Data Science

  • 13 Posts
  • 42 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 17th, 2023

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  • Introduction

    I’ve written quite a lot of free software in my life. Most of it was from scratch: projects I started myself. So I get to choose where to host them – or rather, I have to choose where to host them.

    These days, all my projects are held in Git. And mostly, I put them in ‘bare’ git repositories on my personal website.

    I don’t use any git ‘forge’ system layered on top of Git, like Gitlab or Github, which automatically makes a bug tracking database for each project, and provides a convenient button for a user to open a merge request / pull request. I just use plain Git. People can ‘git clone’ my code, and there’s a web-based browsing interface (the basic gitweb) for looking around without having to clone it at all. But that’s all the automated facilities you get.

    Occasionally this confuses people, so I thought I should write something about it.

    Discussion with the author @ https://hachyderm.io/@simontatham/114111520633445984










  • I’m going to throw this out there not being sure how true it is, but I find it interesting to think about.

    XMPP is much more widely used than Matrix if you count WhatsApp (Meta/Facebook). ActivityPub is much more widely used than AT Protocol and nostr combined if you count Threads (Meta/Facebook). So reasons why people aren’t talking about XMPP include not wanting to recognize that Meta is hugely influential in this space and that most people don’t talk about the underlying protocols of the services and tools they’re use at all leaving a self selected group of people looking for alternatives with traction that don’t depend on Meta. Outside of WhatsApp, there’s not a lot of traction with any particular XMPP implementation. And none of the XMPP implementations have a Discord-ish organization of chat rooms that’s popular and familiar right now. Matrix has both right now (although I don’t think it will ever be more than a small niche in the mobile messaging space).

    I’m fine with using Matrix for what it is. There are programming language communities that have been very helpful for me and a number of Lemmy related communities that have been nice to be a part of.










  • The criticism is from two angles. First, Clevo is known for products that are not on the high end of the quality spectrum. They don’t try to be. Which currently is an obstacle for improving the quality of System76 laptops. System76 however has be working with suppliers to increase the quality of the products and doesn’t source everything from Clevo for their laptop lineup. Second, System76 doesn’t have the order volume of other brands allowing them to have more control over what their suppliers will supply while keeping per unit costs low enough to satisfy System76 margin expectations and keeping prices attractive enough to customers.

    System76 has been making good decisions over time to address these challenges and produce better value for customers. But I don’t think it’s unfair for people to be critical of the current situation. System76 laptops aren’t cheaply priced so customers should expect System76 laptops to meet expectations in line with the prices. Not everyone will agree that System76 is or can do that with their current product offerings.

    Unfortunately, the economics of laptop and desktop retail sales has subsidies from software based services built into the price expectations of customers. I like that System76 is moving against those headwinds. It means that System76 is not making decisions to try to get you to sign up for services and respects that the hardware you purchase is for your personal use and gives you autonomy to use it as you’d like without creating hurdles. But it also means their products aren’t going to be as compelling to those that are willing to deal with hurdles in exchange for lower prices.