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Each passing year I'm ever more glad to rely on Linux not Windows or macOS for my desktop experience. I wish I had a practical FOSS solution for mobile as well. #foss #windows #linux https://www.pcgamesn.com/windows-11/ai-app-watermark

Windows 11 will give your PC a mark of shame if it can’t run AI apps

A new Windows 11 update looks set to add watermarks to PCs that can't support the latest AI-enabled apps, such as AI Explorer and CoPilot.
Edward Chester (PCGamesN)
#linux #foss #Windows

reshared this

in reply to Hank G ☑️

Mark Wollschlager
Mark Wollschlager
• •
Cool, that's the machine I want. I hope they provide a list of systems that would be free from that stuff.
The resale market will take off.
in reply to Hank G ☑️

Kenny Chaffin
Kenny Chaffin
• •
This is such bullshit!!! Just this week the started pushing advertisements into the start menu and MS Edge widgets on the start screen! Bastards!
I'm about ready to make the jump....
in reply to Hank G ☑️

Julien
Julien
• •
For your mobile, have you considered lineageos or other forks ? I wouldn't recommend UbuntuTouch for practical reasons, but Lineageos does a pretty good job. Say the guy who's been using it for like 10 years...
in reply to Julien

Hank G ☑️
Hank G ☑️
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I have played with /e/os. It worked better than I thought it would but the only prepacked phone with it I could get in the US was substandard, The Teracube 2e. For experimentation I could see trying to install on a phone after the fact for experimentation purposes again though. But at that point we are still pretty much beholden to Google to keep playing nice with "jailbroken" Android variants.
in reply to Hank G ☑️

Andrew Pam
Andrew Pam
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There is no dependency on Google's behaviour. The proprietary Google libraries and apps that run on top of operating systems based on the open source Android code are optional, and you can run LineageOS without them. Google has been actively upstreaming Android code into the core Linux kernel. And you can also run a stock kernel and OS like Debian (eg Mobian) on some phones.
in reply to Andrew Pam

Hank G ☑️
Hank G ☑️
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But with what I need it to do or other apps to do. For example does the whole Health ecosystem still work? Will it work when Google does the third generation of that and retires the old API like they are doing with the first generation version of it? Etc...
in reply to Hank G ☑️

Julien
Julien
• •
So, if you don't want to install it yourself, the Volla phones ares an option. They're not of the highest standard, but they do the job (I have one). They run a variant of lineageos called VollaOS. What's cool is that they have a preinstalled multiboot, allowing you to try multiple options.
Another option is Pixel phones with GrapheneOS. I've seen it's pretty straightforward to install, but there's a company that sells Pixels with Graphene preinstalled. The company is called Nitro. The latest Fairphone can come with lineageos, but I've seen a video where the phone was deemed "substandard" for its price tag.
in reply to Julien

Hank G ☑️
Hank G ☑️
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@Julien I bet they aren't sold in the US. I had the same problem with trying to get a Fairphone here. Maybe I'll have a friend in EU buy one and send to me if that'll work (I don't know if it will). I may have to bite the bullet anyway. As I just rant posted, it looks like Apple is about to integrate all this AI crap using OpenAI or Google AI systems. Streaming all my data to Apple was a compromise position since they at least aren't in the data resale business like the other two. With that gone I'm just globally fucked on the mobile front and have to decide the least bad non-Android/non-iOS experience and suck up having to do my own administration work. SMH.
@Julien
in reply to Hank G ☑️

Andrew Pam
Andrew Pam
• •
@Hank G ☑️ Yeah, if your apps rely on the Google libraries, you'll need to find or write apps that don't - or better, use a web app.
@Hank G ☑️
in reply to Andrew Pam

Hank G ☑️
Hank G ☑️
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@Andrew Pam Yeah or maybe I just need to write specifically to Garmin APIs or something...I don't know.
@Andrew Pam
in reply to Hank G ☑️

Julien
Julien
• •
"Garmin connect" works in Lineageos. Like actually most apps. You don't need to install the googleplaystore for that. Install Aurora appstore instead.
in reply to Julien

Hank G ☑️
Hank G ☑️
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Right but does it sync data to Google Health or is that a service that has no parallel in the microG ecosystem. From what I can tell it does not. I like to be able to extract my data when possible. A lot more research to do...
in reply to Hank G ☑️

Julien
Julien
• •
Aurora store allows you to install Googleplaystore apps that are free. You can use the built-in anonymous account for that. Your phone is still interacting with google servers to get the app, but in the cleanest possible way. If you download and install Garmin connect this way on a lineageos phone, I don't know of anything that would use Google Health.
in reply to Hank G ☑️

Phil Thane ✅
Phil Thane ✅
• •
I used LineageOS on my last phone and it was fine. Not totally FOSS but nearly, and certainly Google-free. Unfortunately it's only available for a limited range of phones, not including this cheap Oppo.
in reply to Hank G ☑️

hummingbird
hummingbird
• •
@julien says "" I don’t know of anything that would use Google Health."
I do. Alphabet aka Google.
in reply to Hank G ☑️

Julien
Julien
• •
I don't get it. To clarify, maybe: in this setup, with Lineageos, Aurora store and Garmin connect, where is Alphabet involved in data harvesting, or Google Health ?
in reply to Hank G ☑️

hummingbird
hummingbird
• •
Lineageos is an OS. Aurora store is a apps store. Garmin connect is a comms protocol+interface. All give access. GoogleHealth is a commercial enterprise. Read the terms+Coditions of Alphabet/Google. Monitor the types of advertising being shown as you navigate the web. The @julien comment is what I am addressing.
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