#freedom software

[seagull-support]

Freedom Through Code

People always tout the career-related benefits of learning to code, but something I've noticed in my years writing it is that there's a sense of freedom that comes with it. I can just like, do things that I want or need to do. Learning some basic Python opened up so many doors for me, if I wanted to know something or if I wanted to do something I could just do it myself. Some examples:

Need to rename a ton of files (like removing something that a converter added to the file name)? Just use a for loop!

Need to convert a list of text from one format to another? (like point form list to a CSV that excel can use) Just use string.split and some slicing to rejoin everything.

Writing a math proof and need to come up with a counterexample for something? Just brute-force it if the case is based on integers. (very helpful for modular arithmetic problems)

Need to do a task that's actually like 9 really different steps? You can usually just write a program to do it in 15 minutes.

Doing a really complicated math problem and want to be able to check you punched a number in? Desmos works great, but if you need to use custom functions that aren't supported, just write it all up in Python. You might run into some small floating point weirdness, but it'll be minor enough to ignore.

There are a TON of tools online that you can make yourself in the Python shell faster than you could google and find them. Even if you never want to touch the computer science space with a 10 foot pole, learning major skills like this grants you a unique kind of freedom that you can only achieve by turning an arcane space into one that's just foggy.

[titleknown]

I will note, while I do think it's perfectly reasonable for traditional/digital-traditional artists to be scared of AI art and perfectly understandable for some misinformation to circulate within that fear, the type of misinformation I've seen circulating points to a... disturbing trend.

Like, specifically the ideas that AI art programs are constantly scanning the net for new art to add to their dataset or "learn" from the art you put into it, even though the training process is actually one-and-done, no new data goes in after the initial training.

Or also the idea that AI art is inherently paywalled and hosted on some big company's server that can turn it off anytime, even though StableDiffusion is open source can basically be run for free on any sufficiently powerful gaming computer with no internet connection at all, and Midjourney plans to release their model in a similar way after they get their website up and running.

The thing I notice about these ideas is that they all basically rest on the core assumption that AI art software is inherently based on a software-as-service model, even when it's not the case.

Which is scary because it shows just how normalized the software-as-service model has become, even when people oppose it.

Like, call me crazy, but it's scary as hell that that's become so standard that people just assume any new types of software doesn't really "belong" to you by way of having a perpetual DRM/external-server chokechain...

[intrigd-voyagr]

lol i know u wanna adopt the Rona Child, but what about dissonance Nito? What they think about her?

Despite being a general desktop assistant for all ages, his software was developed with kids in mind so she sets off all his guardian programming :3

given what he knows now he's going to be a lot more wary of her safety from now on... this "bully bear" isn't just a bully but a real threat.....

[foxpunk]

"no brand is actually good--" true. "--or better." now hold on a minute.

[strawberrielove]

Day 22 of Freetober - Knight - Freetober is a month-long art challenge dedicated to creating art in open source programs during October (like Inktober :)) started by the Creative Freedom Summit team. I drew this in Krita, I would love to accumulate the skills to create in Blender or even vector art in Inkscape. But alas I'm still learning. If you're looking for a free easy art program to render, paint or just do lineart like this, Krita might be for you ;)

The drawing is referenced from the fantasy cosplayer Honeyswordcosplay on Instagram!

[manifestingalignment]

Are you guys excited about Tumblr potentially joining the Fediverse? 👀 I know I am!👇

https://www.howtogeek.com/850954/tumblr-and-flickr-might-join-mastodons-fediverse-network/

And if you have absolutely no sweet clue what the Fediverse even is, now is the time to learn about it because it’s the new Internet 2.0!

So what does it mean if Tumblr joins the Fediverse? 

It means that we will be part of a very interconnected space with thousands and thousands of independently run platforms that are completely outside of the Tumblr platform. Potentially, we will be able to follow, interact with other users, and support our favorite content creators across various platforms in the Fediverse without having to be part of those platforms if we don’t want to be. And Vice Versa, they will be able to follow and interact with those of us on Tumblr without having to be on the Tumblr platform themselves. How cool is that?!

