I didn’t assume we were speaking of the general public in c/technology, maybe that was a mistake. Most of what I said can be done without too much effort, especially browser extensions. The openHAB and various other tools are only going to apply to those who need them and probably have experience enough to try to tackle them. The only major one that I think people should take advantage of but is beyond most folks ability is Pi-hole. It’s not hard at all, but if you don’t know where to look or what the instructions mean it’ll be impossible for them.

You’ve reiterated pretty much what I said, but directly contradicted some of the most obvious points.

Not sure what a “cute girl” has to do with anything, I gave a pragmatic explanation. Do you treat cute girls like they can’t handle realistic information?

Your idea is to reduce functionality of popular devices. That’s not going to work. Like I said, if you want to play in these businesses’ little proprietary gardens you’re going to have to play by their rules. If you want to be a Luddite, great, but for the vast majority of people such limited devices will never be adopted and any business producing them will either be niche expensive or fail.

I grew up with computers since the ‘70s. I know this golden age well - and the golden age of the internet before it was monetized, tracked, ad-ified, walled off, etc.

We’re never going to get the old days back.

There’s always some business that’s going to insert itself between what you want and you and try to extract profit from it. Doesn’t matter if it’s tracking you or subscription fees.

I hate being taken advantage of like that, but unfortunately if you want to play with some of their toys you have to pay.

Just do it judiciously and take control where you can.

I build my own PCs. No pre-loaded crap. I download driver-only software when needed, not bloated corporate-ware like what HP or canon does to pester you about ordering ink. I have several Linux boxes doing free things for me like running a 3D printer, running a CUPS print server, running openHABian, a Jellyfin server, and the best of all - Pi-hole (block ads, block devices from phoning home). I run Firefox with all the ad blockers and anti-trackers. Facebook containers and YouTube ad blockers.

But I run windows 10. Why? Because it was free and it works. Take advantage of the system that takes advantage of you. I also run it dual boot with Manjaro, for all those tasks windows might make difficult.

My LAN has a separate network for all IOT and similar devices so they can’t see the rest of my network, and most are blocked from phoning home as needed. They don’t get to sell that data.

I take advantage of all free good software; Gimp, LibreOffice, OBS, VLC, 7zip…

Some things we’ll never get back, like ownership of top-tier games that have to phone home.

Anyway… like I said, there’s no way to wind the clock back. However, with effort, you can control what you can and at least not give them what they’re trying to extract from you. Be in charge of what you let them have. It’s really all we’ve got.

Everyone thought AI was going to kill us via some Terminator-like Skynet.

Nope.

It’s just going to let us kill ourselves via greed and accelerate destroying the environment.

Those were replaced with better tech that did the exact same thing. VGA - DVI - HDMI - Display Port.

I don’t know about you, but I still have one DVD hooked up. Because I have the option to. Not because the motherboard maker took away all the SATA ports and told me I had to buy a special proprietary dongle or plug to fit the replacement.

Yet more proof that Apple has ceased to be an innovator that adds features to phones and now takes things away and leaves it to fans to make up justifications for it.

It’s what jj122 posted… Click the link, then the link in the comment s/he linked to.

Any chance of bricking a drive with libredrive?

EDIT: My drive isn’t supported anyway. Thanks, though.

I poked around and found the solution to the issue in the MakeMKV forums probably just as you posted this. Thank you.

I guess I could have included that. It’s just a generic muti-error output stating it couldn’t find any files or that the source may be copyright protected - something I figured libdvdcss was supposed to work around.

Hmm…gave that a try just now and it said the version was too old (? odd, it was the latest listed) and asked for a registration…

Not sure what I did incorrectly, but that was the route I started on before looking for other ways to backup my collection… I dropped the libdvdcss in my Handbrake directory as was suggested on other sites, but Handbrake throws an error every time.

And then they integrate the systems with proprietary cross checking so that you can’t swap out or disconnect components, doing so will throw a code that will prevent cars from passing inspection on the CAN bus or cause a no-start. Why? Because they’ll put that shit in the contract when you buy.

Just like the outrage over car features needing subscriptions to activate, people will bitch and complain, then they buy the car anyway.

There have been instances of things like “lifetime licenses” or free services that were “free forever” that turned around and started subscription services. I hope this clarifies my intent, I did not indicate a “warranty”.

How is using magnets a “new button”?

Disabled folks who can’t fasten buttons have been using magnet closures for a while. This guy adds the ability to decorate it and that’s a new button? They had changeable button covers for fun in the ‘80s.

lol, company gets hosed by the same crap they do to consumers. “Lifetime” licenses aren’t lifetime.

Warfare has always been hell, but now when someone hunts you down with a drone while you’re running away it makes it a particularly terrifying personal hell.

Spoken like a corporate apologist.

I tried that. Didn’t work. There may be some filters so they don’t serve inappropriate ads to people with families or some such.

That may be so, but nonetheless they overlap often enough.