What a generous and thoughtful post.

Firstly, chill, it wasn’t meant to be personal, sorry if the tone was hostile.

I was addressing you as an avatar of something I see a lot here (perhaps to be expected) and that frustrates me: a well-intentioned, probably very intelligent geek who talks earnestly about something (desktop computing) that I believe is now all but irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. It frustrates me because the irrelevance seems obvious to me - from the stats, from looking around me in everyday life. And because every day we waste talking about desktop OS is a day lost in the already losing battle to save free computing.

PS: I didn’t downvote you. I don’t downvote, as a matter of principle.

With respect, I think this view is really quite out of touch.

About the Global South, we agree. Most people there have never seen a PC and never will. Already, the Global South is most of the world. The combined population of Europe and North America, i.e. the whole West, is now less than 10% of the world population.

But beyond that, who are these “mainstream” people you see buying PCs for personal use in the West, today, beyond students (PS: and gamers)? What are they buying them for when you now do literally anything on a mobile OS with more convenience (and indeed the mobile OS is increasingly a requirement)? Do you really think that in, say, 5 years, the obvious trend will have spontaneously gone into reverse?

I don’t want any of this to be true either, but true it patently is.

It must be hard to turn down free money, even if it’s powered by a fad. I imagine the people who actually make the bikes must be a bit demoralized though, knowing that their beautiful machines are now mostly destined to gather dust in rich people’s closets.

Mobile is not all that counts. I don’t know anyone without at least one laptop or desktop in the house (typically more)

This is, sadly, the response I was bracing for. You are in a bubble. The rest of the world, certainly outside the US middle class, looks absolutely nothing like your life. The numbers are clear. Outside of offices, computing now means Android and almost nothing else (yes that includes iOS).

Yep of course. Forgive my tetchiness.

To which my first thought is: who cares, because almost no normies are buying desktop computers any more. I say that as a desktop OS user.

It’s not a popular observation around here but the facts are stubborn. I so wish we nerds would wake up, put our own personal experience aside, and concentrate our energies on how to bring FOSS to the mobile platform. Going forwards, it’s all that will count. It’s already all that counts.

This is one dossier where IMO it is genuinely difficult to know which outcome would be best. Assuming one takes into account environmental, as well as political and economic, factors.

That seems to be from a moral standpoint. As a matter of law, it does.

As usual, entirely specific to the USA market.

So cute how spherical robins are. Presumably because of their small size and need to keep the cold at bay. Tiny wrens look even more ball-like.

Difficult to see how these bromides about the Rules-Based Order will do anything but encourage a vain bully like Trump. Because this is personal, it makes no sense in any other terms.

My intuition is that the better response would be measured bellicosity. Say: “Sure you could ‘conquer’ Greenland, but it would be your Afghanistan. The Greenlanders would fight a guerilla war against you, and since Greenland is part of Denmark, we Europeans - your former allies - would have to supply them. After all, it’s part of our territory, we would have no choice. So. Up to you.”

Thus proving the almost total arbitrariness of defining Europe as a “continent” but here we are.

Yeah, all surely true and it’s always the solution given and it’s even the greenest one. But I just don’t think this is a real solution for normies, who tend to buy computers new (to the extent that they even buy them any more). And in this respect I’m like them, personally.

Hmm. Having trouble parsing your negatives but I think you’re saying “expensive”.

What bothers me is that a decade ago there were loads of Linux-compatible budget netbooks on sale at every big-box retailer, whereas there seems to be nothing today under 500 bucks/euro except Chromebooks, and nothing at all with a smallish screen except mega-expensive ultrabooks. It’s becoming a problem.

Great job. As I see it the real problem is that low-end Wintel laptops seem to be going away, replaced first by Chromebooks and soon probably by Android laptop edition, which presumably will have the non-Intel architecture and weird blobs and locked bootloader of any smartphone. Or is this too pessimistic?

Indeed, I haven’t heard of bike theft on trains either. Problem is, if the thief can pull it off, it makes the perfect crime. As the victim you’re basically screwed the moment the doors close and the train starts to move. This is why I never let my eyes off luggage or bikes when on a train. Even more so on a bus.

That explains it. Those things are like virtual voyeurs.

Is it like a shopping trolley where you get the coin back at the end?

Yes.

Is it like a shopping trolley where you get the coin back at the end?

You turn the key and out comes the key! Like coin-operated lockers in train stations. Better not lose the key!

Agreed about the hangers. It’s always a mess, they only really suit skinny racing bikes. And everyone else needs to babysit their bike if only to stop it rolling away.

This time with the lock I actually went and sat in a normal seat elsewhere for once! I’m sold.

Beautiful. How did you get that close?