[sunshinel3mon]

CyberGhost VPN: Unlocking Digital Freedom

Unveil the Power of CyberGhost VPN Are you tired of restrictions on your online activities? Look no further than CyberGhost VPN, the ultimate solution for unlocking digital freedom. With our exclusive deal offering 3 months FREE with the 2-year plan, CyberGhost VPN empowers you to experience the internet without boundaries. Unlock Digital Freedom Now The United Kingdom Welcomes CyberGhost…

[laurusnoblesse]

My GNU/Linux journey, part 1: Introduction

Hello and welcome back to my humble blog! It has been a while (more like years, almost 3!), but here we are. This blog has been through a lot, mostly through so many comebacks and then hiatuses, again and again, but I always end up coming back and having new plans for it. However, this time is, hopefully, different. The reason being me switching completely to FOSS (Free* and Open Source…

[sentient-rift]

Hey, everyone. Sorry my activity levels have been dwindling lately. IRL stuff has been keeping me busy, and the amount of free time I have isn't as much as before. Plus, sometimes I need to use my free time on different things like drawing and such. Speaking of which, I have a question for the Freedom Planet fans out there;

If Avalice had Wood Dragons, do you think they'd look something like this?

[teachersource]

Margaret Hamilton was born on August 17, 1936. An American computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner. She was director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo program. She later founded two software companies—Higher Order Software in 1976 and Hamilton Technologies in 1986, both in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hamilton has published more than 130 papers, proceedings, and reports, about sixty projects, and six major programs. She is one of the people credited with coining the term "software engineering". On November 22, 2016, Hamilton received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from president Barack Obama for her work leading to the development of on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo Moon missions.

[gender-trash]

[myriad-rainbows]

AND it lets you use regular expressions in Find & Replace, which is so sexy to me combined with the fact that you can search by format means that you can, FOR EXAMPLE, replace all of your italics with unformatted text surrounded by the appropriate html tags, in one fell swoop, using tools that are natively available in the software. (At least in theory—I haven't tested this exact use case yet because I was using RegEx for work purposes, but I don't see any reason it wouldn't work.)

begging people to stop using google docs to write your smut and start using LibreOffice.

Its free, its open source, it doesn't datamine your shit, and it doesn't use fucking AI for autocorrect. (Although you may need to manually update the dictionary occasionally for spellcheck)

[destkelamedia]

10 Must-Take Free Courses for Software Engineers in 2025

[horsescary]

I've been a big fan of free software for a while but I really don't know how to reconcile the fact that a good number of big names in the space are like really shitty people

[andypiper]

Return of the Ogg(Camp)

The UK's largest free culture and free and open source community unconference is back, after a 5 year hiatus. Come along and take part! #OggCamp #Blaugust2024 #100DaysToOffload

One of the earliest community events that I got heavily involved with here in the UK was OggCamp. Back in the later part of the first decade of the 21st Century, otherwise known as around about 2009, a band of Free Culture and Free and Open Source advocates and fans banded together to create an unconference that brought together these communities to talk about and celebrate … well, everything…

[analytik2]

Don't forget two essential utilities:

ShutUp10++ - does a lot of the above, but with a friendly, portable, ad-free app

ExplorerPatcher - this is a life saver, BECAUSE!!!

You can make time in taskbar show seconds

You can convert Windows 11 taskbar and Start menu to Windows 10 style

You can remove garbage from the start menu

You can change the window switcher (Alt-Tab) style

A bunch more! Fixes for everyone

I got a laptop with Windows 11 for an IT course so I can get certified, and doing the first time device set-up for it made me want to commit unspeakable violence

Windows 11 should not exist, no one should use it for any reason, it puts ads in the file explorer and has made it so file searches are also web searches and this cannot be turned off except through registry editing. Whoever is responsible for those decisions should be killed, full stop.

Switch to linux, it's free and it's good.