Not really, because Discord works just fine on linux. It's still the most braindead take i've ever heard. Because almost all mainstream distros come with an appstore pre-installed. Ubuntu/Mint, Manjaro, pop!os, bazzite,... You just open the software center, search for 'discord', 'steam', etc. click install, and that's it. Arguably even easier and safer than on Windows because it works like a smartphone (via an App Store) rather than requiring users to search the web and download .exe installers. Triggered by dependency issues? Avoid rolling release distributions and install some stable LTS -> solved. A beginner installing arch and complaining that it doesnt "just work" is like someone previously using apple products ordering a "build your own android smartphone" assembly kit containing the raw electrical components and no os pre installed. Then shitting on android because the iPhone just works. "I'm using arch, btw." for years now and rarely have any issues. But it's not (made) for beginners. What sucks here isn't linux, it's the user. Who didn't even bother asking chatgpt what distro is for them. Or which specific distro is not for them. Then complaining, not about their os but about linux as a whole. Almost has to be ragebait now that i think about it.

It's not that i believe something like this will happen for real. It is fun to think of a worst-case or of "scientifically plausible" conspiracy. I do wanna watch that movie, though.

I don't like the concept of reflect orbital, but it's compelling. The official goals set aside and thinking conspicary for a second , we're talking about Murica after all:

In a future large scale, it could be the ultimate (psychological) warfare tool. Don’t need to drop bombs to break a country. You just steal their night. Forcing an entire region into permanent daylight would completely wreck human circadian rhythms, kill crops, and devastate entire local ecosystems. Best part for the military? It’s technically "non-lethal." You can force a nation to its knees without the PR nightmare of blowing up hospitals and schools. Forcing Ukraine to a peace deal on US terms? Iran? Gaza? easy. Just "torture" the entire population at once by sleep deprivation and famine, until the leaders give in.

Steerable mirrors as massive orbital dazzlers, too. Rapidly fluctuating the light intensity or strobing it could completely blind enemy drones, infrared sensors, and targeting optics. The sun emitts massive amounts of IR. Reflecting that onto targeting sensors would drive their exposure algorithms insane.

And good luck defending against it. Sure, radar can spot the giant reflective metal foil, but what then? Fire a multi-million-dollar ASAT missile at a cheap mirror when there are 49999 more of them? Hit it with kinetic weapons? a railgun? Congrats, you poked a tiny pencil hole in a giant Mylar sheet. It wouldn't even faze the one sattelite that was hit. Even if you somehow manage to shoot down 100 of them, there are 49,900 more just waiting to seamlessly take over.

Last but not least, let’s be real. There is zero chance a random startup gets the insane funding to mass-produce and launch a 50,000-satellite constellation in the next 10 years to generate a tiny bit of solar power or illumination at night. On the other hand considering ai companies... Still, it just doesn't add up for me. I'm almost sure, Pentagon, DARPA, or someone else is heavily backing this as a (maybe military?) project.

Exactly that is difficult to understand for them. Because they don't care about the Victims, they only care for the offende... themselves

I did that for myself a few years back. But i can't convince my roommates, let's not even speak of guests, to install a (my) root certificate. My android phone still complains about "possibly supervised network traffic" since back when i installed my root ca. Maybe there is another solution im not aware of, but i can't think of any

I agree, but it's impossible to convince my less tech savy roommates and friends to let me install a root certificate. "That sounds like i could read all their private messages", lol. Just let me have my certificate for https in my local net. I don't need to be "even more" secure. I get that that's necessary for public services, but surely not for local selfhosting. I don't even have a port open other than wireguard. And i would not even care "if a roommate hacks/gets access to a guests voice commands for home assistant." (Not complaining at you but at this trend. I do think my use case is valid)

You are gonna laugh if i tell you how i partly automated this workaround. A script changes the (dyn) dns entries of all subdomains to point to my public server in a datacenter. There, it ssh's in and requests the certificates with certbot. Then, it restores the dns entries and downloads and installs the certificates in the local net. Still requires manual supervision and sometimes intervention. My domains do not support automated dnssec. I don't have time to secure my local net enough to feel good about opening ports. If all certificate lifetimes get shorter, i'll either have to switch my domain provider or give up selfhosting for other people.

I have multiple self hosted services at home which are impossible to automate because they are not accessible from the internet without VPN. And some even don't have internet access. Still me and my roommates are using them through a valid domain that points to the local address enabling https. Some services require https to function at all. After log4j i'll never again open a "normal" port 80 or 443 to my local net. So thanks i guess. 90 days was annoying already. Great it works out for you

Yes, and also no. Usually, I’d call something a feature if non tech savvy users can use it easily. If it’s hidden behind the command line, most users probably can’t use it. So, to me and colloquially, I wouldn’t call it a feature. Although I get the argument for it.

It wasn't. It was a hidden feature.

Superproductivity. Opensource, selfhosting possible, actively developed. Amazing all around. Just a bit overkill for this usecase, but not in a bad way :)

fuck Fuck