@neil I would say that there is a certain amount of #AppleEnvy at #Microsoft and #Google right now.

A #WalledGarden allows higher #Rent and cheapens compliance with legislation that attempts to restrict what users can do.

Open source - and thus backdoor-free - VPNs and e2ee are probably being targeted as preemptive obedience to future laws.

@tomstoneham @neil to be fair it's quite easy for people to leave windows and switch to linux.

A lot of gaming is already happening on linux and I am astonished when like >60 people working in non-tech jobs are talking about linux distributions

@Dragon @tomstoneham who is "they"?

The gaming companies?
The 60 year olds i mentioned?
Microsoft?

@saxnot @Dragon @tomstoneham

> who is "they"?

Governments / legislatures, or those who control pinch points in terms of hardware or BIOS/UEFI.

In essence, the line of thinking is that "just install Linux" is only viable when one can, indeed, install Linux.

@…[email protected] @Dragon @tomstoneham linux is the most used operating system in the world
all the cloud, websites, android, dishwashers etc are using Linux

On the desktop it's not used that much but let's be honest the desktop is dying

@saxnot @Dragon @tomstoneham

> let's be honest the desktop is dying

I am sceptical of this. Much though I'd love to do my work on a dishwasher.

@neil @saxnot @Dragon @tomstoneham I'd think as a a lawyer you'd need to be wary of potential money-laundering claims.

More on topic, I'd think there'll still be *some* use for desktop environments, for (just as examples) software development and work that involves a lot of writing.

@kimvanwyk @saxnot @Dragon @tomstoneham

> I'd think as a a lawyer you'd need to be wary of potential money-laundering claims.

I am sure that one could spin it positively, and come away with clean hands.

@kimvanwyk @…[email protected] @Dragon @tomstoneham yeah software development will probably always happen on a full fledged computer

desktop has been indecline for decades and most normies do their things on a tablet or phone
it's not a baseless prediction
I was stating changing usage patterns of the last decade

@saxnot @kimvanwyk @Dragon @tomstoneham

> most normies do their things on a tablet or phone

I can understand this for personal computing, but is that true for business activities? I imagine that lots of computers are, and will continue to be, produced for businesses.