I would say this is one of the things EU is doing quite a good job.
It would be difficult making Linux de facto illegal in EU. It could happen but most likely it won't.
this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2025
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Mmmm, Linux
I'm honestly kinda sick of this. Sure, Google's decision to try to lock down their devices to prevent installing unsigned apps is concerning for FOSS. But can we all just calm down a bit?
Linux isn't going anywhere, and neither is hardware that supports it. Yes, is possible that Microsoft or even Intel (now that Trump has bought into it) might try to do some sketchy shit. But the open hardware market is starting to look promising. Look at MNT, System76, Pine, Framework etc..
I agree times are scary and everything is looking kinda bleak, but your best option right now is to completely boycot (as much as possible) Google, Apple, Meta, Microsoft etc. Just stop using their shit.
Buy up old PC's, turn them into home servers and self host as many services as you can.
I'm confident GrapheneOS will continue and we will still have f-droid after 2027. But I'm an optimist.
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With Linux being the standard for server systems there is no way to force locked bootloaders everywhere without making the whole web and a lot of companies collapse. But I expect more limitations regarding desktop systems. It's hard to tell at this point because it's a complex issue, not only from an economical but also political point of view (Mass surveillance).
Don't I own this hardware? Can I not do what I want with it?
No, because fuck you. Ownership is for pussies, do you really want to own what you buy? Just buy a new one if you have problems. my hope is that we eventually get to a point where you cant even build your own PC. Gaming PCs all built by Nvidia woth the latest Geforce built in to the motherboard. With a subscription fee to use it, im talking cheap like only $20/month. and then in a year it can sleep gently in a landfill. Oh and a feature that sets your house on fire and mangles your genitals. and if you try to turn that off, you get sued. it was in the TOS, just dont use a computer if that bothers you, shithead. the future is bright.
You own the hardware but not the software.
And that includes the firmware required for you to load your software.
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Your account is marked as a bot by the way, you can fix that in your user settings
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It's called secure boot and it's been around for over 10 years now.
And the first iteration was much more locked down, only got changed after public complaints.
I think that's because of GPL-2, which had allowance (unintentional) for Tivoization, which is what Secure Boot is a form of from what I read. I might be wrong on that, though.
GPL-3 fixed the Tivoization, though.
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This isn't quite the same thing. I'd say locked bootloaders are the Android analog, and they are already less likely to be user unlockable than the typical PC (and the situation is getting worse).
This is what happened when we allowed companies with a profit incentive to code our devices. Linux will always be free, and there will be companies that design computers for Linux, such as Fairphone, Framework, Furi, Fedora, and probably some that don't start with F too
By far most of work on Linux is being done by for profit companies
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It will creep in slowly since most people dont touch any settings on their computer after the initial unboxing and setup.
Big box retailers will offer discounts on them, much like how you can buy a Chromebook for very little.
Enticed by cheap computers, people will buy not knowing that any limitations exist. They'll be encouraged to use centralized app repositories but they can still install some other stuff.
A year or two later, some things won't be permitted, computer will make scary warnings when installing, but with enough clicking, you can get past. Until the day you can't.
It will be a progression, but it will happen eventually. I honestly am surprised that computers dont require some sort of registration. I'm sure that will happen eventually.
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We already have that. A reason they want to shift to ARM is so they can lock the hardware down.
That's probably why risc-v is getting quite popular in embedded stuff - smaller companies wanting more supply chain independence. Hopefully it'll start to get more powerful soon for more serious computing. Its nice that stuff like debian now has risk-v version too.
Nahhhhhh that's far more interesting in cause. Moore's law has been dead for like... I dunno', at least a decade by now? Bigger and bigger instruction sets have similarly hit their max return on investment. RISC-V is making a comeback solely because it's literally competative now that frequency and even fancy inctructions have long since tapped out for performance gains.
Especially with GPU compute becoming more and more of a thing since DX11+. Parallel computation has become more and more of a well understood task with great ROI while increasing single threaded performance has been a wizard's game for yeeeaaaaars.
It's gotten to the point where some companies are aiming to produce competative RISC-V desktops and servers.
Linux on the phone has come a long way I hear. I have been meaning to buy one and see if it can be my daily driver. Google being shitty would definitely push me there
I even liked the idea I saw mentioned today where maybe it's time for 2 devices.
One that just does phone calls and SMS.
The other is a tiny portable Linux computer that does everything else. Who needs android or apps anyway?
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There's also Europe, which has led the way in regulating against monopolistic power for Big Tech.
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It'll just be another day for apple users.
Android is opensource. ROM developers like lineageos should be able to create nornal ROMs with sideload enabled
This is only relevant as long as someone is selling hardware with an unlockable bootloader. The scenario where that isn't the case in a few years is unfortunately realistic.
The scrolls tell of a new geohot that will come along and jailbreak again to save us all...
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New releases of android aren't open source and available to the public, the source code is released much later now. You need to be an OEM to get access. This is a real problem faced by developers like Lineage and Graphene
That's a misconception
https://www.ctol.digital/news/android-open-source-google-development-lockdown/
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...And have them able to run on zero consumer devices if the bootloaders are locked, and the manufacturers refuse to sign their ROMs for them. (Hint: they will refuse to sign their ROMs for them.)
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