If you have a Soho router already and its compatible with openwrt, use that. Otherwise, build a cheap x86 PC with 2 or more nic ports and use OPNsense. pfSense is probably not a great option anymore for reasons already outlined in other comments.

Perhaps. And if not that, I’m sure there are other forbidden topics there.

Just like in the West.

The difference is that the West pretends to care about free speech and even uses it as an excuse to bomb/sanction/invade other countries.

If those policies aren’t enforced it hardly matters. 996 is technically illegal there but last I checked some of the richest companies in China were still practicing it.

Happy to be shown evidence to the contrary, but I don’t think the plight of Chinese workers is better than Americans, and certainly not Europeans.

I bet in China you can talk about the genocide in Gaza without getting beaten, jailed, or deported.

This is a real answer

That is the most satisfying answer yet.

Sorry for soapboxing. I get a little spicy when discussing intellectual property rights.

I know its not realistic, but I just imagine how great GIMP would be if people donated just 1/20th of what they pay Adobe to the GIMP devs.

Same with LibreOffice vs Office.

We are really missing out on some potentially fantastic software so that a few people can be in the centibillionaire club and it makes me sangry

I know that’s true about more than just software, but the way to “fight back” here is so easy and low risk compared to fighting the other cartels that farm us for $$. It is as easy as not using their products and services if there is a viable alternative that respects your humanity.

Was it more difficult or just unfamiliar? Like, if you’d given it a couple of weeks maybe it would have become intuitive? Or was it just bad UX?

Fair, but why not put energy into learning to use the FOSS tools now instead of getting used to another interface that will eventually betray you?

Unironic question: is it possible to explain to a non-artistic, non-graphic-design techie like me what makes GIMP so inadequate? I hear this refrain a lot but have never heard an explanation for why it falls SO short that it’s not a viable alternative for most people.

Swapping out one proprietary app for another is just delaying the inevitable.

If you think Canva won’t pull the same shit Adobe does once they have the market dominance to do so, you’re deluding yourself.

The only future-proof, user-respecting, dignified alternative is FOSS.

Please explain to non-artist techies like me why? I keep hearing that refrain but no one can ever explain to me what these FOSS alternatives are actually missing that keeps people from switching.

Based on my experience with Office -> LibreOffice I have to assume it’s some combination of laziness about learning something new, “the interface looks old” nonsense, and being unwilling to work through bugs/quirks (even though Office has plenty of its own bugs/quirks - they’re just different from LibreOffice’s and again, people don’t want to learn something new).

Am I wrong? Am I missing something? Specifically, what makes Photoshop not just better than GIMP, but SOOO MUCH BETTER that people are willing to give their money to bourgeois a-holes for the privilege of running software that they will never truly own, that spies on them, that injects unwanted AI into everything, etc.

As someone who has a full FOSS stack, can you explain to a non-graphic-design techie like me why people are so allergic to the FOSS alternatives? I just don’t know enough about design to understand why people will put up with so much abuse from Adobe when there are completely free alternatives that are not weighed down by AI and actually respect your privacy.

Why are you getting downvoted for providing relevant facts? Sometimes this place is as reactionary as 8chan

I wasn’t on a VPN at the time but that is something I hadn’t thought of before.

I think its just what they do to people who reject their cookies.

What a terrible website. I went through the ridiculously convoluted process of rejecting unnecessary cookies only to be immediately told I had reached my free article limit. I’d never been to the site before.

Frankly I didn’t realize how much of myself I was masking by trying to maintain relationships with people who have anti-civilizational worldviews. I thought I was being open minded and accepting, but I was actually just dimming my own light and giving their horrific beliefs legitimacy.

It feels liberating to have solid boundaries.

I also have “lost” “friends” because they couldn’t pull their heads out of their asses.

Many won’t. And that is understandable. But our only hope for the Star Trek future I’ve wanted since a kid is international solidarity among average people, regardless of what their stupid governments do.