Libb

Taxes. They have an incredible talent to raise new taxes.

And, more seriously, like already mentioned in another comment: destroying public services. which is a real sad thing to see happening, if you ask me.

100% with you.

I’m 50+, I’m not a geek and for the last 35 years or so I mostly was an happy Apple customer/user (I only used Windows for a couple games and, recently, on a PC laptop). I was happy using Apple and even earned decent money doing so but, a few years ago, I grew tired of seeing Apple acting like a dick — more and more greenwashing while at the same time making it impossible to upgrade or fix hardware, and then they released the turdiest keyboard ever created on this planet (yep, looking at you Butterfly keyboard) and insisted on using it for years, despite so many of us complaining. So, I decided it was time to try something else. Windows did not impress me much. Then, I tried Linux and was so impressed how simple it was to use (I don’t do fancy stuff on my computer, I write) and how I could (more or less simply, but quite often it’s simple) tweak it to do exactly what I wanted, and how nice it was to run even on very old hardware (making for less e-waste, which is a good thing), I was sold. Plus, I won’t lie, the whole freedom and privacy considerations, the GNU philosophy, were becoming an important factor too as I realized how we were increasingly deprived of those.

I still own a Mac today but, unless there is some kind of revolution at Apple’s HQ, I don’t see myself buying a new Mac after this one dies of old age. My main computer is now my Linux machine. I keep the Mac out of laziness and habits… Also because I would miss one specific app: Scrivener, a writing app I’ve been using probably for the last 15 years, if not more. And, yep, I’ve tried many alternatives available under Linux and they don’t cut it for me.

Setting up a new laptop - How do I get around needing a Microsoft account?

I use Linux. Not trolling, it’s just what I decided to do so I could avoid Microsoft spying craziness… and their bloatware, too.

If Linux is not an option for you, maybe an utility like Win11Debloat could help you use Windows whiled minimizing (removing?) all the spying and bloat? https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat

Intolerance.

Aka, the lack of willingness to understand one another — I mean, the ability to discuss and work together toward a common goal, even with people we (deeply) disagree with — and the hostility towards whatever dares being/liking/talking/thinking different.

This is a not only a sad dead-end, imho this is also the very end of any society and of any civilization when the only other persons we can tolerate around us are exact copies of ourselves. People behaving, dressing, talking and thinking exactly like we do — or like we want them to.

This frightens me way much than anything else because I see no way to escape it and, even more terrifying to me, I see no place anywhere where one could escape it. Intolerance is growing everywhere, and it’s growing fast.

Would also require seller to fill many tax and vat forms (one per country they sell products into). And it may very well not be worth the effort.

It’s all about choice. And choice, aka diversity, is great.

It’s like not having to eat a banana if you don’t like them and having the ability to grow the fruit you would love the most instead. That’s also why I’ve now (in the last 5 or 6 years) mostly switched from Mac to GNU/Linux. This Mac Mac Studio I’m writing on right now is the last Mac I own and I see very little chance for it to be replaced by a newer Mac when time comes to replace it. I like the freedom of choice and to do what the funk I fancy on my computer. Not just what some designer at Cupertino (or some wannabe designer, at Redmond) decided I should be permitted to do.

Also, where is the standard between incompatible different macOS versions or different versions of Windows? Or between incompatible versions of the same apps running on those systems? I’m not saying it’s wrong, nor that it’s great, just that we should not neglect all those ‘standardization issues’ that exist in every single system. Marketing should not be blindly trusted — Imho, marketing should never be trusted, and not even listened to but that’s just me deeply allergic to bullshit ;)

Less people using public libraries (and reading books to learn stuff) around me because 'who needs to read books when there is everything on the Internet and I can Google anything’?

And, at least as saddening and frightening to me, seeing more and more people willing to censor whatever book, author, or idea, they hate or even they just don’t agree with (most often, without even reading it). It’s even worse when I see librarians supporting that — it doesn’t matter how ‘good’ their motivation is, censorship’s only success is in the promotion of stupid ideas (if not of sheer ignorance), hate and fear.