy invasions.
A browser is the low-hanging fruit on the "do-you-care-about-privacy meter". It's the one step with no sacrifices and the highest increase in privacy.
I don't consider that a victory at all. Meta could bring the Fediverse to the masses. And allow anyone to follow and interact with their friends on Threads.
I have one. Not long after I bought it, it became a brick because it forced a software update that forced a Facebook sign in to use it.