Technology

The Culling: Miscellaneous software

Today I uninstalled a few programs on my Windows 11 PC I no longer use and made the great leap to open source office software (technically I already did, because I installed LibreOffice a while ago, but now it will be my default).

Uninstalled:

  • Facebook Messenger (can’t use without a FB account, anyway)
  • Arc browser (did not like)
  • Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, etc.)
  • Microsoft Bing Search (I didn’t even know this was installed)
  • Microsoft Teams (I thought I had uninstalled this already)
  • Mind Over Magnet demo (I have the full game)
  • Proton Mail (switched to Fastmail)
  • Red Notebook (did not like)
  • WhatsApp (did not use, plus more Meta junk)
  • Zettlr (did not like)

February 1, 2025 is apparently Global Switch Day

Is it a day to celebrate light switches? Perhaps! But it’s mainly about switching from corporate-controlled apps owned by horrible techbro oligarchs, to ones that embrace privacy and the fediverse, which is not related in any way to Star Trek.

Looking this over:

  • X: Done! I never posted much on X/Twitter, anyway.
  • Instagram: Done! I have a Pixelfed account.
  • WhatsApp: Done! I never used WhatsApp much and have used signal for years.
  • Facebook: Pending! My account is “deleted” in less than two weeks. I have never tried Friendica, though, and the logo makes me think of two people in a 69, which is very friendly, I suppose.
  • YouTube: I’ve watched videos on PeerTube, but YouTube has huge piles of good video content. It’s not nearly as bad as the other services.
  • TikTok: Done! And by done, I mean I’ve never actually watched videos on TikTok. I have no interest in Loops, either.

Internet may be just a passing fad

I’m not sure where I came across this photo of a Daily Mail story from December 5, 2000, but I find it both amusing and prescient.

The prescient part is this:

They say that e-mail, far from replacing other forms of communication, is adding to an overload of information.

And this was before social media. Hopefully The Daily Mail has an updated story on how the internet was not a passing fad, but maybe it should have been, considering its current state.

I have a keyboard problem

I don’t even know how many I have. A bunch are tucked away into drawers. There are a few others elsewhere.

I’m currently using my CTRL keyboard again, after somehow botching the backlighting in my Keychron Q1. It’s OK, though, because I think I prefer the tenkeyless design to the more compact Q1 model.

But that doesn’t address my problem. Neither does the fact that I have another keyboard being delivered to me now. This one has Jupiter Banana switches. How could I say no to Jupiter Banana switches1Seriously, if I had a kid, I’d name them Jupiter Banana. Well, maybe not seriously. But it could be their nickname.? It’s also tenkeyless and can be run wirelessly, so I’ll see how that goes.

Then no more new keyboards. At least for, uh, let’s say six months. That seems reasonable. Doesn’t it? Maybe?

For reference:

CTRL

Mine is on the desk, not floating in space.

Keychron Q1 with Fancy™ Knob

This is the exact model I have, same colour and knob.

And the one I’ve ordered (a Keychron V3 Max also with Fancy™ Knob):

This only comes in one colour, and you’re looking at it.

Is this finally the Year of Linux on the Desktop?

To quote Ian Betteridge, no.

But 2025 is the first time I’ll be spending a decent amount of time using Linux and not just tinkering or experimenting with it.

Its primary weaknesses remain the same for me:

  • Gaming is good, but not entirely there yet.
  • Graphics programs are still significantly weaker than on macOS or Windows. Some programs are reasonably powerful, like GIMP, but come hobbled with genuinely awful UIs that don’t work like any other modern program out there.
  • For myself, there are a few things I miss from Windows, mostly in the functionality enabled by PowerToys, like a multi-item clipboard.

But in terms of stability, speed and general use, Linux Mint 22.1, the distro I’m using, is providing a very smooth experience and I generally prefer it to Windows 11 now.

Fake edit: I found CopyQ on Linux, described thusly:

CopyQ monitors system clipboard and saves its content in customized tabs. Saved clipboard can be later copied and pasted directly into any application.

So far, it seems to be working fine.

Here’s to the Year of Linux Frequently on the Desktop.

AI AI oh!

With the recent revelation of DeepSeek, an AI thinger that apparently does what OpenAI and other big tech AI thingers do, but using cheaper hardware, less energy and via open source, the whole mad rush to AI for all and forever seems to have hit its first bump. This is one of those “will be interesting to see where things stand in five years” stories, but from the consumer perspective, it seems like:

  • There is interest in AI in a very general, Google search sort of way (the DeepSeek app is currently #1 and ChatGPT’s LLM app is a perennial top download)
  • Beyond the above, there seems to be as much interest in avoiding AI, with people trying to disable AI summaries in Google search, or turn off Microsoft’s Copilot, for example.

