Uncertain if it has all the customization you want, but check out ArcMenu for GNOME
https://github.com/tau-OS/tau-arcmenu?tab=readme-ov-file
https://gitlab.com/arcmenu/ArcMenu

That changed last summer:
https://cdimage.debian.org/images/unofficial/non-free/images-including-firmware/

I used to think a lot about up-gradability before but often find that when a cpu is too slow then it is also so old that I have to change the motherboard and ram too for compatibility reasons.
Same thing with the motherboard, if it fails I’ve never had it be new enough that I can bring my cpu and ram with me to my next motherboard (unless buying an older motherboard second hand).
And many of my disks will be old enough that I want to replace them too, at least if they have anything important on them.

Only things I’ve brought with me when upgrading desktops have been my case (including fans), psu, gpu and (some) disks.
Having a quiet and dust proof case that is easy to build in and a good psu that https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/ endorses has become higher priority to me since then, as I know they might last me more than one build.

I stand corrected, .NET Core is open source and uses the MIT License.

As in
“We’ve finished taking all we need from the Mono project and implemented it into our proprietary .NET implementation for Linux, Android and iOS. Instead of getting flack for killing off Mono (which is open source and would’ve been forked anyways) we graciously give this old husk to the Wine project. We recommend that active Mono users and maintainers of Mono-based app frameworks migrate to .NET. kthnxbye!”

Good thing that it went to Wine I guess, as they do lots of work to get old Windows programs up and running in Linux and that often involves Mono.

Historically I’ve gone for Lenovo laptops, at least for their business segments they’ve been good with releasing updates to fix security issues for many years. Having a promise of 5 years of firmware updates would be lovely though.

For some reason I imagine a toilet that automates a stool test and blood test and gives you a health report every month.

AUX, MicroSD, smaller format and big battery was the reason I went for my Sony Xperia 10 IV (budget phone, got mine new for 260€) device.
Sadly their software updates are only for two years as otherwise I would’ve been interested in the Sony Xperia 5 series (compact flagship). I’m not paying flagship prices for a phone that stops updating after two years.

I hope that the EU regulation forcing 5 years of updates for phones and tablets starting June 2025 will allow me a compact flagship phone with aux, big battery and updates for a long time.
https://repair.eu/sv/news/new-eu-rules-smartphones-and-tablets-will-follow-new-ecodesign-requirements-by-june-2025/

sending personal data to someone else’s computer.

I think this is spot on. I think it’s exciting with LLMs but I’m not gonna give the huge corporations my data, nor anyone else for that matter.

Telemetry, licensing and proprietary extensions in VS Code is the whole reason for VScodium to exist.
https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium

For details follow the link. This is nothing more than the headlines.

Finances
The GNOME Foundation reserves policy says that the buffer is too low to run at a deficit any longer, which it has done for three years. This years budget is a break-even budget.

Strategy & Fundraising
A five year strategic plan has been prepared and a draft approved by the board. A variety of fundraising activies will be launched over the coming months.

Board Development
More directors are being added to reduce workload on individual board members. Non-voting officer seats will be added for the same reason.

Elections
Annual board elections is coming up, 6 seats are being elected.

That’s a lot of text to basically say “categorize your data and give the files descriptive names”.

It didn’t end
They actually flip flop a lot.
2006: Migration to LiMux begins
2008: 1200 out of 14,000 have migrated to the LiMux environment
2013: Over 15,000 LiMux PC-workstations (of about 18,000 workstations)
2016: Microsoft moves german HQ to Münich
2017: Dumping Linux https://www.linuxinsider.com/story/munich-city-government-to-dump-linux-desktop-84307.html
2020: Going back to Linux https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-not-windows-why-munich-is-shifting-back-from-microsoft-to-open-source-again/
2023: Microsoft opens new Experience Center in Münich https://www.munich-business.eu/meldungen/neues-microsoft-experience-center-emea.html
2023: Analysing what needs to be done to switch to Win10 before new vote https://www.tweaksforgeeks.com/ditching-linux-for-windows-after-wannacry-is-too-risky-for-munich-green-party-warns/
https://lemmy.world/comment/7251741

Not a problem, the next IT campus recruitment will list “OCR Scanner Operator” as a requirement and as a part of the job description. ;-)

Microsoft being uninterested in Windows Desktop and focusing on Saas and the cloud is indeed the first bullet point.

1. Microsoft isn’t that interested in Windows
2. Linux gaming, thanks to Steam, is also growing
3. Users are finally figuring out that some Linux distros are easy to use
4. Finding and installing Linux desktop software is easier than ever
5. The Linux desktop is growing in popularity in India

Curious. Firefox w/ Ublock Origin works fine for me when l set noscript to allow qwant.com to run javascript.

I like that Qwant is based in europe and I like that their search engine works with javascript off.
edit: Only first page, cannot show more results at the bottom. DDG will let me continue looking through results with javascript off and will continue to be my primary search engine.

The results differ between duckduckgo and qwant for me when using english but in my native language the results are very similar.
They’ve said that they reinforce their search results with bing if their own index has few results, so I imagine that’s why.
https://betterweb.qwant.com/en/2023/09/18/web-indexing-where-is-qwants-independence/

Computers often present their users with textual messages, but the users often don’t read them.

So many times I’ve just been a fancy TTS (Text to speech) assistant.
End user: Sends MMS of error message.
Me: Calls end user and reads the error message out loud.
End user: Oh! Thanks! Problem solved.
Me: No problem, have a good day.

Mind you, I haven’t installed a Windows Home OS since ever, but Shift+F10 and then using OOBE\bypassnro works just fine for me.

If it works, it works and staying close to defaults means less worries about updates breaking stuff.
I use the workspaces a whole lot more now than when I first installed GNOME but I still want my taskbar with appindicators.