If you use Debian-based linux (Ubuntu, Minut, others), Mozilla recommends getting the package directly from their respository rather than flatpak or other repos.

Personally, I saw a major performance increase on my low-powered laptop when I switched from flatpak to the Mozilla package.

https://blog.mozilla.org/en/products/4-reasons-to-try-mozillas-new-firefox-linux-package-for-ubuntu-and-debian-derivatives/

Dell Latitude 5000 series are usually bought by corporations for employees. They are made of sturdy metal, and have features like backlit keyboards and physical trackpad buttons. Then, after 2-3 years, or if they have some minor problem, they end up in a giant stack that either never gets diagnosed, or just gets sent to recycling.

I have had fantastic luck getting a couple of these either direct from the company I’m working for, or from ebay or a company that recycles laptops. They usually don’t actually have a problem, and if they do, parts are readily available on ebay. You can end up with a high-spec laptop from just a few years ago for practically nothing.

That was my thought. I’m not sure if it’s based in science, but I remember being a huge fan of Windows 2000 back in the day, and Microsoft pushed a final service pack that made it highly unstable in 2005, and refused to update/fix it. My theory was that they were trying to push everyone to Windows XP, but I’m prone to thinking the worst of large corporations.

Holy crap. Other people have heard of Discuit.

I bought a cheap-ass Asus laptop knowing that the installed wifi module was not supported by linux. So I bought a new wifi module that had linux support for like $20 and swapped it in.

This is the one I got, but I’m sure there are more like it. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SH6GV5S

As arch users, we would never need the help of some low-level IT person though. That would be ridiculous.

I remember back in 2017, I didn’t really need any big desktop apps anymore. All I used was Salesforce, Netsuite, O365, Postman… I asked my company to just give me a Chromebook. Now I hate Chromebooks and I could very much do my job on a Linux distro mainly using web apps if needed.

My IT dept would never allow it because they can’t install security software on it. Obviously I’d be pretty safe from malware, but they’d have to trust that I set up firewalls and password protection because they couldn’t enforce a group policy, and their data loss prevention tools wouldn’t work.

Yeah, don’t do this, and you should be fine.

Kinda. I’m using Elementary OS right now, and I think of it more like a Chromebook… with more options to expand it.

From the Description:

Jan - Google fired 12,000 staff including their head of health and wellbeing

Feb - Google said employees must come back to the office and share desks. Bard (Chat GPT competitor) launches.

March - Google gave data to the police to help prosecute abortion seekers after Roe vs Wade was overturned. And they fired multiple staff after giving birth.

April - Google announces cost-cutting measures including cutting back on staplers. Google, Meta and X propose an alliance to combat misinformation.

May - South Korea fined Google for anti-competitive practices and Google continued to sell climate disinformation ads (after promising to stop).

June - Google replaces it’s fired workers with “low-paid foreign workers” and donated to an anti-abortion Republican Committee

July - Google uses our data to train Bard and increases the cost of YouTube Premium.

Aug - Google offers staff an on-campus hotel room for $99 a night. And YouTube ads may have led to the online tracking of children.

Sept - Google Pixel Watches have no parts or repair program and Google Maps led a dad to his death over a collapsed bridge.

Oct - Google’s AI consumes as much electricity as Ireland and Alphabet hired an underqualified man (who didn’t even apply for the job) over a woman.

Nov - Google backs out of building affordable housing in the Bay Area and spent $26 billion to be your default search engine.

Dec - Google caught putting ads on adult websites 🌽 and McDonalds is using Google AI to test if your fries are fresh.

I’ve been on an iPhone for about 3.5 weeks now and iMessage is driving me nuts. It might be the reason I go back to Android.

1. You cannot use any other apps for SMS messaging on an iPhone. iMessage is the only option.
2. Unlike Google Messages, it is impossible to use a desktop app to send and receive your text messages… unless you replace all your computers with Macs. Most iPhone users don’t have a Mac, so this is just missing functionality.

This is dumb. I used that feature constantly. It’s the worst thing about the switch.