I’m pretty sure the traffic for the ads still gets sent to your device over the Internet, it’s just that the ad blocker keeps it from rendering in your browser.

Most of these I smile at because they’re silly, cute and interesting, but this one got a genuine chuckle out of me :)

I love it! Minetest shall prevail long after DRM renders all proprietary software obsolete

Imo their issue was in not forming a broader union coalition before picking their workplace

Maybe it’s just me but I also feel like the reddit results that show up also seem to be getting worse. Used to be the case that I could input a query, add “Reddit” to the end, and immediately get one or two concise, helpful answers, but I’m very frequently getting fluff and having to check 5 or 6 down these days for similar questions.

Perhaps they are bad examples, but my point was more that I think those ecosystems thrive in spite of the company that owns the upstream at this point more than because of it. They did tremendously useful work getting the projects off the ground but it ostensibly seems like they get in the way more often than not; that said, I haven’t done any open source work on either of the two. I’d be interested to hear your take, I could be pretty far off the mark.

Honestly my main examples I’d point to right now are situations like manifest V3 and Android nitpicks like the recent Bluetooth 2-tap change; don’t get me wrong, they are easy to fork and have thriving ecosystems in terms of volunteer dedication, but those forks still primarily targeted towards technical users (with some exceptions) and companies selling devices like the Freedom Phone (and other, actually neat, useful, properly privacy focused devices which is awesome!). By far, however, most users are on the upstream branch due to “default choice” psychology and have to deal with the bullshit that’s increasingly integrated into the proprietary elements that Google seems to be making harder and harder to separate from the open source ones. I suppose that’s why education and getting the word out are all the more important though.

Could be the sensationalist end of the tech news cycle getting me spun up on an overall inaccurate view of things.

There is also the point I have to raise that security update support is always a very valuable asset that can be worth dealing with some downsides to get ahold of. I’m hoping a lot of those can be pulled into open source projects on more of a piecemeal basis where applicable?

I’d be happy to be proven wrong about my rudimentary assessment. I have enough things to be doomer about and honestly it would be nice to have one or two fewer!

Chromium is still open source, as is Android to some extent. I get that the two companies (Google and Proton) are in completely different size classes, but something being open source doesn’t necessarily mean it stays healthy. Sure people can fork it, but the issue tends to lie in continuous maintenance by volunteers against continuous maintenance by a large company that’s constantly adding in anti-features along with desired ones.

I’m not necessarily saying Proton will go down that route, but trying to become big and bundled as a value proposition opens the door for that behavior once they get enough people locked into the ecosystem.

A “privacy” company acquiring and centralizing various projects to be under its umbrella seems kind of worrisome to me even if it’s done with pure intentions.

No, I work an office job.

Edit: my turn now. Do you work as a middle manager or a small business owner?

One thing to consider too is scheduled events. Imagine a couple towns get together and throw a fair along a route that connects them, and you get to see celebrations and games and vendors who might sell trinkets that are hard to track down otherwise. Perhaps the local monarch goes on a hunt with the massive party of servants and knights that might entail, with different practices for different cultures. A band of cultists clears an area for several days leading up to their yearly ritual. It’s migration season for a certain species of animal/monster. There are so many possibilities!

Even just vendors passing through can be made more interesting. Do they carry their wares via backpack or cart? Are they being attacked by bandits? Wild animals? Are they trying to smuggle goods or services somewhere?

It all has to be programmed of course, which is the main holdup on what makes it so hard to flesh out those parts of the world.

I do also see weight in the idea that, past a certain point, traveling is just boring, especially if the only thing of importance is the Main Story Quest. Travel is also often boring in real life too but we can tune it out, or find little ways to pass the time and entertain ourselves during the more mundane moments. We’re not frequently afforded that luxury in games. When you’re playing a game and dealing with the downtime going from point A to B, often there is literally nothing to do except hold down the movement keys and deal with the occasional path change/obstacle.

The point of games is to be engaging, and if there’s nothing to do while traveling but look at the scenery and surroundings it will eventually get boring. Even if the travel gets interrupted occasionally for an encounter, I think it’s arguable to say that the content is literally not travel anymore and in fact papering over a bad travel system (if the only thing interesting is the stuff you find that you have to stop and take care of). Adding more unique/transient stuff along routes is only half of the battle; work has to be put in to make traveling enjoyable in and of itself for players to want to do it instead of skip it.

But as always, the best solution to our problem is to simply add more trains.

Edit: slight restructuring/grammar

It’s actually some people from the older more entitled generation feel that their employees that had schedules adjusted to allow work from home during covid, feel that since the pandemic has ended employees must come back to office and work under direct supervision in their pretty fiefdom, AND be entitled to their employees’ unpaid time commuting even though WFH is more efficient and better for most employees. Sounds reasonable 🤣

One of the reasons companies are pushing for return to office is simply because WFH scares middle managers because they can’t keep constant watch over everyone and see the faces of subordinates at all times. It puts them in a very precarious position to learn that most people are still productive even without their constant breathing down everyone’s necks. They want to return to a worse past because it was a setup they were just personally more comfortable with even though it comes at the expense of workers’ well-being both mental and physical.

Also, consider the commercial real estate market! If people work from home then just think of how all those property investment portfolios will suffer; the absolute horror of it all!

🤨