I’m in the latter camp. I dabbled in AI art for a bit over the last year (mostly for the lulz, as the kids used to say) or as a way to generate prompts for drawing or writing. It’s been pretty mediocre at both. I don’t have a compelling case for it, and a lot of what it does (especially with implementations like “Apple Intelligence” with its notification summaries and offers to rewrite your words) are things I specifically don’t want. And, in a rare case, it seems I am actually part of the crowd instead of standing outside of it.

I’m not anti-AI or anything, but it feels like too many people are relentlessly pushing it without having any reason to, other than a desperate need to have something be The Next Big Thing in tech that makes the lines keep going up. And to that, I say: Bah. Try making File Explorer crash less in Windows 11. That’l improve my life more than error-filled notification summaries will.

My iPhone 12

I occasionally joke on this blog about Tim Cook being irate at me for not upgrading my iPhone 12. I bought it in January 2021, so it’s now just over four years old and, with Apple’s yearly releases, it’s officially four generations behind the newest, sexiest iPhone 16.

What am I missing by not upgrading?

  • Better battery life
  • Faster processor
  • Better cameras
  • An action button. For action!
  • An overengineered camera button. For accidentally taking photos you didn’t mean to.
  • Some different colours
  • Apple Intelligence (it took a lot of self-control to avoid putting sarcasm quotes around the word “intelligence”)

Excluding the dubious features of Apple Intelligence, the only thing I’d really notice and appreciate in a new phone is the improved camera, and even then, without moving to the pro model with the telephoto lens, the camera in the iPhone 12 is still perfectly cromulent.

The battery health of my phone is 83%, which is edging closer to where Apple suggests getting a new phone battery. But it’s still plenty for me, given how light my phone usage is. I don’t do social media on my phone, I take few calls, snap a few photos and do some texting. I don’t play games or run processor-heavy apps.

And then there’s the whole question of whether I’d stick with Apple or jump over to Android. Sadly, those are really the only options, unless you want to go full dumb phone and party like it’s 2006. Which I sometimes do.

Part of me, the part that still gets that techno lust urge, wants to get a new phone, but really, I can’t justify it in any meaningful way. So I’m sticking with my iPhone 12 for now.

Sorry, Tim.

P.S. Tim, you suck. And not in the good way, in the kissing-the-ring-of-fascists way.

Online stress therapy illustrated, Linux edition

A screenshot1 from Tuba, the Mastodon app I use in Linux Mint, showing my use of filters to make my feed more palatable (highlighted in yellow):

I can always click on the filter to see what I’m missing. Or “missing.” It’s a little thing, but it makes a difference. Mastodon makes adding filters pretty simple, so filter away, I say.

  1. Nerd note: I added the drop shadow and highlight using the program ksnip, self-described as a “Screenshot and Annotation Tool”. ↩︎

The Culling: Microsoft 365

I heard that Microsoft was shoehorning its Copilot AI stuff into Microsoft 365 (née Office 365) because of course it was. AI for all, whether you want it or not!

But then I saw reports that Microsoft 365 plans were also going up in price. Indeed, when I checked my account, my $109/year package was going to be billed at $145 in April when it renewed. This is a substantial increase. The internet advised me that if I cancelled my current subscription, I would then be offered a “classic” version of my plan, without AI, for the previous $109 price. And lo, there it was:

To be clear, it is exactly the same plan I have now, just renamed. Microsoft moved me off that plan and to the new, more expensive “Microsoft 365 Family” plan, acting as if nothing had changed, just a simple (large) price increase.

It’s shady, it’s scummy, and it’s exactly what I expect of Microsoft these days.

My solution is to go back to storing everything locally and having backups available through my NAS, which will function almost as well as OneDrive would have, anyway.

Congrats, Microsoft, in your bid to shove AI down my throat and get more money from me, you will soon be getting none!

The Culling: Political YouTube channels

For fairly obvious reasons, I have dropped the subs to the politics channels I follow on YouTube, except for Steve Boots, because he is a zesty socialist who covers Canadian politics and his cat is constantly vamping in the background of his videos.

I’ve also filtered a few related words or phrases on Mastodon.

These things may change, but for now, it feels right. I still get a lot of news/doom through osmosis, anyway.

Email follies, Part 293 (Also known as The Culling: Proton)

Yes, I changed email again. Why? Because I am mad, perhaps.

But also, I find I am less willing to do business with companies where the people in charge loudly blare their terrible views in public.

And it happens my main email service has one such person as its CEO. The company is doing damage control, stating they are non-profit, the CEO does not control the company, etc. It doesn’t matter, the rot is at the top. I’m not interested in supporting you with my dollars anymore.

So, I’ve gone from:

  • Obscure ISP-based email (sjames@istar.net or something) 25+ years ago
  • Less obscure ISP email through Telus
  • Gmail
  • HEY
  • Outlook
  • Proton
  • A few others that were never primary addresses, some of which I still have

And now:

  • Fastmail

The one bonus in the latest move is I can now drop the “w” from my name and just use stanjames@fastmail.com. Plus, it sounds fast.

If Fastmail doesn’t work out, I am going to invest in carrier pigeons.