As a huge fan of FOSS and privacy respecting tools, business and platforms, I am very particular about the hardware, software and services I use.
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Web Hosting
This website is hosted by the 1984 Hosting Company (not sponsored), which was established in 2006 by a couple of Free Software and civil rights enthusiasts.
Laptop Computer
I have quite a few laptops around the house, because I am a Linux enthusiast. I have everything from an Toshiba NB 300 (circa 2010), which I test very light Linux distros on, to various 5-10 your old laptops that I also use for testing. I even have an IBM Thinkpad T43 (circa 2005) that still runs the original version of Windows XP. But my main laptop is a Dell 7480 (circa 2017), Touchscreen, with 32 GB of RAM. I have 4 of them in the house, because they’re great laptops. Side note: I have given my Spacehey profile a Windows XP theme. How cool is that? Windows XP is the last Windows OS that was any good, imo. I still open my Thinkpad T43 from time to time.
Operating System
I’m a huge fan of Debian. More specifically, I love distros that are base on Debian – but even though I was introduced to Linux by Ubuntu around 2008, I have come to heavily dislike Ubuntu – and by extension, any distro that’s based on Ubuntu. My favourite Debian distro of choice for personal use is Sparky Linux (stable) and I do run it on personal laptops that I don’t do any work on. However, having said that, due to the fact that as a web developer and digital marketer, I prolifically use multiple workspaces on three screens, the only distro I’ve found that works absolutely flawlessly and has not given me a moment of trouble for years is: Zorin PRO. Unfortunately it’s based on Ubuntu (which I’m not happy about), but it’s heavily modified and supremely polished. In spite of trying many dozens of distros on just as many laptops, Zorin is the one that simple never let’s me down. So, Zorin it is for me. I’ve used it excusively on my work laptop for at least a couple of years now. It runs flawlessly and never misses a beat. I still play with other distros though. Always watching distro reviews etc.
Desktop Environment
I truly love the simplicity of XFCE. On laptops and other computer setups where I am not doing web development, I definitely beeline straight to XFCE. Sparky LINUX and XFCE is a great combo. However, on my daily driver and work laptop, I use the Gnome desktop environment that comes with Zorin, with Gnome Tweaks for hot corners and various other functionalities to do with screens and workspaces.
Browser of Choice
As a web developer and digital marketer since the turn of the millennium, I’ve used pretty much every browser that is or ever was. I was intimately familiar with all browsers back in the day, as all websites I built were hand coded to be W3C compliant. I’ve always been a fan of Firefox, but recently I’ve come to the realization that Firefox has fallen from grace. They’re accepting money from Google and the company has become “Woke”. It’s just sad. Nevertheless, I plug along with Firefox, because quite frankly there;s nothing else. And I won’t use Chromium or anything made with Chromium.
The Downfall of Mozilla
In an article titled: We need more than deplatforming, Mitchell Baker starts out saying:
“There is no question that social media played a role in the siege and take-over of the US Capitol on January 6“.
There was no “siege”. That is a mainstream media, leftist and Democrat lie. She goes on to say:
“[the] internet [is used] to foment violence and hate, and reinforce white supremacy“.
This article is so detached form reality, I’ve lost all hope in Firefox. Mitchell winds up by saying:
“[that the Internet should] Work with independent researchers to facilitate in-depth studies of the platforms’ impact on people and our societies“.
Well, that’s a slippery-slope if I’ve ever seen one. Who’s going to empower these “independent researchers”? Will they be susceptible to bribed and under the table deals? If they’re lefties you can count on that being a problem. Anyway, I digress. Firefox is dead. It was great. I used to love and support Firefox. Now I don’t. Plus
I agree with this comment by “bin_bash” on this page, that discusses Mitchell Baker’s 3 million dollar salary:
“Mozilla is a welfare company that exists so Google can point to another browser and claim they don’t have a monopoly“.
Nicely said.
Having said the above, I actually use FireFox as my daily browser and web development browser because, well, at least it’s not Google. I’m hoping that one day we’ll have more choice.
And then there’s this email I got from Kevin Hlll, which made me raise my eyebrows. So I corrected it. Mozilla has lost the plot.
