Madthumbs be like

Is FreeBSD safe to use?

Yes but you risk becoming insufferable in casual conversation

Funny; that's exactly who I was thinking about in my other reply here...

It would genuinely cause worldwide panic if the Windows source code leaked, and that brings joy to me

... until I realize I still have Windows because I still haven't moved to linux

Nooooo!!

When are patches coming from upstream? When will they be in package repos? Ilm assuming the major distros like Hannah Montanna Linux will have them out first? I have so many servers to patch. Is windows just like the next version of Xwindows?

Do it now. We love you and want you to join with us.

systemd users hate this one trick!

It’s alright, we’re already Linux users, we’re used to it.

Thanks for the heads up! Be aware though, if you're considering transition to Windows, that parts of the original code of Microsoft Windows too has been leaked by a nefarious actor: https://www.gatesnotes.com/microsoft-original-source-code

If it’s because you’re worried and not because you have proprietary software you need that’s keeping you tied to it, Mint was super duper easy for me to install (I’ve never installed Linux before) and it’s been essentially out of the box compatible with the games I play since most are already optimized for the Steam Deck.

If it’s the software thing, sorry man, my spouse is in the same boat.

Even FreeBSD is too well known. Gotta go with Plan 9 from Bell Labs to be obscure enough for security.

Not as insufferable as those who use ExpensiveBSD (aka macOS)

If you want obscure, you can always go with A/UX running on an bunch of Apple Quadra 700s. If it can run Jurassic Park, it’s good enough for me!

I think that has happened before, though?

Don't worry, us Arch users have that covered.

I really appreciate ExpensiveBSD's hardware. the software though... oh my. ZSH

Wasn't there a long time ago a genuine bug report in Mozilla's bug tracker reporting that the source code was publicly available and this was insecure? I can't quickly find it because I can't think of good search terms…

The entirety of Windows XP was leaked and people even managed to build it from source. This was after XP being EOL though.

If it’s the software thing

There's a fair few projects working towards getting windows software to work in Linux beyond wine. WinBoat and bottles to name the two I use frequently. I set-up WinBoat for my wife because office360. Took a little bit of fiddling with settings for WinBoat to run nicely on her 2017 MacBook air with a Ubuntu derivative OS...but it works as it would on windows....so poorly.

It has already been leaked a million times because they sell the source code to governments and anyone (well, at least up to Windows 2000 which was the last decent version).

Lol "paid sponsorship"

Not gonna lie: I really like both. I like variety in my life.

I also really like fedora on my old iMac. It makes for an excellent Plex server.

But macOS is getting much less impressive with every iteration, and as cool as Apple Silicon is, I’m less and less attracted to it because of its narrowing support for software.

But Apple has a new CEO now, and I’m interested to see what direction he’s gonna take the company.

Yes but you will be insufferable even to us linux users

On a serious note, 250k stars for the linux kernel is kinda too few github stars

chat are we cooked?

Gut feeling, but I think the panic would last 2 days. Then issues would be found and unofficial patches would be made faster than fire spreads in dry folliage.

The question is, what is stopping you?

I remember trying to build Windows XP on its leaked source code, so I'm sure it exists to that point.

Worst comes worse, one could install a VM with Windows. And for the edge cases where neither VMs or compatibility layers suffice, the user can install Windows on a different physical drive and plug it in just when needed.

I think Windows server 2003 source code was leaked before

WinBoat is essentially a VM, but it runs in the background and you can add installed programs to your hotbar/start bar/desktop. So that's neat.

Shit, the linuxsucks community is gonna go wild over this!

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=949446

Name makes it hard to search, yeah. :V

Seconded. I started with PopOS but wasn't sold on it, so quickly switched to Mint and it was perfect. Once my wife test drove on my installation, she gave it a shot on her laptop, and now she gets frustrated when she's forced to use Windows for her college test proctoring spyware she has to use.

Here's a link for anybody curious to get started. I like Cinnamon. Just download the OS and flash it to a flash drive, boot into BIOS, select the flash drive to boot from, and you're testing a live version of the OS. If you like it, you can install through pretty easy install wizards. It doesn't pester you to buy shit like Windows does. And there's a safe and easy app store for most of what you'll care about, and it just works. It gets the fuck out of your way. And if you have issues, just google it and you'll probably find somebody already figured out the solution and shared it with plebs like us.

I was randomly thinking about posting this meme 14 hours ago before going to sleep.

Someone I used to know claimed to have Windows 11 source.

Doesn't compile because it wants to include Nvidia drivers which aren't in the repos

That's the one, thanks. I thought this happened much earlier than 2013 for some reason.

I convinced my spouse to give it a try on our family laptop. I installed Mint and she never complained. Granted, if there is something more involved that needs installing or fixing she relies on me but I think this isn't so different if it were Windows. She seems happy using it all these years on a device that otherwise would have to be written of as scrap due to Microsoft shenanigans with 10/11 compatibilities, but the machine works as if brand new. Also our kid grew up using it. He knows basic usage and I glee in the fact he has never used Windows so far in his live.

If you want to go most obscure, write your own OS in assembly.

It's judt about time, I need more storage devices to transition... I need to setup windows alongside it too... Generally a mess. And yea I want to go with Green Ubuntu lol

Keep in mind if you transition to Windows you will need to relearn a few things! Lots of your software might have issues and I sure hope you have Nvidia because AMD is straight to broken with all their open source code. Yuck!

Windows is just better (I use Windows 11 PRO BTW) because you get lots of background processes and there's even a copilot that's right about stuff sometimes. Microsoft even keeps a backup of lots of your data up in something called a Cloud, which I assume is good because clouds are up there in the sky like heaven!

I sure hope 2026 is the year of the Windows PC!

(/s cause writing this joke hurt my soul)

Had the same thought

Nah, I'll just use Menuet or Kolibri. That's too much work.

Ah, the days when it was still known as Windows Whistler, until someone leaked how it looked and everyone started calling it Teletubby Windows instead

I'd love to have Mac hardware with different Linux options (with mature power management). But I guess before that will happen, other CPU manufacturers might catch up. Fine by me as well.

The Asahi Linux Project has made a great deal of progress on that front. They’ve got it running on up to the M2, with the M3 in development.

Isn't that whole "community" mostly just one clearly unwell person?

I set up WinBoat for FL Studio and it's close enough to be functional.

Yeah, but I got an M4 😭