BlackPit

Good points on clarifying the source of the criticism and the challenges this company face. We still need to explain why so many people trash System76 with this particular garbage. Other small suppliers face the same challenges, and we don't see this "just a rebranded ..." rant applied to them. Some examples would be Purism, Tuxedo and Star Labs. Why aren't people trashing these companies with the same rhetoric? If anything they do much less to the ODM machine than System76.

You're correct in pointing out that whatever hardware you buy usually mandates an ecosystem to work within. It took me a long time to completely sever with the Apple ecosystem. Their 'planned obsolescence' model and 'walled garden' experience are really expensive when you consider the entire deal. Forcing people to retire perfectly good hardware by manipulating software with the solution being to purchase more of their hardware is insidious. Microsoft aren't much better these days, but their ecosystem has many other expensive ~~features~~ faults.

All good points, and thanks for the company info and clarifications. Apologies, I didn't know about system76 community on lemmy.world instance.

From what I've read, yeah, Acer/Asus used to be the exception.

No public list, sorry. I'm willing to say that I already support many things on your list. And like you pointed out, many projects with software I use don't have a way to support them financially, which frustrates me to no end.

Hahahahahhah lmao, this is funny, weird, stupid, useless and disturbing all at once.

My yearly spend is approximately €500, give or take a little. Fortunately, I can afford to do this. I hold no judgement for those who are not in a position to do. My only motivation for contributing financially is to ensure the free, functional, ad free, privacy preserving software I love continues to exist. It needs to exist especially for those who cannot afford to pay a corporation for proprietary software. A shout out to all the developers who adhere to FOSS principles. Each new year I make a list of the software I've mainlined and similar to the article I allot an amount to each one based on my usage. Many times it's time-tested old-school tools, but we're seeing a lot of new development with Rust apps, crates and TUIs. This year I added Matrix. Also EFF, despite not being directly impacted by that jurisdiction. They truly are holding back a giant wave with global repercussions. It's not always easy to justify the time spent creating FOSS tools when there's bills to pay, mouths to feed. Thank you - You know who you are.

Not looking for anything except an attempt to clarify the industry standard practice that System76 are not doing anything different to ALL other computer suppliers (OEM). They're all using ODM for manufacture. If the quality isn't great that's another topic, but trashing them in threads for the reason stated is ignorant and uninformed.

OK, sure, whatever, but that's not relevant to the topic.

has suggested that the solution to the crisis may be a Finnish model, which is a 'housing first' approach that aims to give everyone a home.

Fixing homelessness by giving people a home! I'm not sure that's going to work.....facepalm

This article is disingenuous at best and either fueled by ignorance or malice. Another comment suggested it wasn't officially sponsored, but it still could've been bought. Having said, I have to agree with some of the sentiment. I've seen advertising on public TV from the likes of NordVPN that is downright fraudulent. Their claims are deceptive and unfounded. Then there's the recent acquisition of Express and PIA by an old school scammer/spammer. Additionally, many free VPNs are actually surveillance malware and SHOULD be avoided. Any encryption offered publicly by large corporate data-stealing privacy-abusing parasites should be avoided in any form.

For anyone reading this that is hesitant to using VPN because of the article, be encouraged that VPNs are extremely effective at securing your data during transit. They are NOT an outright privacy tool, but can be used as part of your privacy plan. VPNs do NOT make you anonymous! A truthful VPN service provider will say this openly. Like IVPN (Bottom of front page) and Mullvad , both of which attempt to educate customers .

If you're someone who finds it hard to trust any company whatsoever, then you can host VPN yourself. Admittedly a learning curve to hurdle, but regardless of which method you choose, if your provider is genuine then I see it as a necessity in the effort to keep loved ones safer.

I think you guys are doing a tremendous job and COSMIC will be a breath of fresh air. One thing I'd be keen to see in editor is a "Meld-like" diff tool.