Never use a “for-profit adblocker”. Ublock Origin is free, open source and therefore won’t fuck you over. You can guess where this “profit” is coming from when you’re not paying for your “for-profit” adblocker
We have a problem. People have learned that they shouldn’t use a free VPN. By that logic you shouldn’t use a free ad blocker either. People don’t understand the details enough so they operate on broad ideas.
The issue is that the difference is clear to us, but not to everyone else. Even at the periphery of the tech world, I’ve met people generally aware what source code is, but not of the specific concept of “Open Source” and why it makes a difference. We should avoid falling into the bubble trap where we assume that what’s familiar to us is familiar to everyone else as well.
Yeah that’s right. Really, the difference is between free software and free services.
Software can be free and open source and that can be a viable model, even a preferable model. Services can not be free without some party being exploited. In the best of cases this means services are provided by volunteers (and they are being exploited), but more commonly in business, it’s the users who are being exploited.
But as a rule, you should be suspicious of free services.
I dunno if there’s just a lack of education around what open-source means or what. Like jeez, you can contribute to unlock origin. You can study it and see if there’s anything you disagree with. You can fork it and change it.
For-profit ad blockers make their money from either ad injection or extorting ad companies to whitelist their ads. This is why the original adblock plus fell out of use.
I agree, unless it’s straight up paid software which I usually don’t mind paying for if it’s good and I need it. Although arguably uBlock Origin is so close to perfection that I can’t imagine how a paid ad blocker would hold up.
What software have you paid for? Over here, proud owner of (off the top of my head) Keyboard Maestro, BetterTouchTool, Shottr, and superwhisper for Mac.
Would be hard to live without these automation/macro, screenshot, and dictation tools!
Shottr is legit. It’s really amazing that there aren’t more decent screenshotting tools when they’re so incredibly useful. People would rather just take a picture of their screen and upload it that way :cringe:
Shottr was well worth their Black Friday price ($12?). But the free version is entirely sufficient and worked well for me for over a year.
Snagit has 10 times as many features for several times the price, but somehow Shottr is like the most efficient app ever. So, so fast! But Snagit is more like Shottr plus a miniature Photoshop so can excuse some of that.
Oh hey, forgot Snippety the text expander 🔥 even has an iOS keyboard.
It’s not just a higher price, it’s an ongoing subscription. That’s not something I would ever agree to. It makes zero sense. It’s just greedy bullshit, in my opinion. Give me a flat fee and if it breaks or you add new features, I will decide if I want to pay again for an upgrade.
Never use a “for-profit adblocker”. Ublock Origin is free, open source and therefore won’t fuck you over. You can guess where this “profit” is coming from when you’re not paying for your “for-profit” adblocker
Most prominently, this includes Adblock Plus, which functions as extortion-ware, extorting payments from ad-dealers to let their ads through.
We have a problem. People have learned that they shouldn’t use a free VPN. By that logic you shouldn’t use a free ad blocker either. People don’t understand the details enough so they operate on broad ideas.
There is a difference between “free & open source” and “free because you don’t pay with money”.
The first means it can be peer reviewed by anyone to make sure they aren’t doing anything shady.
The issue is that the difference is clear to us, but not to everyone else. Even at the periphery of the tech world, I’ve met people generally aware what source code is, but not of the specific concept of “Open Source” and why it makes a difference. We should avoid falling into the bubble trap where we assume that what’s familiar to us is familiar to everyone else as well.
Yeah that’s right. Really, the difference is between free software and free services.
Software can be free and open source and that can be a viable model, even a preferable model. Services can not be free without some party being exploited. In the best of cases this means services are provided by volunteers (and they are being exploited), but more commonly in business, it’s the users who are being exploited.
But as a rule, you should be suspicious of free services.
UBO is also free as in beer.
That’s why we need to start using libre
I dunno if there’s just a lack of education around what open-source means or what. Like jeez, you can contribute to unlock origin. You can study it and see if there’s anything you disagree with. You can fork it and change it.
Can’t save them all.
For-profit ad blockers make their money from either ad injection or extorting ad companies to whitelist their ads. This is why the original adblock plus fell out of use.
I agree, unless it’s straight up paid software which I usually don’t mind paying for if it’s good and I need it. Although arguably uBlock Origin is so close to perfection that I can’t imagine how a paid ad blocker would hold up.
What software have you paid for? Over here, proud owner of (off the top of my head) Keyboard Maestro, BetterTouchTool, Shottr, and superwhisper for Mac.
Would be hard to live without these automation/macro, screenshot, and dictation tools!
Shottr is legit. It’s really amazing that there aren’t more decent screenshotting tools when they’re so incredibly useful. People would rather just take a picture of their screen and upload it that way :cringe:
Shottr was well worth their Black Friday price ($12?). But the free version is entirely sufficient and worked well for me for over a year.
Snagit has 10 times as many features for several times the price, but somehow Shottr is like the most efficient app ever. So, so fast! But Snagit is more like Shottr plus a miniature Photoshop so can excuse some of that.
Oh hey, forgot Snippety the text expander 🔥 even has an iOS keyboard.
Great dev too, super responsive solo dude.
It’s not just a higher price, it’s an ongoing subscription. That’s not something I would ever agree to. It makes zero sense. It’s just greedy bullshit, in my opinion. Give me a flat fee and if it breaks or you add new features, I will decide if I want to pay again for an upgrade.
Shout-out to Beyond Compare! It makes my life as a many-hatted systems librarian much easier.
Nice, looks quite powerful
BC5 must be a huge upgrade for word wrap alone!
Oooh. I’ve not upgraded yet, but that looks exciting.