

Thanks for helping me discover Kobo! Looks like a good Kindle alternative.


Thanks for helping me discover Kobo! Looks like a good Kindle alternative.


you’re
Hmm, oh well. As long as you found your happy place…
Hmm, well, “works on my computer” is never a helpful comment but I have a heavily modified panel that I moved to the top with no issues.
I’m using the built-in task manager widget rather than a dock. Maybe that’s why?
Mind me asking what distro? And Wayland or X11? Also, which dock?
I’m using Wayland and Fedora (Plasma 6.4) and also had a good experience with NixOS (6.3, also Wayland).


Have you considered using a mesh VPN instead of opening a port to the public? Nebula and TailScale are both great options that have a free tier which is more than enough for most home use cases. With Nebula you can even selfhost your discovery node so nothing is cloud-based, but then you’re back to opening firewall ports again.
Anyway, its going to be more secure than even a properly configured reverse proxy setup and way less hassle.
So condescending for no good reason…
Anyway, I didn’t forget. I just pointed out that we have an illusion of choice, and that a lot of people who use Firefox do so, at least in part, to fight the Google monoculture.
As for your claim that there are dozens of alternative browser engines on the market, you’re going to have to provide some evidence for me to take that seriously. And remember I was limiting the scope to browsers that could feasibly be used as a daily driver for the modern web, not some pet project that crashes when you try to load DoorDash.
When’s the last time you tried Plasma? I felt the same way about it as you did until version 6. I’ve been driving it now since 6.2 and its at least as polished as Gnome but with WAY more features and almost infinite customization out of the box.
There are not dozens of alternative browsers. There is Chromium, Safari, and Firefox, with a few niche options that aren’t really production ready yet and may never be. The “variety” you speak of is just Chromium in lots of disguises.


The only one of your sources that directly contradicts what I am claiming is the Wikipedia line about the source being publicly available. But that is inaccurate. All the major open source licenses require source code be available to anyone who has access to the executable form of the software - not the public in general. So, if some FOSS software is available to download on the Internet without any restriction on its access, then so must the source code. Most FOSS software is distributed this way.
However, if you write software under an open source license, you are not required to share that software with anyone. The license requires you to distribute the source ALONG WITH the software. But it doesn’t require you to make the software freely available to everyone, or anyone.
Tying back to my original point, which has been derailed by myriad people who refuse to read before thinking they know things, I was saying that we don’t need exceptions for military software because it can be licensed as open source without that code being handed over to our enemies. But requiring it to be open source would, for example, preclude the DoD from building kill switches into the F-35s that they sell to our allies, because they’d be required to share the design of the plane’s control systems along with the product - again, only to the people who receive a copy of the product - not to the public at large.


Its not just GPL. MPL, BSD work this way as well. And the original post refers to open source, not “code available to all”. Come back with a commonly used open source license that enforces what you’re describing and maybe you’ll have a point. Otherwise, why are we arguing about things that can just be looked up?


That is simply not true. Go read a few open source licenses and see for yourself. They only require that the source code be distributed with copies of the software itself. The code is not required to be made available to the general public.


That’s exactly what I’m saying. Go read the GPL and you’ll see that’s what it says too.


The lack of understanding around open source is alarming. Open Source licenses only require someone to share the source with anyone who gets a copy of the binary. So top secret military software can still be open source because if the DoD doesn’t share the binary, they don’t have to share the code either. But forcing it to be open source ensures that if that software is ever declassified and distributed to 3rd parties, those third parties will have a legal right to the source.


If the DoD gives some ooen source software to Ukraine they are required to give the source code to Ukraine - not to Russia.


So you didn’t read my comment before replying?


Open source only requires source distribution with binary distribution, so the software can be open source and still not publicly distributed. It just means if its ever declassified, the source will be required to be distributed along with the software itself.


Why? Open source only requires sharing the source when sharing the software. No distribution of software - no distribution of source. But if they are gonna sell software to other militaries or civilian contractors, we have a right to know what they’re selling.
And no, hiding your code doesn’t generally make your software more secure.
archive.is link 👍
I’ll check that out too