OP on r*ddit here

the best part is that if you want it too look this sweet it's all through gui menus and simple interfaces. You download themes through theme browsers in settings. It literally couldn't be easier imo.

  • newmou [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    I don’t know much about Linux. What about it makes it free from NSA slimeguys

    • Pirate [none/use name]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Well, it's the most important open source software so a very huge number of eyes are on it. Linux is quite important because the whole internet runs on it so it isn't in anyway something niche.

      • newmou [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        When you say the whole internet runs on it, what about it makes it invulnerable to like, source code changes or attacks or something that would affect things globally? I’m sure there are quite a few puzzle pieces I’m missing here

    • Windows97 [any, any]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Windows is proprietary, if (honestly if is too kind) the nsa put backdoors or anything else they want in it, they can do whatever they want and there's no way you can do anything about it, or even know it's there. With linux it's open source and like @Pirate said it's got a lot of eyes on it since the internet runs on it.

    • dead [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Depends on the distribution. Some distribution don't care about freedom. Some distributions, Debian as example, follow the "free software" philosophy. Free meaning freedom, libre, not free beer.

      The free software philosophy guarantees the user four essential freedoms:

      • The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose (freedom 0).

      • The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish (freedom 1).

      • The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help others (freedom 2).

      • The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 3).

      The default installation/configuration of Debian contains no software that does not meet these standards. You can read all the source code. You can modify the source code. You can redistribute the software and your changes.

      https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html

      https://www.debian.org/social_contract

      • newmou [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Thanks for this insight. Slightly different note but is the Web 3.0 a framework that’s generally trying to bring these four freedoms to the core of digital communications?

        • dead [he/him]
          ·
          4 years ago

          The "Berne Convention of 1886" established that creative works are protected by copyright upon creation. No-license source code or software is in a default "all rights reserved" state that legally prevents people from redistributing or modifying the software. A software license is a list of permissions and/or restrictions for the users of the software. The four freedoms are permitted by the software developer by using a software license.

          I honestly have no idea what your post means, so I'm going to say no. The four freedoms are permitted by the developer of the software by using a software license. The free software philosophy purists generally are not happy with the web stuff because of javascript. Richard Stallman, the creator of the four freedoms, is very concerned with accidentally executing unfree javascript.

          The four freedoms are about allowing the user to have complete control over the software. Stallman likes to say that if the user does not control the software, then the software controls the user.

          https://stallman.org/stallman-computing.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/javascript-trap.html https://www.gnu.org/software/librejs/index.html