As far as I can tell running xz directly should be fine, but for the extra paranoid check the version of the xz-utils package. If it is safe, it will be either less than 5.6.0, or it should be 5.6.1+really5.4.5-1 (xz 5.4.5 with a spoof version number to ensure compromised systems get the update).
Thanks, edited this into the post (along with the distros listed by LWN)
The problem is that Apple doesn’t accept the responsibility. it’s the DMA that’s doing this to their customers, not Apple. By vilifying the DMA as harmful to privacy and security, Apple gets to make themselves out to be the good guy. When things get worse, Apple can just blame the DMA again.
Yeah, that’s the more thorough version. My interpretation of the quote was to first search for stupidity, if only to confirm it is not in fact stupidity (but malice).
Is there a picture of what this actually looks / would look like? Honestly, although it is going down a bad path, it isn’t actually all that surprising. Firefox already has sponsored address bar suggestions by default.
DarkTable sort of works for that, though if I recall correctly the browsing is based on a “library folder” rather than freely browsing. It is very heavily focused around editing photographs.
My recommendation is to combine a decent image editor (eg. GIMP) with a good file manager with image preview.
I guess it kind of depends. Not really sure what most people actually use, but for those who use MS’s services, Office web isn’t great, and Skype for Linux is rather temperamental. A lot of games work under Proton, but not all.
My perception of “average user” is probably skewed towards being not technical enough to troubleshoot on their own, but skilled enough to run through a tutorial of what keys to press. For someone used to Windows, patching things up is simpler than learning all the ins and outs of a new OS.
I don’t disagree that most people would be fine using Linux, but there needs to be a compelling reason why Linux would be significantly better, or else the switching cost makes it not worthwhile.
When going from Windows to Linux, all of the tradeoffs are involved. For me what I don’t like about Windows outweighs the pain points of my choice of Linux distro, but for some they’d weigh the sides and Windows still comes out on top.
Anyway my take is that Linux is better ideologically, but for the average consumer who justs want to use their favorite apps, Windows works fine and they’re not really going to care until Windows piles on enough garbage to make switching worthwhile.
(Not the person you replied to)
Windows has issues, but so does Linux. My personal experience with Fedora (Silverblue) has been fairly good with minimal hassle (Gnome Software breaks sometimes with auto updates, but is leaps and bounds ahead of the Synaptic days). However, someone using other hardware, another distro, or using other software might have a lot more problems to contend with.
There’s a lot of case-by-case nuance that in my opinion makes broad switch from A to B recommendations less meaningful than discussing the pros and cons and letting people decide on their own whether Linux could be useful for them.
Another thing that they do that should make the process less vulnerable is they try to get developers involved in packaging their own applications (and have a verified badge, though I’m not sure how rigorous their verification is).
The main downside is that there is a lot less customization of filters short of using a different DNS. There is also the potential for logging DNS (present with normal DNS servers as well). LibreOps claims they don’t log requests, and personally I don’t think they have much reason to lie, but there is still that element of trust. Many of the more well known DNS servers don’t offer ad blocking DNS, so you’ll most likely be switching to a different provider.
Another way is through DNS (eg. noads.libredns.gr).
If I understand correctly, the idea is to cross-reference with the listed PGP keys to validate they haven’t been changed (implicitly by an adversary)? This essentially sounds like what you’re supposed to do with PGP anyway: keep the key so you can detect replacement of the key. The main difference is for someone who doesn’t already have the key, they can cross reference it with the directory (essentially like a Wayback Machine for PGP keys).
I think some kind of anti-HTML measure yeeted my angle bracketed link :(. Fixed.
Some useful services:
That’s specifically referring to when auto updates are enabled; on newer Android versions app stores can now update apps they’ve installed without needing the manual confirmation popup. Previously autoupdates would need a separate shim installed via root, since only system applications could perform unattended installation.
I’m not sure what would cause the difference, but the old behaviour (at least on my device) was to only do the download when updating all, with each individual app needing to then click the update button and the popup. With F-Droid Basic (which had this change for a while now), any apps it can update do so automatically when the update all button is pressed. Apps that it can’t do unattended updates on, such as those that were installed by another app, still required manual update on the first one.
The unattended updates just mean you don’t have to sit through and manually click the second install popup for every update. They come in handy even when F-Droid doesn’t have automatic updates enabled.
There’s a similar “feature” in Android that replaced the old Android ad ID. Android rolling out new Ad privacy settings
Email subscriptions also sometimes have that, with bonus points for several vague and similar sounding categories, and emails not mentioning what category they’re in.