Government people get jobs by schmoozing and making deals, not by merit or skill.

Pournelle’s Law always seems relevant.

I’ve been using Photoshop for over 20 years.

I hear ya. I’m a print designer and the biggest hole is scribus. It is impressive for how good it is in the last few years, but is no where close to where I need it to be for pro work compared to indesign.

But, I think Krita is definitely good enough to do what I need photoshop for… and Krita is better in some ways. Like for illustration work. Krita is better than GIMP for my uses because it has the strong color model functionality that GIMP doesn’t have. Mostly that would be the CMYK functionality. GIMP only exports to CMYK. You can’t work directly in it. You need that for print design.

Interestingly, the biggest problem is the whole “using Photoshop for over 20 years” (30 for me) thing.

After several years so much of what we do with these programs becomes second nature and we don’t have to think about it. Even if the other program is better, it takes a lot to get to that level with a new program. I’m trying to use Krita more and more and I still feel like I am no where close to that goal. albeit… somewhat closer…

While GIMP does have a clunky interface, I think part of that is that we just aren’t as familiar with it as the program we have been using for decades.

I don’t know what you use gimp for, but Krita might be worth a shot. Although I think if you only work in RGB and only do “photo shop” kind of tasks, GIMP may still be better.

I was one of those people who switched during the early Ubuntu days of 2006/2007.

First heard about it and gave it a try in 1995 when a friend told me about it in college. I was/am a graphics artist so it wasn’t an option then. But I knew then that it probably would eventually get there and windows would keep getting more evil and that I would switch. So I started switching from proprietary software solutions to open source whenever possible so that it would be easier to do when the day arrived.

So… in 2006 I was hearing a lot of talk about linux finally being easier to use and setup with a lot of gui functionality. Which is required for graphics work. Although, I had adobe at work and was there most of the week, so I didn’t really care anymore about having that at home. And the stuff I played around with was blender and the like.

I was also getting out of the habit of gaming. I had been really into FPS. Mainly the half-life mod “Day of Defeat” where I was doing the clam competition thing. But I burnt out on it and didn’t really care as much. But I did dual boot for a while with gaming in mind. It was about a year later when I realized that I hadn’t booted into Windows for several months (and I needed the hard drive space) that I scrubbed it.

So here I am.

I still use Ubuntu variations mostly. Although I intend on switching to Devuan. I’ve been experimenting with it on a laptop to get it just the way I want it before switching my desktops. I’m still struggling with btrfs snapshots. I thought I had it recently, then I broke it somehow. I’m still not entirely clear what the whole snapshot thing is doing. But I look forward to getting there soon. I hope to make this my final linux setup for the next decade at least.

Fair question.

It is something I turn off so I don’t remember for sure. Typically it comes up during the installation process. If your distro is using “Software Updater” it should be an option in it’s settings called “automatically check for updates”. This is on Ubuntu 25.04. Although it has been updated a few times from the version it was originally.

But whatever program is being used for updates should have options that will probably get you there.

typically the default is autoupdate to be activated…

Cause ‘muh freedom’

The younger users may not be aware of this… but privacy and freedom were big concerns about the internet since at least the early nineties. We knew that the moment of being ignored was only going to last a little while and it was commonly discussed. And it was already discussed about how insecure windows was and rumors of their back doors and the like.

In that light… when I first heard about linux in 1995 and gave slackware a try one weekend I knew that eventually I was going to switch. But I was/am a graphics artist and 1995 was too soon for doing that kind of stuff at the professional level on linux. But I knew the day would come, so I consciously started switching to open source apps instead of cracked proprietary apps.

Around 2006-2007 there was a lot of talk about projects like Ubuntu making linux highly functional for a graphics person and relatively “easy” to get running. By that time the only proprietary software I was using was Adobe, which I only cared about using while at work and a couple games. And even then, running adobe inside of virtualbox was an option. I dual booted and after about 1-2 months I reached the point where I finally was comfortable enough to not ever go back. After about a year and realizing I hadn’t booted into windows for about 4 months, I erased that partition. I’ve never looked back.

Ubuntu phones were already miles better

Unfortunately none of them shipped with a modem that worked on american networks. ;[

I would have loved to have given one of those a chance.

I was using the nokia N900 since it was first released and then I’d buy new or used ones every couple years when it broke. Apparently some factory in China made a bunch of extras. That lasted about a decade.

Then when the librem5 was first announced I sent them some money. Funny enough that after that Pine64 both announced and finished developing their pinephone before the librem5 got released. So I got one of those and then one of the pinephone pros.

Eventually the librem5 came out and I’ve been using that since then. The functionality of the switches makes all the difference for me. That, and the extra thickness makes it more portable and easier to use and handle than the pinephones.

Nothing has come close to competing with the N900. That has been the best cell phone I have ever had by a lot… since I got my first winmobile phone back in 2002. It was the perfect size and the keyboard was extremely functional. The stylus was super handy as well, although you typically never needed it, but it did make using more desktop type software on a small touch screen a lot more handy.

The impression that I get from modern linux smartphone developers is that almost none of them have any experience outside of the limited design model of iphone and android phones. So even if they are aware of the N900 and what they are, they don’t have an understanding of what has been lost when Steve Jobs insisted that not having a keyboard was a “good thing” just because they wanted to cut manufacturing costs. Remember, this is the guy that use to insist that mice should only have 1 button. I’m an artist, I like aesthetics too, but functionality comes first when you are developing tools.

To summarize the strengths of the N900 outside of running linux: the small overall pocket friendly size, the fold out keyboard was easy to use when needed and out of the way when not needed. The stylus wasn’t needed for software designed for the mobile platform, but it made all the difference when using software not made for the mobile platform. That and the hardware keyboard. When you got all that functionality built in, you don’t have to fake it on an overly large screen that barely fits in your pocket. And that screen does a crap job of it.

Sorry about the rant. I’ve developed strong opinions on this topic over the last couple decades.

As for my current use… mostly I’ve moved away from using a smartphone as much. Its not healthy and isn’t an efficient tool for doing computer stuff. And as I mentioned, they aren’t that portable since they’re so damn big now. They make them thin now, but that just makes them harder to use/hold and doesn’t increase the room in your pocket any. I now find doing phone calls with a voip setup to be easier. I got everything routed through my email inbox and find that to be easiest.

Most people aren’t going to agree with me on this. Most people first learned the iphone/droid model and they base their opinions on that.

Probably not really relevant for you specifically, but if anyone else is reading this who is thinking about making the change, then I want to say that they should work on switching to open source applications that have linux versions first. Typically the biggest challenge is in switching those apps that we use a lot. Already having switched to those apps and only having to learn a new OS makes everything a ton easier.

They certainly can. Do you have evidence that suggests they are doing that?