11.21.22

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The Price of Supposedly ‘Modern’ (Very Bloated) Software

Posted in Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, Red Hat at 1:51 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Video download link | md5sum bf9f84a662c0c7c84daaa752bcfbbc93
When Free Software Mimics Containers
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0

Summary: Software designed without freedom in mind ends up being a case of “code available” and “blob available”; this is an issue that becomes greater over time

OVER the weekend we linked to this new video of Brodie about “Modern Linux Apps”.

As someone who has tried Snaps, Flatpak, and AppImages on several PCs for several years, yours truly experienced some pros and cons. One lingering concern is that Flatpak et al. are a convenient ramp for unwanted software, including Microsoft’s spyware.

“In the past Flatpak strictly required Microsoft systemd.”And “apparently,” an associate of ours notes, “Flatpak is being used to make a real mess of package repositories and installation, as well as be a vehicle for entrance of proprietary software. Brodie does not cover any of that explicitly but given the capabilities and the abuses of those capabilities, there is a real problem now which is looking worse each month.”

The video above makes a point about so-called ‘modern’ software. In many cases it offers little or no substantial gain. Flatpak can be a Trojan horse for all sorts of undesirable things. In the past Flatpak strictly required Microsoft systemd. Maybe it still does. █

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