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Open hardware
Good for your brand and bottom line, as this article argues.
My next laptop will be OH, phone too, hopefully. I was originally looking at Purism’s Librem stuff (still am for the phone) but there are a growing number of shops in Europe getting into the business and prices are coming down for the linux experience.
I don’t know how many of those are fully OH, like Purism’s line, but the market is getting noticably better for options. It’s no longer just gutting a plastic Lenovo shell and refitting it, or whatever. I never had the desire for that, and still don’t. Or did eveyone just dual-boot with Windows. Bleh.
Anyway, this seems to be the next step with a lot of decentralists. First get off the platforms then gradually migrate to OH. Or do it hard and fast.
My big concern was finding the kind of sofware I’ve become used to using on Mac for writing, etc. Just because something can do the job, doesn’t mean it’s a pleasant or desirable experience. I’ve lost track of how many times some Linux bro has tried to argue me into learning emacs for all my writing needs. I’m not getting younger. I have better things to spend time on that learning how to do things the hard way.
But, there’s a surprising amount of decent softeare out there. It may not be as polished as mac software is, but maybe that will change.
Look at Textpattern, after all. ;)
I know I’m over-posting all this anti establishment stuff lately. I apologize. I’m going through a spell. I’ll rant this through my own site soon. Bear with me. I’m just too slow at doing everything I need to.
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Re: Open hardware
No, do please carry on posting here until wion.com is back. It’s interesting to read your explorations because I suspect many share your basic sentiments but aren’t as brave (or free to opt-out) as you.
In other branches, such as the architecture and construction sector, numerous initiatives are afoot to encourage platform independence and data longevity but the manufacturers are understandably slow at adopting methods that free architects from their dependence on them. There’s a been a lot of legislation-bashing here, but it’s not all bad: public bodies are increasingly requiring digital tendering methods for larger projects that must be platform independent and that’s gradually forcing the big manufacturers to implement a greater degree of interoperability (albeit only gradually).
I for one can’t imagine switching away – yet – for several reasons, most notably:
- I need to be able to seamlessly exchange files with clients. That means up-to-date Adobe and Microsoft products. I can’t end up borking their files with OpenOffice or LibreOffice (which happens whatever people say). They are more expensive than hardware, and I only made the transition to the mac once those companies made it possible to transfer existing software license to other platforms without having to repurchase.
- I’ve made a fair investment over the years in other smaller software tools that I use often on a daily basis.
- I enjoy the attention to detail and functionality in Mac software and hardware, and get ‘slightly exasperated’ when I have to work on less well-polished software and noisy, slow-to-respond hardware.
That said, as hardware and software experiences improve in general (driven, it has to be said, by the design excellence of the big companies) the playing field may level out, and our own needs may slim down, to a point where it becomes possible to switch more painlessly. Either that or the undercurrents and backlashes you’re currently championing begin to force the big guys to be more open.
TXP Builders – finely-crafted code, design and txp
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Re: Open hardware
All of those points are valid, and I’m not immune to them (though I’m not invested in Adobe/Microsoft software at all). And I recognize that my freedom to push forward aggressively on this is somewhat a privileged situation due to my current half-time self-employed/half-time father arrangement right now. I have more opportunity to explore it without as much professional conflict.
But there’s a couple things to underscore in that respect:
First, I’m changing the kind of work I do (more old-fashioned editing, less glitzy strategy) and being very selective about the clients/projects I accept. Looking more specifically for the kind of work that aligns with my own philosophy of things. Maybe even pursue teaching ‘abandoning proprietary and centralization’ as a professional course. There are more opps out there than people realize. It’s just not in the visible sectors people always want to work in. That doesn’t always solve the problem, though. Abandoning platforms like Gargle Drive makes it even more challenging.
Second, nobody should really be expected to cleanly (all or nothing) jump from one situation to the other. It’s a gradual transition until one day you are totally operating the other way, or as much as you can. A little change is better for the world than no change at all. For example, maybe you have to keep a business Twitter account while using Masto personally (no, I don’t really believe that, but…). Or keep your MBP on the end of the desk, when needed, while increasing your usage of the new Librem 13”, exploring how to adopt a new workflow, and showing others how to follow.
So, yeah, sometimes positive change is costly, but so is living on a bio (organic food) diet. It’s not unlike exercising goals, actually. You don’t go from couch potato to crossfit athlete overnight (or mountain climber, marathon runner, black belt, etc). It takes work, patience, diligence, commitment, constant pushing toward the goal.
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Re: Open hardware
I think Aral Balkan was initially going to buy Purism too, but he’s since picked up some stuff from EU shops that sell ready-to-go Linux machines that are not completely open hardware. But the result is a slightly less expensive product, and he seems pretty happy …
I’m going to write a lot more about this in the coming days but the most important takeaway from my first few days of switching my main development machine to Linux (Pop!_OS 18.04)?I. Do. Not. Miss. The. Mac. One. Bit.
Everything Just Works ™, including my USB-C-only LG external monitor (which doesn’t even work with Laura’s older MacBook Pro), Magic Trackpad, etc. And there are things I actually enjoy more about the experience. Never thought I’d be writing this about Linux. Exciting times!
His full write-up.
One thing that worries me in this adventure is I don’t have the same hack chops he and other linux users have, nor the time to develop them (though that might have to change if I’m serious about this move). Whether Purism will be better in that respect, I don’t know, but I do like the idea of open hardware too, which is probably what makes Purism’s laptops more expensive at the base offers.
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Re: Open hardware
Destry wrote #313080:
One thing that worries me in this adventure is I don’t have the same hack chops he and other linux users have, nor the time to develop them (though that might have to change if I’m serious about this move).
If you haven’t look at Linux in a while, you really should. I played around with it a lot back 15 years ago or so but it never seemed quite ready for prime time. Since I got more serious about it the last 6 months or so and actually have gotten fully immersed in distros like Ubuntu and Manjaro I have to say I really feel like it is a real alternative now.
At least on the desktop. For a phone I am sticking with Android. It will be a while before Linux app developers are able to fully learn to take advantage of a new form factor – no different than what iOS and Android devs went through, but they are starting later.
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