I've used them for years. They're likely the most private VPN, but I still can't recommend them. Their IPs are constantly blocked, and with few servers, switching doesn't help (this was already an issue long before I was a customer). Plus, their macOS app has tons of issues.
Huh, I've been pretty happy with them. I live in a country where IPs are often blocked entirely by US and European websites (presumably due to hacking issues and lack of government action). So my major use is being able to access websites.
It's true that servers are flagged, but every VPN has that issue. Usually switching to a new server resolves it and I've noticed some servers aren't use much and are very fast and not flagged by many websites.
What I like about Mullvad is not only the commitment to privacy, but also the VPN speeds. I get 300-500MB/s pretty regularly. Some servers get congested during peak times, but switching to another I'll usually find a fast one in a desirable country very quickly.
Open source software often isn’t preinstalled, may not work flawlessly with many hardware configurations, in general hard to install, often lacks a GUI, has poor UX and UI, and high cognitive load. Also no marketing.
They will be interested when open source devs would prioritize these, but it won't happen
Now I for one like that it doesn't have a gui. I can script with it/tinker it with more.
But lets for the sake of general population agree that yes, most people want a good gui.
So lets go to the operating system that general population has. Android.
Now they can install termux and then go be one of us but then again not gui/cognitive load.
So there is f-droid. Also, its not that hard finding some genuinely cool foss stuff
I wanted a pdf reader on android and I searched open source pdf editor and tried 2-3 and some had poor UX and UI but then I found MJPdf (as an example) https://github.com/mudlej/mj_pdf/ and I found it to be the most superior UI/UX I have seen for a pdf editor.
Same goes for my browser. Zen-browser has the best UI/UX for browser based system. Its just so cool. I love it with Ublock origin.
I can give you some software I can personally vouch for the good UI/UX and compile a list but would that really matter?
I just thought of this idea, also another idea for a good gui is that its kind of hard and requires a language like dart/kotlin which I am not familiar with/ don't actively like (I haven't tried them)
I want to make good android apps in golang but I know I sort of can't make it or its a bunch of hacks/(not worth it?) but there are apps which do that too.
Also I am not sure how you can have marketing for open source apps when the devs sometimes if the app is a service run them at a loss financially and invest their time into it. If we can't expect donations to be made to them, I don't think we can expect this as well, can we?
The incentives system for foss is broken imo but I am not sure how changing it can happen.
If any devs are reading: please add compact tabs like safari and an extension that summarizes pages/video transcripts and enables LLM chat with that context.
I agree that it’s a function of moderation, but I also think moderation is deliberately done in a way to drive/keep engagement; otherwise, there would be far fewer ideological, current-events, and non-“hacker” posts that receive a lot of comments and upvotes.
> I don’t think it’s “enshittification” in the sense Doctorow coined the term.
While I didn’t mean it only strictly in the original sense and instead also used it as a synonym for general decline, I still think it fits the definition more or less, since while my post got appropriately flagged for not meeting guidelines, a lot of posts, mainly ideological and current events, that also do not meet the guidelines don’t get flagged these days [1][2], and since moderation is part of their service, the service is degrading, likely so that this site will grow.
> What I do think has changed is me. And the "community" here over the years.
> I also have a (quite possibly wrong) view that as HN’s user base has grown, there’s a lower percentage of people here for genuine “hacker” discussions—by which I mean the interesting technical stuff, whether computer-related or not—and a higher percentage here for the latest tech fad, for YC or founder attention, or just for money, rather than pure intellectual curiosity.
Even though I’ve been here only a few years, I still feel the same way.
> I 100% believe that for me, there was a higher signal-to-noise ratio for both the discussions I’m interested in and the people I recognize and respect, than there was 10 or 15 years ago. But I’m still here.
I’ve gradually stopped visiting most popular sites, be it social media, forums, etc. because as they grow, the noise overwhelms the signal, and the original reason to visit vanishes for me. I still will be here too but probably not for long.
While this post was appropriately flagged for violating the guidelines, many other ideological posts that go against those guidelines remain unflagged. Since moderation is part of their service, I think it still aligns with the definition. However, you are also correct. I didn't mean it strictly in the exact sense but was also referring to a general decline, regardless of their business model.
I like the idea of using a more glass-like UI, but the implementation is horrible. It looks like a school project rather than work from the biggest company in the world. I generally don't understand the idea of making every UI look more like a children's toy.
